UW women's basketball: Anderson heads east toward the Sun
The Anderson home in Port Wing became a war room of sorts Wednesday afternoon as Jim and Julie Anderson fielded telephone calls and inquiries for daughter Jolene, who learned her professional basketball career will rise with the Sun.
The Connecticut Sun picked the University of Wisconsin's all-time leading scorer in the second round of the 2008 WNBA Draft with the 23rd overall pick and Jolene Anderson basked in the satisfaction of her new position surrounded by a contingent of 20 family and friends.
"It's been a crazy day," said Anderson, who flew in from Tampa, Fla. bright and early Wednesday morning after receiving the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award one day earlier at the Women's Basketball Coaches Association luncheon.
"(Sun coach) Mike Thibault called and welcomed me to the team and said they were excited they drafted me."
Anderson, a 5-foot-8 guard, will travel to Chicago one week from today for a two-day league orientation and then head directly to Connecticut for training camp, which kicks off April 21. She will join a Sun team which finished third with an 18-16 record in the WNBA's Eastern Conference last season and lost in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Thibault is looking to shore up offense in the guard slots and said that adding the co-Big Ten Player of the Year to the mix will benefit the team.
"Jolene Anderson, we had projected her somewhere early in the second round," Thibault said. "She fell to us, and obviously, she's a great scorer, but she's also a good rebounder for a guard."
Lindsay Whalen, a former Minnesota standout, is one of Connecticut's best-known players. Though Anderson never competed against Whalen, she's well aware of her exploits. Whalen and Stevens Point native Janel McCarville, now a member of the WNBA's New York Liberty, helped lead Minnesota to an NCAA Final Four appearance in 2004.
Anderson, who paced the league in scoring for a second straight season, said becoming only the third Badgers athlete to be drafted in the WNBA is a rewarding accomplishment. Tamara Moore and Jessie Stomski were drafted in 2002.
"Coach Thibault thinks Whalen and I will work well together," said Anderson, who will debut with the Sun in their exhibition opener May 1 against the Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis. "I've watched her the last few years in the WNBA and I'm excited to play alongside her.
"I am really thrilled and I can't believe it's happening. It's a whole new chapter for me."
Anderson will see some familiar faces at training camp as UW coach Lisa Stone and assistant coach Ty Margenthaler previously had arranged to attend sessions to glean defensive strategies from Thibault, who served as an NBA assistant to George Karl when he coached the Milwaukee Bucks.
Stone is in Tampa for NCAA Division I coach meetings and activities and learned news about Anderson's draft status late Wednesday afternoon.
"I think Jolene is certainly prepared for the next level," Stone said of Anderson, who was one of only two Big Ten players -- along with Ohio State guard Marscilla Packer -- to be selected in this year's draft. "She has a wide array of abilities and a flair for scoring. It will be fun to watch her career develop."
Meanwhile, preparation for the 2008-09 season begins Monday for UW with individual player workouts, and Stone anticipates the program will be fine despite the loss of Anderson and fellow seniors Janese Banks and Danielle Ward.
"It's like we're starting over with a clean slate," Stone said of the Badgers, who finished 16-14 overall, tied for seventh in the Big Ten with a 9-9 record and suffered a first-round setback in the Women's National Invitation Tournament.
"We look forward to improving defensively and taking care of the ball better. We want to develop an identity early and get fired up for next season."
Associated Press
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Jolene Anderson's high school girls basketball teammate Jessica Reijo, left, expresses her excitement to Anderson at the latter's Port Wing, Wis., home after Anderson was picked in the second round of the WNBA basketball draft by the Connecticut Sun on Wednesday. Anderson played guard at Wisconsin.
