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Mercury assistant coach Julie Hairgrove on Delle Donne: "She's only played in a handful of games this season, but she seems to have picked up right where she left off last year. Her numbers are impressive and she is a great offensive threat. She can post up down low or pull you away from the basket and hit the 3."
Brittney Griner
Mercury focus on 3 stars for No. 1 pick
Mercury President Amber Cox and Mercury coach looked around and imagined a packed going crazy over an even more star-studded Mercury team. They then focused on the two players on the court -- Notre Dame point guard Skylar Diggins and Baylor center Brittney Griner -- who could make that dream a reality.
 
 
"It's the best player available," Cox said. "It's the best player available who makes sense within Corey's system; and he is going to take the best player."
Though Gaines and Cox went to the Notre Dame-Baylor game on Dec.5,timberland ???????, the Mercury staff doesn't travel too much to see games live. When Gaines travels with the Suns as the team's player-development coach,canada goose ???, there are times he is able to catch a quick flight to see one or two of the targeted players perform as he did in meeting Cox in Indiana.
"They're all amazing players," Cox said, "who have unique stories that have transcended women's basketball."
Hairgrove on Diggins: "I like how crafty she is on both ends of the floor and she has great leadership abilities. She just makes everyone else around her better. That's been especially evident this season since Notre Dame lost some key players from last year's team and they're still in the Top 5 in the country. It will be exciting to see how far she can take them in March." (Notre Dame has reached back-to-back Tournament title games,???????? ????.)
Cox said the staff watches and records as many games on TV as possible. There is already a sizable stack of DVDs sitting inside one of the team offices at US Airways Center where Gaines, who is in Japan this week, can pop in a disc and break down each player's game.
"It's a huge opportunity for us," Cox said. "And I think the familiarity with the three players who are coming out in the draft has really worked to our advantage. People know that we have the Number1 pick and all three of these players have a celebrity factor beyond the women's basketball community."
There you have it. The Mercury aren't looking at which player will sell more tickets or which player will help them gain more national attention. They aren't tipping their hand on who they want either, sticking to the idea that best player is still up for debate. Who the Mercury will end up choosing will come down to Gaines, also the general manager, but the team is using all of its available resources to make sure he has the information he needs to make the best decision.
Delle Donne has a story that almost almost any casual fan can recite. She was the country's top high school player who backed out of a scholarship to powerhouse Connecticut and quit basketball only to come back a year later to play for Delaware so she can stay close to her sister, who has cerebral palsy and is blind and deaf. Not only did Delle Donne return to basketball, she has dominated the college game like she did in high school from the start.
To wit: Griner is the 6-foot-8 phenomenon who is a proven defensive presence,??? ??????, has an ever-growing offensive game and is the one women's basketball player (in the world) who can throw down a dunk in traffic and off one drop-step.
 
But who the Mercury have decided is the "best player available" may not be revealed until they kick off the WNBA draft on April 15.
And once the Mercury figure out which player is best to draft, they believe everything else -- demand for tickets and widespread popularity -- will come.
Then there is Diggins,lululemon ?????, the best collegiate point guard two years running and the only other NCAA women's basketball player whose off-court popularity can rival that of Griner. Diggins and star rapper are friends and have flirt sessions on Twitter, where she has more than 285,000 followers (making her one of the more-followed collegiate athletes in the country). That she has more followers than winner speaks for itself.
Hairgrove on Griner: "She just gets better every year. Coach (Kim) Mulkey challenged her to crash the boards more this season and she has responded. She has a big impact on both ends of the floor and makes her presence known,????? ??. It will be exciting to see if they can repeat this season."
 
Delle Donne has played just six games this season. She missed six of the first seven games because of a surprise return of Lyme disease symptoms. But Delle Donne has come back to play the last five games and has played well. She scored 30 points vs. Monmouth on Dec. 22 and 29 vs. St.John's on Jan. 2.
Griner's overall numbers have also dipped this season but mainly due to her reduced playing time as Baylor has cruised to victory in all of its 13 wins this season. She is playing six fewer minutes per game this season. Griner is averaging 20.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. She now has an NCAA women's record nine dunks in her career after recording her latest with a one-handed slam off a baseline drive against TCU on Jan,coach ???.2.
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They settled into their seats,timberland ???, two of a sellout crowd of 9,149 at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend Ind.,coach ??, and waited for the spectacle to begin.
The Watch for No. 1
Diggins has struggled from the field this season, averaging 14.8 points per game and shooting 32 percent. Both of those numbers are down from how she finished the past two seasons. And though her assists per game are slightly up this season, so are her turnovers. But she did lead to an upset victory over then-No. 1 Connecticut last Saturday, scoring 19points and sinking two free throws (the last one was the game winner) in the last seconds of the game.
The Mercury hold the coveted No. 1 pick in April's WNBA draft and have been actively scouting the top three seniors -- Diggins, Griner and Delaware guard/forward Elena Delle Donne.
Among those three, the Mercury know the kind of player they want.
The Mercury have the No.1 pick in April's draft, and azcentral sports will monitor the consensus top-three college seniors periodically throughout the college basketball season.
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NFL standings 2013 Mail Online
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