First up is Seimone Augustus, who before yesterday was considered a shoo-in as the first overall pick in this spring's draft. Minnesota, though, may be having some second thoughts after Augustus' underwhelming showing. She finished the game six of 19 from the field, with just three rebounds and two assists in 40 minutes -- and even worse, jacked up a no-hope baseline fallaway with LSU down one, even though there was time left to get a better shot.
Of course, one game can't erase a career's worth of achievement, and Augustus certainly has that. But it is also true that over the years, Augustus has shown that her most consistent weapon is a 15-foot baseline jumper over smaller defenders -- with 6-2 Ann Strother on her, that jumper didn't go down as often as it has in the past. Given the fact that Augustus will be facing taller, more athletic players in the WNBA, it could be that her baseline jumper won't be nearly as automatic. She also struggled in the paint, missing close-in shots either because she rushed them, or she had trouble with UConn's agile defenders.
It would be surprising, if not foolish, for the Lynx to pass on Augustus, who has become much more vocal at LSU, and hit two key three-pointers (previously missing from her game), but she may not be as immediately dominant as some had hoped.
On the other hand, Sylvia Fowles looks ready to step into the W right now, even though she's just a sophomore. At a chiseled 6-5, she's plenty strong enough, but she also has good hands and excellent body control. The more physical style at the pro level will also allow her do more.
In addition, Fowles should be a monster internationally. There are a lot of wings around the world who play like Augustus (most of them not as well, granted), but 6-5 post players who love contact and have a serious post game are few and far between. It will be an interesting choice in 2008 for the USA Basketball, as decisions must be made about whether to expose young players to the Olympics on the end of the bench, or give the veterans one last shot.
For Connecticut, Ann Strother has been battling foot problems, which have supposedly impacted her ability to shoot. If so, that explains her one-for-10 performance against LSU and several ugly misses. Strother, though, did do a good job on Augustus, a matchup Geno Auriemma seemed to want to avoid when he started Nicole Wolff and had her guard LSU's star forward. But Wolff only played 12 minutes, and Strother had Augustus down the stretch -- and Augustus couldn't get it done.
If Strother can play defense at a high level, she will be a fine WNBA player. Her height and length will cause problems for a lot of wings, and presumably she will be able to make the open three, which would give her enough offense to keep her on the court. One weakness, though, is her unwillingness to put the ball on the floor and go to the hoop. If she can draw more fouls in the paint, it will open up her game and add even more to her value.
All in all, though, Strother looks like a complementary player at the WNBA level (think Stacey Dales-Schuman) rather than a star.
Charde Houston, on the other hand, may turn out to be the best of the bunch. The 6-1 sophomore is a scoring machine, and going to UConn was the best thing she could have done. Auriemma is not in a position where he has to play her, and he has made her sit until she worked harder in practice, played defense and played team basketball.
The process is far from complete, but Houston played 30 minutes Monday, and had 22 points and 14 rebounds. She would have shot better than 10 of 23, but she was clearly fatigued at game's end and missed shots she was making earlier. (That fatigue, by the way, came from missing time due to an injury.)
Down the road, Houston could be one of the megastars of the game. Remember, she was a guard, not a power forward, in high school, and she can shoot threes as well as penetrate and crash the boards. With her athleticism and feel for the game, a healthy and in-shape Houston will be simply impossible to guard -- and with Geno on her case for two more years, she will be forced to play defense and work within a team framework.
Of the quartet, Houston has by far the most potential. It's easy to visualize her and Fowles as going one-two in the 2008 draft, and it's easy to visualize her as a WNBA all-star and future Olympian. It's also, however, possible to see her becoming a one-dimensional scorer who never quite realizes all of her potential, though Auriemma won't settle for anything less than her best.
And as for those who have doubts about the future of women's basketball, remember that these four players all played in the same game -- and there are a whole lot more where they came from.