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Notebook Arizona State uses All-Star game as preseason platform
PHOENIX (CNNSI.com) - Arizona State used the WNBA All-Star Game as a platform to promote its own women's basketball gala. The Arizona State women's basketball announced that their Dec. 27 game against Tennessee will be held in Bank One Ballpark in an attempt to break the NCAA women's basketball attendance record. "It's been in the works for two years, and I've been selling this game for two years," Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said at a news conference. "There is no downside to this event." She said the baseball stadium's retractable roof would be open unless rain was falling. The 49,000-seat ballpark can be configured to seat at least 30,000 for basketball. The women's record is 24,597 for Connecticut at Tennessee on Jan. 3, 1998. The game was held at Thompson-Bolling Arena in Knoxville. Tenn., which has played host to nine of the 10 largest crowds for a college women's game. "We have a very big arena here," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said by phone, "but we're very excited to be part of this game." The Sun Devils were 14-15 last season, but Turner Thorne said the addition of three transfers who will be eligible this season should help her team make a game of it against Tennessee, which was 33-4 and lost to Connecticut in the NCAA championship game. Proceeds from the Dec. 27 game will benefit breast cancer research. AstraZeneca, which makes the drug Nolvadex, is the title sponsor.
Star on the benchCynthia Cooper of the Houston Comets, the WNBA's MVP in 1997 and 1998, wasn't able to start the All-Star game after spraining her right ankle in the next-to-last game before the break. Comets coach Val Chancellor chose Minnesota Lynx small forward Katie Smith, the league's No. 2 scorer at 20.5 points per game, to start at Cooper's off-guard position. Smith was one of six Western Conference All-Stars picked by coaches after fans voted for the starters. Cooper, 37, plans to retire after this season.
Next stopThe league hasn't decided where to stage the 2001 All-Star game. Commissioner Val Ackerman said her staff is considering other sites with strong fan support. The inaugural 1999 game was held in New York's Madison Square Garden, and Phoenix got this game because of its strong fan base. "Probably sometime within the next couple of months we're going to make the announcement," Ackerman said.
Top producersThirteen of the 133 women on WNBA rosters who attended college in the United States went to Stanford. Florida and Tennessee are next, with eight each. Louisiana Tech has seven alumnae in the league, while Connecticut, North Carolina State and Southern California have six apiece. The Southeastern Conference is the top league with 35 players, while the Pac-10, with more than half its 25 players from Stanford, is next.
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