Alex Winchell and Starkitsha Luellen-Higgins are both looking to continue playing basketball overseas. Last time I saw Alex, she was trying to get an agent that would help her end up in a good situation overseas (if you see the mess Diana Taurasi went through, you'll know some overseas situations are not as good as others). My one piece of information for Alex was that Victoria Crawford also went and played overseas - in Iceland. I don't know what she thought of that!
Star went to Indianapolis during the Final Four and participated in an open workout in front of some WNBA folks and some agents. That will help her in her quest to continue playing basketball. That would be the first time in her career she has played for a team that isn't based in Memphis. It takes courage to imagine you can move away from home and blaze a new trail, so hopefully she'll have good news for us shortly about landing overseas somewhere.
Taylor Mumphrey will still be around until at least December. She stops by once in a while and says she may want to come work in our office - I better watch out, or she'll have my job! I think I'll use her to interview her former teammates for our flip cam videos, what do you think?
I'm sure you saw that we signed a new Tiger on Wednesday, the first day of the late signing period (which runs until May 18th). Women's Division I basketball can have 15 players on scholarship, and we finished last season with 13, so we had the additional two to fill after the four early signees, who will replace the four seniors this year. We'll have one more signee (possibly later today, depends on paperwork getting signed by both her and her parents), this one also from the junior college ranks. We signed a left-handed point guard from Central Arizona College named Ashley Mitchell yesterday. With Alex graduating, our only returning point guard next year will be Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir.
Speaking of Qisi, she did a great job at the Final Four in Indianapolis, where she received her USBWA Most Courageous Award. Donease Smith took some photos that hopefully she'll share with me, but Qisi got to go to Indianapolis and her parents were also there for the festivities. It's a pretty big deal to be at the Final Four, hopefully they all enjoyed it.
Our 2011-2012 team will get to open practice early this year because of an international trip to Italy in late August. That means that we can have 10 days of practice before we leave. The tentative tour itinerary include stops in Rome, Florence, Venice and Lake Como and includes four games. Donease has the full itinerary and said we will be doing a lot of walking. If you are interested in joining us on the trip, you can go here and select Memphis women's basketball from the right hand side. So, I guess I should research internet and electrical situations from Italy so we can get you all some blog entries from the players in Italy! Guess I better get back to work!
Tammy
