MitchMash: WNBA Draft's Top 5 as preps

From 2007 to 2009, I was lucky enough to cover girls basketball on a national level. I had strong feeling back then it was a special time.

Watching the WNBA draft tonight, I found out just how special.

I did stories and/or met the top five WNBA picks when they were in high school: Brittney Griner (Phoenix), Elena Delle Donne (Chicago), Skylar Diggins (Tulsa), Tayler Hill (Washington) and Kelsey Bone (New York). 

See our photos of the WNBA potential top picks

Here are impressions while each were in high school followed by comments they made tonight.

1. Brittney Griner, (Nimitz, Houston)

We didn't pick Griner as the 2009 Player of the Year. Instead, we picked Diggins. It was very apparent, even then, that the 6-foot-8 Griner may impact the women's game more than any other. She had 25 blocks in a game for rejection's sake. The one reason we didn't pick Griner – fairly or not – is we wanted to see her in person at the McDonald's All-American game. Her family thought the trip to Miami would distract her too much from her senior studies.

Diggins showed and was the game's MVP. That gave her the nod.

I spoke with Griner and her dad by phone before her senior year. She was soft-spoken and shy then as she revealed once more Monday when she could barely speak.

"I'm at a loss for words," she said during a live ESPN interview at the draft. "I'm definitely looking forward to the freedom so I won't have three players on me."

2. Elena Delle Donne, (Ursuline Academy, Wilmington, Del.)

At the 2008 McDonald's All-American game, we did an expose on the athleticism (up) and skill level (down) of today's basketball player.

Delle Donne was the exception, rather than the rule as we wrote in this excerpt:

Since the girls game is played below the rim, they must rely largely on those skills. In the case of 6-4, 190-pound Delle Donne, she always had the height and frame. She could have easily been a dominant post player only and earned a full ride to college.

 

But with her dad Ernie’s push she developed all facets of her game and into one of the greatest female high school players ever. She earned a full ride to Connecticut and the Wootten National Player of the Year after averaging 28 points, 11 rebounds and three assists per game.

 

“My dad knew I was going to be tall so he figured to really push me over the top he’d teach me everything about the game,” Elena said.

 

It wasn’t easy and it didn’t come with much success in the early years.

 

“He taught me the perfect shooting form when I was 6, but I wasn’t strong enough to get it to the rim,” she said. “I’d shoot all sorts of airballs. So much of me just wanted to fling it up there any way I could. But I trusted my dad. I knew he was teaching me the right way. I just stuck with it and when I got strong enough it worked out for the best.”

Boy did it ever on Monday. She actually gave up the game for a season, leaving Connecticut for Delaware.

We learned so much more about Della Donne during the McDonald's All-American Game, that she was far more than a fantastic basketball player.

She is inspired every day by her older sister Lizzie, who was born deaf and blind and has cerebral palsy and autism. "I look up to Lizzie more than anyone in life," Elena said.

We learned later that Lizzie doesn't even know her sister plays basketball. Della Donne is considered one of the most dominating high school players ever, regardless of gender.

"No idea," said the girls' mom Joan. "She loves Elena for Elena, and not Elena the basketball player."

What Delle Donne said Monday: "There was a time I didn't want to pick up a basketball. I'm so glad I figured it out. Now I get to play in the best women's league in the world."

3. Skylar Diggins, (Washington, South Bend, Ind.)

The first time I spoke with Diggins was by phone for a feature her senior year, a remarkable one in which she averaged 29.2 points, 6.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds and 6.1 steals per game.

Even 2,000 miles away, I could tell then she was one of the most engaging teens I'd ever spoken to. Her life story was intriguing as well. Like the time she was offered a full ride to Notre Dame.

When the words left the lips of coach Muffet McGraw – “We’re officially offering you a full ride scholarship to the University of Notre Dame” - Diggins went into a daze.

 

She’d been an Irish fanatic her whole life, after all.

 

Her basketball legend around the west side of South Bend sprouted at age 6 and grew exponentially as she developed into one of the nation’s most skilled, competitive and athletic players.

 

Her dream was always to lead the Irish to a national crown with throngs of close friends and family cheering her on in the stands.

 

So, why then the daze and hesitation? Why didn’t she jump out of her seat and scream and shout? Why not bear hug McGraw and commit wholeheartedly?

 

Well, for one thing, Diggins was only an eighth-grader.

Read the rest of early tale entitled: Skylar's the limit.

What Diggins said Monday: "It's a dream come true. I can't believe I'm here now."

4. Tayler Hill, (Minneapolis South, Minn.)

Hill's legend in Minnesota was much like Diggins' was in Indiana. She got her first scholarship offer from the University of Minnesota in the seventh grade. She was nicknamed "Lady LeBron" before she entered high school.

It all started before that, as revealed in this story on her entitled "Lady LeBron wants championship crown."

Ranked the fifth best player from the Class of 2009 by MaxPreps, Hill said her love for the game developed long before her name popped up in basketball blogs or recruiting lists.

 

Matter of fact, it came not long after diapers and just about the time she lost her first baby tooth.  

 

“I must have been five or six and I always wanted to play with all my cousins,” Hill said. “I was the only girl and I was the smallest and they didn’t really want me to play.”

 

Said Paul Hill, Tayler’s father: “She got the brush off all right. It didn’t take them long to figure out she was a threat though.”

 

By the time she was in the second grade, Paul Hill said, Tayler could dribble behind her back, crossover and go end-to-end and make a lay-up.

 

“She was doing things most fifth-grade boys couldn’t do,” he said.

On Monday, Hill said her basketball IQ made her the No. 4 pick: "Just knowing the game means so much."

5. Kelsey Bone (Fort Bend Dulles, Sugar Land, Texas)

I didn't know much about the powerful 6-5 post until meeting her at the McDonald's All-American Game in 2009. What a delight. In fact, she was the most memorable and best interview when I asked players of both genders if they help players up after knocking them down.

Bone didn't make any bones about it: "No, because I put you there for a reason."

A strong presence. An honest answer. Bone impressed all on Monday as well.

Before answering any questions, she offered condolences to those affected by the Boston Marathon bombings.

When asked about her selection by Bill Laimbeer and the New York Liberty, she said: "It should be easy to blend in at a place like New York with so many great post players. I can take a back seat and learn."

E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchMashMax.