Britt Wilkins

[CyRox98]

I just wanted to let Cyclone fans know (and everyone else) that ISU3ptland and I will be seeing Britt play (hopefully she gets some time on the court this game) in Sacramento this Friday night. We're really excited to see her in action in the pros after watching her for so long in Hilton. :D

Hopefully, she will get some playing time and score a couple of points while we're out there. Only thing that could make the day in SacTown better would be if Anne were still playing with the Monarchs too. Oh, well. I'll take one Iowa Stater playing in the WNBA over none any day. :cool:

[Bball Girl]

I came across the following article, I thought you'd enjoy
Wilkins works her way into the WNBA (http://www.enterprisepub.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=10101)
Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Wilkins works her way into the WNBA
Arlington native chronicles her journey into women's professional basketball

Brittany Wilkins
Editor’s Note: Former Arlington High School basketball star Brittany Wilkins, who recently graduated from Iowa State University, earned a spot on the defending WNBA champion Sacramento Monarchs 2006 opening day roster.

The following is a series of e-mail correspondence from Wilkins, that chronicles her journey into professional basketball (from April 27-May 19).

In less than a month, Brittany Wilkins has been on quite a journey. She has seen Sacramento Kings NBA renegade Ron Artest, she’s seen the glitter of Las Vegas, visited New Mexico, seen a Broadway play and visited Ground Zero in New York City, and she personallymet President Bush in Washington, D.C.

Oh yeah, she was also trying to make the roster of the Sacramento Monarchs–a WNBA team–in the process. Here’s how the undrafted free agent got it done: In her own words.

Thursday, April 27: “For those of you who don’t know, I am attending training camp out in Sacramento with the WNBA team the Sacramento Monarchs.

I got here last Wednesday and got all settled in at our hotel/apartment. The place we are living at is like a village–with a pool, basketball court, tennis court, and lobby with breakfast every morning and an exercise room.

My roommate is Anne O’Neil, who is a former teammate of mine from Iowa State who is also trying to make the team. We actually lived together for a year in college, so it has been fun living together again this past week.

The first few days we were here we did individual workouts with the coaches and a few other players that were also here.

Anne and I saw the facilities and I got to see a few of the Sacramento Kings’ players like Mike Bibby and Ron Artest. It was pretty cool.

We got to go in their locker room after they left for the NBA playoffs at San Antonio.

We are at the gym from about 9:45 a.m., until about 3 p.m., every day, but actual playing time is from 11 a.m., to 2 p.m.

The competition is obviously good, but it hasn’t been anything I have been too shocked about. Yolanda Griffith, a 36-year-old WNBA veteran, has really helped me out a lot. She has been giving me some good tips and is definitely trying to make me a better player.

Some cool news that I found out is that if I make it past the first cut (which is May 2), then we get to go to New York for an exhibition game. While we are out there, we get to go to Washington, D.C. and the White House and meet the President of the United States, because the Monarchs won the league championship last year!!! So that is also pretty good motivation to make the team.

Well, we are headed into day five of training camp and Anne and I are both having a great time and pushing each other as much as we can to do our best.

nWednesday, May 3: Well, our trip to Las Vegas was fun. We basically flew there, played and flew back.

We had some free time when we got there on Sunday, so Anne and I and our trainer, Jill, went to the Strip and out to eat. Then we watched the Kings’ game. No gambling for me, but it was fun to go back and be in the city.

The scrimmage went pretty well. We played six 10-minute quarters with Indiana and Detroit. Our team beat Detroit all three games and beat Indiana two and lost one.

Coach Whiz, our head coach, (it’s short for John Whisenant) subbed us every 2-3 minutes. There were a few games that Anne and I played more than others. It was a pretty intense scrimmage with WNBA refs there.

I was able to make a few shots; a hook shot and I hit a three from the top of the key. It was fun and a good experience to play and see the competition.

Right now we have 13 players in camp. But that doesn’t mean I am on the team, because there are a few veteran players that are still playing overseas and are supposed to return within the next two weeks.

So, when those players return coach has to cut the final team down to 13 on the roster.

It may seem confusing, but basically Anne and I are still on the team practicing, and we have our first exhibition game against New York on Thursday night. It will be cool to hopefully get some playing time and play at Arco Arena!

Well, I guess this means that I am missing my college graduation on Saturday (May 6).

Friday, May 5: We had our first exhibition game last night against New York. It was pretty exciting. We got to the gym and saw our jerseys hanging up. They had our names and numbers on them.

Anne and I were pretty pumped! We had shoot around yesterday morning and that was the first time we got to play in Arco Arena and it was pretty sweet.

The game time came and there were over 6,000 fans there for our first game, which isn’t too bad for a WNBA team. I got to play for eight minutes and hit a baseline jumper, had two blocked shots and one rebound. It was a pretty rough game just getting used to the banging down low.

One thing that we all were not used to was the 24-second clock. Our team ended up with three or four shot clock violations, because they changed the rule this year. We ended up losing by three points, which wasn’t too bad.

Today, we have practice and then possibly go to the Kings versus Spurs playoff game. Then we go to Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday, to play another exhibition game against Connecticut. We are going there because our head coach is originally from there. The following Friday we leave for New York.

Thursday, May 11: We had a great trip to New Mexico and we won our game by one point. We played the Connecticut Sun. They were the team that we beat for the WNBA World Championship last season.

There were about 6,500 people there and we played in The Pit (it’s a pretty sweet place to play college ball) and it was a blast. I got to play four minutes and had one layup, one steal, and a blocked shot. I actually blocked Megan Mahoney, who used to play at Kansas State. The Cats are a pretty big rival for Iowa State.

We got back yesterday and went straight to practice. It wasn’t too hard of a practice, but we were tired from traveling.

Last night Anne and I went to a salon here in Sacramento and both got our hair done. That was fun.

Today, after practice, we had Media Day. We did stuff like pictures, video clips for the games, and interviews with radio and television. It was pretty exciting and cool to be a part of.

I just got done packing. We leave for NYC in two hours. We are flying throughout the night, so it looks like I will be sleeping on the plane.

We have practice tomorrow, then we play in Madison Square Garden on Saturday at 1 p.m. We can see the sights on Saturday and Sunday, then we are bussing to Washington, D.C. to meet the President on Tuesday.

Anne and I went shopping the other day for some nice dress clothes and we both need some dressier shoes. I guess it’s policy at the White House. Oh, well, I guess this will probably be the only time I ever meet the President, anyway.

We will get back next Wednesday (May 17) and then the final cut is on Friday (May 19).

nThursday, May 18: The first day was a little rough (May 12), because of the red-eye flight, but we took a nap when we got in at 7:30 a.m.

The next day we had our game and we beat the Liberty by 8 to10 points. I got to play 3:44 minutes, and I had two points and one rebound. I was pretty thankful I got put in because there were four other girls on the team that didn’t get in.

The game was awesome, and we had chapel with the New York team before the game. That was different, having chapel with the other team, but it was cool.

Anne, Cass Hall (my best friend), and I took a cab to Ground Zero and saw the memorial. It was very touching and sad.

We walked around and were able to go into the church that is right across the street from it.

At the church there were signs, memorabilia and pictures of all the victims and so forth. The church was actually used for providing food for the workers after 9/11 happened.

We walked around the walk along the Hudson River and were able to see the Statue of Liberty from far away.

We also went to the Rockefeller Center where the Today Show is held and then we decided to go to a Broadway play while we were there.

After we had our four hour bus trip (to D.C.) on Monday (May 15) we checked into our hotel and found some cool facts about our hotel. It was the third building built in D.C. following the White House and the Capital.

Anne and I got a cab and went to see all the monuments. We saw the Washington Monument, the Korean War Monument, Lincoln Monument, and the new WWII Memorial that was just built in 2004.

That was cool to see the monuments. It always makes one appreciate the freedom we have here in America and how fortunate we all really are.

Tuesday morning we practiced in the Washington Mystics facility and showered and got all beautiful for our appearance at the White House.

When we first got there, we had to go through some pretty heavy security, like we were going to the airport or something.

After we got in, we were led to the rose garden in the East Wing of the White House. We had refreshments and talked to the secret service guys until the President came out.

Around 1:15 we rookies were seated in the first two rows and the team from last year stood on the platform up front with the President.

[Bball Girl]

He came out and gave a talk about the championship and said some really nice stuff. The team presented him with a Monarchs jersey with G.W. Bush on the back, a HUGE championship ring, and a WNBA basketball.

The President took pics with the team and then he met all of us. We all got to shake his hand and introduce ourselves.

When he got to me, I said, ‘My name is Brittany Wilkins, nice to meet you Mr. President,’ and then he asked me where I was from. I said, ‘The state of Nebraska.’ Then he said jokingly, ‘I hope you didn’t beat up on my Longhorns too much.’ To which I replied, ‘we sure did.’

After we met the President, we got a tour of the White House. We saw the Red Room, Green Room, Blue Room, the First Lady Tea Room, and library.

I guess we were really lucky to get a tour that day, because the Prime Minister from Australia was coming to have dinner that night with the President, and they were setting up for that.

Coach Whiz cut two players yesterday, a post player (Cristi Greenwalt from Texas Tech) and a guard (Dinoah Jackson from OU).

Tomorrow the final roster comes out. It is looking better for Anne and me. After practice we find out.

nFriday, May 19: I just wanted to let everyone know that I made the team! I am pretty excited, but I am also sad to see Anne get cut today. I am getting ready to take her to the airport. It has been an awesome three weeks of hanging out with her and I am going to miss her a ton.

Our first game is on ABC television tomorrow (Saturday, May 20) against Phoenix. I hope I get into the game.”

Sacramento 105, Phoenix 78

She did. In her WNBA debut on Saturday (May 20), Wilkins played nine minutes and scored six points on 3-for-5 shooting, as her Sacramento Monarchs defeated the Phoenix Mercury, 105-78.

It was the first game of the season for the 10th Anniversary of the WNBA, in front of a crowd of 17,317 on national television (ABC).

Yes, it is official. The dedicated, hard-working, faith-filled farm girl from a little town in Nebraska has made it to the big time.

As amazing as her journey has been, Wilkins is embarking on the next one as we speak.

“I have to get things for my apartment,” Wilkins said after her professional debut against the Mercury , “stuff like salt and pepper.”

The small-town girl has been criss-crossing the nation for the last month. She’s been doing all kinds of traveling and meeting famous people. She even played in her first official WNBA game last Saturday.

In spite of all that excitement, the Arlington native still knows when it’s time to face the real world, and also when it needs a little seasoning, Wilkins style.

[ISUbballfan]

Thanks for posting the article. I'm so glad that she made the team. Now I can enjoy the WNBA! I'm hoping to go to Minnesota when Sacramento play there. I know a couple of the team went to Chicago when Sacramento played there.

[CyRox98]

Thanks for the cool article, Bballgirl. Really fun to see the "play by play" of her road to making the final roster of the Monarchs! Hope that a lot of people are able to see Britt play somewhere this year when Sacramento comes to play in the midwest. Go Britt!!! :)

[carolann]

Who would have guessed a year ago that Brittany Wilkins would be the one player from ISU on a WNBA roster? I'm happy for Brittany and for ISU fans. In the early years of the WNBA, I was interested primarily in teams that had Longhorns on them. It is fortunate that I have San Antonio to root for as my home team now since Longhorns in the WNBA have dwindled to one - Jamie Carey.

[dem]

Kara Lawson, speaking during a Podcast:

“Brittany’s crazy, man, she’s like…we laugh at her probably more than anyone else in the locker room. She’s just is always saying funny things, and dancing around, trying to dance like some of the other girls…She’s just great, you know, she’s really fun to be around. We’ve done some things off the court together just to kind of get to know her. She’s a really good person.”


http://www.wnba.com/monarchs/#

[dem]

I came across the following article, I thought you'd enjoy
Wilkins works her way into the WNBA (http://www.enterprisepub.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=10101)


That's a great article; thanks for posting.

I'm hoping to see Brittany play when I visit the Bay Area later this month.

[ISUbballfan]

Wow what and end to this game tonight. CyRox and 3ptland can't wait to hear your report of the game.

[ISU3PointLand]

What a game. A full report is coming soon, but it is 3:00am Iowa time and we've been up for about 22 hours now. The game was all we could have asked for and more. Definitely a great way to start the trip.

[CyRox98]

The game was quite fun and much better to see in person than any WNBA game I'd ever watched on tv prior to this season. It actually was sort of like watching a game at Hilton - the crowd was into it and very loud and the team showed a ton of heart, coming back from being down 20 to a single point with a minute to play. The Monarchs had two chances to tie it with under 15 seconds to play, but neither went in. Sac'to ended up losing by 3.

Kara Lawson had an awesome block on Shannon Johnson towards the end of the game. I believe there was a turnover and Johnson came up with the ball and was racing towards the basket. Lawson came out of nowhere, literally flying three feet off the ground, swatted the ball away cleanly and sent Johnson to the ground with a look of "did anyone get the license # off that truck?" The replay proved no less impressive. One of the best blocks I've ever seen to be sure. :p

Britt, unfortunately, did not play last night. As the Monarchs were playing catch-up all night, I figured this would be the case. Disappointing, but our Britt was on the sideline cheering her butt off, always the first one on her feet after a good play - just like her Hilton days.

There was a chance to meet players after the game and we were able to talk to Kara Lawson as well as Britt. Got to tell Lawson how badly we wanted to play them in Hilton back in '02. She had said that they were really wanting to play us in our house too, to see what Hilton Magic was for themselves.

It was a fun evening - great crowd, atmosphere and comeback. Definitely worth the trip to Sacramento. Just wish they would have been able to find their shot in the second and third periods (no one could hit anything, it seemed). It might have been a very different game by the end. Thanks Monarchs for a great time! :)

[ISUbballfan]

I watched the web cast in the first half they didn't show much of Monachs bench but as they were making the comeback they were. I would see Brit leading the cheers.

[dem]

Well, I finally got to Sacramento to see a game and the first thing I notice is that Brittany is in street clothes during the warmups, tossing the ball to her teammates. And the next thing I see is that DeMya Walker is in uniform for (I think) the first game this season following maternity leave. So, obviously Britt has been deactivated and DeMya re-activated. And Walker played well in her brief minutes, so it looks like she's back in the lineup to stay. And so that means...

Well, Britt still gets to keep cheering, jumping up, and encouraging her teammates from the bench. But when you know that you can't get into the game, however briefly, no matter WHAT happens in the game--well, that's got to be a big comedown. I sure hope she gets back on the court for a few more minutes SOME time during the rest of the season. This is already reminding me of the 2000 WNBA season when ISU fans spent the whole summer waiting for Desiree Francis to get off the bench for the Liberty, which she did for only about three minutes total.

[CyRox98]

Yeah, unfortunately we saw this coming at some point. I don't believe it was a surprise to Britt that the season would progress this way. It's too bad that there isn't still room for her to be an active part of the team on the floor. She said when we were out there that, no matter what, she's "going to enjoy the ride" because who knows if it will ever happen again. Even if she is greatly disappointed, she'd never show it. More power to her... :)