ESPN.com - ncw - Is game worse off without Husky senior? Svet on it

Despite her sometimes rocky relationship with Geno Auriemma, Connecticut senior Svetlana Abrosimova once told me that she came to the United States for two reasons.

INJURIES MIGHT
ALTER WNBA DRAFT

You can't have two of the country's top players get hurt without shaking up the WNBA draft.

In the WNBA, the life of a coach can be very short. So is it worth the risk of taking an injured player and hoping she will come back at full strength? Katie Smith, for example, needed 1½ years to get back to full strength after her injury. But do coaches have the time to wait? Can they afford to use a high draft pick on a player who is out for six months, and even then won't be anywhere near game shape for several weeks?

Those are the big questions, but when you're considering Catchings or Abrosimova, you have to think it's worth it. After all, after suffering a season-ending injury in the first game of last season's Conference USA tournament, Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin still was the No. 1 overall pick in last year's NBA draft.

However, while both Catchings and Abrosimova were easily expected to be among the top five picks in the next WNBA draft -- if not the No. 1 and 2 overall picks -- they will most likely slide down the ladder a bit. Maybe they'll go with the fifth, sixth or seventh picks, but I could also see them going as the seventh, eighth or ninth overall pick.

-- Nancy Lieberman-Cline

She expected her coach to help her develop both as a person and basketball player. And four years after leaving her home in St. Petersburg, Russia, Abrosimova has accomplished those goals.

That's why it's such a shame she can't even finish out her senior year.

Once again, the injury bug has reared its ugly head, and for the second time in less than a month, has sidelined a consensus All-American and player of the year candidate. First, Tennessee's Tamika Catchings went down with a torn ACL on Jan. 15. Now, Abrosimova is out after suffering a torn ligament in her left foot during the Huskies' game against Tennessee last week on Feb. 1.

So far, Abrosimova had been having a great year. After spending several months training with the Russian Olympic team, and then competing at the Sydney Games, Abrosimova had clearly improved several areas of her game. She cut down her turnovers. She made better shot selections.

Her understanding of the game had improved, as well, and she was developing into a player with a full-court game. No matter where she was on the floor -- she's so versatile she can play just about anywhere on the court -- her game didn't depend on scoring points. Instead, she made everyone around her better, and that's the key ingredient to being a star player. That's the type of player I'd want on my team year after year.

As a freshman who stepped into UConn's starting lineup after Nykesha Sales went down, Abrosimova showed us she was talented. She showed people what the future of UConn basketball was going to look like. And without a doubt, she followed through.

Lady Vols, Huskies live up to hype
Tennessee and UConn get a lot of hype and attention, and both teams have nearly every game televised during the season. There's no mystery why some complain that the media should do a better job of covering other teams around the country.

But both teams were at their best last Thursday when they clashed in Knoxville. Many fans and critics of women's college basketball have said the first six minutes of that game were the best they've ever seen -- in men's and women's basketball. And they're right.

Those first six minutes were artistry on a basketball court. Everything was on -- execution, hustle, offensive rebounding, defense.

If you didn't see the game, borrow the tape from someone who did. And if you did tape it, watch it again. It's worth it.

Upset of the week
Texas really struggled last week when the Longhorns suffered a 70-60 loss to Kansas, which is 9-11 overall this season.

The loss was Texas' first at home to an unranked opponent since February 1998 (a span of 48 home games), and dropped the Longhorns to a sub-.500 record in the Big 12 (Texas is 4-5 in conference play, 16-7 overall).

These are the types of losses that really hurt. When the NCAA Tournament committee is debating seeds and tournament participants in March, this is what the committee will be thinking about. You have to win the games you're supposed to win, and take care of things on your home court.

ESPN analyst Nancy Lieberman-Cline, a Hall of Famer, will break down the women's college basketball world throughout the 2000-2001 season.

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