Let me say this from the start: I love women's college basketball and watching the players who make the game what it is, but there's not many players I actually become a fan of.

	UConn's Shea Ralph was projected as a late first-round pick in the WNBA draft.

But if I had to pick a player who over the last four or five years has made me fall in love with her game, it's Shea Ralph, a great ambassador of the game who not only respects the sport, but also has been an unbelievable role model and competitor.

Still, I'm not sure the Connecticut forward would have made it in the WNBA even before suffered a torn ACL -- her third in four years -- in Tuesday night's Big East tournament final.

Ralph probably would have been a low first-round or high second-round pick in the April 20 WNBA draft. I can't imagine 16 teams passing on Ralph just because of who she is and what she has brought to the game the past few years.

And while she does have some game, as well as a ton of heart and desire, she doesn't have the speed or the quick-shot release that you need as a 2 or 3. Those missing components would burden her at the next level.

Everyone has been anxiously awaiting this draft and the Class of 2001. We've been following these players for four years and heard a lot about these "future superstars," who have been quite successful at the collegiate level. But this draft is not as deep as everyone thinks.

Realistically, there are only seven or eight players who potentially can have some impact on the WNBA. For example, great college players like Purdue senior Katie Douglas, a Kodak All-American in 2000 and this season's Big Ten Player of the Year, are probably only going to be role players in the WNBA. These kids are not going to walk in and start for the WNBA right away. Lynn Pride couldn't do it. Stacy Frese couldn't do it. Neither could Edwina Brown or Cindy Blodgett. The WNBA is about experienced, veteran players.

Now, that isn't to say that these players won't eventually develop their game to fit the WNBA, but it takes time. The players need to find the right team, the right coaches, the right fit to make it happen.

For now, Ralph's draft status is up in the air. 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, knowing that it might take six months or longer for the player to fully recover? There's a lot of turnover in the WNBA coaching ranks -- Houston's Van Chancellor has significant job security but who else? -- where the moral is you'd better play to win today.

Of course, that's what Connecticut needs to focus on now, and the Huskies still have the talent to repeat as NCAA champions, despite the devastating losses of two Kodak All-Americans.

At this point, UConn's team members have two choices. They can suffer psychologically, dwell on the losses and feel sorry for themselves. Or, as I suspect will happen, they can ask themselves what more they can bring to the table. If they can contribute one more thing than they did yesterday -- whether it's one or two more points, one or two more rebounds or one or two more box-outs -- than UConn will be fine.

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