GoUSFBulls.com Williams Selected 8th in WNBA Draft

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: April 14, 2016

 

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Williams Selected 8th in WNBA Draft
 

UNCASVILLE, CONN., APRIL 14, 2016 –University of South Florida standout Courtney Williams continued to make program history Monday night by becoming the first Bull to be selected in the first round of the WNBA draft. Williams will call the Valley of the Sun home and join the three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury in the leagues 20th anniversary season. 

 

“I had no idea where I might go, so it was very nerve-wracking,” Williams said. “I tried not to think about it too much. But those are big questions. What team wants me? Where will I live? Now I know the answers. I just want to go there, fit in and do my thing. I have no idea what comes next, but I’m ready to play and ready to work.”

 

Williams joins elite USF company, becoming the fifth USF women’s basketball player to join the WNBA, and the fourth player drafted in the past nine years.

 

"She's going to be a great defender in this league,” said Phoenix General Manager Jim Pitman. “I'm really thrilled she was available today. We have a lot of all-star-caliber players but we don't have the speed and quickness necessarily that Courtney Williams brings."

 

Williams ended her four-year career shattering her own single-season points record with 763 points. She ends her career leaving her mark in the USF record books. In the single season ranks, Williams holds both the top (763) and second (710) spots in points, and she’s fifth in 3-point field percentage (.426). In the career books, Williams is second in points (2,304), just 100 points shy of Dickson. Williams finished with 931 rebounds, which rank third, 318 assists (sixth), 163 steals (12^th), 93 blocks (seventh), and a 3-pt field goal percentage of .353 (fifth) in the most games played by any player (138) and 98 starts, which rank 11^th in program history.

 

Williams is the second-highest draft pick of any women’s sport at USF. USF Hall of Famer Monica Triner (’99) was the second overall pick in the 1999 Women's Professional Softball League draft. Only six Bulls of any sport have been selected in the top 10. Men’s soccer has had four top-10 picks in the MLS drafts: Mark Chung ‘97 – sixth; Mike Mekelburg ‘96 - eighth; Jeff Cunningham ‘98 – ninth; Anthony Wallace ’07 – ninth. 

 

Other former Bulls selected in the WNBA Draft include Inga Orekhova, who was chosen 18^th overall by the Atlanta Dream in 2014, Andrea Smith, who was chosen 35^th by the Connecticut Sun in 2013 and Jessica Dickson, who was chosen 21^st in the 2007 WNBA draft by the Sacramento Monarchs. Wanda Guyton was chosen fifth in the Elite Draft in 1997, the league’s inaugural season.

 

Williams joined Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck from UConn as the four players from the American Athletic Conference chosen in the first round, the most of any conference in the 2016 Draft.

 

The Phoenix Mercury will open preseason camp April 29^th and will open the 20^th Anniversary season of the WNBA on May 14^th at the Minnesota Lynx.

 

 

About the WNBA

The WNBA, which features 12 teams, is a unique global sports property combining competition, sportsmanship, and entertainment with its status as an icon for social change, achievement, and diversity. The league, which counts Verizon as its leaguewide marquee partner, will begin its 20th season on May 14, 2016. 

 

Through WNBA Cares, the WNBA is deeply committed to creating programs that improve the quality of life for all people, with a special emphasis on programs that promote a healthy lifestyle and positive body image, increase breast and women’s health awareness, support youth and family development, and focus on education. For more information on the WNBA, log on to www.wnba.com.

 

– #GoBulls –

[USFBulls12]

Congratulations to Courtney, CJF and the Bulls Family!

[NewEnglandBull]

How much does an early first rounder make in the WNBA? 

[TExpress]

Brittney Griner made $49,440 her rookie season according to ESPN. So I would guess somewhere in the 40k range.

[TExpress]

Just now, TExpress said:

Brittney Griner made $49,440 her rookie season according to ESPN. So I would guess somewhere in the 40k range.

But Griner ended up going to China and made $600,000 after her rookie season. It looks like the money is overseas.

[NewEnglandBull]

Man $45k...that's it? Not going to get rich but gets to play for a living. 

[USFBulls12]

The league doesn't bring in money so teams can't pay very high salaries. You would think the players should be earning more than a mid-career high school English teacher but that's what sports are without the corporate backing and without the fans. People complain that LeBron James and Arod and all of those other male athletes in desirable sports earn too much.  That is the result of having fans, branding,  merchandise,  corporate backing, etc. If there was actually a large interest in the WNBA in the US, they too would be earning multimillion dollar salaries. Capitalism at its finest.  Not unfair, just the way it is. These women were selected to play in a league sport with no market, therefore they receive little return. The women who are getting shafted is the fantastic US Women's Soccer team..they have the fans, the talent and the interest, yet they are compensated far less than the crappy men's team. That is one example that needs to be looked into further and corrected.

[Polkcountybull]

What is wrong with our system when professional women's basketball players must suffer the same fate of people who have spent 15-20 years teaching high school English?

[Triple B]

2 hours ago, USFBulls12 said:

The women who are getting shafted is the fantastic US Women's Soccer team..they have the fans, the talent and the interest, yet they are compensated far less than the crappy men's team. That is one example that needs to be looked into further and corrected.

I had no clue about that. Article about it

[DELdaBull]

Congrats