U-Conn. Rookies See Other Side

After 39-0, Quartet Learns About Losing

By Kathy Orton
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, July 12, 2002; Page D03

Ask any of the four rookies from the University of Connecticut -- Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams -- what has been the biggest adjustment to life in the WNBA and they will tell you it is the losing.

After going 39-0 and winning a national championship their senior year, they are unaccustomed to dealing with losses. They only lost nine times during their entire four-year college careers. Three of the four have already lost more than that as professionals. And while none of them plan on learning how to accept losing, they are finding ways to cope.

"I definitely don't enjoy it," said Bird, who plays for the Seattle Storm (8-10). "I've learned to deal with it differently than I did in college."

"You forget what it's like to lose," said Williams, a forward for the Minnesota Lynx (6-11). "I would come in the locker room and want to throw things and really get upset, thinking that was the last time this season you were going to lose. Then the next game you lose again, so that's been the toughest."

Williams, who endured a five-game losing streak, has not even had it the worst of the four. Cash, whose Detroit Shock is 2-16, has suffered the most.

"I've been able to handle it," Cash said. "At first it's really frustrating. I wanted to pull my hair out. What am I not doing" to help the team?

Since winning the national championship in March, the four rookies barely have had time to take in all that has happened to them the last couple months. They made history when each one of them was selected among the top 10 of the WNBA draft. (Bird was the No. 1 overall selection. Cash went at No. 3. The Washington Mystics made Jones their fourth selection. Williams was taken at No. 6.) No school had produced four top 10 picks in a single year.

They squeezed in their college graduation around training camp and preseason games. They have had to learn new teammates and new coaching styles as well as become accustomed to their new cities. Williams described it as a "whirlwind."

"It's like you're climbing Mount Everest and you still haven't gotten to the top yet," she said.

Most of all, they had to figure out how to play without the other three. After spending four years together at Connecticut, they developed an intuitive feel for each other's game. Bird knew where Jones liked to get the ball. Williams knew without looking where Cash was on the court. That's all changed as they scramble to learn their new teammates' tendencies.

The four, however, remain close. Between phone calls and e-mails, they estimate they talk to one another as much as twice a week.

"We talk when we can," Jones said. "I miss those three. We were really close. We spent so much time together.

"It's fun when they come to town because you get to hang out with them. You go to their city and you get to see how they live. . . . I think it was time for us to go out on our own and have different experiences. Four years was a long time to always be together."

Aside from the losing, they each have made a successful transition to professional basketball. Bird ranks third in the WNBA in assists (6.2 per game) and is the Storm's second-leading scorer (13.8 points per game). Williams is the league's fifth leading rebounder (8.2 per game) and averages 10.3 points per game. Cash leads the Shock in scoring (14.4 points per game) and rebounding (5.8 per game). Jones, the only one of the four who has not started every game of her WNBA career, is the Mystics' leading scorer off the bench at 6.8 points per game.

Jones's statistics might not be as impressive as the other three, but they certainly are envious of her. Jones is the only one on a winning team. Washington (14-5) leads the Eastern Conference race.

As bad as the losing has been and as much as they miss playing together, the one thing they miss the most about college is charter flights.

"You can put that down unanimously: charter flights," Cash said. "Reality came really fast."

At Connecticut, they flew charter planes to and from every game -- a luxury not available as professionals. The WNBA mandates that its teams fly commercial.

"I don't think we knew how spoiled we were," Bird said. "I never had to get up at 5 a.m. for a 7 a.m. flight in college."

Said Jones: "That's very big. You spend so much time in airports. You don't get to leave after the game. You have to wait until the next morning. We had our own rows and everything."