Texas Longhorn Surprise by Charlie Richards Dallas Wings Take Texas Star Charli Collier As the No
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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Texas Longhorn Surprise by Charlie Richards Dallas Wings take Texas star Charli Collier as the No. 1 overall pick in WNBA draft. The Dallas Wings didn't have to look far to find a new player to build around. With the No. 1 overall pick in Thursday's WNBA draft, the Wings selected Texas star Charli Collier, a 6-foot-5 forward/center who helped put women's basketball back on the map in Austin. Collier, who averaged 19 points, 11.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 51.1% from the field for the Longhorns in the 2020-21 season, was a WBCA All-America honorable mention, who helped lead No. 6 seed Texas to the Elite Eight of the NCAA women's basketball tournament. Her scoring average was the sixth-best in Texas program history, and she was only the fourth Longhorn to average a double-double over the course of a season — a feat she accomplished in each of the last two seasons. © Ricardo B. Brazziell, Austin American-Statesman Texas forward Charli Collier helped lead the Longhorns to the Elite Eight of the NCAA women's basketball tournament following an upset of No. 2 seed Maryland in the Sweet 16. Within minutes of Collier's selection, Dallas was back on the clock, as the Wings became the first team in league history with the top two picks in the same draft. The Wings used their second pick to select Awak Kuier, the first player from Finland to be drafted. Kuier, who was born in Cairo and emigrated to Finland with her family as a small child, has drawn comparisons to reigning Defensive Player of the Year and two-time MVP Candace Parker over the past season. The 6-foot-5, 19-year-old center currently plays professionally for Virtus Eirene Ragusa in Italy. “Needless to say, we are thrilled with the results of the draft for our organization,” Wings president and general manager Greg Bibb said. “We took another big step forward tonight with the progress of our team. Obviously with drafting Charli and Awak we got the two best players in the draft.” Three picks later, the Wings selected Chelsea Dungee, a 5-foot-11 guard out of Arkansas at No. 5. A WBCA first-team All American, the dynamic scorer averaged 22.3 points per game this season for the Razorbacks. In between the Wings' selections, the Atlanta Dream used the No. 3 pick to select Arizona guard Aari McDonald, who became a household name with her stellar play in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, where she led the Wildcats to their first ever national championship game. Averaging 20.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and four assists per game her senior season, McDonald was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year and co-Defensive Player of the Year. © Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports Aari McDonald led the Arizona Wildcats to their first NCAA national championship game before they fell by one point to Pac-12 rival Stanford. In a bit of a surprise, the Indiana Fever drafted Kysre Gondrezick, a 5-foot-9 guard from West Virginia, with the fourth pick. Gondrezick averaged 19.5 points, 4.5 assists and 2.9 rebounds and was chosen as a WBCA honorable mention All-American. Collier, the first Longhorn ever selected first overall in the WNBA draft, Kuier and Dungee will join a very young Dallas team with no player on the current roster having more than five years of WNBA experience. But head coach Vickie Johnson, a former New York Liberty star, has a lot of talent to work with and a chance to really reshape the roster before the 2021 season tips off on May 14. The Wings had three of the top seven picks in last year's WNBA draft and used the selections to draft Oregon's Satou Sabally at No. 2 overall, Princeton's Bella Alarie at No. 5 and South Carolina's Tyasha Harris at No. 7. Two years ago, with the No. 5 overall pick, Dallas selected Arike Ogunbowale, who nearly led Notre Dame to the 2019 national championship before the Fighting Irish lost by one point to Baylor. Ogunbowale led the WNBA in scoring last season with 22.8 points per game. Contributing: The Associated Press. 2021 WNBA draft selections. First round. 1. Dallas Wings (from New York Liberty): Charli Collier, F/C, Texas. 2. Dallas Wings: Awak Kuier, C, Virtus Eirene RG (Italy) 3. Atlanta Dream: Aari McDonald, G, Arizona. 4. Indiana Fever: Kysre Gondrezick, G, West Virginia. 5. Dallas Wings: (from Washington Mystics): Chelsea Dungee, G, Arkansas. 6. New York Liberty (from Connecticut Sun): Michaela Onyenwere, F, UCLA. 7. Los Angeles Sparks (from Dallas): Jasmine Walker, F, Alabama. 8. Chicago Sky (from Phoenix Mercury): Shyla Heal, G, Townsville Fire (Australia) 9. Minnesota Lynx: Rennia Davis, G/F, Tennessee. 10. Los Angeles Sparks: Stephanie Watts, G, Southern California. 11. Seattle Storm: Aaliyah Wilson, G, Texas A&M (Wilson was then traded to Indiana) 12. Las Vegas Aces: Iliana Rupert, C, Tango Bourges Basket (France) Second round. 13. Dallas Wings (from New York): Dana Evans, G, Louisville. 14. Las Vegas Aces (from Indiana): Destiny Slocum, G, Arkansas. 15. Atlanta Dream: Raquel Carrera, C, Valencia Basket Club (Spain) 16. Chicago Sky (from Dallas): Natasha Mack, F, Oklahoma State. 17. New York Liberty (from Washington): Didi Richards, G, Baylor. 18. Seattle Storm (from Connecticut): Kiana Williams, G, Stanford. 19. Indiana Fever (from Chicago): Unique Thompson, F, Auburn. 20. Connecticut Sun (from Phoenix): DiJonai Carrington, G, Baylor. 21. Connecticut Sun (from Minnesota): Micaela Kelly, G, Central Michigan. 22. Los Angeles Sparks: Arella Guirantes, G, Rutgers. 23. Seattle Storm: N’Dea Jones, F, Texas A&M. 24. Indiana Fever (from Las Vegas): Trinity Baptiste, F, Arizona. Third round. 25. New York Liberty: Valerie Higgins, G, Pacific. 26. Indiana Fever: Chelsey Perry, F, UT Martin. 27. Atlanta Dream: Lindsey Pulliam, G, Northwestern. 28. Los Angeles Sparks (from Dallas): Ivana Raca, F, Wake Forest. 29. New York Liberty: (from Washington), Marine Fauthoux, G, Lyon Asvel Feminin (France) 30. Connecticut Sun: Aleah Goodman, G, Oregon State. 31. Indiana Fever (from Chicago): Florencia Chagas, G, USE Scotti Rosa Empoli (Italy) 2 longtime Birmingham-area high school football coaches die. Alabama lost a pair of successful former high school coaches this week. Former Tarrant coach Charlie Richards died Wednesday after a battle with COVID-19, according to his son Chuck Richards. He was 91. Longtime Parker coach and former New York Jet Cecil Leonard also died Wednesday in Statesboro, Ga., according to HBCU GameDay. He was 74. His cause of death was not immediately known. Richards coached Tarrant from 1955-1965. He finished with a 63-36-11 record. His best season came in 1964 when his team went 10-0, scoring 267 points and allowing just 21. He also was head coach at Huffman from 1975-1978. “We had a surprise 90th birthday for him last year,” Chuck Richards said. “I was amazed that some of his friends flew in from as far as California. These guys talked about the 1950s and 1960s and how their lives were changed by my Dad like it was yesterday. Most of them said they would never have gone to college had it not been for my dad. Some went on to be All-Americans.” Chuck also said Charlie Richards coached under Paul “Bear” Bryant at Alabama in the 1960s, working with players such as Kenny Stabler. “The whole time he was at Alabama he was getting his doctorate in education,” Chuck Richards said. “He said he left because my mother told him he should get a job where he could make more money and see his family a little more on the weekend.” Richards was a two-sport star in football and baseball at Tarrant and later played at Howard College (now Samford) and Livingston (now West Alabama). In addition to coaching, he later served as principal at Tarrant and also had a long career as a baseball umpire and basketball official, which included stints in the SEC. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2011. Chuck said his father still lived in the Birmingham area and had been hospitalized for a month with COVID-19. “He seemed to be doing a little better with his breathing, but his heart gave out yesterday,” he said. Until contracting the coronavirus, Charlie Richards still went dancing three nights a week. “He was definitely my idol,” Chuck said. “He had a better social life than I have.” A native of Sylacauga, Leonard was a Tuskegee legend and former player with the New York Jets and the Birmingham Americans of the World Football League. He also served as the head coach at Miles College from 1994-2000. He was perhaps best known for his work in 20 years as a high school coach. Leonard started his career at Parker in 1973. After two years there, he spent five years at Hayes (1975-1979) and then went back to Parker for 13 years. He finished his high school career with a 128-83 record. He led the Thundering Herd deep into the state playoffs twice. In 1980, his first team back at Parker went 12-2 and lost to Vestavia Hills 15-13 in the 4A state championship game. In 1989, Parker went 9-4, losing to Anniston 19-0 in the Class 6A semifinals. Texas Longhorn Surprise by Charlie Richards. Excerpt - Texas Longhorn Surprise. The excerpt below contain explicit adult language and sexual content.