By ROBERT CESSNADanielle Gant will be home in Oklahoma City, the guest of honor at a big party thrown by her mother, while Takia Starks will take a quieter approach with friends and family as the Texas A&M seniors watch Thursday's WNBA draft in anticipation of being selected.
"I think they'll both go in the second round," A&M head coach Gary Blair said. "I have no idea where they might go. It will get down to need and what teams want, but I look for them to go in the second round."
Gant and Starks received honorable mention on the Associated Press' women's basketball All-America team last week after the ninth-ranked Aggies finished 27-8, reaching the Sweet 16 for the second straight season. Gant and Starks were part of a senior class that finished with a school-best 104-32 record. They made a school-record four straight NCAA Tournaments and made A&M's first Elite Eight appearance in 2008.
Gant averaged 14.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game as a senior, while Starks scored 15.8 points and grabbed 4.3 boards per contest while leading the Aggies in 3-pointers (35).
ESPN2 (Ch. 28) will provide live coverage of the first round beginning at 2 p.m., while ESPNU and NBA TV will broadcast the second and third rounds. Also, WNBA.com will cover all three rounds.
Gant and Starks weren't among the 15 invited to the draft which will be held at the NBA Entertainment studios in Secaucus, N.J.
Oklahoma's four-time All-American Courtney Paris and her twin sister will be there.
Connecticut's Renee Montgomery or Louisville's Angel McCoughtry is expected to be the first pick.
Other invited players are Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman (Maryland), Kia Vaughn (Rutgers), Chante Black (Duke), DeWanna Bonner (Auburn), Briann January (Arizona State), Lyndra Littles (Virginia), Rahanda McCants (North Carolina), Ashley Walker (California), Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton (Purdue) and Shavonte Zellous (Pittsburgh).
January-led Arizona State ended A&M's season, while the Aggies beat Zellous and Pitt earlier in the season.
A&M had a school-record two players drafted last season. Forward Morenike Atunrase was taken in the second round by Atlanta and traded to San Antonio. Point guard A'Quonesia Franklin was drafted in the third round by Sacramento.
The only other Aggies drafted into the WNBA were Jaynetta Saunders in the second round in 2001 by Cleveland and Toccara Williams in the third round in 2004 by San Antonio.
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The blame game
