Etc.
Women basketball stars make comebacks 鈥 to campus
In men's college basketball, superstar players often leave school to turn pro at their earliest opportunity, which partly explains why no one since Virginia's 7 ft., 4 in. Ralph Sampson in 1982 and 1983 has repeated as Naismith Player of the Year. In the women's game, however, few players jump ship early because there is less incentive to do so and WNBA eligibility rules encourage staying in school longer. As a result, several All-Americans have captured back-to-back Naismith honors in recent seasons: Tennessee's Chamique Holdsclaw, Connecticut's Diana Taurasi, and Louisiana State's Seimone Augustus. And this season, Tennessee's 6 ft., 4 in. Candace Parker, who led the Lady Vols to last year's national championship and was the first woman to dunk in an NCAA game, is the favorite to repeat her 2007 selection as Associated Press Player of the Year. The last 10 AP winners and their schools:
鈥1998 Chamique Holdsclaw Tennessee
鈥1999 Chamique Holdsclaw Tennessee
鈥2000 Tamika Catchings Tennessee
鈥2001 Ruth Riley Notre Dame
鈥2002 Sue Bird Connecticut
鈥2003 Diana Taurasi Connecticut
鈥2004 Alana Beard Duke
鈥2005 Seimone Augustus LSU
鈥2006 Seimone Augustus LSU
鈥2007 Candace Parker Tennessee