Bradford Awaits 2015 WNBA Draft
4/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Crystal Bradford doesn't know exactly where she is headed. But she knows the first thing she will do when she gets there.
"When I get there I'm going to walk up to the hardest-working player and say, `I want to shadow you and work with you so I can be at the peak of my game,'" said Bradford, a Central Michigan senior.
There is the WNBA and Bradford is poised to make history Thursday night when she is expected to be selected by one of the league's 12 teams in the three-round draft.
Bradford would become the first Central Michigan women's basketball player - and just the second from a Mid-American Conference school - drafted by the league, which is entering its 20th year.
Tamara Bowie of Ball State was the first, and only, MAC player ever selected by a WNBA team. She was taken 36th overall in 2003 by the Washington Mystics.
"It makes me very proud and gives me pride to do what I love and to make so many other people proud and (for me to) represent them," said Bradford, who is on schedule to graduate in May. "To do that for the MAC is great. I have friends in the MAC and everybody is supporting me; you see a lot of love and it's really great."
Projections have Bradford being selected anywhere from the middle of the first round until late in the second. Bradford was not invited to attend the draft in Connecticut.
That, however, hasn't dampened the 6-foot guard's enthusiasm. She said she will attend classes on campus Thursday morning then head home to Detroit to be with family and friends and watch the draft, which begins at 7 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2.
"I'm very stoked," Bradford said. "Coming from Detroit it's a huge thing and it's always been an ultimate goal of mine. ... I'm so excited that I get to go home and be with my family they can keep me at ease as the draft goes by."
Bradford said she has spoken with four WNBA general managers.
"They would ask me questions," she said. "I don't get too excited about it because it's just a waiting game, everything's just speculation. It's like poker; everybody's playing poker right now."
Bradford wrapped up her CMU career in March as the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,006 career points and rebounder (1,140). She was a four-time All-MAC selection and a two-time All-America nominee.
A knee injury on the eve of the MAC Tournament ended Bradford's 2013-14 season. She rehabilitated the knee in the offseason, but she was clearly not 100 percent throughout 2014-15. She played her last collegiate game on Feb. 25 at Northern Illinois and missed a total of eight games, including CMU's final five.
"It's a business, and I'm ready for it," Bradford said. "It's a job now. Your health is No. 1. I haven't played a game yet but it feels much better, it feels stronger. I'm just ready to play really. That's the biggest thing, I'm ready to get drafted, know where I'm going and start training."
CMU coach Sue Guevara said Bradford possesses all the tools to play in the WNBA.
"She's athletic, she can score, and she can create her own shot," Guevara said. "I think her three-point shot has improved, but you look at her ability to rebound and to pass, and I think that's what gets lost a lot in her game is her ability to pass the basketball.
"She's worked hard at emulating some of the NBA guys that she watches play, the different moves. So I think that part of her game, her repertoire of different things that she can do with the ball have really improved."
The increasingly difficult schedule the Chippewas played throughout Bradford's career helped to showcase her talents, Guevara said. The Chippewas never shied away from playing some of the best teams in the country, including in 2014-15 when they took the court against the likes of South Carolina, Kentucky and Dayton.
"She's been able to play with some of the top teams in the country," Guevara said. "We've been able to play with some of the top teams in the country because she was on our team."
Bradford said she has sought out and received advice from several corners, including the Chippewas bench. First-year assistant coach Kristin Haynie played five years in the WNBA after being drafted ninth overall in 2005 by the Sacramento Monarchs, and was a member of the Monarchs when they won the WNBA title during her rookie year. She also played professionally in Europe.
"When we would be watching film and stuff, if I saw that she was doing things that were undisciplined, I'd tell her `That's not going to cut it in the WNBA,'" Haynie said. "So I'd always go back to that to try and help her.
"It's just like at every level, high school to college, college to the pros, the girls are seriously faster, quicker, stronger, better, more talented.
"Also in the WNBA, you're on your own. You don't have somebody telling you to go to class or when this meeting is. If they say there's a meeting at 2 o'clock tomorrow, you're expected to be there. As far as on the court, it's your responsibility to stay in shape. If you don't play, they're not going to make you work out. It's your job to stay ready. You're independent at that level."
If and when Bradford is selected on Thursday, she will become the first CMU basketball player since Chris Kaman was taken with the sixth overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA draft in 2003.
