Colorado F Jackie McFarland Dee Welsch/WireImage.com

True story: The Colorado women's basketball team has a Brittany Spears and a Whitney Houston. You see, these are the types of important tidbits you learn through interviewing the draft prospects here in Tampa.

Well, we at WNBA.com found out more about Buffaloes forward Jackie McFarland than just the musical names of her teammates. We discovered that McFarland has been a WNBA fan since the league's infancy, and that she has been doubted at every level, yet she keeps proving people wrong. Will that trend continue in the WNBA?

WNBA.com: What have you been doing and working on since the end of your team’s season?

McFarland: “We just played a game last night so I pretty much packed for an hour, slept and got on a plane to come out here.”

WNBA.com: What memories do you have about your college hoops experience? What will you remember most?

McFarland: “Looking back, I experienced a coaching change. I got to play for Ceal Barry, who is a legendary coach. This last year we went through a rebuilding of the program. I think one of the best memories was being ranked in the Top 25 this year. We beat a couple really good teams on the road. And beating my sister at K-State. She played there (laughs).”

WNBA.com: What strengths, qualities or skills will you bring or add to a WNBA team?

McFarland: “I’m a pretty smart player. But more than anything I think I’ll outwork anybody you put me against. I’ll find a way to win. I’ve always played against people older than me and bigger and stronger, but I’ll find a way.”

WNBA.com: What skills do you feel you need to improve or work on at the next level?

McFarland: “Probably my outside game. I’ve been forced to kind of play the post my four years of college, and I’m a bit of an undersized post. I haven’t really gotten to work on my outside game as much. Still, I like to take the ball to the basket.”

WNBA.com: What do you expect to be some of the biggest challenges/adjustments at the next level?

McFarland: “The strength is a major issue. People have been trying to put weight on me for six years now and I just can’t gain weight. I get stronger, but it’s still hard to go against someone who weighs 250 and you only weigh 170, 160.”

WNBA.com: Did you have a favorite team growing up? Did you follow the WNBA?

McFarland: “I remember one of the first years it came out it had a poster with Sue Bird and Lisa Leslie on it and I think it’s still in me and my sister’s room back home. Definitely old-school, but we were so excited that there was an actual WNBA and at that point people didn’t know how long it was going to last. To be here and to be in this position, I can’t stop smiling.”

WNBA.com: Are there any specific teams you would like to play for?

McFarland: “Gosh. I’d be happy anywhere, anywhere close to home. There’s not a lot around Colorado or Kansas. So Chicago, Atlanta, Houston… wherever it’ll take me I’ll be happy with.”

WNBA.com: Where are you from? Tell us about your hometown.

McFarland: “I grew up in Derby, Kansas. It’s a small town right outside Wichita, Kansas. Nobody ever knows where Derby is. It was a great place to grow up. I think recently it was one of the top 10 places to raise a child or something like that.

“Sports were about the No. 1 thing to do, growing up for us and out family anyway. I had two sisters and brother and I can remember spending every Saturday during the summer or the winter, going to my brother’s wrestling meets or basketball or something sports-related. It was a low-key community. A good place.”

WNBA.com: Is there a current WNBA player you model your game after, or that you look up to?

McFarland: “I really like Swin Cash’s game. I feel she kind of plays the same way. She’s not really the biggest player out there on the court, but she does a lot of good things. You feel like she works hard day in and day out.”

WNBA.com: What WNBA players are you most looking forward to playing against or meeting?

McFarland: “Gosh. There’s a lot I’d say. Stacey Dales or people like that that have been playing a while that you grow up watching. I can even remember where some of them played in college, but I remember that they were great players in the WNBA.”

WNBA.com: Who are some of your all-time dream teammates that you’d want to play with?

McFarland: “I’m just excited because I won’t have to play center. I think Ruth Riley. I remember growing up watching her. She’s a great player. Sue Bird is really great. And Chamique Holdsclaw. That was really cool watching her play at Tennessee.”

WNBA.com: What are your plans for draft day?

McFarland: “I’ll just be with my team back in Colorado. I have a lot of friends that feel pretty much like family out there. I know they’re really excited. It was pretty late last night when I found out I was going to be here, but they were all so pumped about it so I couldn’t imagine a better group of people to be spending it with.”

WNBA.com: Out of all the prospects for this draft, who’s the best player you played against?

McFarland: “Tasha Humphrey, I’ve watched her play. I think she’s a good player. I haven’t played against her. Sarah-Jo Lawrence played with me in Taiwan. We went and played at the Jones Cup. She’s a great player. She’s so athletic and very, very defensively-minded. I admire her on defense. Adrianne Ross we just played against. She’s a very quick player. I like the way she plays. I’ve say the best player I’ve played against and seen would be Angela Tisdale. She’s a great leader for her team and can score in a bunch of different ways.”

WNBA.com: How about the best players that you’ve just seen and not played against?

McFarland: “Candace Parker. She’s someone I’d love to play against, and to play with too.”

WNBA.com: What’s your favorite way to relax off the court?

McFarland: “When the sun’s out, I like to go out by the pool, listen to some music and hang out with friends. That’s about my favorite thing ever.”

WNBA.com: Do you have a career path that you’d like to follow after basketball?

McFarland: “I’m graduating in the spring in May, which is four weeks away with my Master’s in tax accounting. I know it doesn’t sound fun. I like it. It’s research planning, being able to save people money. I’m excited about doing that.”

WNBA.com: What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

McFarland: “Prove people wrong, just because from the time I was in middle school people told me I’d never play high school varsity. My freshman year people said I’d never go on to the next level, I’d never play D-I, I’d never play Big 12 and each time I want to prove them wrong. I think that’s been the most rewarding piece of advice.”

WNBA.com: What is your favorite book?

McFarland: “It’s a very old book and it’s called Good Night, Mr. Tom. I remember reading it in I think fourth or fifth grade. I think it was part of some accelerated reading program. It was about World War II a child and all the struggles in England. I remember that was the first book that was more real life experience and had such an affect on me. Even now I’ll read it and it’s a pretty emotional book.”

WNBA.com: What is your favorite movie?

McFarland: “The Green Mile is one of my favorite movies. I really, really like that one. There’s always Fried Green Tomatoes. An old-school one, but it’s a lot of fun to watch.”

WNBA.com: What is your favorite album?

McFarland: “I’m a country girl all the way. People make fun of me, but we got the team listening to country in the locker room. Every single one of them that says they hate country, we got them listening. Josh Turner is probably one of my favorites. And Taylor Swift is a new one I really like.”

WNBA.com: What is your favorite TV show?

McFarland: “You know I hardly watch any TV. Grey’s Anatomy. This last season kind of let me down, but before that I was really into it. Family Guy! Love that.”

WNBA.com: What luxury item can you not live without?

McFarland: “Does lotion count? I’m a lotion freak. I always carry it with me. I guess the iPod too, just because of road trips. Day-to-day I can’t use it, but I can’t make it through a road trip.”

WNBA.com: What role does fashion play in your life?

McFarland: “Off the court I’d say don’t be afraid to wear heels. I’m 6-3, but I love it, getting dressed up and wearing heels now and then. I like getting my teammates dressed up in heels too because so many girls are afraid of them, especially being in sports and being so tall in the first place. Be tall, be beautiful.”

WNBA.com: What’s you best on-court moment?

McFarland: “I’d say my junior year, playing in Oklahoma City – all my family is from Oklahoma and at the game – and we won our first round game against Texas Tech. It was our first postseason victory and tournament win in quite a while. I had I think 32 points and so many rebounds. It was probably one of my best games of the season and doing in front of family and for it to be in the postseason was a lot of fun.”

WNBA.com: Do you have any pre-game rituals?

McFarland: “I really like to be the first one to the gym. This year we have a freshman, Brittany Spears, who always beats me out there because she doesn’t get taped and our trainer can’t tape us until a certain amount of time before the game. She’s really disrupting me on that (laughs).”

WNBA.com: Did you say Brittany Spears?

McFarland: “And a Whitney Houston. We have a Brittany Spears and Whitney Houston on the team this year. I remember when we were recruiting them we were like, ‘Are you serious?’ Whitney Houston sang the national anthem for us too the last couple games.”

WNBA.com: Are you superstitious?

McFarland: “No, but there are certain things I do if I have a good game. I try to do every possible just like the day before. But there’s nothing in particular. I always take a 25-minute nap right after pre-game meal.”

WNBA.com: Do you have a source of inspiration?

McFarland: “Just competitiveness. My parents from the very beginning instilled in us that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. I’m so competitive. You want to have that perfect, which I don’t know if there is such a thing. But that competitive energy in me keeps me going.”

WNBA.com: Since the WNBA is in its 12th season, do you remember what life was like for you at age 12?

McFarland: “For sure. That was the time I really stepped in to basketball. I went from being on a team where I didn’t get a lot of playing time. They moved up to a different league and I kind of got the cut at that level and played in a lesser league. I was basically an All-Star there. More than anything, I just kept working because I still loved the game and after school I didn’t have anything else to do.

“I remember watching Tennessee. That’s when they had two or three championship games in a row. And there was all the buzz about the WNBA just coming out. That was really exciting because that was the point where I realized I wanted to play basketball too.”