Mercury guard Diana Taurasi both taught and learned many lessons in her first season in the WNBA. But because of the whirlwind spring that she had in 2004, from the Final Four to the WNBA Draft straight to WNBA training camp, last season's Rookie of the Year and member of the gold medal-winning U.S. Women's Olympic team still has some business to take care of back at the University of Connecticut. Back on campus, Taurasi is on schedule to graduate this spring and be back in Phoenix in no time.

Q. You first burst onto the national spotlight playing in Final Four after Final Four at the UConn. What is it like to be back?
"I love my school to death, but it is so different since I have been removed for more than six months and then have to walk into the same buildings and classrooms I did back when I was a freshman. It's weird."

Even when she is off the court, a ball is never far away. Jennifer Pottheiser NBAE/Getty Images

Q. How many more classes do you have to finish up?
"It is half of a semester that I didn't get to finish last spring because of the draft and training camp and the start of the Mercury season, so I had several incomplete courses. Since the league took that month off for the Olympics, I couldn't go back and finish up in the fall."

Q. Are you having fun?
"This is not the worst thing in the world."

Q. How are you staying in basketball shape and getting ready for the WNBA season?
"It's different because I am able to go in and practice with my old team, but I am not on the team. I don't have to go to the meetings or watch film. I just go and practice, try and break a sweat and then just go home. It is great because I obviously need to stay in shape. And I get to be around Coach Auriemma."

Q. Does he treat you any differently now that you are no longer one his stars?
"It's funny because the minute you graduate, you are held up on pedestal and treated very differently. When I was a freshman, it was all about how Nykesha Sales was so great. And then when Sue Bird graduated, all we heard is 'You have to be like Sue!' I had four years of that. So now for the players there, it's like 'You have to be like Dee.' It's just funny how things have changed."

Taurasi never turned her back on her schoolwork. Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images

Q. What books are in your bookbag right now?
"I'm taking two political science classes and a sociology class to finish up. I am a sociology major."

Q. So what do you want to be when you grow up?
"Well, when I was a little kid, I wanted to be a dentist. But I think I'll end up being a coach. Even when I go to the practices now, I like talking things through and instructing. I love the game and I think I come across to kids in the right way and can get the right responses from them."

Q. With you out of the picture, the team has a slightly different look. What is it like being around a whole new class at UConn?
"I give tips to the freshmen because I know how hard that is for them. I had Stacy Hansmeyer and Svetlana Abrosimova there to help me when I was just starting out as student assistants. So when we come back and help them out, it means a lot to them."

Q. We know how hard college is, but are you at least having a little fun back on campus?
"The weird thing is that you have a group of friends when you are there, but they are gone now, too. So when you come back, you are around a different group of people, so I don't go out and hang out as much as I did. That was my party time, and now it's done."