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A new beginning.
That's how the Mercury view today as they kick off the WNBA regular season against Sacramento at 7 p.m. at America West Arena. With rookie point guard Diana Taurasi set to make her debut, the Mercury are hopeful their once proud franchise is on its way back to the promised land.
"This season is a rebirth for us," said first-year coach Carrie Graf. "It's the start of a new phase and a new generation. It's going to be a growth over the next few years."
The root expected to support that growth is Taurasi. Simply put, she may have been the best women's college basketball player ever. A great shooter and passer, Taurasi led the University of Connecticut to the last three NCAA titles.
Taurasi's presence is expected to turn around a franchise which won only eight games last season and has struggled the last few years at the gate. First, though, we should examine what has gone wrong with the Mercury.
When the team set up business in 1997, it did so with much fanfare. Colorful and popular former college and pro star Cheryl Miller was named coach and she was given a good team. Fans flocked to America West and the team had an average attendance of 13,703. In 1998, it went up to 13,765. But 2000 was the last time the Mercury averaged more than 10,000 per game. Last year, the team had an all-time low average of 8,501.
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"A lot of teams go through cycles in sports," said Sulka. "You're up, you come down a little bit, you're up. We certainly have been down the last couple of years. There's no doubt about it. We finished the 2000 season 20-12, and since then, it's been a struggle. We had some of our young core, some things didn't go the right way. Maria Stepanova got pregnant. Brandy Reed, who was our All-Star in 2000 and our key to moving forward, that situation that left her suspended caused us to take a step backward."
After a couple of years of trying to plug the leaks, Sulka decided to start over last season. He assembled a young team, one he knew wouldn't win much, with his eyes on a pot of gold: the right to draft Taurasi. Thus far, Sulka said Taurasi has lived up to the hype.
"She has done everything in training camp that you would have expected a player with her expectation level coming out of college to deliver, she's delivered," said Sulka. "A tremendous teammate, a tremendous shooter, a tremendous passer, she has just delivered on all fronts."
Taurasi understands she is viewed as the savior, but quickly changes such talk to other players expected to be big contributors, such as veterans Adrian Williams and Anna DeForge and newcomer Penny Taylor, whom the Mercury made the first pick in the WNBA dispersal draft.
"Everyone feels they have a part in bringing it back up to where it was some years ago," said Taurasi. This isn't the first time a player has come into the WNBA so heralded. Chamique Holdsclaw got plenty of hype when the Washington Mystics made her the first pick in the 1999 draft.
"We were a struggling team," said Mystics general manager Judy Burton. "We weren't winning. Everyone knew her. It brought in the casual fan."
Actually, the Mystics' attendance dropped slightly in Holdsclaw's first season, but the year before was Washington’s first season in the WNBA. The Mystics expected a big drop that second year but it never materialized, most likely because Holdsclaw was around.
Mercury officials said season-ticket sales are up 30 percent over a year ago. They also optimistically said they expect a near sellout tonight. But how long will fans come out because of Taurasi if the team doesn't win?
"This team, with all the publicity and all of the buzz is great, but at the end of the day, the team will need to perform at a high level," said Sulka. "We'll have to deliver an incredible fan experience. We'll have to deliver great customer service. We'll have to do all that for it to continue."
COPYRIGHT 2004, EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE. Used with permission.
