The Sky will have a draft ‘war room’ starting at noon Wednesday, April 5 on the 11th floor of our downtown office building. You can watch the first round of the draft on ESPN2; the second and third rounds will be carried live on ESPNU and NBA-TV. ESPN will have a camera crew at our office so you may even get a look inside. The entire draft takes about two hours with only three minutes between picks. League President Donna Orender announces the names and most of the athletes will be there in person for an interview with her so you can get an early up-close-and-personal with the newest member of the Chicago Sky.

Official practice will begin April 23 at the Moody Bible Institute, which is a world-class basketball facility and has been home to NBA rookie camps. Our head athletic trainer Georgia Fischer has been busy making sure the locker rooms are ready and there are lots of towels! We will be practicing twice-a-day (10 a.m. to noon and 5 to 7 p.m.) seven days a week until the season starts. I am really looking forward to having the players here so we can start evaluating how we look as a team. A few of the players will not be in Chicago in April as they are fulfilling their obligations to their European teams, but will get here as soon as those seasons are over.

I am also looking forward to the new floor being ready for the UIC Pavilion so that we can start doing some practices there and start getting a feel for our home court. Georgia is also working on the locker rooms at UIC; getting them ready and feeling Sky-like.

We had a successful open house recently at UIC (not easy as Bradley was playing in the NCAA the same night!!) and have another one planned for April 11 5-8 p.m. If you want to come out and join the fun and pick out your season’s seat just give us a call or send us an e-mail to RSVP.

Ready. Set. Soar.