An All-American guard-forward from Purdue, Katie Douglas will be sharing her thoughts on being a rookie in the WNBA throughout the season. In her first diary, she talks about what she’s been up to since the Final Four and looks forward to draft day.

Dear Diary,

I am extremely happy to have another opportunity to share my thoughts and daily exploits with everyone. The only thing different this time is that I won’t be at Purdue anymore, as I am approaching another exciting phase of my life — playing in the WNBA. I am very excited for tomorrow’s draft, but first let me share with y’all what I have been up to since my final collegiate game.

To begin with, I am so happy and proud of our team that finished runner-up for the national championship. The majority of people did not think we would make it to the Final Four. But to the disbelief of many, we reached our goal. I am so fortunate to have played in two Final Fours and two national championship games. Not many get the opportunity to play Division I basketball, but I was afforded this awesome experience and wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Things settled down a little last week as I tried to catch up on all of my academics. I finally caught up and only have about two weeks left in the semester. Unfortunately, I will not graduate this spring. But I am planning to return to school for the fall semester and will graduate this December.Since returning home from the Final Four my life has been a bit chaotic. I don’t know if I have spent three consecutive nights in West Lafayette. As soon as we arrived home, I went to Indianapolis for a funeral of a close family friend. Then, I went to Chicago on Wednesday for the WNBA combine. I went up there for all of the administrative things, but had to return late Thursday to class. I hadn’t been in class for a long time due to the tournament, and my professors wanted me to return to being the student-athlete that I am.

Other than studying, I have been working out and packing up my apartment. The WNBA has such tremendous talent and I am trying to keep in shape with hard workouts. I am also getting ready to move into a new apartment. I never realized how much junk I had until I started packing last weekend. I think I have thrown away about twenty huge trash bags of junk and I am not finished.

Well, I am fortunate enough to be going out to the draft in New Jersey tomorrow. I am very excited, but also a little nervous. I leave Thursday afternoon to embark on a new phase in my life and career. I really have no idea where I will end up, but I am so blessed to have these things happen in my life. I shopped all night last night for a professional outfit and think I will do all right tomorrow if I get drafted. I don’t really have any preferences for where I would like to go. I just hope that wherever I go it is warm because I love warm weather in the summer.

Well, I am about to go and get everything in order to leave. I hope everyone enjoyed my entry this week. I will be back throughout the season to share my thoughts and business.

Until next time …

KT