Tracy Reid, the ACC Player of the Year for the past two seasons, announced that she has signed with the WNBA -- the second All-American to sign with the league this week, according to USA TODAY's Valerie Lister. The WNBA will hold its pre-draft camp today through Saturday. Lister adds that some ABL players are at the camp, and that "several players who committed to playing the ABL's combine" later this month "have decided to sign with the WNBA instead." The WNBA has signed 38 college seniors, including 11 conference players of the year (USA TODAY, 4/16). In Sacramento, John Schumacher wrote, "A year after getting creamed by the rival [ABL] in the battle for collegiate talent, the WNBA has taken a huge early lead in the tussle for the nation's best women's basketball players." Schumacher: "The difference? The WNBA was just a concept last spring. Now, it's established as a league with plenty of marketing muscle" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 5/15). In Cleveland, Liz Robbins examined the recruiting battle between the WNBA and the ABL. Woolf Associates VP Andrew Brandt, on the WNBA's pitch: "They plugged the WNBA exposure, the marketing, that it was the most successful start-up league ever. Of course it was a pitch they couldn't use last year" (PLAIN-DEALER, 4/15).
