Bird taken as No. 1 pick

Friday, April 19, 2002 | 10:31 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- Sue Bird was taken No. 1 by the Seattle Storm in the WNBA draft this morning, one of four players from unbeaten NCAA champion Connecticut in the top six selections.

"No. 1 is pretty special," Bird said. "There will be a lot of expectations, but not anything I'm not willing to accept."

UNLV's Linda Frohlich was expected to be drafted in the second round. The 6-foot-2 forward from Oldendorf, Germany won three consecutive Mountain West Conference Player of the Year awards while breaking the school's career marks in scoring and rebounding.

Frohlich, a third team All-American pick this year, was recruited to UNLV in 1998 by then-first year head coach Regina Miller. The Lady Rebels were coming off back-to-back 4-23 campaigns at the time.

But behind the all-around play of Frohlich and the leadership of Miller, UNLV didn't win fewer than 17 games the next four seasons. The Lady Rebels garnered an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 1994 last month.

Bird was followed in the first round by Huskies teammates Swin Cash at No. 2 to Detroit, Asjha Jones at No. 4 to Washington, and Tamika Williams at No. 6 to Minnesota.

Connecticut is the first school to have four players selected in the first round of the draft.

Washington also chose Stacey Dales-Schuman of Oklahoma with the No. 3 selection -- the highest spot for a Canadian player -- and the fifth pick was North Carolina guard Nikki Teasley to Portland.

Bird was a consensus choice as national player of the year and helped UConn go 39-0 and win its third national title.