Awesome news. Congrats to Morgan! Great news for the program too

Congrats to Morgan! Your the best!

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2019/4/10/womens-basketball-bertsch-selected-by-dallas-in-third-round-of-wnba-draft.aspx

https://wings.wnba.com/news/dallas-wings-select-ogunbowale-gustafson-burke-and-bertsch-in-2019-wnba-draft/

“Morgan Bertsch was a top five scorer in the NCAA this season,” Bibb [Wings President and CEO] stated. “She is a four-player with tremendous offensive skill and excellent range. Her length and size will translate well in the WNBA and I’m eager to see her compete in camp.”

Outstanding! If I'not mistaken, she's the first UCD basketball player ever to be drafted by a pro team men or women.

Preston Neumayr was drafted by the then Kansas City Kings as the 14th pick in Round 8 of the 1983 draft. As I recall he put off medical school a year to test the NBA. I don't think he was around by opening day....he is now a doctor in the Bay Area, so he landed on his feet.

Thanks, 72Aggie. I remember Neumayr but had no idea he was drafted in 1983. I think Morgan will make the cut. She has great quickness inside and has the ability to stretch the floor and knock down perimeter jumpers as well. We were lucky to have her here throughout her basketball career.

The ESPN WNBA draft show may have been just about the worst. Seems like ESPN just doesn't do women's basketball very well.

How about this for a college basketball career!

MORGAN BERTSCH NOTABLES

Honors & Awards
• 2019 Big West Conference Player of the Year
• 2019 Big West Conference Tournament MVP
• 2017, 2018, 2019 All-Big West First Team
• 2019 Big West All-Defensive Team
• 2016 All-Big West Second Team
• 2016, 2018 Big West All-Tournament Team
• 2016 Big West All-Freshman Team
• 2016, 2017, 2018 Big West All-Academic Team (2019 team yet to be released)
• Nine-time Big West Player of the Week (12/26/16, 11/13/17, 2/12/18, 11/19/18, 12/10/18, 1/7/19, 1/21/19, 2/11/19, 3/4/19)
• Six-time Big West Player of the Week in 2018-19 (ties conference single-season record)

Single-Game Records
• Points (40 at Sacramento State in 2018-19)
• Field goals made (16 at Sacramento State in 2018-19)
• Field goals attempted (28 three times)
• Free throw percentage in a game (11-11 vs. UC Irvine)

Single-Season Records
• Points (754 as a senior)
• Scoring Average (23.6 as a senior)
• Field Goals Made (305 as a junior)
• Field Goals Attempted (554 as a senior)
• Field Goal Percentage (.582 as a sophomore)
• Free Throws Made (183 as a senior)
• Blocked Shots (57 as a sophomore)
• Most Points as a Sophomore (520)
• Most Points as a Junior (702)
• Most Points as a Senior (754)
• 20-point games in a season (23)

Career Records
• Games Played (132)
• Consecutive Games Played (132)
• Points (2,422 to lead both the men's and women's programs)
• Scoring Average (18.3)
• Field Goals Made (963)
• Field Goals Attempted (1,813)
• Free Throws Made (469)
• Free Throws Attempted (616)
• Blocked Shots (193)
• Blocks Per Game (1.46)
• Career 20-point games (61)

• Ranks tied for 6th on the career rebounds list (682)
• Ranks 4th in career field goal percentage (.531)
• Ranks 8th in career free throw percentage (.761)

• Became the 8th player in the history of the Big West Conference to reach 2,000 career points against UC Riverside (Jan. 5), finishing with 31 points
• Ranks third in Big West Conference history in career scoring (2,422)
• Finished her career scoring in double figures in 67 consecutive games dating back to 2017-18 season
• Led the team in scoring all four years (joining Carol Rische as the only two players in school history to do so)
• Nine career player of the week awards rank tied for seventh on the Big West all-time list
• Her six player of the week awards in 2018-19 ties a conference single-season record
• Became the first Aggie to lead the Big West in scoring as a senior, posting the highest single-season average for a conference leader since Idaho's Emily Faurholt (25.4) in 2003-04

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2019/4/10/womens-basketball-bertsch-selected-by-dallas-in-third-round-of-wnba-draft.aspx

BIG WEST CONFERENCE IN THE WNBA DRAFT

1997 - Anita Maxwell, New Mexico State (4th Round, 29th overall, Cleveland Rockers)
1998 - Erika Kienast, UC Santa Barbara (4th Round, 35th overall, Los Angeles Sparks)
2000 - Stacy Clinesmith, UC Santa Barbara (2nd Round, 30th overall, Sacramento Monarchs)
2001 - Jackie Moore, Long Beach State (2nd Round, 30th overall, Sacramento Monarchs)
2001 - Erin Buescher, UC Santa Barbara (2nd Round, 23rd overall, Minnesota Lynx)
2002 - Kayte Christensen, UC Santa Barbara (3rd Round, 40th overall, Phoenix Mercury)
2004 - Lindsay Taylor, UC Santa Barbara (2nd Round, 26th overall, Houston Comets)
2005 - Kristen Mann, UC Santa Barbara (1st Round, 11th overall, Minnesota Lynx)
2011 - Mekia Valentine, UC Santa Barbara (3rd Round, 34th overall, New York Liberty)
2019 - MORGAN BERTSCH, UC DAVIS (3rd Round, 29th overall, Dallas Wings)

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2019/4/10/womens-basketball-bertsch-selected-by-dallas-in-third-round-of-wnba-draft.aspx

I always love the focus on academics. Makes me proud to be an Aggie. Headline from the article:
"Senior biomedical engineering major becomes the first Aggie to be drafted into the WNBA"

https://bme.ucdavis.edu/news/morgan-bertsch-biomedical-engineering-major-and-basketball-star

Our focus on academics first and foremost is truly what makes Aggie athletics special compared to the win at any cost programs.

Yes and she was VERY successful academically in a very demanding major!! Being selected to the BWC ALL-Academic team three times since 2016. 2019 not out yet. I think that she will do well in the WNBA, but if not Europe will be there for her. Her success will also be very helpful to Jens recruiting efforts in the future.

Regarding the recruiting help, here's a brief clip from one of the incoming recruits...she certainly has a lot of the same attributes as Morgan.

Oldband, that clip of Megan Jones could have been Morgan. Uncanny, except she goes for the hair bob which Morgan never sported on the court. I think a team of Jones, Stobbart, Hall, Bessolo and Tripcic would be a very tough combination for the opposition to deal with; plus with very talented reserves in Konrad, McKweon, Song (who may start), and others. A Very formidable group!

I must admit that my first thought when I found out that Morgan got drafted was, "the WNBA still exist? "

I'm surprised that no one on this board gave a heads up that Morgan can potentially get drafted.

All of a sudden the WNBA looks interesting to me.

I had read a little about Morgan looking to the pro ranks but there wasn’t much buzz. And honestly I didn’t know the draft was happening until I got an espn update. Seems odd that they have the draft less than a week after the ncaa championship.

First WNBA pre-season game is less than a month away (5/9); first Wings pre-season game is the 13th. Regular season opens on 5/24.

Pretty compressed timeframe for the teams to get their draftees in camp and a roster figured out! Morgan's going to really be juggling her schoolwork and basketball now...wow. At least the Wings don't have a game on the same day as CoE commencments. Ha.

And yeah, I had read about her looking to play overseas, but figured that the Power 5 were going to have the draft pretty well locked up. Sounds like Coach Gross worked the phones a little bit on her behalf. :up:

https://www.swishappeal.com/wnba/2019/4/11/18305909/wnba-draft-analysis-dallas-wings-arike-ogunbowale

"2019 WNBA Draft Analysis: Dallas Wings sneak away with big win"

Great draft celebration for Morgan. She’s just so cool and confident. She will be a leader on that Dallas team both on the floor and in the locker room. By the way, my last post of my “fantasy team of 2019-20” did not include Kenedy Lily because I believe there is a 99% chance that Jen will RS her just like Morgan. She’s a real gem- no need to rush her IMHO.

I was very happy to see Morgan Bertsch get drafted. I have remained a WNBA fan despite the Monarchs' folding a decade ago (thanks a lot, Joe and Gavin). I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Morgan will make the Wings' roster and can contribute however she can. :heart: :cool:

There is a great in-depth article about Morgan in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat (her home town paper) today. They are obviously very proud of her and there are many interesting facts in this article that have not been covered before.
Sorry. I have yet to learn how to copy news articles to this site. Maybe one of you out there can give me a lesson?

Copying a whole article tough, and maybe violates copyright laws?

Practice with "copying" text. Step 1. If on a smartphone, hold your finger down on one word. Press. See the word highlight? Then drag one of the blue circles left or right to highlight 2 or 3 words.

Step 2. If you have that word or phrase copied, when you are pressing down, a bar should pop up that gives you options - copy, paste, etc. Choose copy.

Step 3. Flip somewhere else, press down, and choose paste.

Copying a link to an article.

One option is to go into the header up highest, and copy the URL / website address. Sometimes the whole URL isn't copied. Drag left or right to get the whole URL.

Option 2. Sometimes a sideways V appears in the upper right corner which allows you to copy the link, and then paste.

When you paste it, the beginning is typically http://paperaddress.com.45678. If you don't see the http or https, good chance you didn't get the beginning of the URL.

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/sports/9481872-181/benefield-morgan-bertsch-eager-for