Will WNBA's newest rivalry be like Magic vs. Bird?
Remember what happened to the NBA in 1979?
Magic vs. Bird, that's what.
When Magic Johnson and Larry Bird entered the league together after their legendary faceoff in the 1979 NCAA national championship game, one of the greatest 1-on-1 rivalries in NBA history began.
Their status as the next big things, as well as the personal history that they had with each other, made them a dynamic duo. Together, they took their teams, and the NBA, to a different level.
That's what could happen with Candace and Sylvia -- as in Naperville's Candace Parker of Tennessee, and Sylvia Fowles of LSU.
Parker, the 6-foot-4 college basketball icon, was taken with the first pick in Wednesday's draft by the Los Angeles Sparks, while Fowles, a 6-foot-6 tower of power, went No. 2 to the Chicago Sky.
These two have the power to, individually and collectively, change the WNBA, just like Magic and Bird did.
Because they can play above the rim -- both are legitimate dunkers -- Parker and Fowles could take the WNBA to a whole new level.
And because these Southeastern Conference rivals are now forever linked through their place in the draft, their personal rivalry will likely continue, if not intensify.
This should be fascinating to watch.
A big thank you to the WNBA scheduling gods. How cool is it that the Sky and Sparks will be playing three times this year?
"It's one of the great things that will be happening in the WNBA for years, just like it was for the NBA with Magic and Larry," Chicago Sky coach Steve Key said. "Those two (Parker and Fowles) are going to be forever linked. It's unfortunate they didn't meet in the championship game (Tennessee defeated LSU in the semifinal before beating Stanford for the title) because it would have been even more so a situation like it was with Magic and Larry.
"But there's still always going to be a fierce personal battle between them. You know, Candace is one up on (Sylvia) now. She's got a championship and Tennessee beat LSU on the way there. I think Sylvia is going to want to get that back and that's going to make (the rivalry) even more intense."
Big Syl vs. CP3: Fowles, nicknamed "Big Syl," and Parker, nicknamed CP3 after her initials and jersey number, will go head to head three times this season. The first matchup is less than a month away, May 8, in an exhibition game at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.
The Sky then hosts Los Angeles at the UIC Pavilion in a regular-season game June 3. The teams will play in Los Angeles on June 18.
For Sky ticket information, visit www.chicagosky.net.
Pick-ups: The Sky also landed two other players in the WNBA draft: LSU guard Quianna Chaney and Baylor guard Angela Tisdale.
Chaney was Fowles' roommate at LSU.
"It's not like we purposely went out and tried to do one-stop shopping at LSU," Key laughed. "We felt like she was the best shooting guard in that draft at that point."
Chaney was a first-team all-SEC selection this season and averaged 14 points and 3.3 assists per game. Tisdale averaged a team-leading 16.2 points per game and was a first-team all-Big 12 pick.
"We saw (Tisdale) at the (WNBA) pre-draft camp and we were looking for a back-up point guard," Key said. "She can do it all. She's good with the ball, a good defender, a good 3-point shooter. We like her a lot."