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Show ^ ^ THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE SPORTS www.dailyutahchronicle.com Tuesday, January 24, 2006 The next level? Utes' Smith and Thorburn have WNBA potential Matthew Piper Matt Patton Kobe! Chronicle Writer Kim Smith and Shona Thorburn have had quite a career playing alongside one another for the U women's basketball team. Both Smith and Thorburn have started every game in every season and capped off their junior season last year as Co-Mountain West Players of the Year. It was the third straight MWC Player of the Year award for Smith, rewarding her for averaging 17.8 points and 8.9 rebounds a game for the Utes. Smith hasn't shown any signs of a letdown in her final season with Utah, and it's starting to bring attention from the WNBA. Recently, the WNBA's Charlotte Sting, who will have the third and 10th pick of April's WNBA draft, listed Smith as one of the college basketball players to watch. "A great shooter and rebounder, she is also a post-up threat in the paint. Having started all 96 games of her college career, Smith enters the season ranked fifth all-time on Utah's career scoring list," the Sting Web site said about Smith. "She also has been recognized for three consecutive years as a Kodak Honorable Mention All-America." WNBA.com analyst Ann Meyers also mentioned Smith in her "Preseason College Seniors to Watch" article. "She is just smooth and very deceptive, has a very good outside shot, can defend, gets in the lane; (she is) a physical player who can rebound," Meyers said. "She is smart, very smart." Another WNBA.com analyst, Matt Wurst, also placed Smith as well as Thorburn in a list of potential top picks for April's WNBA draft. Through 17 games, Smith is averaging 18.5 points and 7.2 rebounds, while shooting 51 percent for the Utes. She also earned her third MWC Player of the Week award last week, where she averaged 24 points, 5.5 rebounds and Enigmatic Bryant is the most interesting - figure in sports This is going to sound like some serious gushing, but I don't know even how to describe the experience of watching Kobe Bryant single-handedly dissect an entire NBA team. Like you, I'm tired of the Kobe-Michael comparisons, but I just don't know how else to put Bryant in perspective. Steve Kerr was agonizing last Thursday night, making at least 30 Jordanrelated comments while Kobe embarrassed the Kings' defense throughout regulation (before Odom & Co. blew a huge lead and Kobe finally missed a couple of times in OT). But can you blame Kerr, No. 23's ex-teammate, for his lack of imagination? Who else in sports is similar to Kobe Bryant these days? Picture Barry Bonds at the plate—for 42 minutes a night. Imagine Roger Federer rallying with Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt—at the same time. Or think of Tiger Woods on the 18th tee—reverse pivoting and dipping his shoulders into a 240-pound behemoth before diving backward and unleashing a 334-yard drive down the center of the fairway. I mean, if Michael Redd, Bobby Simmons and T.J. Ford combined for 81 points, it would make for a notable statistic. And not one of those guys is facing constant double teams. Wilt Chamberlain scored the bulk of his famed 100 on uncontested twofooters, sinking 28 of 32 free throws despite being the Shaq of his generation at the charity stripe. Wilt's whole team scored 169—and barely won the game. The league has evolved a lot since then and the NBA now arguably contains the bulk of our nation's best athletes. Not only are there plenty of 7footers to stymie the would-be Wilts, but there are even enough freakishly athletic 6-foot-6-inch guards to effectively manage most MJ mimics. Yet Kobe breaks through. It might not be Hollywood material—considering Bryant's checkered off-court past—but as my friend Nick said the other day, "He's the best thing on TV." The Raptors were literally trying to deny Kobe Bryant the opportunity to shoot from anywhere on Sunday night. Nobody else in the NBA gets that type • ' See KOBE PageS SeeWSBA Page8 Ute guard Shona Thorburn drives the lane against Loyola Marymount defenders on Dec. 3. The Utes won 63-47. Ute forward Kim Smith goes up for a lay up. Smith was named the Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week Monday. Last Week's Winner: S. Clawson 11-5 (22-10) Basketball Bids Pick the winning teams and submit your contest form to Union 240 Friday by 5 p.m. Remember...Don't screw up. 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