Some people you just naturally root for, so I was bummed today to learn that the Seattle Storm cut former Meadowdale and UW star Kristen O’Neill Thursday. O’Neill gave it a great shot, but in the end, ran into a numbers game that she couldn’t overcome.
O’Neill is class all the way. Love her all-around game. Great defender. Solid ballhandler. Gargantuan work ethic. I always thought she could have scored more, but she was more interested in keeping her teammates involved, and you can’t fault her for that. She also knew, as a top player, of her obligations to the media. I don’t think she loved talking to the press, but she was always accommodating and pleasant.
I remember a story Scott North and I did on her former coach at Meadowdale, Karen Blair. O’Neill came out as a staunch supporter of her former coach, who, frankly, didn’t exactly come through smelling like a rose. O’Neill could have held it against me, but she recognized that Scott and I had a job to do and that we wrote a fair and balanced story. I always respected her for that.
I hope this doesn’t signal the end of O’Neill’s basketball career. The game has given her so much, including a couple of stints playing in Spain and Ireland. How else can you get experiences like that? She’s still very young and hasn’t hit her peak yet. She has plenty of basketball left in her. I’ll be interested to see what she does next.
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