Dear Candace,

I was very excited to read the news this morning that you have decided to skip your senior season at Tennessee and to pursue a professional career.

Not only are you beautiful and a great basketball player, you are leaving school with a college degree.

Now let’s get down to business – what do you see in Shelden Williams?

Seriously, have you seen him with the lights on?

OK, OK, he’s 6-foot-9, but his height hasn’t translated into a great NBA career.

Not even an average NBA career.

Your boo is only averaging three points and 2.9 rebounds a game.

That’s just three more points than I’m averaging in the NBA.

This coming from the Duke all-time leader in rebounds.

Plus, who wants to live in Sacramento? Have you seen the cows?

After the Los Angeles Sparks select you as the top in the WNBA Draft and you get settled in my hometown, give me a call.

Thinking of you,

Hater

There is a new face in women’s basketball.

She wears a size 18 men’s sneaker and stands 6′8.

Did I mention she’s only 16?

Brittney Griner is a high school junior who has exploded on the national scene thanks to YouTube.

Listen to this stat line: 29 points, 13 rebounds, 11 blocks and nine assists as she helped Nimitz High School to a first round playoff win over rival Westside High School.

If you get a chance, search for the highlights from her first round playoff contest.

Griner could teach Kwame Brown and Eddy Curry a thing or two about taking it to the hole and finishing as she had two POWERFUL dunks.

All she was missing was announcer Bill Rafferty saying “Send it in Brittney!” and you would have mistaken it for an NBA highlight.

The Lady Vols were trailing 58-57 when Nicky Anosike grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled by Kia Vaughn.

However television replays showed the game clock seemed to pause as Anosike came down with the ball and two-tenths remained on the clock.

At this point, the Rutgers bench started celebrating, thinking they had finally knocked off Tennessee … only to find out the referee called the foul before the clock magically froze at two-tenths of a second.

Two free throws later and the Scarlet Knights found themselves on the short end of the stick.

Rutgers was coming off an 73-71 upset of previous No. 1 Connecticut and was trying to become the first team to ever beat No. 1 teams in consecutive games.

It’s hard to imagine that referees can be so bad this often.

Even with the advantage of instant replay, somehow the zebras still managed to get this one wrong.

Keep your head up, Scarlet Knights.