We're back. Photo source: Comcast SportsNet
The WNBA playoffs start tonight for your Washington Mystics against the No. 1 seed Indiana Fever.
Unfortunately for the Mystics, a team which includes former Terp stars Marrisa Coleman (No. 4 pictured) and Crystal Langhorne (No. 1 above), Verizon Center, their normal home, isn’t available.
“Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular” will be occupying the floor of the phone booth tonight. (Don’t worry, the dinosaurs will be here all weekend, including three times on Saturday.)
So the Mystics got together with the Athletics Department and decided to host the game on campus at Comcast.
Student tickets are $10 and a shuttle is being provided from the College Park metro stop. Read on for more details.
“In simple terms, we were trying to find a venue that would be as close to Verizon Center in configuration and size and technology and amenities as we could find. In addition to that, a large portion of our fan base resides in Maryland- in P.G. County and Montgomery County,” said Mystics COO Greg Bibb. “Plus, having Crystal and Marissa on our team made it a logical choice. We can’t emphasize how excited we are.”
Judith Schaeffer, a season-ticket holder for both the Mystics and the Terps and the operator of DCBasketCases.com, sees a number of the same fans at both Mystics and Terps games throughout the year. The connection is there, especially now that the Mystics have started to reach out to people who were purely college women’s basketball fans in the past.
Tonight’s game at Comcast is a big indicator of that.
“You’ll see marketing for the Mystics at Terps’ games and the other way around. Of course when coach [Brenda] Frese and her staff come, people can’t help but know they’re there,” Schaeffer said. “The Mystics in the last few years have started to realize that that they’re aren’t a lot of crossovers. I do see fans are fans of their college team and not so much of women’s basketball generally. The Mystics are realizing they can try to get that crossover.”
It’s an interesting dynamic. We’ll see how well it plays out tonight.
As for Frese, she’ll be there. A fortunate break in recruiting will allow Coleman and Langhorne’s former coach a chance to sit back and watch. She’ll probably have a pretty good seat too.
But the first thing Frese made clear was how to deal with the trio of former Duke players on the Mystics roster, players that were rooted against at Comcast in their college careers, but now will technically be playing on their home floor.
“We are going to allow those former Duke players to use our locker room as well,” Frese joked Monday. “It’s just a tremendous bonus. Most of us thought that we wouldn’t have another opportunity to see [Coleman and Langhorne] come back to Comcast Center. We just want to do everything we can to give the Mystics a huge home advantage.”
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Aaron Kraut is The Diamondback’s sports editor. He can be reached at akrautdbk@gmail.com.