PERSONAL 10 | Sue Bird Height: 5-9 Weight: 150 Position: Guard Born: October 18, 1980, in Syosset, N.Y. College: Connecticut, '02. MORE · Awards · Related sites · Sue Bird in seattletimes.com archive TIMELINE 1980: Born Suzanne Brigit Bird on Oct. 16. 1997-98: Leads Christ the King High School to 27-0 record averaging 16.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 8.5 steals a game... Named New York City/State Player of the Year... Named to National Honor Society and is an honor roll student. 1998-99: Starts first eight games of her career at the University of Connecticut, but season is cut short when she tears her ACL on Dec. 30. Forced to sit remainder of season on bench recovering. 1999-2000: Earns Big East Conference Player of the Week Award on January 10... Helps UConn win 2000 Division I National Championship. Wins AP Point Guard of the Year award. 2000-2001: Named to All-East regional team and All Big East First team... Places third in UConn history with 169 assists in a season... Hits shot at buzzer to give UConn its eighth straight Big East championship. 2001-2002: Reaches 1,000 career points on December 29, 2001... Leads UConn to 39-0 record and NCAA Championship... Is named AP first team All American... Sets UConn record for most assists in a season with 231... Led nation in free-throw percentage at 94.2. April 19, 2002: Drafted number one overall pick in 2002 WNBA Draft by Seattle Storm. May 30, 2002: Makes first start in WNBA scoring 18 points and dishing out six assists. July 5, 2002: Dishes out a career-high 12 assists against Cleveland. Aug. 9, 2002: Scores a career-high 33 points against Portland.

What else she do in her first season? Bird led the Storm in minutes, three-point field goals, assists and steals in 2002. To boot, she also holds the franchise record for assists in a season with 191. Not a bad rookie year.

Bird's presence has turned the tide of the Storm. A perpetual cellar-dweller in its first three seasons, the Storm are a much more complete team and in 2002 made their first appearance in the playoffs with Bird running the show.

Born on October 16, 1980 in Syosset, New York, Sue Bird was one of two children. Her older sister, Jennifer remains one of the people she looks up to and emulates.

Sue's high school career was definitely a sign of how good of player she is. While at Christ the King High School, she averaged 16.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 8.5 steals a game her senior year. Among many awards she attained in her days at Christ the King, she was named the 1997-98 New York City and New York State player of the year and 97-98 MVP of the New York State Tournament. She also led her team to a perfect 27-0 record.

Her first year at the University of Connecticut (1998-99) was a rocky one. While she started her first eight games, she tore her ACL on Dec. 30 and was forced to sit the rest of the season. All this gave her the fuel to push it harder in 1999-2000, where she started all 37 games for the Huskies, was second in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (49.7) and named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament team. Bird and the rest of the team went on to win the 2000 NCAA Division I Championship.

In 2000-2001 the Bird kept flying, being named to the All-Big East first team and leading the Huskies in assists (169) and steals (63). While all these numbers were extraordinary, one of her biggest moments came against Notre Dame in the Big East championship. With time winding down, Bird sank a bucket at the buzzer to give the Huskies their eighth consecutive Big East championship.

The following season Bird accomplished some of her finest work yet. While winning numerous awards and leading her team to a perfect 39-0 record and a national championship, Bird proved one of the elite point guards in the country. She lead the nation in free-throw percentage and was the Big East Player of the Year. Bird finished her career with the Huskies scoring 1,378 points, 585 assists, 243 steals.

College career highs for Sue Bird:
Points: 26 on March 25, 2002
Rebounds: 9 on March 30, 2002
Assists: 12 on November 9, 2001
Steals: 6 on February 5, 2000

Then on April 19, when she was drafted by the Storm, Bird's professional career began.

So what's the real Sue Bird like? Here's an excerpt from seattletimes.com story by Jayda Evans:

The city of Seattle vs. Syosset: "(Laughs) Syosset is a suburb, so it's nothing like Seattle. It's fast-paced, but there aren't any tall buildings or anything like that. It's a small community, and New York City is my downtown."

Scouting report: Bird likes to shoot the three and averaged 48.1 percent from the field in four seasons. Bird said she's "not amazing at any one thing, I just do a lot of things well."

When the Storm selected me I was: "At the draft studio (with mother and her mother's boyfriend). It was exciting to finally know instead of wondering what might happen. I could finally make some plans and actually picture what playing in the WNBA would be like."

Her mark: Has bellybutton pierced. Always tucks her shoelaces into her shoes. "They annoy me," she said.

Awards

2001-2002 Voted onto first WNBA All-Star team 2002 All-WNBA first team 2002 Wade Trophy recipient 2001-2002 Naismith, Associated Press and USBWA Player of the Year 2002 Honda Award for Women's Basketball 2001-2002 Kodak All-American 2001-2002 AP First Team All-American 2002 NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team 2001-2002 First team All-Big East 2002 Big East All-Tournament team 2001-2002 Nancy Lieberman-Cline Point Guard of the Year 2002 Senior CLASS Award presented to the nation's most outstanding senior basketball player		2000-2001 ESPN the Magazine point guard of the year Nancy Lieberman-Cline National Point Guard of the Year AP third team All-American Named to All-East regional team Named to All-Big East first team 1999-2000 Named to NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team NCAA East Region All-Regional Team AP All-American honorable mention Nancy Lieberman-Cline Point Guard of the Year 1999-2000 All Big East second team
High School
Parade First Team All-American 1997-98 MVP of New York State Tournament 1997-1998 New York City/State Player of the Year 1997 AAU All-American New York Daily News Player of the Year		USA Today second team Street & Smith third team All-American National Honor Society Honor roll student

Related sites

Sue Bird fanclub (Yahoo) Sue-Bird.com WNBA's Hoops 101: Sue Bird

Stormfans.org Sue Bird stats page on WNBA.com Sue Bird page on official UConn athletics site