OK, now we'll go to Washington Mystics coach Pat Summitt for her comments on Friday's draft ...

	Stacey Dales-Schuman, the No. 3 overall draft pick, is the bread winner in her family.

Whoops, uh, make that Washington Mystics whatever-she-is Pat Summitt -- player-personnel advisor or general guru or Chamique-motivator or all of the above.

It was quite benevolent of Mystics coach Marianne Stanley to let Summitt do the talking to the ESPN2 crew Friday, eh?

(We're using "eh?" in honor of a certain Canadian chosen third overall by the Mystics, although I've never heard her say "eh?" in a million interviews.)

That would be Stacey Dales .... Dales-Schuman. Ugggh. I was so sure Stacey had more media-savvy than this. If you hyphenate your last name, it becomes so long that you almost NEVER GET MENTIONED IN A NEWSPAPER HEADLINE!!!

Just look at Taj McWilliams-Frankenstein, er, Frankfurter, er, Frankincense, er, Franklin. Whatever. She's never showing up in a headline. Ever. Like McWilliams wasn't long enough.

Know what else? Having a much longer name costs you in the stories. Sure, we writers can go on forever on the Internet; who cares how long the names are in cyberspace, which is infinite. For on-line purposes, Dales could have married a guy named Higginbothomcgillicuddy.

But if I'd had to type in those seven extra letters, Schuman, every single time I mentioned the former Stacey Dales in a newspaper story for the past four years, that would have cost me probably an inch or two per story. Vibrant, witty prose and great quotes cut to make space for hyphenation purposes.

Especially the great quotes. Dales was always good for lots of those. But that should still be the case in her new hyphenated form.

(By the way, for years I've dreaded the possibility of one of golf's Ammaccapane sisters marrying somebody like, uh, Higginbothamcgillicuddy, doing the hyphenation thing and then winning the U.S. Women's Open.)

Mystics, you done good! The Marianne Stanley and Pat Summitt team worked for this draft, that's for sure. Stacey Dales-Schuman was a great pick at No. 3 for Washington and Asjha Jones at No. 4 was just as good. ... Some folks thought the Mystics would take Nikki Teasley. But that would have been a mistake. Sure, Teasley could end up being a fantastic pro player with no discipline problems. Or she could be the next Brandy Reed.

But what the hell am I really getting at here? It's this: Mystics, you done good! The Marianne and Pat team worked for this draft, that's for sure. SDS was a great pick at No. 3 for Washington and Asjha Jones at No. 4 was just as good.

The Discovery Channel probably could do an entire documentary on what was going on with the Mystics "braintrust" last year when they took Coco Miller with their first pick. Gee, that wasn't fraught with peril, was it?

Speaking of which, some folks thought the Mystics would take Nikki Teasley this time. But that would have been a mistake. Sure, Teasley could end up being a fantastic pro player with no discipline problems. Or she could be the next Brandy Reed.

I sure hope it's the former, but the Mystics couldn't gamble on that. And they didn't need to with Dales-Schuman available.

Washington, 10-22 last year, has to give its amazingly loyal fan base a really good team ASAP. And it would help the league to have Washington be good. It's just the facts of life -- big East Coast cities get media coverage like nobody else.

The Mystics sent Nikki McCray to Indiana, where maybe she'll do the ex-Tennessee-bonding thing better with Tamika Catchings than she did with Chamique Holdsclaw.

Now Dales-Schuman and Jones should fit right in with the Mystics veterans, because they're both mature kids who know how to act on and off court.

I don't know if this is enough to turn the Mystics into a playoff team. But Mystics fans should have more hope now than they did a year ago.

And if you can create that feeling on draft day, that's a pretty good start to the season.

Mechelle Voepel of the Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel@kcstar.com.