Aug. 21, 2012
By Marcus Dittmer
Sting Daily
One day after the first day of classes on the Flats the Georgia Tech women’s basketball team had its first official team meeting of the year. For the first time since August, 2007, Sasha Goodlett – along with LaQuananisha Adams, Mo Bennett, Chelsea Regins and Metra Walthour – were not on the Yellow Jacket roster.
The quintuplet finished their Georgia Tech playing careers in March and all graduated in May.
However, Goodlett is still spending her days learning from new professors. Instead of studying math and science her days now consist of learning offense and defense as a rookie with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever.
Goodlett was drafted No. 11 overall by the Fever in the WNBA Draft this spring and Sting Daily caught up with her during the recent Olympic break.
She has played in 15 games this season for the Fever, which is in second place in the Eastern Conference. The Bolton, Miss., native, who finished her career tied at the top of the Georgia Tech career games played list, is fighting for action with the Fever and taking advantage when she is on the floor.
In the first game after the Olympic break, Goodlett tallied seven points on 3-of-4 shooting in just 14 minutes against Washington and is converting at a nearly 49 percent clip for the year.
“The biggest adjustment is just having to re-learn basketball, learn a new system and get adjusted. It’s like being a freshman in college all over again, but the level of competition is much higher,” Goodlett said.
When asked about not having to go to class anymore, Goodlett responded with a laugh and pointed out she is still learning. Now all her “classes” are basketball related.
“It allows me to focus more on basketball now that this is my job, this is what I’m getting paid to do. I don’t have classes in terms of college classes, but I have to study and work on my mental mindset. I have to evaluate how I did. I get in and watch film with the coaches and figure out what I need to do better. It’s kind of like this is my class.”
While most of us spent the days between July 27 and August 12 trying to keep up with the 2012 London Olympics online and the nights re-watching NBC’s primetime telecast, Goodlett used the month-long WNBA break getting better at her craft.
“I used the Olympic break to fine-tune some things that the coaches have been talking to me about, learning where I need to be in the defensive scheme and learning to play off my teammates better. I’ve just tried to study the game more.”
The teammates are mostly veterans as Goodlett is the only rookie of the Fever roster. Katie Douglas, Tammy Sutton-Brown and Tamika Catchings, who brought a gold medal back to Indiana from London, are all in their 11th year in the WNBA.
“It’s an honor to be on this team in Indiana. A lot of the veterans have kind of taken me under their wings. They’ve tried to help me learn the system, how they want me to fit into the system and the role I’m going to play within the offensive and defensive schemes.
“Being able to play with all these different players has been a big honor.”
