Catching Up With Kelsey Griffin

Editor's Note - Kelsey Griffin was a finalist for every National Player-of-the-Year award in 2010. The 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award winner, Griffin was a unanimous first-team All-American and the Big 12 Player of the Year. A three-time first-team All-Big 12 selection both on and off the court, Griffin was the 2010 Nebraska Female Student-Athlete of the Year. The No. 3 overall pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft, Griffin earned one of five spots on the WNBA All-Rookie Team. After a successful first season with the Sun, she has continued her professional career in Hungary with Pecs 2010. Griffin is one of several Huskers playing in Europe this season, including Danielle Page (Hungary), Cory Montgomery (Spain) and Yvonne Turner (Germany). Griffin is also writing postcards from Europe for the Connecticut Sun, which can be found at wnba.com/sun. Her most recent card was sent from Italy, where Kelsey can be seen proudly sporting her Nebraska gear, a pizza and a black eye. (Jeff Griesch)

Thank you Husker Nation for all your support! 

My last season at Nebraska was a dream, but the dreaming didn't stop there.  Surpassing all my expectations I was chosen as the No. 3 pick in the WNBA Draft. Time kept rolling and it was time to start the WNBA season.  

Playing for Nebraska and in the Big 12 prepared me for the challenge that was to come.  Coach Yori and her staff taught me many very important lessons.  The two that helped me the most with this transition were to never be satisfied, and to have confidence in myself.

In one of the best leagues in the world you are consistently challenged mentally and physically, and I know Coach Yori's high demands prepared me for the quick transition to the WNBA. 

At Nebraska the expectations for community involvement and media attention prepared me for the demands with public relations.  The continual guidance by Nebraska's staff prepared me to portray even the toughest questions in a positive way. 

Thank you Nebraska.

I have enjoyed following the success of the Huskers this year!  I remember how much I hated early games because that meant early shoot-arounds.  Now I so look forward to Nebraska's 11 a.m. games because that means I can watch them from my home in Hungary!

Matt (Coatney) and Jeff (Griesch) are hilarious and I can only imagine the things they said when I was playing. I might need to see if those audio archives still exist!

Now that I am playing with players who came from basketball dynasties, I have found a common thread - the importance of alumni connections.  I believe the new players coming into a program need to understand how hard the previous teams worked to give them what they have today. 

Nebraska wasn't always recognized as a basketball powerhouse, but competitive excellence was what every team I was a part of worked to achieve.  I want to build alumni connections with players to help to continue Nebraska's voyage to competitive excellence.  I know I changed a lot between my freshman year and senior year, and I can now look back and understand why things were handled the way they were. In the moment, those things were sometimes hard to see. 

It helps to have players who have been through the long practices and rough Februaries who can give advice.  Players who know how to not only survive but excel in those times.  I try to not only keep in contact with my teammates, but the coaches as well. I know I still have a lot to learn. 

You know what they say: "the truly educated never graduate." I know that I still have many lessons to learn. 

I miss my teammates at Nebraska and like to help with anything I can even from thousands of miles away. I look back on my time at Nebraska and draw confidence and strength from it. The amazing memories I have cause me to miss it, but the hard times I never thought I would overcome now give me strength. 

Nebraska gave me a great community that helped me gain the confidence I needed to grow as a person. With this confidence I have been able to travel the world and truly enjoy the experience.  Because I chose to go to Nebraska, I am now excelling as a professional athlete. More importantly, I feel like I have learned to succeed in all areas of my life.

Go Big Red!

Kelsey Griffin
Nebraska Class of 2010