2003 Connecticut Sun season explained

The 2003 WNBA season was their fifth season and their first in Connecticut. The Sun made the playoffs for the first time since 2000. They would sweep the Charlotte Sting in the first round, only to get swept to the eventual champion Detroit Shock in the conference finals.

Offseason

Dispersal Draft

Based on the Sun's 2002 record, they would pick 6th in the Miami Sol/Portland Fire dispersal draft. The Sun selected point guard Debbie Black.

WNBA draft

RoundPickPlayerNationalitySchool/team/country
213Courtney ColemanOhio State
334Lindsay WilsonIowa State
[1]

Transactions

[2]

Schedule

Preseason

GameDateOpponentResultRecord
1May 6New YorkL 81-730-1
2May 11@ CharlotteW 65-641-1
3May 16HoustonL 72-791-2

Regular season

GameDateOpponentResultRecord
1May 24Los AngelesL 73-820-1
2May 30@ HoustonW 91-831-1
3June 1@ San AntonioW 83-642-1
4June 5@ DetroitL 89-1032-2
5June 7HoustonW 65-583-2
6June 13WashingtonW 84-704-2
7June 14@ ClevelandL 56-844-3
8June 18ClevelandW 70-575-3
9June 20@ IndianaL 74-845-4
10June 22DetroitL 73-82 (OT)5-5
11June 24@ WashingtonW 65-636-5
12June 26IndianaL 90-94 (OT)6-6
13June 28@ CharlotteL 55-696-7
14July 1@ New YorkL 64-906-8
15July 2ClevelandW 64-577-8
16July 4SacramentoW 69-678-8
17July 6New YorkW 62-589-8
18July 8@ DetroitL 50-669-9
19July 10@ MinnesotaL 75-839-10
20July 17SeattleL 65-679-11
21July 19@ PhoenixW 75-6710-11
22July 20@ Los AngelesW 76-7311-11
23July 23MinnesotaW 84-7012-11
24July 26CharlotteW 74-7013-11
25August 1WashingtonL 45-4813-12
26August 3IndianaW 66-5514-12
27August 5DetroitL 61-7814-13
28August 9@ CharlotteL 68-6914-14
29August 12New YorkL 73-7414-15
30August 16@ New YorkW 84-7115-15
31August 19@ ClevelandL 52-6915-16
32August 22CharlotteW 63-5516-16
33August 23@ WashingtonW 74-6717-16
34August 25@ IndianaW 72-6218-16

Playoffs

In the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the Sun had to face the Charlotte Sting. Since the Sting had the better record, the series would be played with game 1 at Connecticut, game 2 at Charlotte, and game 3 (if needed) at Charlotte. The Sun swept the Sting and advanced to the second round.In the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the Sun had to face the Detroit Shock. Since the Shock had the better record, the series would be played with game 1 at Connecticut and games 2 and 3 (if needed) at Detroit. The Shock swept the Sun and game 3 was not needed.

GameDateOpponentResultRecordGame Type
1August 28CharlotteW 68-661-0Eastern Conf. Semi-Finals, Game 1
2August 30@ CharlotteW 68-622-0Eastern Conf. Semi-Finals, Game 2
3September 5DetroitL 63-732-1Eastern Conference Finals, Game 1
4September 7@ DetroitL 73-792-2Eastern Conference Finals, Game 2

Depth

Pos.StarterBenchInactive
CTaj McWilliams-Franklin
PFBrooke Wyckoff Wendy Palmer --
SFKatie Douglas
SGNykesha Sales
PGShannon Johnson

Player stats

Awards and honors

Notes and References

  1. http://www.wnba.com/draft2003/draft_board.html WNBA.com: 2003 WNBA Draft Board
  2. http://www.wnba.com/transactions/WNBA_2003.html WNBA.com: 2003 WNBA Transactions