Seimone Augustus

Infobox WNBA Player
name = Seimone Augustus


team = Galatasaray
Minnesota Lynx
number = 54
position = G
height_ft = 6 | height_in = 0
weight_lbs = 179
nationality = USA
birth_date = Birth date and age|1984|4|30|mf=y
birth_place = Baton Rouge, Louisiana
college = LSU
draft = 1^st overall
draft_year = 2006
draft_team = Minnesota Lynx
career_start = 2006
career_end =
former_teams =
awards = SEC Player of the Year (2005, 2006)
Wade Trophy (2005, 2006)
Naismith Award (2005, 2006)
Wooden Award (2005, 2006)
WNBA Rookie of the Year (2006)
WNBA All-Star (2006, 2007)

Seimone Augustus (born April 30, 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is an American professional basketball player in the WNBA, currently playing for the Minnesota Lynx, Galatasaray Women's Basketball Team and the American National Team.

Personal

Augustus, daughter of Seymore and Kim Augustus, graduated from Capitol in Baton Rouge, LA.

College years

During her collegiate career with the LSU Lady Tigers, the three time All American won the Naismith College Player of the Year, Wooden Award and Wade Trophy in 2005 and 2006 while leading the LSU to three straight Final Four appearances. The Lady Tigers however, never advanced beyond the semi-final round. She averaged 19.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2 assists per game in her collegiate career. Augustus graduated from Louisiana State University in 2006.

WNBA career

Augustus was drafted #1 overall in 2006 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx. Selected as a reserve for the 2006 WNBA All Star Game at Madison Square Garden, Augustus led the West squad with 16 points and won the Skills Competition the previous evening.

Augustus finished her rookie campaign second to the Mercury's Diana Taurasi in scoring at 21.9 points per game. Only one player (Taurasi 2006), scored more points in a single season. In addition, she finished fifth in free throw percentage (.897). On August 20, Augustus was named the 2006 WNBA Rookie of the Year.

The former LSU star improved to 22.6 points per game in 2007, while shooting nearly 51% from the field. An All Star for the second straight year, Augustus finished second to Seattle's Lauren Jackson in scoring average and played in all 34 games. The Lynx however, finished 10-24 tied with Los Angeles Sparks for the league worst record.

International career

Augustus is a current member of the U.S. womens basketball team and she earned a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games: Beijing 2008.

* 2006-2007: flagicon|Russia Dynamo Moscow
* 2008-2009: flagicon|Turkey Galatasaray

Trivia

*The only players prior to Augustus to win the Wooden Award or Wade Trophy twice are Nancy Lieberman (Wade) and Ralph Sampson (Wooden).

*Augustus has a love of classic cars, stemming from her uncle's 1969 Chevrolet Impala convertible.

*At LSU, Augustus received a degree in General Studies and is just short of a second in Finance.

Quotes

*“People always say there are good players, there are great players and then there are special players. Seimone is a special player.” — former Lynx head coach Suzie McConnell Serio

*“She is just awesome; some of the things you see her do on the court amaze you. You wonder, ‘How the heck did she do that?’” — Lynx center Vanessa Hayden on Augustus

*“I never heard about (the criticism). I can’t really worry about what people say or what happened in the Final Four and why we didn’t win or whatever. Well, I actually have heard that people said that I didn’t take over the game or whatever, but I don’t know any team in America that is just going to come out and let me do whatever I want to do. I have to play within my system and within my team and I wasn’t able to be as effective as I was in the regular season.”— Augustus on the criticism of her Final Four record

*“If you count wins and losses, yeah (the players share the blame), because we didn’t win. But, at the same time, we played our hearts out; (Coach McConnell Serio) knows it as well. We did what we could do out on the court.” — Augustus on McConnell Serio’s resignation

*“I might have tried it in high school, (but) after that I hung up the dunking shoes.” — Augustus on dunking

*"(Seimone) has been utterly fantastic. She has taken fewer shots this year and her numbers are up across the board. We told her coming in that we needed her to take fewer shots because we needed more balance to be a successful team, and she's been great about that. Any success this team is going to have down the road, she is going to be a big part of it." — Lynx coach Don Zierden on Augustus

External links

* [http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/seimone_augustus/index.html?nav=page WNBA Player Profile]

* [http://www.wnbc.com/sports/9382532/detail.html Seimone's Story: WNBA Phenom Part 1] , [http://www.thebostonchannel.com/sports/9440987/detail.html# Part II] , [http://www.wnbc.com/sports/9519622/detail.html Part III] , [http://www.wyff4.com/sports/9592237/detail.html Part IV] , [http://www.wyff4.com/sports/9695813/detail.html Part V]
* [http://www.wnba.com/draft2006/prospect_seimone_augustus.html WNBA 2006 Draft Prospectus]
* [http://www.usabasketball.com/bioswomen/seimone_augustus_bio.html USA Basketball bio]
* [http://www.seimone33.com/ Seimone Augustus] official site, hosted by LSU Athletics
* [http://www.usolympicteam.com/26_49110.htm Seimone's bio at usolympicteam.com]
*
* [http://www.galatasaray.org/basketbol/bayan/haber/1513.php Seimone Augustus signs for Galatasaray]