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One mystery of the 2025 WNBA Draft is how the Golden State Valkyries were able to nab Aurora alum Shyanne Sellers with the 17th pick in what many considered a steal.
A less talked-about mystery? How Greenmen coach Erika Greenberg was able to get her children to sleep before Sellers' name was called.
A lot of Aurora basketball fans, including Greenberg's kids, were enthralled by Sellers during her time on Pioneer Trail. They traveled as a family to the Big Ten Tournament to catch Sellers during her senior season at Maryland. They eagerly awaited news of where Sellers was headed next. And somehow Greenberg got them to bed.
"Oh, it was a fight, but they have to get up at like 6 in the morning so they have to get up early, but, yeah, they were fighting me," Greenberg said. "I'm like, 'You guys, I promise I'll tell you where she goes,' so then I filmed it on my phone and showed it to them in the morning."
Their reaction?
Greenberg's daughter immediately said, "I love that."
Not that her daughter necessarily prefers the Valkyries, an expansion team, to the Las Vegas Aces or the Chicago Sky for basketball reasons. No, she just likes the name. Greenberg laughed a little as she thought back on that family moment.
"It was pretty cute," she said.
Erika Greenberg reflects on Shyanne Sellers' high school days
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A lot of America has gotten to know Shyanne Sellers over the past couple of years, with the Terrapins getting plenty of nationally televised games as one of the Big Ten's perennial top programs.
Sellers became one of America's most talked about college basketball players not just because of her remarkable skill — she's the first Maryland player to amass 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists — but because of her brand. From her signature glasses to her electric personality, visible even from a TV screen, Sellers has created a fanbase. None of that surprises Greenberg, who recalled Sellers lighting up a room at youth basketball camps.
"This personality, it was like so much bigger than she was," Greenberg said. "At the time, she was little, I don't know maybe like 7, 8, 9 — probably how old my daughter is now — and just to see her and the way she carried herself, the way she played, she just seemed so much older, and she just had this personality that just didn't stop."
Sellers was equally unstoppable on the basketball floor from the moment she put on the green and white. She was a four-time all-Ohioan for the Greenmen, earning honorable mention as a freshman and first team the next three years.
Aurora won the Suburban American every season of Sellers' career. As a senior, she did it all, averaging 23.3 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 2.8 steals and 1.8 blocks. Even now, Greenberg still looks at her game film from time to time in amazement.
"She would hit kids all the way down the court," Greenberg said. "She would get maybe one dribble and just throw dimes down the floor, and it's like, wow, we don't have anyone that can do that."
But more than any one trait, Greenberg marvels at Sellers' ability to take over games as she watches film.
"Just she did not buckle under pressure," Greenberg said. "She just welcomed it and just took it on, and so her ability to score, her ability to get to the rim, I mean, she truly was unstoppable."
Watching Shyanne Sellers' ascent from back home
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Greenberg, of course, kept tabs on Sellers after she ventured from Aurora to College Park.
Sellers was a standout from the moment she took the floor for Maryland. As a freshman, she not only earned All-Big Ten Freshman Team honors, but she was also named the conference's Sixth Player of the Year. As a sophomore, Sellers was named to the All-Big Ten Defensive Team in addition to making first team overall (from the media) and second team (from the coaches).
Even back home, Greenberg noticed how good Sellers became on the defensive end.
"I think she bought in defensively, like, she became a really good lockdown defender freshman, sophomore year there," Greenberg said. "She really turned it on defensively."
Sellers also became a more efficient shooter, going from a 31.7% clip from deep as a freshman to 40.8% as a senior.
"She's able to see the floor and she's always been a great passer," Greenberg said. "I think her 3-point shot really developed, and I think just maturity-wise, she got a lot stronger, she got more physical, so I think all those things came along."
Back in Sellers' high school days, Greenberg didn't skip steps and start thinking about the WNBA. She was thinking about Sellers having a great chance to play college basketball on a big stage. But as Sellers' time in Maryland neared an end, the Aurora coach found herself scouring mock drafts and trying to figure out where Sellers might be headed.
She chatted with the Sellers family at the Big Ten Tournament, but she said she also didn't want to pry too much before the draft. She knew Sellers had a million other things to deal with.
On the night of the WNBA Draft, Greenberg settled into her living room couch and anxiously awaited every pick. When Sellers was selected, Greenberg was overjoyed. When Sellers talked about her mom's battle with multiple sclerosis in an emotional interview with Holly Rowe, Greenberg found herself crying, too, even though she was, of course, plenty familiar with Kym Sellers' story.
America got to know Sellers through that interview and also through some funnier moments, including when the red carpet show got her name wrong much to Sellers' apparent amusement and when Sellers showed her fear of heights as a number of top prospects visited the Empire State Building's observation deck before the draft.
It's the same Sellers Greenberg has known for well over a decade — and that might be the best part.
"Shyanne has been Shyanne forever," Greenberg said. "I think that's one thing that, like, she's still her. So even though she's this big superstar, like, Shyanne is still Shyanne, so it's just heartwarming to know that she's still so grounded, she's still so down to earth, and that she's still herself."
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This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: As Shyanne Sellers is drafted into the WNBA, her Aurora coach reflects
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