Candace Parker, that rare guard-forward-center as officially listed, is sufficiently pressure-proof that Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt doesn't shy from placing the burden of winning on the 6-4 redshirt sophomore as the NCAA tournament starts this weekend.
"She understands if she doesn't play well, we may not win," Summitt says of the only collegian to make the eventual bronze-winning U.S. team at September's world championships.
But even Parker, the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year as voted by the coaches and a finalist for every major national women's player of the year award, has her limits. When her older brother, Toronto Raptors 6-6 guard-forward Anthony, wanted to attend a Tennessee game during the NBA All-Star break and see his sister play in-person for the first time since before her high school days, everyone knew to keep it a secret from her.
"I probably wouldn't have been able to throw the ball in the ocean if I had known my brother was there," she says.
He stayed undercover as his sister got 25 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks in an 81-69 win against Mississippi. "It was great to finally see her play," he says.
"I was saying, 'Hey, Candace, look over here,' " he says. "I think she thought I was a fan yelling at her, so she ignored me. So I had to send a derogatory comment to get her attention."
The comment — "Hey, Parker, you have no left hand" — did get her attention, although it bears no truth.
Her left hand is so deft that Parker uses it around the basket as well as for mid-range jumpers.
"Her left hand is way better than mine, and I'll be the first to say that," says her brother, averaging 11.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 32.7 minutes a game for the first-place Raptors.
Parker, whose No. 1-seeded Lady Volunteers (28-3) open the tournament Sunday against Drake in Pittsburgh, has a game shaped by her family.
"Basketball has always been kind of a family activity, something we've done together and we all share in common," she says. "Our father (Larry) was very instrumental. My mom (Sara), too. My brothers have been instrumental in working out and being great role models."
Her dad, who played at Iowa, made sure his children — Anthony, 31, who became a first-round NBA draft pick out of Bradley; Marcus, 28, who went to Washington University, played intramurals so he could focus on pre-med studies and is a resident radiologist at Johns Hopkins and Candace, 20 — learned fundamentals at an early age.
Just because they were taller than average, he didn't want them only playing the post and not learning to dribble and shoot from outside.
"We always played point guard and that kind of thing," Anthony says. "Candace was always taller than everybody. We have old films of her running the point.
"Most people at her size would be stuck down under the basket and never develop the things she's able to do. All along she was more advanced than the boys of her age, let alone the girls."
She also watched tape of her games and her brothers' game with her father growing up in Naperville, Ill., 30 miles west of Chicago.
"When you watch as much basketball as she has over the years, you can't help but learn," says her father, a Chicago-area insurance underwriter divorced from Sara.
"We'd look at games. 'You gotta make this cut. You made this pass, but you were looking down at the ball.' A lot of that helped her become versatile.
"She's certainly gifted physically, but the mental part of it, some players may not have necessarily gotten as they grew up," Parker's father adds. "She certainly had that when she was young."
Versatility rules
Parker, the only two-time USA TODAY national high school girls player of the year (2003-04), might be the most versatile player in the game, college or pro.
During the NCAA tournament, she's likely to play every position and do everything from slamming a dunk to hitting a three-pointer. She has six career dunks, the most by a women's college player, including four in five tries this season.
"When coaches prepare and scout Candace Parker, no one's thinking about the 'Candace Revolution' or her impact on the game or what her legacy will be," Mississippi coach Carol Ross says. "We're just thinking about our game and how the heck we're going to guard her. Posts can't defend her on the perimeter, and guards can't defend her in the paint.
"She's the toughest matchup in the game. On many nights, she's the best guard on the floor, the best post on the floor, the best rebounder on the floor, the best passer on the floor and, let's not forget, the best scorer on the floor. She's got the strut of a competitor and the stuff of a champion."
According to Tennessee, in her 30 games this season, Parker has drawn 186 fouls — almost one-third of the 573 fouls opponents have committed.
The really bad news for opposing coaches is that Parker plans to play more at Tennessee, after sitting out her first year (2004-05) because of two knee surgeries to repair torn meniscus and cartilage.
A strong student (second-team academic All-American, 3.65 grade-point average in the fall, 3.29 overall) and sports management major, Parker is on course to graduate in December. She could have opted to declare for April's WNBA draft, but she enjoys college life.
"Everywhere we go, there's orange," says Parker, referring to the school's primary color. "I feel like the Lady Vols are America's team to some extent.
"The support and attention on our program, I really enjoy. That's something you don't find everywhere. It's a different game at this level than at any other level."
Passion dominates
Parker has been getting national attention since she was in seventh grade and playing on an AAU team her father coached.
"We went to nationals, and she was phenomenal, above everything I asked," he says. "She'd go against some girls that were very good, and coaches would walk up and tell you, 'She is extra special.' "
The Parkers didn't raise their children just to excel in basketball. "We tried to get them to do whatever they felt they were good at and then supported them," Larry says. "We wanted them to try their best. We're a competitive family.
"We played everything from Risk to bowling to everything. Candace has always been passionate about doing well at whatever she did. She's that way about grades. I wish I could be as passionate as she is about some things. Maybe I'd be running the company instead of working for it."
The desire to improve still exists. Parker impressed teammates and coaches with her attitude during national team practices leading to the world championships. She didn't start any of the nine games but ended as the team's third-leading scorer (12.8 points per game), second-leading rebounder (6.1) and leader in blocked shots (14, a U.S. record for the tournament) and field goal percentage (.583).
"Her basketball IQ is pretty high," says Mike Thibault, a national team assistant and head coach of the WNBA's Connecticut Sun. "She studies the game. She listens. One of the things that was fun about being around her is that besides listening, she asks questions. She wants to learn more."
As Summitt noted after Tennessee lost its last game 63-54 to LSU in the SEC semifinals, "Parker is human." Parker shot 2-for-11, scored a career-low four points and had zero free throw attempts for only the second time this season.
"I told her, 'We can't win with you playing that way,' " Summitt says. " 'You've got to go at people. You've got to create contact at times.' Bottom line, she knows it and took ownership of her play.
"I have absolute confidence in her. I don't ever shy away from going to Candace. The one thing I'll tell you is, she wants it. I don't care the time, the score, whatever, she's expecting us to go to her. And we will."
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