Megan Vogel has come a long way. The Minnesota native came to South
Dakota State University in 2003, a season after the Jackrabbits won
the Division II national championship. The squad moved up to Division
I the following year, and Vogel — a four-year star — has led the
program to national prominence. The Jackrabbits made it to the 2007
WNIT quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Wyoming. At
the conclusion of her senior season, Vogel earned her second straight
All-Division I Independent First Team honor and was the 19th overall
pick by the Washington Mystics in the 2007 WNBA Draft. Vogel will be
blogging for WNBA.com throughout the preseason.


Background from Brookings
-Posted by Megan Vogel - April 16, 2007, 7:44 p.m. CT

To start this off, I thought I might introduce myself and give a
little background information, since most people outside of Brookings
and St. Peter really don't know very much about me, except from what
they saw on draft day.

I am originally from St. Peter, Minnesota. It's a small college town
in the southern part of the state and is one of those places where
everyone looks out for everyone else. You can ride your bike late at
night down the street and you can leave your car running when you go
into the grocery store to keep it warm during the winter. That's an
essential when you live in Minnesoooooooota! (I'm told I have a bit
of an accent… so I thought I would let it come through in print as
well!) Anyway, it's a nice little town. I like to tell people I grew
up there.

Brookings, South Dakota is similar to St. Peter, which is one of the
reasons I decided to go to college there. It's another small, college
town where the community takes you in as part of their family.

And our fans… I have to tell you about our fans. They are amazing.
For one of our WNIT games this year, they sold out Frost Arena in
less than four hours. Tickets went on sale at 1 p.m. and there was a
line at 10 a.m. In South Dakota. In March. "Amazing" is the only word
I can use to describe them.

As for school, I will graduate this May with a degree in Health,
Physical Education & Recreation. I would like to attend graduate
school this fall to get a master's in Sports Administration.
Basically, I am a sports fanatic. I want to be around the game for as
long as possible; first as a player, then as a coach!

Now that you know a little background information, let's get to the
exciting stuff! I am guessing you are wondering what things have been
like since draft day. Well, it has been… CRAZY! Yes, crazy seems like
a good word to use. I have had a lot of people come up to me this
past week and say, "Well, are you enjoying your time off before you
have to leave?" Wait… time off? Haha, I have to chuckle when I hear
that. There is no time for a break when training camp starts in two
weeks! I am one of those people who will go lift or shoot if I am
bored, if I need to waste some time, or, heck, even if I just want to
put off doing other things! :)

But, first, I have been taking care of things to ensure that I
graduate this spring. Getting my degree is a priority that I take
very seriously. To make sure I can accomplish that goal, I have been
getting all my work done for the rest of the semester before I take
off for Washington this Tuesday.

When I am not getting things in order for school, you can find me in
one of two places: the gym or the weight room. (Nancy Lieberman, if
you happen to read this… no, I am not working on my tan, but someday
I will get to it! By the way, my aunt got me a bottle of self-tanner
as a going-away present… I think it was more to make fun of me… but
it's all good.) Our strength coach kicked my butt all last week. IT
WAS GREAT! I got a lift in on Monday, and when Tuesday morning came,
I went to put on my socks, only to find that I couldn't put them on
standing up because I couldn't reach down to my feet. No, I am not
that old, but I was that sore!

In addition to lifting, my coaches have been nice enough to take me
through some individual basketball workouts. Individual workouts are
one of my favorite things about being a college basketball player…
mostly because you get to either shoot or take it to the rack for an
hour straight! Honestly, what's more fun than that? If I am not
working out with my coaches, you can usually find me on a shooting
machine called "The Gun." It is without a doubt one of my favorite
things, right next to my grandma's cooking -- nothing can top
grandma's homemade cookies and bread! -- but this machine ranks right
up there. You can shoot for hours on end and it rebounds all of your
shots and gets you a pass right back. There is nothing better than
hooking up my iPod and letting loose on the gun for a while!

That is what my past week and half has consisted of. Sunday, I went
shopping down in Sioux Falls to get some dress clothes for Rookie
Orientation. Yep, dress clothes! Let's just say this: I am not your
typical girly type who dresses up all the time. To give you a mental
picture of my closet, it consists of t-shirts, hoodies, sweats,
shoes, shoes and more shoes. (Wait, let's rephrase that. By "shoes" I
could mean nice black or brown dress shoes… and there is only one
pair of each of those! Instead, I'll say sneakers, sneakers and more
sneakers.) There is however a small (and I really want to emphasize
SMALL) section where I have some "regular" clothes… jeans, khakis,
nice shirts, etc. So our task today was to find some "nice business-
looking attire," according to my mother. The verdict? Mission
accomplished!

It was great to spend time with my mom and dad before I leave. I am
very close to my family, so spending time with them before I leave
means a lot to me.

Well, I need to start packing. I leave for D.C. on Tuesday!

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