• Boston College's Carolyn Swords said this wasn't a bittersweet day for her in any way, and it would have been completely understandable if it was.
Swords, the 6-foot-6 center from Sudbury, Mass., was taken with the No. 15 pick by the Chicago Sky. She celebrated the occasion with her aunt Susan Halliday and her siblings, John and Marybeth.
Swords' mother died of cancer 12 years ago; her father of a heart attack four years ago. Swords and her siblings live with Halliday. She said she was overwhelmed by the day.
"Being here with my family and being so close to home and being on [ESPN's] campus, it is just thrilling and I'm so thankful," Swords said. She also said she knows her parents are proud of her. "It's all been great. I have a wonderful relationship with my aunt," Swords said. "My family and friends are watching back home and I know I'm very supported."
Swords' siblings felt the same way. "We are a pretty happy family, and we are happy for Carolyn," John Swords said. "And we're very excited to visit her in Chicago."
• There wasn't a lot of suspense in Maya Moore's day, except perhaps in the question of whether she would hold up as she ran the gamut of interviews and commitments following her inevitable selection as the No. 1 pick in the draft.
Her mother, Kathryn, said she's confident her daughter is ready for what comes next.
"She's always been ready for the next level," Kathryn Moore said. "She's been such a confident young lady since she was very young. She used to play with older players and she's ready for the challenge."
Kathryn Moore said this feels like one of those milestone days, like graduation.
"Absolutely. We've been waiting for this day since she was very young, probably 7 or 8 years old."
Moore's coach Geno Auriemma joked as he held court in the ESPN lobby that he wouldn't be heading up to the family and friends viewing room because "I don't have any family here, and I don't have any friends."
But he made his way up there anyway.
He's had plenty of players go through this process. He said he gave Moore one simple piece of advice. "You are starting a new chapter in your life, go enjoy it."
• Tulsa Shock coach Nolan Richardson had a good day. He came away with the draft's most colorful player in Australian Liz Cambage with the No. 2 pick and had a second first-round pick with Stanford's Kayla Pedersen. He's becoming a women's basketball convert.
"I never had a clue when you put groups together and they can play like they play," Richardson said. "I mean, I don't even watch men's basketball anymore, that goes to show you, because [in the women's game], you have fundamentally sound people, you got people that can shoot free throws. The only thing they can't do is dunk. Physical? Very physical and the league is very physical. That I never dreamed it [until] I got to see it first-hand. It was a lesson."
• Courtney Vandersloot, the Gonzaga standout taken No. 3 by Chicago, said it was her mother who reminded her that she wrote a paper in the third grade about wanting to play in the WNBA. "I don't remember writing it, but I do remember wanting it," she said.
ESPN's Heather Burns contributed to this report.
