Womhoops Guru

Mel Greenberg covered college and professional women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked for 40 plus years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather," as well as induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Guru's USA Women's Basketball Tour: A Photo Gallery of Elena Delle Donne Homecoming Night

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

NEWARK, Del. -- She shoots horses doesn't she.

 No, not Delaware's sweetheart Elena Delle Donne, whose prowess involves shooting a roundball with great proficiency that has taken her from Wilmington's Ursinus Academy to collegiate acclaim at nearby Delaware, on to the WNBA, and now as a new member of the USA Women's National Team that is about to chase continuation of collecting Olympic gold medals, this time at the Rio Games in Brazil.

But about our opening sentence first.

The young woman the Guru refers to in the first sentence who shoots horses is not an actress starring in a movie sequel of a film by a similar name on theater screens years ago.

She does not carry drug-laden needles nor silver bullets. She achieves her skill weekdays halfway between here and Philadelphia at Harrah's Casino and Racetrack in Chester, Pa., as the track photographer.

Her name is Melissa Willhouse, a student at Rider University up in Central New Jersey near Princeton and a graduate of Cherokee High in South Jersey.

In the spirit of the Guru's bloggerettes of the middle of the last decade, many of whom came back on board for a special visit to help with the Guru's recent coverage of the passing of Tennessee Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Pat Summitt, we now go in a new direction.

Since for the most part, all you get from the Guru and Rob and some guest stars is words -- words worth reading but words nonetheless.

So now its time for photos.

Knowing her aspirations (you have to like someone who incessantly heads to the shore early in the morning just to capture sunrise over the ocean), the Guru invited her to spend time with the bigtimers here Wednesday night capturing the homecoming visit of Delle Donne with her USA teammates                                            to her alma mater as the first stop on a three-city East Coast tour that continues Friday night (the Guru will be there) in Bridgeport, Conn., and Sunday in Madison Sqjuare Garden in New York City.

When the WNBA season resumes following the games, look for more work from our photo lady at the Guru's usual haunts and possibly more this winter, as her schedule allows, on the local and nearby national collegiate scene.

But for now, enjoy the shots from Wednesday, from pre-game shootaround to the finish and understand also she had to work from beyond the usual photo floor spots due to limited spacing in the Bob Carpenter Center, and look for more in the future.

By the way for those who dont know Delle Donne, she wears No. 11.

The Guru now turns you over to Melissa, yeah we understand there's going to be a Mel-2 nickname               from the Guru's followers, but also understand this platform ain't the best to post a multitude of photos so bear with us.

- Mel