A Shining Star Just Walks Away

NEWARK, Del. On a Wednesday afternoon in September, Elena Delle Donne is in the gym, surrounded by teammates in matching gray T-shirts. She is working hard, eyes focused on a ball that is flying around the court.

But this is not where the 6-foot-5 Delle Donne, once known as "the female LeBron James," expected to be. She is not at the University of Connecticut, trying to adapt the basketball skills she carefully honed over years of practice. She stunned the women's basketball community this year when she abruptly left summer classes after two days and again when she gave up her scholarship in late August.

On this afternoon, she is inside the University of Delaware's Carpenter Sports Building and she is trying to improve her hitting. Delle Donne is a freshman middle hitter for the Blue Hens, the defending Colonial Athletic Association volleyball champion.

"When I decided I didn't want to play basketball, that was something I really struggled with," Delle Donne said. "I am not burned out from being an athlete. But I am burned out from a sport."

So instead of being one of the featured basketball attractions yesterday at U-Conn.'s "First Night," Delle Donne was playing with the Delaware volleyball team at James Madison. Instead of taking part in her first collegiate basketball practice today, she will be taking on George Mason tonight.

"You're 19 years old. Do you want to be a lawyer? A doctor? A teacher? Who knows?" said John Noonan, Delle Donne's personal trainer. "She assumes she has to be a basketball player, because she's 6-5 and she's great. What if it doesn't make her happy? If she gets to a good spot [playing volleyball] and is enjoying herself, maybe she'll get to the point where she says, 'Hey, I miss basketball. Maybe I should play.' Or maybe not."

Hard Work, 'Huge' Talent

By the time Delle Donne, 19, began her senior season at Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Del., she had appeared on the front of USA Today's sports section; Sports Illustrated had compared her to Dirk Nowitzki and Diana Taurasi; and the New York Times had featured her under the headline "She's 6-5 and 17, With the Potential to Alter the Game."

She had been a state-wide star for years; her mother, Joan, remembers Elena signing autographs as early as fifth grade. Delle Donne received a scholarship offer from North Carolina during the summer following seventh grade, started on the Raiders' varsity and won a state title as an eighth-grader, and scored 50 points in the state championship game as a sophomore.

She finished her five-year varsity career with four state titles, one national record (80 consecutive free throws made), and one state record (2,818 points), and was the consensus national high school player of the year.

"She's huge in women's basketball circles," said Debbie Antonelli, an analyst for CBS College Sports. "I had coaches telling me when she was coming through high school that she could start in the WNBA right now. That's how talented she was."

Delle Donne worked hard to become that player. She picked up the game when she was 4, and started working with a personal trainer (Noonan) when she was in the second grade. Delle Donne already was tall for her age -- her father, Ernie, is 6-6 and played at Columbia, while her mother is 6-2 -- and the idea was to have her develop an all-around game, as opposed to a strictly low-post one.

Noonan and Delle Donne worked together two to three times a week, and as she got older, she added AAU practices and weightlifting to her schedule. They trained right up until she left for U-Conn. in early June, and Noonan said, "It seemed like she was really focused and wanted to get up there."