Where the Best Will Head

Every girl seeks a special place that's all her own.

More than six years ago, I started a website to better learn my own business, which then was called TheInsiders.com. At the same time, I seized upon an idea to present my club team, the Dragons, with a place, nicely done, where they could find their way, be exposed to the rest of the world, and feel good about themselves. I called it DragonGurlz.com.

Before long, I was posting and writing about everything I learned and thought might be interesting to others going through the same experience. DragonGurlz became HoopGurlz.com, to reflect the broader mission. It wasn't long before the network was renamed Scout.com.

During the past year or so in particular, as we have emerged on the national scene, I've been telling you - and you've been telling me - that the girls deserve a place of their own. That's why HoopGurlz.com exists. Because it's true. The girls do deserve their own place.

And, come Monday, May 7, 2007, they are getting one. That's the day www.HoopGurlz.com will be on its own, with a new look and new features. Because the girls deserve it. Scout.com has done a very smart thing on the Internet. It has focused on its strengths, which are the male sports at every level, and become an industry leader in their coverage. I'm proud of that because I helped it happen.

The new HoopGurlz.com will be cleaner and more interactive. It will allow us to expand our coverage. There will be more of everything.

You won't want to miss our first week. We'll have features on Nneka Ogwumike and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt. We'll introduce a new columnist, whose first mission will be creating more understanding on a health issue that plagues our sport - anterior-cruciate ligament tears. We will post our first-ever HoopGurlz Podcast, featuring an interview with Caroline Doty, our No. 12 ranked prospect and Connecticut commit, plus a discussion of the players we saw during the April evaluation period. And, of course, we'll have our ever popular Prospect Watch column.

The week after, we'll be at the USA Basketball U19 trials and the West Coast Elite Spring Invitational. The week after that, we will have a very full party at the Nike Midwest Showdown. You'll want to check out everything because there will be exciting, new features everywhere.

We still are talking to Scout.com about continuing a relationship and ways to continue working with many of our friends on the network. We will keep everyone posted on those efforts. We certainly will continue working with our longtime friend, Clay Kallam and Full Court Press.

The past year has been a magical ride, from the drama of the summer that continued to the very last game played at Nike Nationals, to the drama of the fall and winter when we brought you many of the major commitments and helped cheer all the letter of intent signings, to the yearlong emergence of Maya Moore's spirit and domination. Sadly, we also were there for the tragedy of Carly Stowell's death and hopefully helped you grieve and celebrate a brilliant young life extinguished far too soon. All along the way, we've also had some spirited discussion.

We look forward to a bigger and better year in a new place just for the girls.

Because they deserve it.