Ditka.
Quenneville.
Jackson.
The great Chicago coaches all have mustaches.
WNBA's Chicago Sky coach Pokey Chapman knows the deal. That's why the fourth year head coach, who's set to take her team into the playoffs for the second straight year, was sporting a fake mustache Thursday.
"I was told there is a mustache of champions in this wonderful city fo Chicago, and as we move into the playoffs, it's important for people to understand that finally for the first time we have all our players together and they're healthy," Chapman said a day before her team tips off for the 2014 playoffs. "They've had so much adversity and we're just looking forward to tossing up the ball tomorrow."
No team was more decimated by injuries this season than the Sky and yet Chicago earned a playoff spot for the second straight season.
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Now that the Sky are completely healthy, they could be poised to make a run in the playoffs despite being the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
"There's definitely glimpses where we see the whole team back together and things just really clicking," said Elena Delle Donne, who missed 18 games while recovering from a recurrence of Lyme disease. Chicago was also missing point guard Courtney Vandersloot for 16 games because of a knee injury. Center Sylvia Fowles missed the first part of the season because of offseason hip surgery.
The Sky won the East last year but faltered in the playoffs, losing to Indiana in the first round. Delle Donne hopes for a different outcome this season.
"Last year it felt like everything was going great and then we finally hit adversity in the playoffs and just obviously didn't pull through there," she said. "Hopefully now it's kind of been an opposite season for us."
