Also in DC for Mystics media day (or at least on the conference call) was the indefatigable Voepel.

Says Mechelle: "Devoting your last 11 summers to the Mystics has meant believing in one new system after another (or at least trying to); watching Chamique Holdsclaw come and go; getting up your hopes and having them dashed; not getting up your hopes and still having them dashed."

Says coach Plank: "I looked at Washington as a challenge. But I didn’t look at it like we could not win, or win right away, because I think we can. I want to build it the right way. I want to get some stability here.”

Also present, and also optimistic: the indefatigable Basket Cases.