From our Mailbag:

Daliborka (Riga, Latvia) writes: While watching the Mystics play in Charlotte, I noticed that Nikki Blue seemed glued to the bench and appeared to be holding something that looked like it might have been a laptop. Can you explain?

BC: Excellent observation, Dali! It's true that Nikki Blue did not play as many minutes against the Sting as she's played in earlier games, and indeed, she did seem preoccupied with her laptop while sitting on the bench. While many fans assumed she had downloaded a copy of Richie's 6,000 page playbook and was simply brushing up, the BasketCases' investigation revealed that she was not studying her playbook . . . she was busy taking a final exam!

Apparently Nikki had one exam and two papers to finish this week in order to complete the requirements for graduating from UCLA on Sunday. Nikki will be accumulating quite a few frequent flyer miles this weekend (but very little rest!). According to an interesting feature on the Mystics website, Nikki will ". . .play a 6 p.m. home game on June 17th in Washington. Blue will then jump on a red-eye flight to California to attend her graduation ceremony at UCLA at 5 p.m. Pacific Time on the 18th. She then hops an 11 p .m. flight out of California that night to make it back to Washington for a 10 a.m. practice on the 19th. " *Whew*

The BasketCases admire Nikki for her determination to complete her degree while tackling the demands of her rookie WNBA season! Congratulations Nikki on your graduation! The BasketCases and, we're sure Mystics fans everywhere, are proud of your accomplishment.

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Update: In Saturday morning's Washington Post, Jon Gallo writes about Nikki and her soon-to-be graduation. (Jon, have you been sneaking a peak at the BasketCases' blog again?) In his article, Gallo reports that Nikki will be "the second member of her family to graduate from college." Nikki says that "Being able to graduate is more of an accomplishment to me than playing in the WNBA because getting a degree and having that piece of paper sets an example for my family."