High school career

At Hutchinson High School in Hutchinson, Minnesota, Whalen was a four-time All-Minnesota Conference pick, and led her team to three consecutive conference basketball championships. She was also a four-time honorable mention All-State selection. She averaged 22.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists as a junior.

Whalen won a state title and placed 13th nationally with her club team, the Minnesota Jaguars. She was also an All-Conference selection in tennis and track.

College career

The University of Minnesota women's basketball program rose to national prominence during Whalen's college career. The average attendance at women's basketball games grew from 1,087 during her freshman season to 9,866 her senior year. She became Minnesota's all-time leading scorer on January 25, 2004 against Michigan State, surpassing 1994 Wade Trophy Winner Carol Ann Shudlick. Whalen finished her career with 2,285 points, fifth best in Big Ten Conference history.

Whalen holds Minnesota career records in points, scoring average, games in double figures, free throws made and free throw percentage. Whalen is also among the top ten in field goals made, field goal attempts, field goal percentage, three-pointers made, three-pointers attempted, three-point field goal percentage, free throws attempted, assists and steals. Whalen shares Minnesota's single-game record for free throw percentage (14-14 vs. Creighton on 12/4/03) and is the only four-time team MVP in school history.

She was a two-time Wade Trophy Finalist (2003, 2004) and a two-time Naismith Award Finalist (2003, 2004). As a senior, Whalen was a Kodak All-American First Team, made the USBWA All-American Second Team, USBWA All-American Second Team and AP All-American Second Team. She was the first Golden Gopher to earn All-American honors in three different seasons and led Minnesota to its first-ever Final Four appearance in 2004, one of three straight NCAA Tournament appearances for Minnesota. The program had been to the tournament just once before her arrival.

In the postseason, Whalen was named NCAA Mideast Region MVP for the 2004 NCAA tournament and was a unanimous selection for All-Big Ten First Team in 2004, 2003 and 2002. She was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten (2004, 2003, 2002), won the 2004 and 2002 Fast Break Club Award. As a junior, she was a Kodak All-American First Team, USBWA All-American First Team and an AP All-American Second Team.

Whalen's jersey number 13 was retired by the University of Minnesota during a ceremony in January 2005 at Williams Arena.

Minnesota statistics

Source

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Year	Team	GP	Points	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2000-01	Minnesota	25	425	47.6	30.2	73.5	4.0	3.3	1.7	0.1	17.0
2001-02	Minnesota	30	667	56.1	34.9	77.0	5.5	5.3	2.7	0.2	22.2
2002-03	Minnesota	31	639	54.6	32.4	84.7	5.0	6.2	1.9	0.0	20.6
2003-04	Minnesota	27	554	51.4	40.0	83.2	5.1	5.4	1.9	-	20.5
Career	Minnesota	113	2285	52.8	34.9	79.8	4.9	5.1	2.1	0.1	20.2

WNBA career

Whalen was selected the first round of the 2004 WNBA Draft (4th overall) by the Connecticut Sun. Until 2005 when Minnesota teammate Janel McCarville was selected at number 1, she was the highest drafted WNBA player ever from the Big Ten Conference. The Minnesota Lynx made an unsuccessful pre-draft trade, sending Sheri Sam and Janell Burse to the Seattle Storm for Amanda Lassiter and the 6th pick in the draft in an attempt to get hometown hero Whalen. Connecticut picked Whalen before Minnesota could, and the Storm had two more pieces to their eventual championship team.

In her rookie season, she was selected to play in the historic WNBA vs. USA Basketball game at Radio City Music Hall. She led the Sun to the WNBA Finals in her first and second seasons, playing while injured in the 2005 Finals.

In the 2008 season, Whalen led a young team to second place in the Eastern Conference. She was the MVP runner-up to Candace Parker. She was selected to the First Team All-WNBA for the first time in her career. In the playoffs, the Sun could not hold off the New York Liberty as they fell 2-1. Whalen led the league in assists with 5.4 per game.

On January 12, 2010, Whalen was traded to the Minnesota Lynx in a deal that also involved Renee Montgomery. She signed a multi-year contract extension with the Minnesota Lynx prior to the team's Aug. 12, 2010 matchup with the Los Angeles Sparks. Terms of the deal were not announced, per team policy.

In 2011, Whalen led the Lynx to its first WNBA Championship. The Lynx finished the regular season 27-7, good for the second best record in franchise history and best in the league. Playing alongside a healthy Seimone Augustus and rookie sensation Maya Moore, Whalen led the WNBA in assists with 5.9 per game. Whalen finished fifth in MVP voting and was named First Team All-WNBA for the second time in her career. In 2012, Whalen led the league in assists for the third time in her career, and led the Lynx back to the finals, where they lost to the Indiana Fever.

In 2013, the Minnesota Lynx acquired the rights to Janel McCarville via a three-team trade, and she and Whalen were reunited as teammates. On September 7, 2013, Whalen became only the second player in WNBA history to record 4,000 points, 1,500 assists, and 1,000 rebounds in her career, joining Becky Hammon. She also became the 20th player in league history to reach 4,000 points.

USA Basketball

Whalen was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp in the fall of 2009. The team selected to play for the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Olympics is usually chosen from these participants. Whalen was selected to be a member of the National team representing the USA at the World Championships held in September and October 2010. The team was coached by Geno Auriemma. Because many team members were still playing in the WNBA until just prior to the event, the team had only one day of practice with the entire team before leaving for Ostrava and Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. Even with limited practice, the team managed to win its first games against Greece by 26 points. The team continued to dominate with victory margins exceeding 20 points in the first five games. Several players shared scoring honors, with Swin Cash, Angel McCoughtry, Maya Moore, Diana Taurasi, Whalen, and Sylvia Fowles all ending as high scorer in the first few games. The sixth game was against undefeated Australia — the USA jumped out to a 24-point lead and the USA prevailed 83-75. The USA won its next two games by over 30 points, then faced the host team, the Czech Republic, in the championship game. The USA team had only a five-point lead at halftime, which was cut to three points, but the Czechs never got closer. Team USA went on to win the championship and gold medal. Whalen averaged 5.9 points per game.

Whalen was named by the USA Basketball Women's National Team Player Selection Committee to compete for the USA at the 2012 Olympics in London. Whalen earned praise for her performance at the Olympics, especially for a critical stretch of play against Australia in the semifinal. Whalen earned her first Olympic medal as the U.S. women swept all eight games they played, with an average margin of victory over 34 points per game.

WNBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career high		League leader

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2004	Connecticut	31	30	30.5	.454	.351	.730	2.9	4.8	1.3	0.0	3.03	8.9
2005	Connecticut	34	34	30.8	.466	.348	.801	3.8	5.1	1.2	0.1	2.62	12.1
2006	Connecticut	33	33	26.0	.389	.129	.903	3.7	4.6	1.0	0.1	2.39	9.0
2007	Connecticut	34	34	30.6	.468	.209	.785	4.8	5.0	2.1	0.1	2.21	13.4
2008	Connecticut	31	31	29.3	.461	.338	.803	5.6	5.4	1.4	0.0	1.87	14.0
2009	Connecticut	34	34	29.4	.430	.265	.891	4.6	4.6	1.3	0.2	1.85	12.3
2010	Minnesota	33	33	33.6	.410	.227	.899	4.0	5.6	1.4	0.2	2.30	12.6
2011	Minnesota	34	34	28.1	.511	.405	.730	3.5	5.9	1.1	0.2	2.21	13.6
2012	Minnesota	33	33	27.0	.505	.500	.727	4.2	5.4	0.7	0.2	2.06	11.5
2013	Minnesota	34	34	29.6	.486	.111	.783	4.4	5.8	0.8	0.1	2.18	14.9
2014	Minnesota	34	34	30.6	.480	.100	.770	4.2	5.6	0.9	0.1	1.82	14.1
Career	11 years, 2 teams	365	364	29.6	.460	.271	.802	4.2	5.3	1.2	0.1	2.23	12.4

Postseason

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2004	Connecticut	8	8	31.9	.462	.364	.811	2.2	5.1	1.4	0.4	2.12	13.4
2005	Connecticut	7	7	31.4	.333	.200	.771	3.4	3.3	0.9	0.1	2.86	11.1
2006	Connecticut	5	5	31.0	.339	.333	.720	3.8	2.2	0.8	0.2	3.60	12.6
2007	Connecticut	3	3	36.7	.326	.231	.900	7.0	5.0	0.3	0.0	3.67	13.3
2008	Connecticut	3	3	30.0	.400	.250	.867	4.7	4.0	1.3	0.0	2.33	13.3
2011	Minnesota	8	8	32.0	.463	.286	.818	3.60	3.8	1.5	0.5	2.50	12.0
2012	Minnesota	9	9	30.9	.437	.333	.871	3.80	4.2	1.0	0.0	2.67	13.3
2013	Minnesota	7	7	29.3	.410	.000	.621	4.60	4.7	0.9	0.0	2.43	9.7
2014	Minnesota	5	5	33.0	.525	.429	.696	6.0	6.0	0.8	0.0	2.20	20.6
Career	9 years, 2 teams	55	55	31.5	.423	.292	.780	4.0	4.2	1.1	0.2	2.71	13.0

Personal life

Whalen married Ben Greve, an insurance advisor and former Gopher golfer, on October 6, 2007.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]