he first time Liz Cambage played against Lauren Jackson, the teenage sensation was so nervous she forgot her basketball shoes. ''It was unbelievable,'' Cambage recalls of the match in February. ''I was running around like a chook with its head cut off. I didn't know what to do.''

As it turned out, the 19-year-old had lent another pair to the wife of her coach Tom Maher, and was able to wear those. But it is a fitting anecdote for a player now set to follow in Jackson's footsteps as one of the top picks in the upcoming WNBA draft.

In fact, many predict she will be the No.1 draft pick - as Jackson was in 2001 when Seattle Seahawks chose the then 20-year-old Albury product now regarded as the world's top female basketballer and one of the best of all time.

The WNBA's official website lists Cambage's projected draft position as ''top three'', and the 203 centimetre Bulleen Boomers and Opals centre has already fielded phone calls from Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve and Tulsa Shock's Nolan Richardson, whose teams have the first and second picks respectively.

''I've spoken to a few coaches but it has all just been, 'How's it going, nice to meet you' - nothing too serious because I'm not really making any decisions right now,'' Cambage says.

''I'm going in the draft no matter what, seeing as I turn 20 next year and I play for Australia at international level. If I go I will go to whoever I get drafted or traded to, and if I don't, the club still keeps my rights, and I just carry on with life … You have no control if you get traded really.

''But I'm not really thinking about it at the moment. I am just focusing on trying to win a championship in the WNBL, and then when the season is over I will decide whether to go or stay. Mum is pretty excited. If I go she will be able to come in the holidays and visit me. She is hoping that I go to LA, but I really don't see that happening. It is really out of Minnesota or Tulsa.''

A trip would be a fitting reward for Julia Cambage, who ''forced'' her then nine-year-old daughter to play basketball after moving to Victoria from Coffs Harbour. Remarkably, it was only after being selected for a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport in 2008 that Cambage began taking the sport seriously.

''Growing up I was pretty creative, and I wasn't really into sport until Mum forced me to play basketball,'' she says. ''I hated it. I was so unco-ordinated and lazy. I had never woken up at 8am on a Sunday morning before so when this whole thing started I was unimpressed.

''She thought it would be a good way for me to meet new friends, and it wasn't really until a couple of years ago that I wanted to make this my life and make it my profession.''

Others could see her potential, and Cambage has been a member of Australian youth teams since 2005.

Last year, she broke into the Opals side and was Australia's leading scorer at the recent world championships, averaging 13.6 points a game.

Cambage hopes to help Australia to win a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London. With many of the Opals playing in the WNBA, it could be a factor in whether she moves to the US next year.

''To play in the Olympics and bring back a gold medal is a big aim of mine. I think playing in America would make my chances better.''