Great day for local standouts Manis, Guy.

Here's something to smile about in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Two local athletes are on the verge of making their dreams come true after decisions that were made on Friday.

Former Holy Cross and Bishop Feehan High School basketball star Lauren Manis, who was the most recent guest on my "The Owner's Box" podcast, learned Friday night that she was made the 33rd overall selection in the WNBA Draft by the Las Vegas Aces. And earlier in the day, Mansfield High School junior defensive end T.J. Guy, also an outstanding basketball player for the Hornets, made his commitment to play football at the University of Michigan starting in 2012.

Holy Cross' Lauren Manis, drafted by Las Vegas

First, to Manis; the only player in the history of Holy Cross basketball (regardless of gender) to score 2,000 career points and grab 1,000 career rebounds was Las Vegas' only pick in the three-round draft, the Aces having traded their first- and second-round selections to the Dallas Wings last May in return for WNBA all-star center Liz Cambage.

Manis, a 6-foot-1 senior, averaged 18.6 points and 11.5 rebounds this season, while connecting on 46.3 percent of her shots from three-point range. She started 121 of 122 games for the Crusaders in her four-year career, which ended prematurely when Holy Cross' game against Bucknell in the Patriot League Tournament was abruptly canceled on March 11 because of the COVID-19 crisis.

In our recent podcast (see link below), Manis spoke optimistically about playing professionally. She had secured the services of an agent and was hoping for a WNBA tryout, or perhaps to play professionally overseas. She was concerned about the uncertainty about tryouts because of the postponement of most professional sports during the ongoing crisis, but clearly, being a draft pick has removed a lot of that uncertainty in short order.

If you're not familiar with the Aces, they entered the WNBA in its inaugural season of 1997 as the Utah Starzz. They moved to San Antonio in 2003, becoming the San Antonio Silver Stars (and later just Stars), and then moved to Las Vegas in 2018. They are owned by MGM Resorts International, and their coach -- Celtics fans are not going to like this -- is former Detroit Pistons' bad boy Bill Laimbeer.

Laimbeer has coached the Aces for two seasons, reaching the conference finals of the playoffs last season before being eliminated by Washington. He's 35-33 over two regular seasons.

T.J. Guy, verbally committed to play football at Michigan.

As for Guy, the Hornet standout was a hot ticket in college football recruiting for the past two years, given his unique mix of size, strength and speed, and the ever-increasing level at which he terrorized Hockomock League competition over that time.

Guy had offered a verbal pledge to Boston College earlier in the process, but pulled back on that when Jeff Hafley replaced Steve Addazio as BC's head coach. He was also being courted by Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Nebraska and Connecticut.

At 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, Guy has room on his frame for more muscle and should be able to put it there without sacrificing the quickness that makes him a dangerous edge rusher. He is ranked 44th in the nation at his position by one major scouting concern. And let's not forget that he's a very good basketball player, and could have a shot to reach 1,000 career points for Mike Vaughan's Hornet cagers next season.

As promised, here's the link to Lauren Manis' appearance on The Owner's Box, recorded earlier in the week: