Most women’s basketball fans know that WNBA players usually spend their winters playing basketball in Europe – but that’s about as far as it goes. After all, there’s the college game to think about, so who worries about what uniform Katie Douglas is wearing, or where Ticha Penicheiro is on Valentine’s Day?

More than 100 players from 13 WNBA teams were playing in Europe this winter, ranging from Spain to Russia, Latvia to Turkey, and Italy to Israel (which participates in European competitions). Those players are spread out throughout the continent, mostly playing on first-division clubs – but there are hundreds more Americans playing for less-publicized teams while making some money and learning about life overseas.

But the professional leagues are run much differently than in America. First, there are separate divisions in each country, with the first division being the best. If a team finishes in the bottom two or three in the first division, it is relegated to the second division the next year; and the top two or three teams from the lower division move up to replace them. The same thing happens in the second and third divisions, and so on down the line.

But there is no set limit on the number a teams a league must have. For example, the Russian Superleague, the TBBL in Turkey and the Serbia A League all have 12 teams in their top division. The Spanish LFB, French LFB and the A1 league in Italy all contain 14 teams, while the Belgian D1 and Czech ZBL leagues only have 10 clubs.

But few of the WNBA players play for teams fighting against relegation. Instead, they usually play for clubs going for the championship. Those teams which do win the country's league championship, after a regular season and a series of playoffs, then qualify for competitions in which they play against top clubs from other nations across the continent.

Take, for example, Russia, since it is considered to have the best basketball in Europe. Reigning champion Spartak Moscow Region is playing in the FIBA Euroleague Women, which is probably the highest level of basketball in the world outside the WNBA. (Some say it's better than the WNBA -- but that's another story.)

Three other teams from Russia are also playing in the EuroLeague: the 2003 champion UMMC Ekaterinburg, CSKA Moscow and Dynamo Moscow. The EuroLeague and the national leagues run concurrently, so teams alternate playing against clubs from other countries, and clubs from the same nation. And the EuroLeague, like the national leagues, finishes with a playoff.

USVO Valenciennes, which won the 2002 and 2004 EuroLeague crowns, is one of four French clubs in the EuroLeague, and there are two clubs each from the Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary, Italy and Poland and one each from Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey, Belgium, Croatia and Slovenia.

There is also a second-tier competition called the FIBA EuroCup Women for the next set of clubs. Again, to use Russia as example: the next four best-ranked teams in the Russian Superleague -- Nadezhda, BC Moscow, Dynamo Kursk and Vologda -- all qualified for the EuroCup this season, as have the lower-ranked teams from the big European leagues and the champions of smaller nations such as Greece, Israel, Germany, Ukraine, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal and Cyprus.

To get an idea of the kind of difference between the EuroLeague and EuroCup, here are some of the better teams' stars from each competition.

Here are some players from the EuroCup teams that won their first four games: Jia Perkins and Deanna Jackson (both with Israeli club Elektra Ramat Hasharon); Brooke Wyckoff and Roneeka Hodges (both with Cajacanarias of Spain); Plenette Pierson, Monique Currie and Martina Weber (all with BC Moscow); Kristen Mann and Liz Moeggenberg (both of French team Tarbes Gespe Bigorre); and Shannon Johnson and Nakia Sanford (both of Umana Reyer Venezia of Italy).

Good players, no doubt – but compare that group with players from the three teams that are 4-0 in the EuroLeague. Ekaterinburg alone has Penny Taylor, Cheryl Ford, Agnieszka Bibrzycka, Kristi Harrower, Deanna Nolan, Suzy Batkovic, Ashjha Jones and Sandrine Gruda -- not to mention Oxana Rakhmatulina and Natalia Vodopyanova, who both helped Russia to the EuroBasket Women title this summer in Italy. CSKA Moscow has Maria Stepanova, Edwige Lawson, Ann Wauters, Amaya Valdemoro, Nicole Powell and Becky Hammon, and Ros Casares Valencia has Katie Douglas, Delisha Milton-Jones, Elena Tornikidou, Elena Baranova and Evanthia Maltsi as well as Spanish national team stars Elisa Aguilar and Laia Palau.

This list doesn't even include other EuroLeague stars such Cappie Pondexter, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Thompson, Lauren Jackson, Candice Dupree, Tamika Whitmore, Chamique Holdsclaw, Janell Burse, Lindsay Whalen and Seimone Augustus.

At the end of the year, there are two major playoffs – the EuroLeague and EuroCup tournament, and then the national tournaments. The two international competitions usually end around the same time that the NCAA Tournament is winding down, but national playoffs can drag on into May, and sometimes even June. It’s those playoffs that keep WNBA players from coming to training camp, but those are the playoffs that matter the most to club owners – who pay substantial amounts for the American stars to play overseas.

In fact, players can earn significantly more money playing for European teams in the winter than they can in the salary-capped WNBA, and they often get free apartments and cars as well. Ironically, though, it’s success in the lower-paying WNBA that convinces owners to offer Americans big European salaries, so it’s still important for young players to play in the summer to up their earning power.

Of course, that means women’s basketball players essentially work year-round, and the physical and mental wear and tear is substantial. Several veteran American players have abandoned the WNBA entirely, choosing to rest in the summer. That’s why Vicki Bullett, Kedra Holland-Corn and now, Chamique Holdsclaw, can only be seen in Europe, and more, including players like Tina Thompson, may follow in their footsteps.

And in Europe, teams usually only play two games a week, as opposed to the three or four in the WNBA, and the lifestyle is a bit more leisurely. It’s not exactly a European vacation for American players, but it’s a lifestyle many have adjusted to, and many more are destined to sample.