A Goodwill Ambassador

Agnus Berenato, Pittsburgh women's basketball coach, did a little more then just relax on her brief summer break. Coach Berenato traveled overseas to speak with U.S. Troops stationed in the Middle East with a goal of bringing them hope and thanking them for their sacrifices. Along with 4 other coaches their goal is to boost "the morale and quality of life for deployed military personnel by providing entertainment from the home front." (post-gazette.com).

Berenato was joined by University of Louisiana-Monroe men's basketball coach Orlando Early, Virginia Military Institute men's basketball coach Duggar Baucom, Murray State men's basketball coach Billy Kennedy and Jacksonville State University assistant men's basketball coach Mike Smith. Coach Berenato feels honored and humbled to be the only woman chosen to take the tour.

I encourage you to read her journal entries. There are inspiring, funny and appreciative of what we have here in the USA.

WNBA
No games last night but a few good ones tonight.

Detroit @ Connecticut (7:00 pm)
Sacramento @ Atlanta (7:00 pm)
Chicago @ Los Angeles (10:00 pm, ESPN2)
Washington @ Seattle (10:00 pm)

I think Detroit will upend Connecticut; Atlanta, LA and Seattle win @ home.

**Rookie Report**
So most of the sites I've been looking at have DeWanna Bonner on top of the Rookie of the Year race and most have Shavonte Zellous in 2nd place. Angel McCoughtry is in third in many but I think Angel might just top Bonner (although very deserving of the honor as well) because Angel does a little more then Bonner. Angel brings the game to her and when she does that, she is able to get her teammates involved better. She is a big reason why the Dream sit nicley in 2nd place in the Eastern Division. Don't get me wrong, Bonner is great for Phoenix: she picked up her 5th double-double last week, but didn't play well against a team that she should have dominated: Washington Mystics. Bonner has 11.3 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game along with 21.6 minutes of playing time. Which brings me to Angel...and why she will win ROY.

I don't know what it is about Angel McCoughtry but as the season wears on she gets BETTER. She did this in college at Louisville too. Last three games she scored 73 points (23 against the Sparks on 8/23, 34 against San Antonio on 8/20 and 16 against Seattle on 8/15). Each game her minutes played have gone up so that means the Coach sees her contribution to winning as well! For the season she is averaging 11.8 points per game, 2.5 rebound per game and averages 18.8 minutes per game.

Phoenix has been on top all season long. Atlanta has not and because of Angel they have been able to claw their way up to the #2 spot in the East. Angel gets ROY.