Almost-A-Decade teams and other news...

Since we are approaching #1 (haha, fooled you, we are not doing #1 today), let's look back at some quality teams that didn't quite make the cut in my top 10.

-Maryland: 2006 NCAA Champions, 2009 ACC Tournament Champions, 3 All-Americans (Kristi Toliver, Crystal Langhorne, Marissa Coleman)

-Ohio State: 4 Big 10 Regular Season Champs (or co-Champs), 1 three time All-American (Jessica Davenport, 2005-2007), NCAA Tornament 2003-2008 (#1 seed in 2006), Sweet 16 in 2005.

-Michigan State: NCAA Championship game berth (2005), 2 Honorable Mention All-Americans (Kristin Hayne, Lindsay Bowen, Liz Shimek), 2005 Big 10 Regular Season and Tournament Champs, 6 times in the NCAA tournament

Some nice teams but not quite good enough to hit the top 10, maybe they'll make the next decade countdown!

Central Michigan Chippewas
Small school (be it Division I) so this may have been passed over by some people. Last week a Michigan judge dismissed a case against Head Coach, Sue Guevara. The case: a player felt that she was discriminated against because she was not a lesbian. According to the article on CBS Sports.com, Brooke Heike lost her scholarship because of her poor attitude and unwillingness to work hard. The case was thrown out of court because the coach and other officials at Central Michigan are immune from such legal claims. So the player's lawyer will try another type of lawsuit. The best is, Heike is still attending the University. Interesting, no? I know that if I felt I was discriminated against by a company, person or school I would high tail it out of there. Wouldn't you? Makes me wonder if perhaps she thought she was a better player then she really was. You can read the entire article here.

WNBA
The Sparks clinched a playoff spot with their nice win over the San Antonio Silver Stars. With the Silver Stars loss, the Lynx pulled to within 1/2 game of the final coveted 4th spot. Silver Stars have 2 games remaining: @ Sacramento and home against Seattle Storm. Silver Stars are 1-2 against the Monarchs and 1-2 against the Seattle Storm. As for the Minnesota Lynx: Detroit tonight, @ Los Angeles and @ Sacramento. 0-1 against Detroit (losing when Detroit was mediocre), 1-2 against LA, 2-1 against Sacramento. Should be some interesting games in the West!

Indiana Fever (with the win last night over the New York Liberty) are tied with the Phoenix Mercury for the best record in the WNBA at 22-10. Indiana is having a hard time playing well on the road. Should prove to be interesting since their last 2 remaining games are on the road (@ Chicago and @ Connecticut)

Congrats to Deanna Nolan and Vickie "VJ" Johnson for being named WNBA players of the week. This is Nolan's fifth of her career and the second in as many weeks (winning last week with Sue Bird). Averages: 20.7 points, 51.1% from the floor, 4.3 boards, and 3.3 assists. She helped the Shock go 3-0 last week.
VJ wins her first "Player of the Week" award in her career. Nice way to end her career, no? She averaged 22 points, 76.0% from the floor (league leading), 3.5 assists, 3.5 boards, and 1.5 steals. She helped the Silver Stars to 2 wins over the past week. She is one of only 4 players still playing from the inaugural WNBA draft, one of two players to have 4,000 points and 1,000 assists in a career (with her teammate Becky Hammon) and is the WNBA all-time leader in games played.

Rookie Watch
Rookie report time (Last three games)
DeWanna Bonner:
41 points, 12 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 4 steals
Team record: 2-1

Angel McCoughtry:
39 points, 10 boards, 12 assists, 3 blocks, 3 steals (double-double on 9/4: 26 points, 10 assists)
Team Record: 2-1

Shavonte Zellous:
44 points, 10 boards, 9 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals
Team Record: 3-0

Tough call this week! Shavonte played great this week and is my rookie of the week. She really helped her team climb back into the playoffs! It's not just how she does as an individual but also how she helps her team.

Tonight's Game:
Detroit Shock @ Minnesota Lynx (8:00 pm)

#7 Top Almost a Decade Team and other Random News

Onwards with the countdown. We are up to #7 in the Top 10 Women's Hoops teams from 2001-2009.

Jake-Oklahoma
Jenn-UNC

But Jenn, really? UNC worthy of #7 after having two All-Americans and winning 4 consecutive ACC titles (2005-2008)? Yes, and this is why.

Wouldn't you think a team that dominated the ACC be a little better come tournament time? I belive that when UNC had their reign of ACC titles, the ACC was the toughest conference in the land, period. Duke, Maryland, NC State, Boston College, Florida State and UNC...all top caliber teams. UNC is notorious for having a top 5 RPI each year, so why didn't they succeed in the NCAA tournament?

They are an established program and one that should have done better then it did. They made it to 2 Final Fours, and 4 NCAA Quarterfinals. They finished in the top 10 only 4 times during the 9 years; finishing 1st in the final 2006 poll. UNC failed to make the 2001 tournament all together. Granted yes, the Final Four of 2006 was an ACC-fest (Duke, eventual Champion Maryland and UNC) but UNC had THE BEST team in that tournament yet they lost in the Semifinals to a team they had beaten by 11 points 4 weeks earlier (Maryland). Two All-Americans (Ivory Latta, Erlana Larkins) and other players that were worthy of the honor. During this time, they graduated several top players who are now playing in the WNBA. To me, UNC was the disappointment of the 2001-2009 nearly-a-decade-of-women's-hoops teams...and I'll argue that.

WNBA
The weekend had some good games that jumbled up the standings a little. The big shocker was Indiana Fever losing at home to Sacramento Monarchs...ouch! The Storm upended the Atlanta Dream but Atlanta hasn't proved it's worth on the road this season. What helped them (and Washington) was that the Sun lost their two games (Mercury and Sparks). Standings look like this now:

East:
Indiana Fever
Atlanta Dream -5.5
Washington Mystics -6.5
Chicago Sky -7.0 (tied with Connecticut Sun and Detroit Shock, Sky have head-to-head)

West:
Phoenix Mercury
Seattle Storm -2.0
Los Angeles Sparks -5.0
San Antonio Silver Stars -8.0 (tied with Minnesota Lynx but Silver Stars have the lead head-to-head)

Day-off for the Ladies tonight.

WNBA Rookie Report
It's that time of the week...Rookie Report

Angel McCoughtry (my pick, have I mentioned that?)
Last three:
20 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals
16 points, 6 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals
16 points, 1 board, 4 assists, 4 steals, 4 turnovers (against Seattle...come on, that's not too bad)

Totals: 52 points, 11 boards, 11 assists, 8 steals

DeWanna Bonner
Last three:
9 points, 7 boards, 1 steal, 1 block
13 points, 9 boards, 0 steal, 1 block (against LA, impressive)
11 points, 2 boards, 0 steal, 0 block

Totals: 33 points, 18 boards, 1 steal, 1 block

Shavonte Zellous
Last three:
12 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, 0 steal
12 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals
10 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

Totals: 34 points, 9 boards, 9 assists, 3 steals, 1 block

Angel still gets my nod this week: not just the points but the rebounds and assists. She's still a big contributor to the success of the Dream.

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.