An then there were Four...

Go Phoenix! I admit, I fell asleep at half time only to wake up to a rerun of poker on ESPN2 (sometimes I wish I lived in the middle of the country). Anyway, I could tell before I nodded off to sleepy land, that this game was going to be a dual between Becky Hammon and Diana Taurasi. And apparently, I was right. Hammon hit for 29 and Taurasi hit for 30. Both excellent players, both deserving of the MVP nod. Great games played by both but the Mercury free throw shooting proved to be too much for San Antonio as they were sent packing. Tomorrow night, the Final Four start their series of games. Preview tomorrow....

This does, sadly, end the WNBA career of one of the great WNBA players: Vickie Johnson. She rocked the house in NY, that smooth shooting lefty that would drop in 20 before you realized it. Great player, great person...you'll be missed. Be a great coach, pass your knowledge of the game onto the younger generation....best of luck!

Cappie Pondexter
Did you all see the new hair on Cappie? Well, shorter hair with funky design I should say. Comments? I love Cappie and her expressive personality....how can you not? (okay, so I also love her because she put RU on the map...but still...she's just so likable!)

(wnba.com)

Should we really care?
Okay, what is the big deal with Alysa Auriemma (aka, Geno's daughter) writing a blog for a local Connecticut newspaper and being paid for it? Are you serious? Apparently, according to the Hartford Courant, Alysa was paid for blog posts in July and August. I guess everyone was in a tizzy because it was a conflict of interest....how? It's a blog, it's not writing a news article and personally I think a lot of the writers in Hartford are so bias for UCONN that they are all in a conflict of interest. Read the articles and let me know what you think...

Latest article

Original Note on the situation

Angels, Wiggins and Leslies...oh my!

Tonight is a pretty important night here in WNBA land. Minnesota Lynx play at Los Angeles Sparks and Connecticut Sun play at Atlanta Dream. It's important because....

-the Atlanta Dream can start to complete their turn around from last season by clinching a playoff spot in their friendly confines of Philips Arena. If they beat the Sun (which I think they will) the Dream will certainly be living a dream.

-The Minnesota Lynx can keep their hopes alive by staying alive in the playoff hunt with a win at Los Angeles. IF the Lynx can win and win again on Sunday (saying the Silver Stars beat the Storm Saturday) they are in the playoffs. How can they be if they are tied with the Silver Stars? You know, that recreational head-to-head thing....Minnesota has the edge over San Antonio.

Check out the games! The more viewers the better...
Connecticut Sun @ Atlanta Dream (7:00 pm)
Minnesota Lynx @ Los Angeles Sparks (10:30 pm, NBA TV)

Washington Mystics
So if the Mystics make the playoffs the "Walking with Dinosaurs" show will kick them out of the Verizon Center. They will have to go 30 minutes north to College Park, MD...where there is train service but it's kind of a pain to navigate. Of course this is not the first time a pro team has had to reschedule a playoff game. Just this past NHL season the Pittsburgh Penguins had to reschedule their game with the Washington Capitals because of a Yanni concert. Not like it mattered because my Pens won but still...dinos and Yanni kick pro sports out of their own arena? Who exactly has banners hanging in the rafters? I rest my case....

There can only be 1

It should be no surprise to anyone which team is considered #1 in the "nearly-a-decade" list (my comparison to Stanford Basketball Examiner writer Jake Curtis' top 10 teams). If you are surprised, did you live under a rock for most of the decade?

Jake-UCONN
Jenn-UCONN

Clearly that is all I should have to say, right? Fine, I'll back it up...but do I really have to?
-4 National Titles (2002, 2003, 2004, 2009)
-2 additional Final Fours (2001, 2008)
-Failed to make the NCAA Elite Eight only one time (2005)
-39 victories in both 2002, 2009 (I would argue with anyone that the 2002 UCONN team is the best ever to be put on a floor)
-Won fewer then 30 games only once in the 9 years
-2 Undefeated seasons (2002, 2009)
-Finished in the top 10 final standings all 9 years (#1 in 5 of those seasons)
-7 Regular Season Big East Champions (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009)
-6 Big East Tournament Championships (2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009)
-7 (yes 7) 1st Team All Americans: Svetlana Abrosimova 2001, Swin Cash 2002, Sue Bird 2002, Diana Taurasi 2002-2004, Tina Charles 2009, Renee Montgomery 2008, 2009, Maya Moore 2008, 2009.
-3 Wade Trophy National Player of the Year Awards: Sue Bird, 2002; Diana Taurasi, 2003; Maya Moore, 2009

Enough said....

WNBA


Minnesota Lynx picked up a very important win over the Detroit Shock last night. If the Shock had won they would've clinched a playoff spot but now they have to wait another game. The Lynx scored 9 straight points to pull out the 3 point victory. The win puts the Lynx tied with San Antonio Silver Stars for 4th place in the West. San Antonio holds the tie-breaker head to head and they both have 2 games remaining.

I think it's time, with the talent so diversified in the WNBA, that if teams tie for a playoff position they play 1 game to determine the standings. None of this recreational league head to head stuff. A good example would be the Sparks. Say it was between the Sparks and a team they played twice early on in the season. The Sparks were without Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie for a good portion of the beginning of the season. Now they are on fire. Is it fair and right to not have them in the playoffs when they are playing better ball then a lot of teams just because they didn't win their head-to-head? Go to a 1 game playoff, let the ladies lay it on the floor, let the PLAYERS decide who gets into the playoffs not a statistician.

Games Tonight:


New York Liberty @ Detroit Shock (7:30 pm, NBA TV)
Indiana Fever @ Chicago Sky (8:00 pm)
San Antonio Silver Stars @ Sacramento Monarchs (10:00 pm)
Phoenix Mercury @ Seattle Storm (10:00 pm)

Big games for Detroit and Chicago. If Detroit wins, they clinch a playoff spot. Liberty are playing pretty well now, if Katie Smith is out again for Detroit (back) then look for the Liberty to delay the Shock their playoff berth.

Chicago is 11-4 @ home and as we've seen, the Fever just are not playing well on the road. Look for the Sky to win and gain sole possession of that 4th place playoff spot.

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)

And then there were 2!

With the Holiday and travelling, I missed a day of posting. Lots happened over they weekend with the WNBA but I'll get to that after my number 2 selection for top 10 almost-a-decade women's basketball teams (in comparison to Jake Curtis).

Jake-Tennessee
Jenn-Tennessee

2 National Titles, 6 Final Fours, 4 National Title game Berths, 8 Top 10 finishes (none at #1 interestingly enough) and Pat Summitt. Oh wait, and 4 All Americans: Tamika Catchings (2001), Kara Lawson (2003), Shyra Ely (2004), Candace Parker (2006, 2007, 2008). 2007 Wade Trophy National Player of the Year winner: Candace Parker. And I would argue Tamika Catchings deserved the honor in 2001 (Jackie Stiles rocked the party boat that year but Tamika was just amazing). Tennessee plays in one of the top 3 toughest conferences in the nation: SEC. Even though they lost in the 1st round of the NCAA tournament this season and finished a super low #18 in the Final rankings, they are still one of the best teams EVER. Pick a decade: Tennessee was there.

A neat Tennessee note: 13 former Lady Vols are currently in the WNBA...the most of any school!

WNBA

Phoenix Mercury clinched the West with their 100-82 win on Saturday. The Minnesota Lynx defeated the Seattle Storm 76-68 to help the Mercury clinch earlier then this week. With Indiana Fever losing on the road to Detroit Shock, the Fever are really starting to fall flat. Could it be the season wear and tear? The fact that they have had minimal injuries so their players are more tired then others? Remember the tear Minnesota made in the NCAA a few years ago (okay, probably 5 years ago but that is a few for me) when their star player was hurt? Maybe injuries during the season help a team. As long as the team gels together and the player can fit into her role, why not?

Standings right now:

East

Indiana (clinched)

Atlanta Dream -4.5

Detroit Shock -5.0 (yes, DETROIT)

Chicago Sky -6.5

Washington Mystics, Connecticut Sun -6.5

New York Liberty (eliminated from playoffs)

West

Phoenix (clinched)

Seattle Storm -3.0

Los Angeles Spark -6.5

San Antonio Silver Stars -7.5

Minnesota Lynx -8.5

Sacramento Monarchs (eliminated from playoffs)

Games Tonight!

Indiana Fever @ New York Liberty (7:30 pm)

San Antonio Silver Stars @ Los Angeles Sparks (10:30 pm, NBA TV)

Big game on the West Coast!

#8 and other news

Let the Countdown Continue:
#8
Jake-Baylor
Jenn-Baylor

I agree with Jake on this one. While there could be argument that Maryland might fit here, it's hard for me to put Maryland on this list because they did not start to get consistently good until 2005. They are certainly the team to reckon with in the next decade but even with their 2006 win, they just haven't had the mustard all decade long. Baylor, on the other hand, has.

Baylor finished in the Top 10 in 4 seasons, Top 15 six season, they took advantage of their 1 Final Four and won the Championship in 2005, they made it to 1 NCAA Quarterfinal and only had 1 year of not qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. They also had 2 All-Americans (Sophia Young and Sheila Lambert).

Brief brilliance is the motto for Baylor, however, they have been consistent enough to bring in some of the top young talent our nation has to offer. Look for Baylor to be in the mix in 2 years.


In Other News

-Okay, so I know this is probably old news to a lot of people but it's something I've really had to think about. The Hartford Courant reported on August 8th that UCONN had 17 self-reported violations of NCAA rules. The women's basketball team had 7 of them. The University of Connecticut Athletic Department has kept a file of the violations and has reported each one. So I commend them for making the effort to do the right thing while also filing letters of admonishment into coaches folders. However, we all felt that Pat Summitt was to blame for the breaking up of UCONN/Tennessee rivalry (alleged recruiting violations when UCONN had Maya Moore up for her visit)...however that does not seem to be the case. It seems that UCONN did violate NCAA recruiting rules by scheduling a tour with ESPN studios when she came for her scheduled recruit visit. Okay, seems minor, right? It is minor but it's the principle of the fact that UCONN lied about it in the beginning. Eventually the truth came out that someone scheduled the tour.

Maybe Tennessee was over-reacting a bit but if UCONN went ahead and did that for Maya Moore, who's to say they didn't do something else? You can read the article here: UCONN Violations. I guess what leaves me to ponder is that it's great that UCONN self-reported rather then the NCAA finding out about the violations. On the other hand, is the NCAA being a bit to strict? I understand the importance of "silent periods" and "no contact" times when recruiting a player, the women's game has become a big business. Every time I hear about the NCAA penalizing a University because a player played 1 minute of professional basketball with a team in her native country (aka: Fresno State) it makes me wonder if the NCAA violations committee is a bunch of bitter adults who didn't quite make the varsity team as a Senior in High School. Come on, it's a tour of ESPN...what sports nut wouldn't want that?

WNBA

Indiana Fever extended their Eastern Conference lead to 5.5 games with the win over the San Antonio Silver Stars. Detroit Shock are being a spoilers and beat Atlanta Dream but with Connecticut Sun losing to Seattle Storm the standings for 2 & 3 remain the same. With the win, Detroit has sole possession of 4th place in the East. Phoenix Mercury knocked off LA Sparks so that moves the Storm a little further from the Sparks (3 games between them now).

Tonight:


Sacramento Monarchs @ Minnesota Lynx (8:oo pm)
New York Liberty @ Chicago Sky (8:30 pm, NBA TV)

Minnesota wins to make it a 1 game lead over San Antonio for 4th place and the Liberty beat the Sky to knock the Sky to 6th place in the East.

Top Teams: #9 and other randomness

To continue the top 10 teams of the 2001-2009 decade, we'll pick up at #9. I have to agree with Jake on this one, for one reason. While a fantastic team playing in arguably the most difficult conference (SEC), when it comes to the post season this team just slips a beat. But, they are consistent: consistently in the top 25 rankings (never missed one), never missed a NCAA birth and had a winning SEC conference record all 9 years.

Jake-Vanderbilt

Jenn-Vanderbilt

Vandy had 3 top 10 finishes, 2 NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal births, made every NCAA Tournament and had 1 All-American (Chantelle Anderson). Not only that, the Vanderbilt women's basketball attendance has skyrocketed over the past 9 seasons and they regularly sell out most of their home schedule.

Tomorrow--#8

WNBA News

Looks like Tulsa, Oklahoma will be the next stop for a WNBA team. Cameron/Box Sports announced yesterday that they have nearly 75% of funding needed for a team to take the court for the 2010 season. With Oklahoma City getting a NBA team, does this mean expansion (as they are claiming now) or a move for a team? While Seattle is safe for a few more years, anything can happen. The WNBA did sign a contract with ESPN/ABC extending the coverage through 2016 so perhaps the league isn't in as much trouble as I think. Perhaps the sponsored jerseys are a good idea. It works in NASCAR and overseas, so why not here? WNBA Tulsa has set up a little pitch video for those interested.

Games tonight:

San Antonio @ Indiana (7:00 pm, NBA TV)

Atlanta @ Detroit (7:30 pm)

Connecticut @ Seattle (10:00 pm)

Phoenix @ Los Angles (10:30 pm, NBA TV)

Game of the night...hmmm...2 of them. Atlanta will beat Detroit, Los Angeles will beat Phoenix.

Indiana and Seattle both win at home, Seattle pulls to within 1 game of Phoenix!

In Other News

In a week the 21st Summer Deaflympics will take place. I had no idea that this existed. Here is a nice article on a women's basketball player as she heads over to compete.

Ranking the Tops Teams of the Decade

As the decade comes to a close maybe it's time to rank the top 10 teams from 2001-2009. I stole this idea from Jake Curtis who writes about Stanford basketball for the Examiner. He has some interesting points to bring up about each team he selected and for the most part, I agree with his selections. Well start with #10, his selection and my selection.

Jake-Purdue
Jenn-Rutgers (maybe I'm biased BUT....)

Rutgers: 1 National title game, 1, Final Four, ranked in the top 10 final AP poll 4 times, #2 in scoring defense for three seasons, 1 Big East Tournament Title, 1 Big East Regular Season Title (13-0, undefeated record), 2 All-Americans (Cappie Pondexter, Epiphanny Prince). Okay, so they dropped out of the poll last season for what, 2 weeks? Who cares! Look at what they have accomplished. I'm not taking anything away from Purdue, excellent ball club but Rutgers is taking it to the next level. 10 years ago people did not even mention Rutgers for National Titles or teams that could make a run. Now that is all that you hear. No team ever wants to play Rutgers in the NCAA Tournament, just ask Auburn or Duke!

I understand the selection of Purdue but I just feel Rutgers is a little better. It all started in 1999 for the Boilermakers and they have been consistent ever since. They have made the NCAA Tournament every year except 1, won two Big 10 titles, AP Top 10 Final poll 4 times, 1 National Title birth and 1 All American (Katie Douglas). The difference is that the Big 10 has been up and down with talented teams and the Big East is always loaded with talented teams. I think that helps put RU a step above PU.

WNBA
No big upsets last night, well none that I didn't predict. I was shocked at the announcers saying that the Sparks are a "surprise". Really? Are you serious? Whatever...

Detroit Shock move into a 3-way tie for 4th in the East. Washington still holds the edge for the 4th spot but Chicago will rebound. They played a great 1st 20 minutes last night then seemed tired in the 2nd 20 minutes, well last 10 minutes really.

No games tonight...good thing because we wouldn't want ESPN to have to cut into a Little League baseball game for a women's professional sporting event (note sarcasm).

Rookie watch: Angel McCoughtry dropped in 20 for the Dream last night along with 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers. Shavonte Zellous had 13 points for the Shock along with 1 board, 3 assists, 0 steals and 1 turnover. McCoughtry wins.

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.

Schedules: Colleges Releasing Schedules

Today marked another Top 25 school releasing their 2009-2010 hoops schedule, be in non-conference. Rutgers has a tough schedule ahead of them, and it would've been tough with Epiphanny Prince but it looks even harder without her! They open up November 15th @ home against Stanford. Yes, the same Final Four team...that one. The one with the lights out shooting point guard that missed 3/4 of last season, JJ Hones. And the one with preseason Wooden Award Candidate, Jayne Appel (who just finished a stint with USA Women's Basketball). But hey, anything can happen right? RU will play 14, 2009 NCAA Tourney teams, many of them from their own conference. My non-conference upset of the year...Prairie View A&M beats RU. Cynthia Cooper-Dyke's biggest win in school history!

Rest of the non- conference schedule:

November:

15 Stanford

17 Kean

19 Boston College

22 at Georgia

26-28 at Paradise Jam, Virgin Islands

26 vs. Southern California

27 vs. Mississippi State

28 vs. Texas

December:

3 Temple

5 at Princeton

7 Florida (Jimmy V Classic)

10 Prairie View A&M

13 vs. Tennessee (Maggie Dixon)

20 Central Connecticut State

30 at George Washington

Stanford has also released their schedule, complete schedule that is, for the 2009-2010 season. Their big games are back to back home contests, 12/15 against Duke and 12/19 against Tennessee. Then they travel across the country to take on UCONN (rematch of Final Four Semi-Final) on 12/23. Other then that, they have the usual tough Pac-10 conference schedule. And if I hear one more commentator talk about how "weak the Pac-10 is", I think I might just drive to their location and slap them. Arizona, Washington is back, USC, UCLA...come on people! Give the West Coast some respect.

Tennessee released their schedule last week. I miss the UCONN/UT game...bring it back! Tennessee plays Baylor in the season opener State Farm classic game, I am anxious to see how Britney Griner (Baylor, Freshman) does against the defense of Tennessee. I would HATE to be Baylor in that game though. Let's be honest, do you THINK Tennessee is going to lose their first game of the season after losing in the 1st round of the NCAA tournament (for the first time ever) last year? I think not. Other notable games, 12/6 home against Texas, neutral site against Rutgers (although it is NYC, practically a home game for Rutgers), 12/19 @ Stanford, 1/17/10 vs Vanderbilt, 2/8/10 @ Vanderbilt. The SEC is always tough but look for Tennessee to rebound from last season.

Many of the other top schools have yet to release much of anything. I know it's early but I'm itching for some college hoops.

WNBA Stuff

-The Phoenix Mercury look to clinch a playoff spot tonight. They take on the Washington Mystics in Phoenix. Game time is 10:00 pm. If Phoenix wins, this will be their 4th straight win over the Mystics. If Washington wins, they can move into a tie with Chicago for the coveted 4th place in the East.

-The Mystics will be playing six of their final 9 games on the road...yuck. They are 4-7 on the road this season.

-Connecticut Sun travel to play the New York Liberty for a Friday night game. Breast Cancer Awareness night at the Garden. Game time is 7:30 pm (NBA TV). Connecticut is without their leading scorer, Asjha Jones. She is out for 2 weeks with a sore Achilles' tendon. Connecticut is looking to beat the Liberty twice in 1 week (they won 74-69 on Wednesday).

-Liberty have allowed 87 points per game and have scored a league low 72.6 points.

-Los Angeles Sparks are on a tear, they've won their last 3 games. They visit the San Antonio Silver Stars tonight (10:00 pm, NBA TV). The Sparks are pretty motivated as they haven't won in San Antonio's house in more then 3 years.

-Sparks win...take 4th place in West, Sparks lose, fall 1.5 games back. The two teams meet 2 more times next month. Playoff fever tonight in San Antonio!

Shout out to Halle Berry

Halle Berry showed her support for the Los Angeles Sparks as she attended the August 19th game against the Minnesota Lynx. She had on her personalized "sparkles" Sparks jersey, check it out (photo courtesy of WNBA.com)...

In other news:

-Former Rutgers star and WNBA player, Sue Wicks, was on Rachel Maddow. Check her out...pretty good stuff (12 minute video). Video

-Bilqis Abul-Qadir will be the first player in NCAA Division 1 women's basketball to play for a top tier team in full Muslim dress. She is a 5'3" guard who broke Rebecca Lobo's Massachusetts scoring record. Nice article on here, click here.

What would happen if...

A bit of a deviation from women's hoops but an important topic to discuss, and frankly, I'm annoyed.

What would happen if a strong, athletic woman could regularly dunk a basketball? What would the media do to them? I bet you they would run around and say "She has to be a 'he'." Would they ask for the same "gender test" that South African runner Caster Semenya has to undergo? According to a statement released by the Associated Press on August 20, 2009, "Her dominating run came on the same day that the track and field's ruling body said she was undergoing a gender test because of concerns she did not meet requirements to compete as a woman." Hmmm, "did not meet requirements to compete as a woman"? What exactly does that mean? The typical stereotyping that occurs when female athletes are extraordinarily good at their chosen sport? Oh, but it seems to be as the AP also states "Her dramatic improvement in times, muscular build, and deep voice sparked speculation about her gender." Wow.

Here is a little background on Caster: She is 18 years old and was born near Polokwane, South Africa in the rural village of Ga-Masehlong. She lived in the village until she was ready for high school when she moved in with her Grandmother who lived in the village of Seshego (2001 census: 121,000), in the northern province of Limpopo. She grew up with no running water or electricity. Caster played soccer and loved to run while growing up. Maybe we should look at who she is rather then what she is.

There is one article that seems to try to be sensitive about the subject and really blames the IAAF and the South African Track & Field organization for letting this become such a hot topic. A good article on the topic can be found here. It's a very sad case and I feel terrible for this 18 year old woman. Just think, it could easily happen in any sport but why always women?! Maybe they should start checking the male gymnasts and male figure skaters! Even the IOC (who is tough on EVERYTHING) does not perform gender testing anymore. Wake up IAAF, get with the program.

Party Spoilers
WNBA.com has a good article on playoff party spoilers. I agree with all but Washington. They can't finish a game, they can't finish a game with a 1 point lead or a 25 point lead. Without Marissa Coleman....just don't see them being a spoiler. You can read the article here. I can't help but smile when I think about Atlanta and how far they've come. I agree with them that Chicago and Atlanta will make the cut. But Indiana will keep their lead and win the East. Phoenix looks strong, nice to see them come together as Seattle has FLOPPED. Phoenix vs Indiana...now that's a final series I like!

And now for something completely different...

Some interesting news and notes (thanks to my recently received Coaching Women's Basketball magazine):

• Cappie Pondexter: 105 games to reach 2,000 points and 400 assists. That is the third fastest behind Diana Taurasi (104 games) and Cynthia Cooper (90 games). Not bad company...DT will go down as one of the greatest and Coop just got inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Congratulations Cappie!
• Lauren Jackson: Became the third player in WNBA history to reach 500 blocks. She is joined by Margo Dydek and Lisa Leslie. And...she is the youngest to reach the mark (28 years and 56 days). On Saturday, August 15 she became the fourth player to hit 5,000 points (and the youngest to do it).
• Deanna Nolan: On June 28th became the 18th player to reach 3,500 points.

Honoring a Legend

This Friday, August 21, the New York Liberty will be the host for what will be an annual Kay Yow "United We Fight" Breast Cancer Awareness Night. Donate now by clicking here. Each year in February is the Think Pink Zone where college teams host events to help donate money to the Kay Yow Foundation and it is nice to see the WNBA doing their part as well.

Going along with this theme is something else you might not know about. Two former Tennessee Lady Vols Assistant Coaches (well, now 1 and the UCLA Head Coach) have an annual "Cruisin' for A Cause" ride. Holly Warlick and Nikki Caldwell strap on their helmets and go on a long-haul motorcycle adventure to raise funds for the Kay Yow Foundation. Back in May of this year, Nikki and Holly, along with thousands of other riders, went on a four state loop (Knoxville, TN, down to New Orleans, LA via Mississippi then back up through Alabama to Knoxville, TN). This was the third year they have done such a ride and they have already raised nearly $100,000. They do have a kick off weekend and a day long trip knows as the "TaTa Ride". Ahhh, a sense of humor!

Holly and Nikki have also started the Champions for a Cause non-profit organization. There they bring together basketball, bikes and breast cancer to bring awareness to this disease. Check out their website for more information.

USA Women's Basketball

The first 8 members have been named to the 2009-2012 USA Women's Basketball squad.

-Seimone Augustus

-Sue Bird

-Tamika Catchings

-Sylvia Fowles

-Kara Lawson

-Candace Parker

-Cappie Pondexter

-Diana Taurasi

Can they just give us the Gold Medal? Think about it...it's a 12 player roster so add: Maya Moore, Tina Charles...so that's 10. Long shot: Epiphanny Prince, Alexis Gray-Lawson. Or just take the 2009 UCONN women's hoops team and put them on the floor. They'll beat ANYONE.

WNBA Games Tonight:

Seattle @ Detroit (7:30 pm)

Phoenix @ Chicago (8:00 pm)

Washington @ Los Angeles (10:00 pm)

Home Court Advantage? I think not...

Tuesday nights games proved to be bad news for the home teams. Usually home court is to your advantage because you know the surroundings and yes, the fans are there to support you. So where was the love last night for Los Angeles, Washington and San Antonio?! Say what? All three home teams lost? Two of them had the bottom feeders winning.

The Los Angeles Sparks were shocked by the New York Liberty, 65-61. This is the first time I can say that the Liberty looked like a solid team, all season long. Something that has plagued the Sparks all season is their turnovers, they had 18 of them last night. And the Liberty was actually able to take advantage of those turnovers. Plus, the Liberty stopped relying on the ineffective perimeter game and took the ball inside. Gee, what happened? The Liberty outscored the Sparks 32-20. The Sparks out rebounded the Liberty, but only 35-30 and with the added Sparks turnovers, well, that would probably balance out to a 4 point Liberty win. Shameka Christon had 11 points and Loree Moore had 10 for the Liberty but the other players were close to double digits so that certainly helped in the victory. Tina Thompson looked a little lost at times in the paint, very uncharacteristic but credit to the Liberty defense. Anytime she got the ball there was a hand attacking it. She finished with 9 points and 6 boards. Lisa Leslie had 12 points and 5 boards. Candace Parker had a double-double, 11 points and 11 boards. The inside defense for the Liberty was relentless, both Thompson and Leslie led the team in turnovers with 4 (Thompson) and 5 (Leslie). So with the loss the Sparks remain 1 game back from San Antonio, thanks to Sacramento beating them last night. And I would just like to comment on Los Angeles sports teams: Why don't the fans show up until nearly half-time? Is that a "California" thing?

Sacramento Monarchs won easily, 90-73, over the San Antonio Silver Stars. The difference? The Monarchs had 37 rebounds, to San Antonio's 27. That played well for the Monarchs as they outscored the Silver Stars in the paint 42-20. The Monarchs were led by Rebekkah Brunson who hit for 19 points and 9 boards. Your All-Star Nicole Powell had 17 points, Scholanda Robinson had 13 points and coming off the bench, the spark plug, Kara Lawson had 12 points. Ticha Penicheiro had 11 assists for the Monarchs as she just kept pounding the ball inside for easy buckets. The Silver Stars had 27 points in the first quarter then scored 46 over the next three. They only hit 20 points in a quarter once, that was the first quarter. Sophia Young and Vicki Johnson both kept the scoring going for the Silver Stars but they were about it for them, scoring 14 and 12. The Silver Stars keep faltering, they've lost 4 of their last 6 games. What needs to happen? It just seems like they are not clicking on all cylinders and playing as a team, together. With the Sparks right behind them, look out Silver Stars!

The final game had the Detroit Shock win over the Washington Mystics, 81-77. This game was tight from the start but an explosive 35 point fourth quarter by the Shock put the Mystics down. It seems that the Mystics play 33 minutes of a game, they forget about the last 7 minutes, you know, when the clock is ticking to the end of the game! The Mystics had a 12 point lead at one point but squandered it and allowed the Shock to make a nice comeback for the win. I'm sure this gives the Shock a lot of confidence for the rest of the season. Perhaps the difference was the resurgence of Deanna Nolan. She dropped in 23 points for the Shock. Taj McWilliams had 17 points and that rookie nobody is talking about, Shavonte Zellous from Pittsburgh, had 16 points. What else helped the Shock? The return of Cheryl Ford starting to play to her potential. 10 points and 10 boards, 6 boards on the defensive end. The Mystics were led by Alana Beard with 17 points and Crystal Langhorne had 15 points. Nobody seemed to take charge for the Mystics on the rebounding side of the game and that ended up hurting them in the end!

So in conclusion, home team advantage is not an advantage at all. Not when you are 13 games from the end of the WNBA season and the standings are to tight to call! Let's keep up the great games, let's have a few more upsets...it makes the game more interesting!

Tonight's Games
None at all! Day off for the ladies.

Lisa Leslie hits 6,000

How much of an impact has Lisa Leslie had on women's basketball? Do you really have to ask? Or do I just have to say this, "6,000 career points in the WNBA, the first one to do it". She hit an eleven foot jumper with 11.9 seconds to play in the 2nd quarter to reach this milestone. She is also the career leading rebounder with 3,214 after last night game (and yes, she technically has 6,010 after last night's game as well). I would argue she is one of the best female basketball players ever. Yes, even better then Ann Meyers and Nancy Lieberman. Lisa is the real deal, completely the real deal. If her knees could hold on any longer I'm sure she would hit 10,000 points. So CONGRATULATIONS, Lisa. The best to put on a uniform (and she has a great book too!)

On top of hitting that milestone, the Sparks beat my Fever 75-63 on Monday night. The Sparks outscored the Fever in each quarter except the 3rd quarter. For some reason it seems that Fever just could not get going despite 11 steals and causing the Sparks to turn the ball over 16 times! Tamika Catchings put in 15, Katie Douglas had 16 and rookie Briann January (who nobody is talking about but is having a great rookie year) had 10 points. But when you have Lisa Leslie scored 21 and Candace Parker hitting for 14....it is tough to keep up.

Indiana still has a nice lead in the East, still up by 5.5 games over Washington & Connecticut. The Sparks are still 1 game behind the Silver Stars, but look for them to take over the 4th place spot this week as they play the Mercury on Thursday and the Sparks play the Monarchs on Friday. By the weekend they will be tied for 4th place, I'm certain of that.

Tonight's Games
Three games tonight:
Detroit @ Washington (7:00 pm)
Sacramento @ San Antonio (8:00 pm)
New York @ Los Angeles (9:00 pm, ESPN2)

Washington, San Antonio and Los Angeles will be winners....

Notes about games tonight:
Detroit is on a 3 game road swing against Eastern Conference teams: Washington, Hot-Lanta and Indiana.
Washington is looking for a season sweep of Detroit.

San Antonio has only won back-to-back games twice this season. That plays well for Sacramento but the Monarchs have lost 5 in a row to the Silver Stars in the regular season and they have the worst record in the WNBA (ouch).

New York has lost 6 of 7 but almost beat the Storm over the weekend (losing 70-69). Shameka Christon is in a shooting slump and when the entire team is in a slump, losing your only consistent scorer hurts. Los Angeles is has the league's best scoring defense and limits their opponents to under 72.6 PPG. That doesn't work well for the Liberty who are 1-11 when scoring under 73 points.

I fell asleep...and I had a very good DREAM.

What is up with the Dream? They beat San Antonio last night, 92-84. It was a tight game throughout, 18 lead changes, but Atlanta really played well in the 4th quarter to capture the 8 point win. I would just like to say I am so happy for Chamique Holdsclaw. She is such a great player that had some bad luck and to see her rebound so nicely is just a happy story. She was the team leader with 21 points for the Dream and the team has one 4 in a row. FOUR in a row! I really like this team, it's a collection of great players that compliment each other so well. I had them out of the playoffs until next season but look out, they are coming on strong now! They only had 10 turnovers in the game and forced San Antonio into 18! They scored 50 in the paint, showing that Erika de Souza and Sancho Lyttle are really catching their groove. Michelle Snow and Angel McCoughtry each dropped in 11. Just a great game; multiple double digit scorers, protected the ball, got the rebounds. If they keep playing like this, look out Chicago, Atlanta is taking your seat!

The Sparks won a big game in the West, they beat Seattle by 4 in Overtime. Noelle Quinn had a career high 23 points in the game (8 in overtime) to help the Sparks knock off Seattle (who have lost 2 tough games in a row). Even though Katie Gearlds might not be the bigtime player for the Storm, losing her for the next four weeks is big. It's been confirmed that Gearlds tore her posterior cruciate ligament in her left knee Tuesday night against Phoenix. She does so much off of the ball that losing her will hurt the Storm. But, the Storm are resilient, they will rebound. With the LA win and San Antonio loss, the Sparks have pulled to within 1 game of 4th place in the West. The Sparks are on a roll, they had 4 players in double digits; Lisa Leslie came back and had 15 points, Candace Parker had 18 points. They out-rebounded the Storm by 11 (42-31) but they still can't hold onto the ball (14 turnovers, 4 by Parker). Where did the Storm go? I know it was a close game but it seemed like in the end it seemed like the usual that showed up for them: Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson. Someone else needs to step up in the final moments to help this team come together.

Tonight's Games
So we have a few good ones:
Detroit @ Washington (7:00 pm)
Connecticut @ Minnesota (8:00 pm)
New York @ Sacramento (10:00 pm)

Washington, Minnesota and New York will win (first win under Donovan).

Other News:
The Tuesday announcement that Sacramento Monarchs/Indiana Fever forward Yolanda Griffith has retired brought a sense of sadness to me. I always felt that Yo-Yo was under-rated as a player. I mean, she did play on 2 Olympic Gold Medal teams (2000, 2004) but I never felt she really got the respect she deserved. Perhaps it is because she didn't play for media friendly teams? Or perhaps she's just a quiet woman on and off the floor. You know, the player that scores 30 points and you go, "When did that happen? Where was I?" She's also the type of player that gets things done without the ball, she can pass and defend. I would always say that I would never drive to the hoop if Yo-Yo was standing there.

She had originally signed to play for the University of Iowa in 1989 but had to remove herself from her signed contract due to the birth of her daughter. She went to Junior College and eventually transferred to Florida Atlantic University (a Division II school) where she graduated in 1993. From there she played overseas in Germany and in 1997, she finished as the top scorer and rebounder in the EuroLeague, averaging 24.7 points and 16.0 rebounds per game. In 1997 she was the ABL's first pick in the players draft going to the Long Beach Stingrays. She was the 1997-1998 ABL Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-ABL first team. She finished second in MVP voting to Natalie Williams (her future 2000 Olympic team mate). She scored 1,133 points for the ABL, in 2 season!

Her 11 year WNBA stats tell the story:

• 2nd in rebounding in the WNBA with 2,444 (second to, you guessed it, Lisa Leslie)
• 4,238 points
• 323 blocks
• 2005 WNBA Champion
• 1999 second overall draft pick (from the ABL)
• WNBA MVP & Defensive Player of the Year Award winner in 1999 (her first year in the WNBA)
• seven-time WNBA all-star
• not counting this season, she started every game except 1 in her 11 year WNBA career
  

Right now she is the Assistant Coach for Indiana and her expertise will come in handy for the team. Best of luck to you in the future, Yo-Yo, your game will be missed.

A Weekend of Madness

It's sad to me that there is little mention of the WNBA in the media. Living in the New York area it's more about Eli and Sanchez (Giants/Jets) and writer's predictions of the upcoming NFL season. There is barely even a mention of the WNBA on ESPN and it seems to be talked about with the attitude of "we have to talk about the games". They usually pick one game, show 2 highlights, show scores for the other games and pretty much read off of the same screen I am reading off of. They also always seem surprised if a player scores over 20 points, but that's besides the point. Anyway, there were some excellent games over the weekend and I'm here to talk about them (as best as I can because the coverage is non-existent).



Saturday

I think you could safely say that there were 5 close games on Saturday. The largest margin of victory was the Mercury winning against Lynx by 13 points. The rest of the games were 12 point (Sky over Sun), 6 points (Dream over Liberty) and two with 3 point (Sparks over Monarchs and Storm over Silver Stars). These were big games this weekend in the standings.



The Sky are now only a 1/2 game back on the Sun; Seattle stayed 2 back on the Mercury; the Sparks pulled to within 1 game of the Silver Stars (and the all important 4th place). The West is seriously tight from first to fifth while my Fever keep pulling away in the East.



Sunday

Fever won on the road at Washington; Sun beat Detroit in the city that Ford built then abandoned. The Sun are now tied for 2nd place with the Mystics since Connecticut won and Washington lost.



Upcoming Games

Monday is a night off for the teams but Tuesday will showcase the bottom feeders of the East battling to see who stays in the basement; the top two in the West and a great game between 4th and 5th in the West (Silver Stars hold that 1 game lead on the Sparks!).



Other news

I read an interesting article on how the WNBA has really improved its game over the last 13 seasons. It is an interesting article about the tweaking of the league that has certainly helped the game. There is a mention of attendance up but not matching that of 1998, oh yes, when the economy was BOOMING. And there is no mention of the NBA attendance being down. Of course there has to be some sort of comparison between men and women, rather then just show stats from WNBA 1997 and WNBA 2008, they want to compare two entirely different animals. But here's the interesting part: they aren't that far off in the categories they chose to evaluate AND they failed to mention that the men's game is 8 minutes LONGER then the women's game. The author provided a nice little table:
NBA WNBA
Field-goal percentage
45.9 42.7
Possessions per 48 minutes
91.7 92.1
Points per 100 possessions
108.3 98.3
Avg. points per team, per game
100 77.3



What the author fails to realize is that the women's game is similar to, I would say, mid-late 1990s NBA game. If you look at the stats there, the Chicago Bulls had a team field goal percentage of 45.1% in 1997-1998. This is the ridiculously talented Chicago Bulls and the entire WNBA league is only 3% off that pace? Come on people! If you really want to compare apples to bananas (no pun intended, or is there...) then the WNBA is doing extremely well considering they play fewer minutes then the men and their stats are nearly identical. 2% points is like making 10 more shots per game. And the women have more possessions then the men per 48 minutes (ahem, it's 40 for the women) because they actually play defense. Certainly the points are lower but that's changing, the same Chicago Bulls averaged 96.7 points per game. THOSE Bulls, the Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc, Harper, Kerr Bulls! Also, the women play far less games then the men in a regular season, so who is to say that is not a factor. By the end of the season you can watch the final score totals increase in the WNBA as the teams get more familiar with each other. Oh yes, and one final note: let's not forget that the big stars of the WNBA play 10-11 months out of the year. I'd like to see some of the NBA stars do that.



So while the league is young you are clearly seeing the effects of the improvement of the game, coaches and travel teams by the women that are entering the WNBA. As the players get stronger, faster and better those numbers will match the NBA. But hey, I didn't know it was a comparison game.



To read the article, click here.

Where oh Where Have the Mercury Gone?

I have to start this blog out this way rather then talk about my predicted game of the night being that and more! Complete shocker in Hot-lanta last night as the Mercury were HANDILY defeated by the Dream, 106-76. This is the biggest win in the Dream's young franchise history and will go down as their biggest win of the year, regardless of if they beat the rest of the teams on their schedule. Why? Because the Mercury have two in the top 3 in scoring and have the highest field goal & free throw percentages as well as points per game averages, assists and blocks! Okay, so where do the Dream stand in comparison? As a team, not that far behind them....2nd to the Mercury in PPG. But a big category that the Dream lead the league in is rebounding and as many great coaches have stated, "Rebounding wins Championships".

Angel McCoughtry stepped it up and dropped 17 on the Mercury, Iziane Castro Marques had 16 and Ivory Latta also chipped in with 16. Latta has really stepped up her game over the last 3 contests which means to me that maybe she has gotten her stroke back and is playing smarter basketball. I admit, I wrote her off but I have no problem saying that I could be wrong on her. Way to help your team, Ivory! A great game for Atlanta and hopefully a learning experience for the Mercury, who don't return home until August 8 against the Fever.

Which brings me to....the game of the night. The Fever beat the Sun in OT, 94-85. Katie Douglas was sure not to have a repeat performance like the last time these two teams met. Douglas put in 32 points, shooting nearly 50% from the floor for the game. Tamika Catchings came up big, like she always does, and tied the game up for the Fever with with 11.6 left in regulation. She got fouled but missed the free throw, Lindsay Whalen missed a shot at the other end to send the game into OT. The Fever just took over in the OT session, outscoring the Sun 10-1. The game of the night was just great, too bad it was not on national television. The media needs to be more involved in broadcasting games, when will the stigma end that women's games are boring? I am sorry, I have digressed...that rant is for another day.

In other games, the Liberty were a total disappointment and fell to the Mystics, 78-75. But so close you say? No, the game was a blowout and Washington got a little lazy and stopped playing their game, I also think Alana Beard was on the bench too long but who am I? Anyway, the Liberty looked awful until about mid-way through the third quarter when they finally woke up and realized they were playing in a basketball game. It's about time for some changes in that organization.

Sacramento beat the Silver Stars, I predicted the Silver Stars to win but I had a weird gut feeling that the Monarchs were going to beat them (don't ask my why). It was another OT thriller with Becky Hamon hitting a one-handed shot (so awesome) with 17 ticks to play in regulation. In OT the Monarchs went on and outscored the Silver Stars 14-6 to take the victory. DeMya Walker played a great game (nice to see her doing well after her numerous knee injuries...and she's a Jersey girl) and scored 14 points for the Monarchs.

The only game that jumbled the standings up a bit was the Atlanta game. With the win the Dream are tied in 4th with Chicago Sky (they meet up on August 8th in Atlanta). Seattle is only 2 games back on Phoenix now so look for them to make a run, you can never rule out our Pacific Northwest team.

Only one game tonight: Minnesota Lynx @ Detroit Shock. Look for Minnesota to beat Detroit for the first time in 5 years in Detroit. Detroit has lost their last 4 at home which could be motivation but even without Seimone Augustus, look for the Lynx to win at Detroit.

Sun-Fever Tonight

Hey y'all!

I failed to mention the game of the night: Sun vs Fever in Indiana, 7:00. You can keep up with the action on wnba.com (http://www.wnba.com/games/20090730/CONIND/playbyplay.html) Certainly the East final, no doubt in my mind. It will be quite a showdown.
A few things to keep in mind about the game:

1. The Sun broke the Fever's win streak earlier in the year
2. Fever have not lost at home since their opening game
3. The Fever only shot 29% from the floor in their last meeting (where the Sun prevailed)
4. The Sun were embarassed the other night against the Mercury
5. Katie Douglas only had 5 points the last game against the Sun

So just remember that while checking out the action. My prediction: Indiana 87-83.

Other games tonight:

Washington @ NY

San Antonio @ Sacramento

Phoenix @ Atlanta

Predictions:

Washington, San Antonio and Phoenix will all prevail on the road but look for Sacramento to give San Antonio a run.

WNBA first half evaluations....

So in figuring out what to write today I came across an article about how some WNBA players evaluated their teams over the first half of the season. I figured I would do my own analysis.

Let's start with the East, my personal favorite since I'm a Jersey girl.

Indiana Fever:
13-4, 1st: Best team in the WNBA, period. I love this team, they are so balanced on both ends of the floor. What makes them so good is that they want to get better. It's not enough to have a great record or be top in a lot of categories...these ladies want that championship. They have the talent, the chemistry and the heart to do it. And they will get it.

Connecticut Sun:

9-7, 2nd: No big surprise to me that the Sun sit nicely in 2nd place. They are a great team, a little inconsistent in the beginning of the season but overall a nice team to watch. They have a great inside-out game as long as their perimieter people can stay consistent. If their guards can drive to the hoop more it will help to open up the post players for easy scores. They play nice defense and if Indiana wasn't so damn good this season, I'd put them in the finals.

Atlanta Dream:

8-10, T-4th:. I like this team, I think they are going to make some noise next season. They are still super young but that can play well for a team. Look at Seattle! Overall it seems that the players feel good about the direction of the team and that is a POSITIVE sign. The only thing that hurts them is if they fall behind, the keep falling behind! But, with experience and winning a few "come from behind games" Atlanta will be in the mix.

Chicago Sky:
8-10, T-4th: Okay, this team is totally disappointing me. I really thought they had all the tools to make a run this season and man, I was off. Of course it's not over yet and they played a nice second half last season. Again, it just seems that the Sky are inconsistent when they need to be solid. They have some experience under their belt but what I like is that when their big player isn't scoring, other people at least try to step it up. My other thought: Jia Perkins is very under rated, she could take over for Tech and watch her do that with the Sky.

New York Liberty:

6-10, 5th: The Liberty have been a big disappointment this season. They have a lot of talent but not a strong inside presence, which does hurt them in the long run. They have lost a lot of games that they should have won (recently taking a 20 point lead on Phoenix only to lose). Personally I think a lot of the problem is the head coach, it's time for Anne to take over and rebuild this team.

Detroit Shock:
5-9, 6th: Wow! So the departure of Bill had a huge impact on this team. It's obvious why, he was the one who could get their emotions flowing. This team has a lot of talent but what they are missing is heart. It's sad to see them struggle like this after being so dominant in the East over the past few years. I see them finishing in the 6th spot at the end of the season as well, just no consistence and I just do not see them going on a run. I think there might be a coaching change soon, unless they make the playoffs!