Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ The Guru had a chance to stop by Temple, located up the street from the home office, aka The Inquirer, to take in the end of Friday's Senior National Women's Basketball Team workout.

There's nothing off the drills to report but one observer on the scene was Villanova coach Harry Perretta, who was impressed with the team's offensive sets. As for defense, well, remember not everyone is on board yet due to the WNBA Finals.

Temple coach Dawn Staley, an assistant to USA coach Anne Donovan, got to watch two of her assistants perform with the male practice players against the USA Women.

One was veteran USA Olympic male practice player Darius Taylor, who previously served as assistant director of competitive programs at USA Basketball in Colorado Spring, Colo.

Taylor, a bruising post player, helped develop former Temple All-American Candice Dupree and prepare her for what has become a great career launch in the WNBA.

While Taylor was working the inside attacks, another Staley assistant, Fred Chmiel, was involved in guard play. Prior to joining the Owls a year ago, Chmiel was an assistant with the former WNBA Charlotte Sting.

Among the rookie male practice players was Matt Langel, a former Penn star and ongoing assistant to Fran Dunphy who moved with his former coach to Temple from the Quakers a year ago. He also is married to former Penn guard Tara Twomey.

The practice was announced for McGonigle Hall, causing the Guru to get lost at his own alma mater. The reason is that the gym was actually in the adjoining Pearson Hall.

If Staley caused the problem, she could be excused because her campus geographical knowledge is centered across the street in the spacious Liacouras Center, where her Temple team plays.

McGonigle, which still houses the Guru in a team picture from 1969, is the former Temple athletics home, which gets occasional use when shows and dramas are booked for the Liacouras Center.

Although "Inquirer Sportswriter," "USA Women's Basketball practice," and a few other phrases were not helpful in getting the Guru onto the neighboring parking lot next to McGonigle, the words "basketball manager" and "(Former Sports Information Director) Al Shrier" did the trick.

Sunday's game against the Australian National Team will be 30 miles North in the Sovereign Bank Arena at 1 p.m. in Trenton, the state capital of New Jersey. That will be some three hours before the Detroit Shock and Phoenix Mercury play a winner take-all decisive Game 5 of the WNBA championship series in Auburn Hills, Mich.

A year ago, the Shock had to complete their series-clinching comeback in Game 5 downtown after being displaced in The Palace due to another scheduled event.

This time, of course, Phoenix is trying to come back from a 2-1 defict in the playoffs after evening things Thursday night in the desert.

Sunday's game will cause Australia's Penny Taylor of Phoenix, to miss participating for USA's opponent, while the Americans will be without Detroit's Swin Cash, Cheryl Ford, and Katie Smith, along with the Mercury's Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter.

The absence of Pondexter, a former Rutgers all-timer, cost Trenton its chief local draw. The Scarlet Knights' campuses are some 25 miles to the North. However, enough other WNBA All-Stars and former Olympic gold medal winners are on hand to make the event enoyable.

The U.S. beat Australia for the Gold in Athens, Greece, in 2004, which was Staley's last performance, internationally, as a player. The two teams will also meet Wednesday at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

While the ongoing family situation continues, the Guru remains on thre sidelines from print coverage, but Kevin Tatum will do the honors for the paper Sunday. Kathleen Radebaugh was planning to write a feature for the blog. Erin Semagin Damio, fresh off her sensational coverage of the WNBA playoffs in Phoenix, will be in Casino-ville also known as Uncasville, Wednesday.

Erin will not be in Detroit due to a prior commitment and also needing to be back on her home campus in Boston at Northeastern. She does have some unpublished items to advance the next round and may also offer some travelogue photos from a drive in the actual desert surroundings of Phoenix

Brazilian Steak Sans Paparazzi

Celebrity Stalking Note: Yes that was the Guru dining early Friday night with a USA Basketball Official in Fogo de Chao, the Brazilian Steak House that opened last winter in Center City.

Located at Juniper and Chestnut near Broad St. just below City Hall, the restaurant occupies what used to be the headquarters for Caldwell Jewelers.

While carrots at the salad bar have replaced multi-carat diamonds as a delight of the clientele, the meal was, nonetheless, quite a gem.

Judging by the actions at our table, it's a wonder that there were no collisions in the aisles that are used to get to the salad bar and also bring the various steaks on skewers in Brazilian style to the patrons.

The way the system works, a red/green disc for each person at the table is used to either give a green "tongs up" signal to the waiter carrying the steak to stop by or a red "hold-off for now" notice.

Throughout the night, however, most times the wait staff ran right through the red sign, although we did not rebuff any of the serving attempts.

Motor Music

Here's a tip for you digital music lovers the Guru recently discovered while driving North from here in the land of Soft Pretzel Logic to the Mohegan Sun for a WNBA game.

When using a portable satellite unit such as Sirius or our XM Radio connection or playing an Ipod or other MP3 device through the car radio, radio frequency 88.9 FM will hold steady and not be affected by interference in the New York-New Jersey area from other commercial station. At times, 88.7 may also work.

USA Staff Slot Unaffected By Storm Turbulence in Seattle

So back in the days of last week and beyond going backwards when the Guru would begin to put words on the original womhoops blog, he noticed an ongoing debate at other boards and sites over the future of USA coach Anne Donovan as the head of the WNBA's Seattle Storm, especially if the franchise moves to Oklahoma City or elsewhere,

The ergo of those conversations was whether Donovan could be retained in charge of the Americans without a WNBA job elsewhere.

The answer is: Unless some other disruptive situation, involved with USA procedures, occurs to cause havoc to her future, Donovan will be on the sidelines in Beijing in 2008 for the Olympics no matter what happens to her relationship with the Storm.

Some had assumed one only had to hold a WNBA job to maintain an Olympic coaching position.

The reality is, according to a source at USA Basketball familiar with the rules of each "quad" period, one only had to meet the criteria at the time of his or her selection and not in the ensuing period leading to Olympic competition.

Donovan, who has already won gold as a player, has obviously satisified conditions that got her named to head the squad.

-- Mel