By Mel Greenberg
The USA Women's National Team Good Luck Beijing Tournament roster illustrates how quickly things change when it comes to local identification.
Candice Wiggins -- Stanford is now transformed to Candice Wiggins -- Minnesota Lynx in the primary affilation column.
Sylvia Fowles -- Louisiana State is now Sylvia Fowles -- Chicago Sky
And although new WNBA team identifications have severed the longtime court togetherness of Crystal Langhorne of Willingboro and Laura Harper of Cheltenham, dating back to their Philadelphia Belles AAU days and successful run at Maryland, the two remain on the same side this week as USA teammates for the trip to China.
Of course the two have been gold medal winners in the past on other USA squads.
But after the trip to the Olympic city for this year's summer games, the duo post tandem will be on opposing sides as soon as Monday night, May 5 when Harper debuts in Washington with the Sacramento Monarchs in a preseason game against Langhorne's new Mystics team.
And for those Rutgers fans who haven't hunted down the first former Scarlet Knights teammate confrontation of Matee Ajavon and Essence Carson, that will occur on Friday night June 6th, when Ajavon's Houston Comets squad visits Carson's New York Liberty squad at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Helen, at women's hoops, who never sleeps, apparently, has all the details of the USA trip, as does the USA basketball site.
We also were recently appreciate of Helen's advice in a Spanish restaurant in a city south of the Mason-Dixon Line that was in the news during Final Four week.
Helen noted that eating the deserts first in order of courses avoids not getting there because of the major selections on the main entree menu.
Upon further review: We tongue-in-cheek recently noted that we can no longer talk about former Colorado star Kate Fagan, who will soon join the sports department here in the home office.
But since that won't occur for another week or two, her impending arrival to the City of Brotherly Love didn't stop the Guru from using his connections to set in motion her appearance on the draft list for the heavy-duty Philadelphia Department of Recreation NCAA Summer Women's League.
No. 1 vs. No. 2 -- No, we're not talking about UConn-Tennessee, which could come up in discussion Tuesday when Huskies coach Geno Auriemma holds an end-of-season press briefing.
Rather, it's a preseason game in the WNBA -- Los Angeles at Chicago on Thursday, May 8.
The Sparks will visit with former Tennessee star Candace Parker, the No. 1 overall pick of the draft, while Chicago's Sylvia Fowles was the overall No. 2.
The last time they were on opposing sides was in the NCAA semifinal when Tennessee edged the Tigers just before regulation expired.
-- Mel
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