Women's Hoops Guru

(Guru's Note: A special thanks to the folks at WNBA.Com who drove some heavy traffic this way on Wednesday with a link to the site even though the reporting is actually coming from the Associated Press' Doug Feinberg. And here's another before the Olympic team heads to Asia.)

By Doug Feinberg

SAN FRANCISCO -- Whether it's shooting a 3, driving to the basket, or just scoring inside, the U.S. women's basketball post players have an incredible amount of versatility in their games.

Gone are the days when post players would score only in the paint. This talented group can score anywhere on the court.

"One through five, this might be the most versatile post team in a long time," center Lisa Leslie said. "Players who can shoot from the outside and the inside. Everyone is going to have an opportunity. It's like an orchestra, everyone plays a different instrument and at some point you will have a solo."

Leslie may be the very reason that some of her young teammates are so versatile.

Gone are the days when post players would score only in the paint. This talented group can score anywhere on the court.

Candace Parker remembers watching her teammate play in the 1996 Olympics and then the WNBA. She was impressed at how a post player could do more than just score in the paint. Now Parker leads a new breed of posts, who can do just about anything.

"I really remember her in the Olympics scoring from all over," Parker said. "I emulated her game and wanted to be like that."

At 6-foot-4, Parker is a unique talent who can play all five positions on the floor.

"She's a freak of nature," teammate Tina Thompson said with a smile. "She can be a point forward. She really is the future of the position and the game."

Thompson also has huge versatility in her game. She can step back and shoot 3s or take the ball to the basket as was evident when she led her team to victory in a drill in practice on a last-second drive to the hoop.

"We have the best post players in the world," Olympic coach Anne Donovan said. "They really have so much uniqueness to them that makes their games so tough to play against. Nobody else in the world has as many post threats as we do."

While the versatility and ability to step back and shoot from the outside is relatively new to the women's game, it's been that way for years on the men's side in Europe. Slowly, it's starting to creep into the women's contests.

"If you look at players like Dirk Nowitzki, it's no small part of their game," Thompson said. "Lauren Jackson is one of the best in the world at it. She can score from pretty much anywhere. There are a few others, but they are scattered around. We have so many talented ones here."

Sylvia Fowles, who might be the Americans' best pure post player, has already shown her incredible young talent on the international stage. She had a great tournament at the Olympic test event, averaging 17.0 points and 10.5 rebounds as well as blocking 15 shots in only six games.

"I just go out and have fun," Fowles said. "We really have a talented group and I just do whatever is needed."

Fowles, who missed six weeks of the WNBA season with an injured knee, looks fully recovered on the court. She played in a few games for the Chicago Sky before coming to training camp.

"Have you seen me out there?" she said with a wide grin. "It feels good and so far there hasn't been any swelling at all."

The other aspect of the game that the American post players bring is the ability to play above the rim. Parker and the 6-foot-5 Fowles both dunked in college, and their teammates would love to watch them repeat the feat at the Olympics.

"It would be something to see if they can do it on the international stage," forward DeLisha Milton-Jones said. "It really would bring a new element to the women's game and would be exciting for all the fans to see."

Parker downplays the dunking talk because she just wants to help the team win.

"If it happens it happens," Parker said. "But winning a gold is the number one and only concern I have."

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - Kate Fagan, a former Colorado star and the Guru's first-ever client-colleague, may have moved on from the Philadelphia Deparment of Recreation NCAA Women's Summer League after turning pro with her quick promotion to becoming the 76ers beat writer, but her departure hasn't stopped her Red team from playing the role of Cinderella in the quarterfinals which were held Wednesday night at Northeast High.

Part of the reason for the Red's late-season success has been the arrival of Villanova star Laura Kurz soon after Fagan anwered the call of duty and the sports department management team.

A former Duke player who transferred to the Wildcats two summers ago and became eligible last season to impact Villanova's resurgence, Kurz poured in 24 points, while Northeast High graduate Peaches Nesmith scored 20, as the sixth-seeded Red team upset No. 3 Black, 73-65..

Incidentally, Nesmith shares high school alumni status with the Guru, who went under the assumed name of "Hey You," for most of his high school career until a journalism class in his senior year sent him on a different direction.

Villanova's Siobhan O'Connor is also on the Red squad, which advanced to a semifinal game on Monday against No. 2 Columbia Blue, 6:45 p.m., at Torresdale Boys Club on Linden Street near the I-95 Academy Road exit.

St. Joseph's Jenna Loschiavo scored 12 fior the Black.

In another game of note, Drexel star power gave No. 4 Teal a 65-44 win over No. 5 Vegas Gold as Gabriella Marginean scored 18 points and Alison Lupariello scored 14.

Marginean. a junior next season on a course to become the Dragon's all-time scorer, was on opposite sides Wednesday night from a former Drexel sensation in Michelle Maslowski, who scored 14 for Vegas Gold.

Teal will meet top-seeded White at 8 p.m. in the other semifinal game with the winners beginning a best-of-three championship series, beginning next Wednesday night at Torresdale Boys Club.

Here's the complete rundown from Wednesday night quarterfinal action as provided from our colleague Stu London:

#1 Columbia Blue 94, #8 Hunter Green 71: Daveinia Payne led Columbia with 24 points while fellow La Salle U. alum Crista Rickets and former West Chester star Dana Weems each added 21. Mount St. Josephʼs Laura Johnson led Hunter with 23.

#6 Red 73, #3 Black 65: In the only upset of the night, Villanovaʼs Laura Kurz had 24 points and Northeast High graduate Peaches Nesmith added 20 points to led Red. St. Josephʼs Jenna Loschiavo had 12 for Black.

#2 White 62, #7 Orange 58: St. Joeʼs Brittany Ford led White with 21 points while La Salleʼs Ashley Gale and Andrea Jones each scored 12. La Salleʼs Margaret Elderton led Orange with 13 points, including four 3ʼs and Villanovaʼs Sarah Jones and Northeast resident Jasmine Elum each had 12.

#4Teal 65, #5Vegas Gold 44: Drexelʼs Gabriella Marginean (18) and Alison Lupariello (15) led Teal. Drexel alum Michelle Maslowski led Vegas Gold with 14.

Semifinals:

Monday at Torresdale Boys Club

6:45 p.m.: Columbia Blue vs. Red

8 p.m.: White vs. Teal

-- Mel

Guru's note: First, Kathleen has a nice feature on the summer league beneath this post. Here is another Doug Feinberg report off the Associated Press with the Olympic women. He also filed some funny quotes in an ensuing story after the Guru bolted the office Monday night, which are tacked to the bottom. Also, there's another AP story below on the WNBA getting high marks in diversity. The Guru will provide coverage Wednesday night on quarterfinals play in the summer league.)

By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Sports Writer

SAN FRANCISCO — There was a time when the U.S. women’s basketball team
could simply show up at the Olympics and outscore anyone. Now, winning
another gold medal might hinge on getting one key stop.

“Up until 2004 in Athens we could just outgun our opponents and win on
the offensive end of the floor,” U.S. coach Anne Donovan said Tuesday at
the training camp at Stanford.

“We rarely have had to lock down people and we paid for it in the
World Championships. So the beautiful thing is that these players
understand that. If we don’t talk about it and we don’t do it, we’re going
to make a very difficult road in Beijing,” she said.

That attitude has filtered down to the 12 Olympians. The U.S. roster
boasts four of the top five scorers in the WNBA — led by Diana Taurasi’s
23.9 points — but that can only get them so far as was evident in a 75-68
loss to Russia in the semifinals of the 2006 World Championships.

Seimone Augustus was on that team and understands what this squad
needs to do.

“Everyone knows what I can do on the offensive end, so defense is key
to my role on this team,” said Augustus, fourth in the WNBA with nearly 20
points per game. “We have enough people who can score, I just know when my
number is called that I need to be able to stop someone.”

The loss to Russia underscored the Americans’ weakness in being able
to get key stops down the stretch.

“That still sticks with us as you never want to get beat,” three-time
Olympian Katie Smith said. “It hurt when we got beat down in Brazil. I
think in any type of championship you got to have defense.

“Nine out of 10 games you’re going to shoot the ball well, but one
game something’s going to happen when you’re not shooting well, or someone
is in foul trouble and you’re going to have to rely on your defense,” she
said.

Because these players have not spent a lot of time together on the
court, developing chemistry on the defensive end was going to be
important.

“The biggest thing about playing defense is being able to trust your
teammates,” said Tamika Catchings, who is one of the Americans’ best
individual defenders. “We can’t just play people 1-on-1, we need to know
that if you do get beat there is someone behind you to step up and help.”

On the second day of training, the U.S. focused mostly on the defense,
doing drill after drill that helps build the necessary trust and defensive
rotations.

“We knew today was going to be all about defense and we had to get a
good night’s sleep,” veteran forward DeLisha Milton-Jones said.

Facing a bunch of male practice players, the team ran through a
certain scenario — they simulated a late-game situation in which they
trailed by three points.

Twice the U.S. rallied to victory — one time on Tina Thompson’s
bank-shot with 3.4 seconds left. But the U.S. also came up short twice,
falling on a defensive miscue.

“It’s a work in progress and the chemistry is developing,” Donovan
said. “Our goal is to get better every day and be ready on Aug. 9.”

WNBA Combatants Become Teammates

With four members of the team involved in last week’s brawl in the
WNBA, tensions could have been high when the team started practice Monday
night at Stanford University. Instead, it helped bring everyone together
as they were all kidding about it.

In one of the drills, Sylvia Fowles accidentally got poked in the eye
by Katie Smith and Diana Taurasi joked that it should be a one-game
suspension. Smith retorted how in Detroit it would probably get four. The
whole team laughed.

“We all like each other,” Taurasi said. “It’s one thing to go on a
team where everybody hates each other and you go, ’I gotta go with these
people.’ But we all like each other. We’ve played with and against each
other for the last 8 or 10 years, so we’re very familiar with each other,
which is a nice feeling.”

WNBA Scores in Diversity

ORLANDO, Fla. — The WNBA has received the first A-plus given in
Richard Lapchick’s annual diversity report card on race and gender.

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport study, which grades
professional leagues on the number of participating women and minorities,
shows women own three WNBA teams, up two from 2007 and one the previous
year.

The number of minority head coaches and players increased, but there
was a slight decrease in women and minority assistant coaches.

Lapchick, director of the University of Central Florida institute,
said the WNBA has long led the way in his studies and benefited from its
relative youth. The league began play in 1997.

“They started at the same time the (NBA) began its diversity
initiative, so the WNBA was able to include a good pool of candidates from
the very beginning,” Lapchick said.

The WNBA said it had no comment on the study.

Carla Christofferson and Katherine Goodman own the Los Angeles Sparks,
Colleen J. Maloof and Adrienne Maloof-Nassif own the Sacramento Monarchs,
and the Seattle Storm’s owners are Anne Levinson, Ginny Gilder, Dawn
Trudeau and Lisa Brummel.

There are now as many teams with women holding a partial or full stake
in a WNBA team as there are in the NFL and more than in any other sport.
Women own all or part of the St. Louis Rams, San Francisco 49ers and
Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL and the Sacramento Kings and Washington
Wizards of the NBA. Major League Baseball has no female majority
ownership.

Of the WNBA’s 14 teams, five had female head coaches: Linn Dunn of the
Indiana Fever, Pat Coyle of the New York Liberty, Jenny Boucek of the
Sacramento Monarchs, the Houston Comets’ Karleen Thompson and the Atlanta
Dream’s Marynell Meadors.

Five head coaches were black: Thompson, Michael Cooper of the Los
Angeles Sparks, the Chicago Sky’s Steven Key, Corey Gaines of the Phoenix
Mercury and Tree Rollins, who was recently fired by the Washington
Mystics.

By Kathleen Radebaugh

PHILADELPHIA _ Try if you so dare to separate the young from the old. You won’t be able to do it.

In a 100 degree plus gym, the only things sweating more than the Gatorade bottles and water jugs sitting courtside are the players on the Columbia Blue and White teams who were competing for first place Monday night in the Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League at Northeast Philadelphia High School.

This game at the Guru's alma mater was a tie-breaker for first seed before heading into playoff schedule on Wednesday night.

Midway through the second half, parents and onlookers found themselves wiping their brows as well.

A long time respected league filled with dominate Division I, II, and III women’s basketball players, the two-night weekly action is the summer also includes players about to enter their rookie year at a colleg, as well as players five to six years out of school and still looking for a competitive pickup game.

Coach of the Columbia Blue team, Tracy Harmon, a graduate of Saint Joseph’s University in 1990, started playing in this league when she was a sophomore in high school and is now at 35 coaching a playoff team.

“I played up until four years ago when I turned 30,” said Harmon. “I stopped playing because I was in a car accident while I was pregnant. Now I am 35, and I knew I wanted to stay with the league. The girls are great. There is a lot of good talent within the league so I wanted to stay involve as much as I could.”

During the game, Harmon walked up and the down sidelines, head down, talking about missed jumpers and unnecessary calls. Occasionally, she directed those comments towards the lone player sitting on a grandmother-like swivel chair gulping down her now lukewarm water. During timeouts, the goals never changed for the team: try shots that not normally taken, especially outside the paint, and always, always go for the rebound.

“When you are in a competitive league like this, which is pretty much all Division I and high level Division II players, no matter what, its going to be competitive,” said Harmon. “That’s why you like being around it. Everyone in this league is a competitor and doesn’t want to lose, so whenever you step out on the court, you know it’s going to be a good game.”

Despite the efforts of Columbia, the team lost the first place seed to White, 66-52.

Throughout the summer, Crista Ricketts and recent West Chester graduate Dana Weems continuously tallied the majority of points for Columbia and this game was no exception.

Ricketts, who graduated in 2002 from La Salle University, looked as if she poured her water jug on her back in between timeouts.

“It’s a 100 plus degrees in here and when you only have five or six players, you find yourself sweating more,” said Ricketts.

Ricketts along with Weems is very quick inside and drives the basket well with drawing a defensive foul. Both players, however, are exceptional with their cross-court passing. It wasn’t until later in the second half when the white team was able to interfere with their lanes and spread Columbia’s defense thin at the top of the arc.

“It’s good competition,” said Ricketts. “My friends play with me and every year we make it to the playoffs, but I think I am more competitive now. As I become older, I talk more and lead by example more to help the younger kids out.”

For both Ricketts and Tracy, this notable league satisfies their need for competition and growth not just as a basketball player, but also as a strategist, creator, and most importantly, a learner.

Andrea Jones, player and coach for the White team, shares the same appreciation for the league’s competitive nature and laughs about giving more playing time to the younger players.

A graduate from Delaware State, Jones coaches ninth grade high school basketball and AAU teams.

“They need to be running up and down the court,” said Jones. “It doesn’t matter your age, you can come and play basketball here, but this is the best competitive league in the area. You have girls come from all over, Saint Joseph’s, Temple, LaSalle, Drexel, and the list goes on. That is why I make the younger girls play more and make them run up and down the courts. They need to be ready [for school].

Jones suffered cramps at the end of the game, probably due to the heat in the gym, but was very happy for the first place finish and looking forward to Wednesday’s first playoff game.

For 15 years, the players and coaches have seen this league as competition and growth.

For David Kessler, Director of Women’s NCAA Summer Basketball League and Junod Playground, it is no different.

By including not just Division I players, but all NCAA Divisions, Kessler provides an opportunity for whole teams to evolve.

“Holy Family has their whole team in. They didn’t make the playoffs this year, but every winter they wind up winning 25 games,” said Kessler. “It’s the talent level that they really appreciate, because some of them will not encounter this level again when they play in college, and that is for all Divisions.”

Ironically, Kessler doesn’t think of himself as a “basketball man,” but as a “good administrator.”

“I cannot take credit for the talent the league attracts,” said Kessler, “but I do take some pride in the league. I will follow the news about these players and take some pride in someone lighting up the scoreboard all winter. I will say ‘I did that.’ Of course, I didn’t, but it makes for a better story.”

Of course Kessler is a “basketball man” and an even better administrator than he gives himself credit for. Kessler works hard in providing a safe, prime location for these players to come and be challenged, to be competitive, and to learn from the game.

When asked who will win this year’s final game, “I would suspect either these two teams, the Columbia Blue or White. But every time I do that, there is an upset.”

Try if you so dare to find a player, young or old, upset with the league. Maybe they want an air- conditioned gym, but they will never trade in the level of competition and excitement each game brings.

“Everyone is going to keep coming back,” said Harmon. “We have a high number of returnees. I think it’s important for the older girls to keep playing as they graduate to keep the momentum and respect going for the younger players. They can teach them how to play and show what it means to give it their all.”

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - The WNBA arrived at the Olympic break with a slew of surprises and tight conference races and short of a brief attempt at brawlball and a special one-woman oldtimers night over the last week, the chief overall story is what all expected it to be -- the impact of the rookie class.

It is no shock how well former Tennessee star Candace Parker, the overall No. 1 pick, and former Stanford sensation Candice Wiggins, the overall No. 3 choice have performed. Former LSU al-American Sylvia Fowles, the No. 2 pick, is not mentioned in sequence because of time lost due to injury, although she now back on the floor with the Olympic team.

Had Fowles been healthy straight from April's draft, perhaps the Chicago Sky wouild be right among the logjam in the East that is the Connecticut Sun, New York Liberty and Detroit Shock.

But first-rounders have made impacts across the board and as expected, former Rutgers star Essence Carson with New York and Matee Ajavon with the Houston Comets have made significant contributions to their respective squads.

The surprise on the negative end is the Los Angeles Sparks, one of the parties in last week's little set-to, not mopping up across the board with the addition of parker and return of Lisa Leslie, who missed last season due to pregnancy.

Standings-wise, Los Angeles could easily not make the playoffs in the top-to-bottom Western race, but there's just too much talent to keep the Sparks afloat.

The immediate question as to how all will be resolved when the regular season returns for the stretch drive following the Beijing Games is just what impact will the after-effect have on teams who have players currently in the hunt for continued gold.

Will competitors return drained or re-juvenated.

In 2004, after the Athens Games, a tight race resulted in Connecticut and New York finishing atop the East, closing the regular season at 18-16. The then-defending Detroit Shock, the other party to last week's mayhem, was a game behind, tied with the Washington Mystics.

Those two were just a game in front, making the playoffs ahead of the former Charlotte Sting, which was a game in front of the Indiana Fever.

In the West, Los Angeles dominated with a first-place finish five games ahead of the Seattle Storm. The Minnesota Lynx and Sacramento Monarchs finished tied, a game ahead of the Phoenix Mercury. Houston and the San Antonio Silver Stars lagged way behind.

But in the playoffs, New York eliminated Detroit on a buzzer-beater before falling to Connecticut, while Sacramento upset Losw Angeles, but then lost two straight to Seattle after taking the first game.

The Storm, with Olympic rivals Sue Bird (U.S) and Lauren Jackson (Australia), reunited as teammates, went on to beat Connecticut in a thrilling finals under the former best-of-three format.

That was then, this is now. The two Eastern surprises, which everyone else is also citing, is Connecticut, picked low in the preseason, and New York, which finished in a tear in perhaps the best overlooked story for many reasons.

When Connecticut started strong, Michael Thibault was as good a candidate for coach of the year. But Patty Coyle's work with the Liberty has been outstanding in the face of always knowing that the best way to keep management happy is to be a winner. Over in the West, Houston's Karleen Thompson turned the Comets around after a woeful start. And even though anyone might have though Seattle should achieve due to all the offseason transactions, Brian Angler should still be cited for keeping things together. San Antonio was expected to do well off last season's Western playoffs runnerup spot.

Meanwhile, with Tree Rollins gone as coach of Washington and interim Jessie Kenlaw given no guarantees, one wonders if the Mystics might turn to Anne Donovan, if she guides the U.S. to another gold medal.

The former Seattle coach will be unemployed after the Olympics. Oddly, Kenlaw was one of her assistants in Seattle in 2004 as was current Sacramento coach Jenny Boucek.

Donovan could be coaxed to Washington, perhaps, with the idea of being back in East not far from her home in North Jersey.

Some Items Observed But Not Seen Posted by the Usual Suspects.

Charlene Curtis, a former coach of Radford, Temple, and Wake Forest, as well as UConn assistant to Geno Auriemma, and Virginia assistant to Debbie Ryan, was last week appointed to become surpervisor of officials for women in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

That spot was the one area uncovered when the ACC replaced new Atlantic Ten commissioner Bernadette McGlade with longtime North Carolina State women's athletic director and former assistant coach Nora Lynn Finch.

Last month in Knoxville, Tenn., during her induction to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, Virginia;'s Debbie Ryan spoke of her battle against pancreatic cancer and cited Randy Pasuch, a college professor who was also suffering with the disease and became famous for giving what is now referred to as "The Last Lecture."

Pausch succumbed late last week and if you google his name you will find some eloquent coverage and if you archive back here in Guru-land to Ryan's speech, you will find her comments.

Hot Summer Action.

On Wednesday, the playoffs get under way here in Philadelphia at the Department of Recreation's Women's NCAA Summer League.

The Guru had office duty Monday night but Kathleen traveled to Northeast High to watch Columbia Blue meet White to determine the top two seeds. The other berths were decided laqst week for the quarterfinals to be played at Northeast High, beginning 6:45.

Her report will appear in the next 24 hours, but the Guru forgot to ask who won.

We'll update the following playoffs pairings once we learn that result. Villanova's Laura Kurz, incidentally, had 29 points last Wednesday on the Red Team that had the Inquirer's Kate Fagan on the roster before her promotion to 76ers writer sent her to the competitive sidelines after turning pro.

Columbia Blue has former La Salle star Crista Ricketts on the roster as well as St. Joseph's Sarah Acker, the Big Five freshman of the year, and former Penn star Joey Rhoads. Former Hawks star Tracy Harmon coaches the squad.

Recently-graduated Holy Family senior Kelly Killion is on Team White as St. Joseph's senior Brittany Ford.

In the quarterfinals, Monday's winners at 6:45 p.m. will meet Hunter Green, a team that has such members as incoming St. Joseph's freshman Katie Kuester and Drexel incoming freshman Tyler Hale.

The Monday loser will meet at 8 p.m. Orange, which has such players as West Chester's Shamyra Hammond, Villanova's Sarah Jones, and La Salle's Margaret Elderton.

In the other 6:45 p.m. quarterfinal, the Red team, which also has Villanova's Siobhan O'Connor, will meet the Black team, which has Long Island's Justine Stevenson, St. Joseph's Ashley Logue and Jenna Loschiavo, and Philadelphia U. Andrea Notta.

In the 8 p..m. other game, Vegas Gold, which has former Drexel star Michelle Maslowski, will meet Teal, which has such players as Drexel's Gabriela Marginean and Allison Lupariello.

Also, although longtime commissioner David Kessler will be retiring from the dept of rec, next spring, he will still be involved next summer, helping his successor Terri Degnan.

-- Mel

(Guru's note: The closest the Guru will get to Asian flavor and the Beijing Olympics over the next several weeks will be at local restaurants in Chinatown near the home office here in Philadelphia as well as some other places on the seaboard.
Several Inquirer sports staffers will be at the games. But in the interim, the reporting most of you will see on a daily basis will come from our good friend and Associated Press national women's writer Doug Feinberg, who is on the scene in training camp at Stanford. Here's his first report.)

-- Mel

By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Sports Writer

SAN FRANCISCO — Without much time to prepare for the upcoming
Olympics, the entire U.S. women’s basketball team was finally on the court
together.

The team began a four-day training camp Monday night at Stanford
University to start its quest for an unprecedented fourth straight gold
medal.

“It’s awesome to see this team from 1 through 12,” U.S. coach Anne
Donovan said. “I’m like a kid in a candy store with all this talent.”

Unlike past U.S. teams, this group has not had any time together on
the court as a whole team due to injuries, overseas commitments, and the
WNBA season. The U.S. has been forced to go with a piecemeal training
philosophy, holding different training camps and tours over the last two
years to help the selection committee choose from a pool of 29 players.

Developing chemistry on the court will play a huge part in the next
few days of training.

“It’s very good to have everyone here. It’s time to go to work,”
two-time gold medalist Katie Smith said. “We haven’t been on the court
together until now and we don’t have a lot of time to prepare. But
honestly, we’ve all played with each other and played against each other.
So it’s more of a refresher course.”

Led by three-time gold medalist Lisa Leslie, who will be playing in
her final Olympics, the team is a mixture of veterans and talented
newcomers. The U.S. finds itself in a different position than it’s
accustomed to coming off a third-place finish at the 2006 world
championships. The U.S. lost to Russia in the semifinals, its first defeat
in major international competition since 1994. Australia won the gold.

“We’re definitely the underdogs,” said guard Diana Taurasi, the WNBA
scoring leader at 23.9 points per game this season. “We’re hungry to win a
gold in the Olympics.”

Leslie didn’t totally agree with the underdog theory.

“I have three gold medals at home and know what it takes to win,” she
said.

Joining Leslie on the team are Smith, and 2004 gold medalists Sue
Bird, Taurasi, Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever and Tina Thompson.
DeLisha Milton-Jones earned a gold medal in 2000 but missed the Athens
Olympics four years later due to an injury. The Americans also have many
newcomers in Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus, Cappie
Pondexter and Kara Lawson.

“I had a hard time sleeping last night knowing I was coming down here
today,” Lawson said. “These are the best players. You’re just anxious to
get on the practice court and mesh as quickly as possible. Everyone is so
talented, it’s like basketball utopia.”

After breaking camp on Thursday, the team will head to China to play
in the FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament featuring the other three top teams in
the world — Australia, Russia, and host China.

“Learning to play with each other is a big part of the next 10 days,
not just the Xs and Os,” Donovan said. “It will be a great test in our
preparation. The tournament has all the perceived favorites to medal in
Beijing and I’m sure it will be extremely competitive.”

One intriguing matchup in the Diamond Ball will be against Russia on
Aug. 4. The Russians feature guard Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Silver
Stars.

(Guru's Note: The Things You Can Do On a Train on the way to Connecticut with an aircard attachment.).

By Mel Greenberg

ABOARD AMTRAK -- Rerlax Connecticut. Your U.S. senator Joe Lieberman isn't going athletic anytime soon.

But someone nearly his age will be in uniform Thursday night when Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman suits up in Houston for the Detroit Shock.

The 50-year-old ESPN broadcaster will engage in a one-woman oldtimer's game against the likes of Houston Comets rookie and former Rutgers star Matee Ajavon in a matchup that will be one of two devoid of a slew of stars in the fallout from the fight-night extravaganza on Tuesday in Detroit in the closing minutes of the Shock's game against the Los Angeles Sparks.

Lieberman signed a seven-day contract, which is years less than the current deal the citizens of Connecticut re-elected Joe Lieberman to a while back.

The fines will deprive Connecticut fans of engaging in their favorite pastime of booing former Tennessee stars such as rookie sensation Candace Parker when the Sun host Los Angeles Thursday night, a game which the Guru hopes Amtrak gets him to in time.

Meanwhile, here is the email report from deep beneath Penn Station in New York where the Guru hopes he stil has a connection. Jonathan may post whatever coverage he sees when he gets to the office while the Guru is in transit. (hint, hint).

Here's the WNBA release.

WNBA ANNOUNCES PENALTIES FROM SHOCK--SPARKS GAME

NEW YORK, - In response to the events at Tuesday's game between the Detroit Shock and the Los Angeles Sparks, WNBA President Donna Orender issued the following statement:

"The WNBA and its players represent all that is good about sports: passion, hard work and sacrifice. On a nightly basis our players display extraordinary skill, athleticism and competitive fire. The events Tuesday, however, were inexcusable and in no way indicative of what the league stands for. We hold our players to a very high standard and these suspensions should serve notice that the behavior exhibited at the end of Tuesday’s game will not be tolerated.”

The suspensions follow:

-- Shock forward Plenette Pierson has been suspended for four games for her actions that initiated and escalated the altercation.
-- Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn has been suspended for two games for escalating the altercation.
-- Shock center Kara Braxton has been suspended for one game for leaving the area of the bench during an on-court altercation.
-- Shock forward Tasha Humphrey has been suspended for one game for leaving the area of the bench during an on-court altercation. -- Shock guard Elaine Powell has been suspended for one game for leaving the area of the bench during an on-court altercation.
-- Shock forward Sheri Sam has been suspended for one game for leaving the area of the bench during an on-court altercation.
-- Sparks guard Shannon Bobbitt has been suspended for two games for leaving the area of the bench and becoming physically involved in an on-court altercation.
-- Sparks guard Murriel Page has been suspended for two games for leaving the area of the bench and becoming physically involved in an on-court altercation.
-- Sparks center Lisa Leslie has been suspended for one game for throwing a punch.
-- Sparks forward DeLisha Milton-Jones has been suspended for one game for throwing a punch.
-- Sparks forward Candace Parker has been suspended for one game for throwing a punch.

As is league policy, in order to enable the Shock and Sparks to dress the minimum number of players (eight) for games affected by the penalties, the dates on which players will begin serving their suspensions will be staggered and follow alphabetical order.

Pierson and Mahorn will begin serving their respective suspensions with tonight's game at Houston. Braxton and Humphrey will serve their suspensions tonight as well. Sam will serve her suspension on July 27, when the Shock hosts San Antonio. Powell is injured and will serve her suspension at a later date after being medically cleared to play.

Bobbitt will begin serving her suspension with tonight’s game at Connecticut. Leslie, Milton-Jones and Parker will serve their suspensions tonight as well. Page will begin serving her suspension on July 25 when the Sparks visit New York.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - These were the days that the original WNBA calendar had called for the discussion to intensify over hopes for another Olympic gold medal as the pro league's summer season heads into a one-month pause beginning Monday so that most of the best of the league can pursue their international dreams next month in Beijing, China.

That was before Tuesday's night's little set-to in an appropriate place for brawling at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich., the site of the infamous NBA flareup several years ago involving the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers.

By Wednesday the league office was being swamped with calls asking when penalties will be handed down and how severe they may be after the body-crunching 25 seconds of mayhem involving the Detroit Shock, known for having a few temper tantrums, and the Los Angeles Sparks.

Appropriately, the Sparks entered sunrise Thursday morning waiting to see who might be missing in action when Los Angeles appears in another boxing venue Thursday night with a match scheduled against the Connecticut Sun in Uncasville.

Within an hour or so of the Mohegan Sun Arena tipoff, Detroit will be facing off down South against the Houston Comets.

By the time each game begins, all should know who might be missing in action.

One person already heading for the sidelines for the rest of the season is Detroit All-Star Cheryl Ford, who suffered a torn ACL in a play a minute before becoming involved in the unfriendlies.

Ford is not on the Olympic roster this time around.

Atlhough it was not known late Wednesday night what penalties were involved, a source close to the Sparks front office said all personnel would be on the premises, considering that a one-game suspension potentially to rookie Candace Parker and/or Lisa Leslie or Delisha Milton-Jones, all Olympic bound, would mean any of them could be quickly back in action Friday night when Los Angeles continues its Eastern swing of famous fight arenas by moving on to Madison Square Garden against the New York Liberty.

Thus, the Guru will be jumping the high-priced Amtrak for a quick round-trip to Mohegan in a few hours.

Ironically, Connecticut could be the beneficiary of all this by going against a potentially short-handed Los Angeles team and also perhaps gaining ground on the Shock if Detroit falls to Houston because of assessed penalties, as well as the Ford injury.

Depending on who was talking on Wednesday in the aftermath of what has always been a heated rivalry between Los Angeles and Detroit since former NBA Pistons "Bad Boy" Bill Laimbeer became the Shock coach, the altercation was either terrible for the league or great as a magnet to draw attention.

Despite being a first for the WNBA, pro women's basketball in the U.S. has already experienced imitation hockey just an hour away from Thursday night's game.

That was back in the winter of 1996 in Hartford when the former American Basketball League hosted its first all-star game.

Near the end of the contest, former Texas star Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil, a member of the New England Blizzard who was on the verge of game MVP honors, managed to deliver a strong upper cut under the basket to former Long Beach star Cindy Brown.

Davis-Wrightsil pleaded her innocence but Dawn Staley, who had been on the East bench at the time, later remarked to the Guru, "That one was coming from downtown. But those two had a history in Europe."

Needless to say Davis-Wrightsil, now a Women's Basketball Hall of Famer, was deprived of one less trophy in her enormous collection marking a prolific career.

That night, the incident made TV coverage across America, little good did it do in the long-run when the WNBA delivered its own version of a knockout to the ABL two seasons later.

Meanwhile, the Guru popped into the final regular season action prior to the summer league playoffs where a host of Drexel players were involved in the games Wednesday night.

A playoff to the playoffs needs to occur Monday night to determine the top two seeds.

That's it for now until we check in from the North later Thursday.

-- Mel

(Guru's note: The headline was dedicated to the increasing traffic coming from the link at the Blue Star site.)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA – Ok, the Guru knows many of you are thinking why doesn’t the dateline read Washington, technically, Roslyn (Va.)? In that regard, why wasn’t the Guru hanging out at the Marriott Key Bridge Tuesday night, the socially operational headquarters for a slew of coaches across America who are attending what the Guru nicknames the annual Flynnfest AAU extravaganza?

The Guru figures that question exists, judging by a spike in web traffic from the nation’s capital, which can’t be because people are thinking he is running instant classic rerun coverage of the Joe McKeown is leaving George Washington for Northwestern story.

The real answer is the Guru was temporarily sidelined dealing with museum issues known as the house he grew up in and still resides. But if all goes well, he may make it to the Mohegan Sun for Thursday night’s WNBA game between the host Connecticut Sun and Los Angeles Sparks as the pro league nears its hiatus for the Olympics.

Before going further, the Guru would like to mention that Kathleen Radebaugh, the St. Joe grad and Guru team member, has checked in with some more commentary, which can be found below this if the Guru posted in the right sequence or above it if the Guru screwed up technology.

If so, that makes him .500 on the week, as the next several paragraphs will explain.

In non-basketball news, since facebook never allows more than a sentence or two on status reports, the Guru is pleased to announce that Saturday night he conquered the ITunes7.7 upgrade difficulty for those whose computers are running (&*^&) Vista. Those parentheses would be longer had not the Guru adjusted along the way after purchasing the laptop that has allowed him to go quasi-HD because of the blue ray drive that comes with the system.

What happened was after the Guru did the automatic “sure” to the upgrade question, the computer started running beserk with a “Applemobiledevicehelper stopped working” message that started acting like rabbits in proliferation anytime ITunes was engaged.

Unable to find any discussion, initially, at the Apple site, the Guru took a shot at using the phrase on Google and, presto, not only did the Guru find the topic, he also learned thousands were going through the same torment.

But a solution was mentioned and while it took a bit tooling inside the Vista operating system, he fixed the problem and all is well.

Click here to jump to the rest of the commentary.

By Kathleen Radebaugh

PHILADELPHIA - In sunset light of backyard grilling and spending not enough time watching home runs and historic derbies, we savor those moments when we recall sport’s excellence in the various disciplines over the previous 12 months.

And soon to follow are more moments of drama and achievement when the Olympic Games get under way in Beijing, China, hopefully offering a renewal of sportsmanship and pure athleticism honored for so long.

In that regard, the ESPYs arrived at the right time on Sunday.

ESPN’s annual televised sports version of the Oscars that also benefits the V Foundation did its best attempting to break away from criticism and opinions about a great football player and instead focusing on something that defined him for so long.

Too many times, it is easier to remember the upsets and the disappointments, especially when dominoes keep falling with steroid use, assault charges, and inhuman treatment against animals.

Still, it’s the recap of the best moments and the best finishes that attract human fireflies to the television set this time of year.

Given the national scope and with some partially to what is normally conversed in this space, it was surprising not to see this season’s Rutgers’ controversial and tough 59-58 loss to eventual NCAA repeat champion Tennessee in Knoxville not on the ESPY’s Best Game list.

Given the Rutgers’ comeback from an 11-point halftime deficit, the key plays on both sides, and the “frozen” clock in the final seconds that deprived the Scarlet Knights of becoming the first Division I women’s team to beat No. 1 ranked teams back-to-back, there were a myriad of categories the event could have gained nominations, let alone award winners.

Once Rutgers got its act going in the second half, the Scarlet Knights’ stringent defense proved why it usually is among the top of the NCAA statistics list.

Several future WNBA impact rookies were on display, highlighted by Tennessee’s Candace Parker, the overall top pick of the draft after bypassing her senior season, and Rutgers’ Essence Carson, the central New Jersey native who months later realized a dream in being selected by the nearby New York Liberty.

It was an exceptional game that not only showed the best of women’s basketball offensively with crisp ball movement, but also how women’s basketball is using zone defense, especially enhancing its effectiveness within the post.

The whole thought surrounding that contest is that any game is only as good as the players who play it.

But talented players also face difficulties when they decided to switch one set of uniform jerseys for another during their collegiate careers.

From this viewpoint, Laura Kurz, forward for Villanova women’s basketball, is the choice for best breakout athlete. ESPYs host Justin Timberlake didn’t do his research.

On leaving Duke, Kurz, a high school star from Germantown Academy, was anxious to start her career last fall as a Wildcat. In her debut, she realized that nerves took longer to settle than halves allowed.

It took a while for Kurz to come into her game.

But by the time her first Villanova season had concluded, Kurz led the Wildcats in scoring, rebounding, shooting percentage, and three point shooting.

Her best game was Villanova’s 53-52 win at home over American U., allowing the 53-52 to advance to the second-round of the WNIT at Wisconsin.

Kurz snatched the offensive rebound after a missed jumper by teammate Stacie Witman and was able to tap it in for the game winner. She was the only Wildcat to score in the double figures and finish with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Back in November after the season-opening victory at La Salle, Wildcats coach Harry Perretta said that all Kurz needed was time. It was a while since she saw as much playing time as she did that night and was especially nervous putting on a new jersey.

But time allowed her to be one of the best breakthrough athletes for this year.

Without a doubt, the St. Joseph’s women’s basketball family has a rookie of the year, but not a female, with the recent arrival of Curtis John Griffin Jr. A very strong point guard like his mother, the brand new Hawk weighed in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces, and a very tall 21 ½ inches.

Rumors are already spreading about the kid’s jumper and if he will be able to survive finding a prom date and his two older sisters, Kaylie and Hannah, Saint Joseph's Head Coach Cindy Griffin and her husband Curtis Griffin.

In reality, and it is a good thing, there are too many of those best games, best players, and rookies of the year for the ESPYs to honor all of them.

That is what makes those summer nights at the ballpark, playing pickup under the lights, or watching trials and derbies with friends so important. Each one of us can notice moments of excellence.

Guru's note: Contrary to rumor, the Guru has not been at every major WBB historical event and was not on the scene for Saturday's racket at Arthur Ashe Stadium involving the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever.

But given the cool, air-conditioned setting in the home office where he was working the sports desk allows the Guru to give you a quick posting on the scene-setter from our AP friend Melissa Murphy. The Guru will be back later for some commentary on the event, the Mystics, and a few shoutouts.

Fans try to stay cool at Liberty Outdoor Classic

By MELISSA MURPHY
AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK — Indiana All-Star Tamika Catchings called playing in 90-degree
heat at Arthur Ashe Stadium “street ball in a professional realm.”

New York’s Lisa Willis didn’t seem bothered by the summer sun after
coming off the practice court before the first regular-season outdoor game
in professional basketball history, featuring the host Liberty and the
Fever.

Kids and adults were handed free fans as they entered the USTA Billie
Jean National Tennis Center for the fan festival at the Liberty Outdoor
Classic on Saturday night.

Former Knicks Allan Houston and John Starks along with former Liberty
stars Kym Hampton and Sue Wicks participated in the fan festival.

“It kind of reminds me of the first days of the WNBA,” Hampton said of
the fans flowing into the stadium.

Billie Jean King was enthusiastic about trading tennis balls for
basketballs at her namesake venue. Nearly 35 years ago, she played at the
Houston Astrodome against Bobby Riggs in the famous “Battle of the Sexes”
match.

“It’s the perfect arena, it’s almost the same (dimensions),” King said
recently. “Basketball was my first love, so for me, it’s very appropriate
that the WNBA is playing the game at the center.

“Anytime we can use the venue, I think it’s great for the community.”

Players passed by photos of King, John McEnroe, Serena Williams, and
other tennis stars en route to the court. The Liberty players were told to
drink more fluids days before the game, and big buckets of ice, along with
wet towels, were available to both teams.

Huge industrial fans on the corners of the court helped cool the players
and coaches. Swirling wind in the bowl of Arthur Ashe Stadium seemed to be
more of an issue.

“It’s not as hot as I thought it would be,” Willis said. “I didn’t think
about the wind factor on my jump shot, it just means I’ll have to be more
aggressive and drive to the basket.”

Catchings was impressed by the transformation of the Liberty court, all
226 pieces of hardwood, moved from Madison Square Garden.

“This is probably the coolest venue I’ve ever played in,” she said. “We
did the outdoor game for Tennessee against Arizona State at the Diamondback
stadium in Arizona, but this is awesome.

“Playing street ball, you play on concrete, and sometimes the baskets
were nice, but sometimes raggedy from all the guys dunking on them. Here,
you’ve got the official wooden court.”

Catchings said the extravaganza, complete with fireworks and confetti,
represented more than a basketball game.

“It’s about how far we’ve come,” she said of the league, now in its 12th
season. “It not only hits the basketball fans, it hits the tennis fans and
now it hits people who just want to be a part of the first anything in
sports.”

Indiana coach Lin Dunn, who has coached at the college and professional
level for nearly 30 years, remembers a much hotter basketball game.

“I coached a college team in Puerto Rico one time,” she said. “We had a
cover overhead, but without any sides, like a pavilion. That was serious
heat, a lot hotter than here.”

Liberty coach Patty Coyle helped select Indiana as the opponent for the
historic game. She was an assistant to Dunn at Miami from 1982-84 during her
first years out of Rutgers.

“I’m thrilled that Indiana is here,” Coyle said. “She’s my mentor.”

There were 19,393 in attendance for the first non-tennis sporting event
at the center. Knicks forward David Lee pitched in, buying $15,000 in
tickets to help kids attend.

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation will receive a portion of the
proceeds from ticket sales.

Samantha Koebele tossed a miniature basketball up to a clown on stilts
during the fan festival.

The Liberty Outdoor Classic was a family affair for 8-year old Samantha,
who came with her mom to watch 13-year-old brother Justin perform at
halftime as part of the Liberty “Little Torches” dance troupe.

“It’s a lot of fun to watch the kids perform, and the basketball, of
course,” said Cindy Koebele, of Islip, N.Y.

Latin pop group Menudo performed before the game, and entertained the
fans after the Liberty lost 71-55.

Acacia's note: Today I set foot in Washington DC's Verizon Center for the first time, one in a series of firsts as I become familiar with my new hometown. Hopefully I will be able to contribute some less bare bones posts on basketball in the metro area in the coming weeks.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With 25 seconds remaining on the clock, the din of the crowd quieted for a moment and two small voices called out "We believe!" The two girls and the thousands fans in Verizon Center were rewarded for their faith this afternoon as the Washington Mystics survived the Connecticut Sun, 69-65.

The win came in spite of an impressive fourth quarter effort from Sun point guard Lindsay Whalen, who scored thirteen of the Sun's sixteen points in the fourth quarter and netted a season high 33 overall.

Today's loss marks the third consecutive on the road for the Sun, who dropped to second place in the Eastern Conference. As many have noted, the Sun hadn't lost three consecutive games since last June.

Whalen was not the only player on the court with a season-high performance; Mystics guard Nikki Blue contributed 13 points to the team's win, surpassing her previous season high of 10.

Where Connecticut's offense was by-and-large controlled by Whalen, Washington's scoring was pretty evenly distributed; Seven players had seven points or more. Taj McWillians-Franklin added a double-double with 10 boards and 11 points.

The win is significant for the Mystics, now 8-12, as they try to build confidence and work towards a playoff spot heading into the Olympic break.

"I think we did a lot of growing up this game," Head Coach Wayne Rollins said of the win. "As a professional player you gotta do your job. I think they did their jobs today and I'm proud of them."

Getting the job done will be important when the team matches up against the Liberty on Thursday.

"It's gonna be tough," Rollins said, as New York is "on a confidence roll themselves" after their win over first-place Detroit yesterday.

By Mel Greenberg

WASHINGTON – It will still be a while before the identity is determined of a new tenant who will occupy a stately office-residental structure, dressed in white, which is located at nearby 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

In the WNBA, campaigning of a different style continued Sunday afternoon here at the Verizon Center in a matchup between the Eastern Division-contending Connecticut Sun and the playoff-contending Washington Mystics.

Correction on the last part of the previous sentence.

Make that the trying-to-get-into-playoff-contention Washington Mystics.

“If we don’t get it done in July, our break is going to be the break, because we only have six games afterwards,” Mystics senior stateswoman Taj McWilliams-Franklin said after Washington pulled off an adventurous 69-64 triumph over the Connecticut Sun. “This is basically our mini-playoffs, these next seven games.”

Washington trails the third-place deadlocked New York Liberty and Indiana Fever by 2 ½ games for the last postseason spot in the East. Once the month nears and end, the WNBA summer will go into suspension for the duration of the Beijing Olympics before resuming in September.

In Sunday’s game, a statistical graphic of the Mystics’ differential over the Sun would resemble polling results at various junctures of presidential candidates.

After an early surge to a 9-0 advantage by Connecticut, the rest of the afternoon belonged to the Mystics, who twice squandered most of a pair of seemingly insurmountable leads.

A lopsided 31-18 lead in the second quarter was reduced to a slim 36-34 margin at halftime. The differential than ballooned to a fat 54-40 advantage in the third quarter, only to shrivel all the way down to 63-62 in the last minute before Washington finally stopped Connecticut from bending the outcome in its direction.

More accurately, make that before the Sun helped the Mystics avoid a setback in the last minute.

“We just have to put teams away,” said McWilliams-Franklin, who had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Nikki Blue had a career-high 13 points for Washington.

“We just keep letting them hang around,” McWilliams-Franklin replayed the flow of the game. “You get a lead in the second quarter and you lose it. You get a lead in the third quarter, we lose it.

“As a team that needs wins, we don’t have the luxury of a Connecticut that can lose a game here and there and still be fighting for first or second place. Every game is important. As a team, we must be desperate every single minute.”

Credit the Whalen factor for affecting Washington’s inability to run away once it got way out in front of the Sun.

Lindsay Whalen, who needs to be given serious consideration in the WNBA’s MVP discussion, poured in 33 points, but they all went for naught when the bottom line came into play.

“I thought we were ready to go,” Whalen said. “We got off to a good start. I don’t know. I felt they played well and we had some stretches where we couldn’t score. We just just have to get back to running some offense and looking to get our shots. We just have to be ready to re-gather ourselves mentally and be ready to go Tuesday night.”

“Awful in stretches,” was the way Connecticut coach Mike Thibault described an anemic field goal effort in which the Sun was 20-for-60. “As a group, we’re just not making shots right now. When your point guard is making half your points, it’s not a good thing.”

The loss dropped the Sun a game behind the Detroit Shock and left Connecticut one-up in the loss column over New York and Indiana.

“We have to get more people to step up and make open shots,” Thibault said. “We’re rushing things. We’re fumbling the ball in the lane. That was ugly.”

--Mel

By Mel Greenberg

WASHINGTON – Near the end of Duquesne coach Suzie McConnell-Serio’s acceptance speech last month in Knoxville, Tenn., as an inductee to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the former Penn State and Olympic star jokingly remarked about the work of the board of the directors:

“I noticed them coming out of the room after picking the next class. I guess they’re already getting ready to kick us to the curb.”

Not quite, but Sunday afternoon the results of the board’s deliberation for the class of 2009 was made public here in the Verizon Center at halftime of the nationally-telecast matchup between the Washington Mystics and Connecticut Sun.

Once again, another group of six will be honored next year with their induction to come June 13 in Knoxville, the home of the hall.

For the second straight year, the half-dozen are all female, including four former players – one deceased – and two coaches in terms of earning their accolades.

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, currently coach of Prairie View A&M, was a dominate award-winner on the four-time WNBA champion Houston Comets, won an Olympic gold medal with the United States squad in Seoul, Korea, in 1988, and played on two NCAA champions at Southern Cal in 1983 and 1984. Further details on all these honorees can be found at the WBHOF web site.

Jennifer Azzi is best remembered as a three-point shooting ace for the 1990 NCAA champion Stanford Cardinal. An Olympic gold medalist in 1990, she also was a founding player of the former American Basketball League and played five seasons in the WNBA.

Jennifer Gillom starred at Mississippi before later in the WNBA played six seasons for the Phoenix Mercury. She finished her pro career with a season for the Los Angeles Sparks. She is currently an assistant coach with the Minnesota Lynx. Both Gillom and Cooper-Dyke were coached by multi hall-of-famer Van Chancellor, who is now back in the collegiate ranks, where this fall he begins his second season at LSU.

Sonja Hogg is best remembered for coaching Louisiana Tech to the next-to-last Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national title in 1981 and the first NCAA crown in 1982. She later coached Baylor back into prominence, paving the way for her former Techsters star Kim Mulkey to succeed her and eventually take the Bears to the 2005 NCAA title.

Jill Hutchison was a longtime coach at Illinois State and helped found the modern era of national tournament competition when her school hosted the first AIAW tournament that was won by Immaculata.

The late Ora Washington, who was born in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, was the prominent African-American female basketball star of the pre-World War II era, playing for the Philadelphia Tribune team in the old Negro Leagues. In 18 years – she also played at Temple – she only was involved in six losses, all to men’s teams.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

HYANNIS, Ma. -- Like a previous Guru post, this dateline has no relation to anything in women's basketball other than the Guru has wrapped up his last day on the Cape with a visit to Provincetown Thursday that only took an hour each way on an afternoon of relatively light traffic.

Upon his return, the Guru's blackberry started buzzing around at the same time a mohito was being consumed at the hotel eating establishment.

No, the blackberry was not consuming alcohol, but the device had just finished consuming a forward email that had arrived in the home office from Temple announcing new Owls women's basketball coach Tonya Cardoza's staff of three hires. Still to be named is a director of operations.

Meanwhile, the newcomers consist of two touches of Big East background, of which one was a prominent name in Duke and UConn circles in her recently completed collegiate career. The other brings former Duquesne coach Dan Durkin back to his native Philadelphia with a strong background in Atlantic Ten competition.

"It's a good staff, Tonya did a nice job," said Bluestar Basketball honcho Mike Flynn from Las Vegas.

"Dan has a strong coaching background with familiarity in the conference. Waynetta Veney has ties to Boo Williams for recruiting. And Brittany Hunter's addition speaks for itself."

Here's the basics directly off the Temple email.

“I’m really excited about bringing Dan, Waynetta and Brittany to Temple,” said Cardoza. “Dan brings a lot of head coaching experience and knows the Atlantic 10 and Philadelphia well, making for an easy transition. Way is an excellent recruiter, having served as the recruiting coordinator at both Providence and William & Mary and I’m sure she will bring great student-athletes to Temple. Brittany is young and energetic and has shown that she knows what it takes to win. I’m confident that the four of us will make a great staff.”

Durkin spent 14 years (1993-2007) at the helm of the Duquesne program, helping the Dukes to University marks for most wins in a season, most conference wins as well as posting the school’s highest seeding in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The 1998 A-10 Coach of the Year, Durkin produced two WNBA draft picks in Korie Hlede and Candice Futrell. Hlede was Duquesne’s first ever All-American, garnering four Kodak District II honors and a Kodak National All-America Honorable Mention Award. She spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Detroit Shock after finishing her professional playing career. Duquesne also excelled in the classroom during Durkin’s tenure, posting the highest Division I team GPA in 1998 and 1999 as announced by the WBCA. Individually, six Dukes were named to either the CoSIDA National or District 2 Academic team a total of 12 times, while they were lauded as A-10 Academic All-Conference selections a total of 11 times.

Veney comes to North Broad after a year as an assistant coach at Providence College. Prior to her arrival at Providence, Veney spent three seasons (2002-05) at the College of William & Mary. While at William & Mary, she was responsible for tutoring the Tribe’s guards and recruiting. In addition to those duties, Veney also assisted with scouting, practice planning and the day-to-day operations of the program.

A Former UConn standout, Hunter reunites with Cardoza after the two spent the past four seasons in Storrs, Conn. There, she started in 24 of 30 games as a senior, averaging 5.5 ppg and 3.3 rpg while helping the Huskies to the NCAA Final Four, the BIG EAST regular season title and the BIG EAST Tournament championship.

A solid post player, Hunter was part of a team that captured two BIG EAST regular season titles, Two BIG EAST Tournament titles, the Elite Eight and the Final Four during her three-year UConn career. She spent her freshman season at Duke, averaging 8.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 1.2 bpg in 27 appearances. The 2003 Parade National High School Player of Year, Hunter holds the distinction of being the first woman to ever compete in the McDonald’s All-American slam dunk competition.

-- Mel

By Jonathan Tannenwald
Philly.com

The Associated Press is reporting that USA Basketball has named Tamika Catchings, Kara Lawson and DeLisha Milton-Jones as the final three players on the roster for the Olympics.

Here's the full story from the AP's women's basketball writer, Doug Feinberg.

The official announcement will be made tomorrow.

By Kathleen Radebaugh

Philadelphia - Crazy enough, both the Russian national anthem and the Unites States national anthem have the words, “proud,” and “free” within them and conclude with the same thought, a piece of land, a nation, that is part of a greater whole.

Becky Hammon is very proud to be apart of an Olympic basketball team at the age of 31. It may be a different jersey that many hoped she would be wearing, but Hammon felt free enough that when the USA Olympic women’s basketball team didn’t have her on the roster, she could still find a way to play ball in the Olympics.

Hammon will be playing with the CSKA Moscow team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

Last summer, USA Basketball released its list of 23 possible players being watched for the Olympic team. Hammon was not on the list.

She is currently a starting guard for the WNBA San Antonio Silver Stars where she is averaging 15.9 points per game and just recently had an exceptional finish against Washington Mystics, scoring 28 points and totaling five rebounds. Hammon’s success with San Antonio is tremendous and definitely worth a look by USA Basketball.

Yet, this is a pattern with Hammon. A tremendous guard out of Colorado State, Hammon wasn’t drafted. She was a three time Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and all-time leading scorer (ahem, men and women) with 2,740 points in WAC.

And she probably got good grades.

Hammon found her rookie year in New York, after signing as a free agent.

She thrived playing for New York Liberty. It wasn’t long before she started every game, set season highs, and truly became one of their best point guards even through injury.

Due to her tremendous success with Liberty and then continuing her play with San Antonio, Hammon joins the Elite 3,000 Point/800 Assists Club. She is one of seven players to have accomplished this step in women’s basketball. In total, Hammon totaled 3,180 points and 803 assists.

In March, Hammon started to look for different ways of making one of her biggest dreams, to play in the Olympics, a possibility.

Since Hammon never played for another country in a FIBA, International Basketball Federation, sanctioned-event, she could obtain a passport.

Before Hammon’s regular season started in May, she was in Moscow training with the 2008 Olympic team. It’s safe to say, suicide sprints and 30 minute drills are the just the same on either continent.

Two familiar faces will be with Hammon, Detriot’s Deanna Nolan and Phoenix’s Kelly Miller. In addition, the men’s basketball team has J.R. Holden, a prior Bucknell standout guard, on the roster. Holden hit the clincher for the 2007 Eurobasket Championship for Russia.

Russia apparently likes to win and if that means having a non-naturalized citizen on the team, then maybe they are putting the attention back on the skill of the game, which makes us watch in the first place.

Hammon probably has been thinking about playing internationally, almost concluding her tenth season in the WNBA. What makes it frustrating for most female players is that playing in the United States is a salary decrease. Women make more money overseas, almost three to four times as much.

Diana Taurasi of Phoenix Mercury plays internationally on an Italian passport and Sue Bird of Seattle Storm plays on an Israeli passport.

Both are phenomenal basketball players who are pursing their talents and passions, yet it is not on US soil. Is it acceptable for Taurasi and Bird to wear international jerseys for some months and also WNBA jerseys for the others, or should the WNBA and USA Basketball revamp their thinking on eligible participants and budgets?

Hammon playing for Russia is a wake up call for both organizations.

More of 2006 World Championship failures could happen again and really soon because there are 12 to 13 players coming from every other direction.

The objective is same, win the gold, but U.S. Head Coach Anne Donovan only has a month to prepare a team for Beijing.

Hammon is going to recognize most of the words in the Russian national anthem, because crazy enough, there are in common with our own. In fact, you may find those very same words, “free,” “proud,” and “our land” in a couple others.

By Mel Greenberg

HYANNIS, Mass. _ So what does this dateline have to do with the sport that is associated with the reason you normally come to visit?

Absolutely nothing.

But as the Guru quickly learned on Monday before getting operational on the free, but moderately complex, access to internet operations, the news never stops even if the Guru attempted to take a nostalgic journey to a place visited many times several decades ago.

The lesson learned is that the idea of "let's go Falmouth, it's right over in the next town," does not necessarily mean a quick jaunt in Cape traffic, much to the chagrin of the Guru's memory banks.

On the other hand, it was traffic-free all the way, including a quick stop in Brooklyn to pick up the shotgun rider, enabling the Guru to go wire-to-wire in an easy six hours, door-to-door, ah, make that office-to-door.

Also, once again, the GPS is a wonderful invention for finding a nice seafood place in the middle of the woods outside the populated district.

The oysters were great, as was the cold lobster appertitizer.

Still ahead on Wednesday after locating a spot on the beach for Tuesday is a boat ride to either Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard. Feel free to email the Guru with which is the better choice because he does not want to cause any more angst to the shotgun rider.

But with blackberry in-hand, the email and news continued to arrive all the way up here, including the annual Guru-rankling info from people doing their jobs by wanting us to know the calendar reservation months away when a major conference will hold its media day.

Hey, it's just the start of summer and as a penalty the Guru may make a surprise visit to your home office Frday on the way back through Providence, R.I.

Speaking of conferences, longtime North Carolina State administrator Nora Lynn Finch will be Bernadette McGlade's successor as the new women's honcho of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the wake of McGlade's move to become commissioner of the Atlantic Ten.

The Guru could not think of a more qualified and better choice, considering our long association with Nora Lynn, including her role as an associate head coach to Hall of Famer Kay Yow and her appointment as the first head of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Committee.

Equally fitting was the appointment of former UConn star Shea Ralph, as the new assistant to Geno Auriemma at her alma mater, replacing Tonya Cardoza who replaced Temple's Dawn Staley as the Owls' new coach.

Ralph had been an assistant at Pittsburgh and during the Big East tournament noted to a few writers sitting around nibling on conference snacks that when it came time to make her next career move, it had to be the right one.

No doubt, off the Huskies experience, a head coaching position will become the next stop. In fact, Ralph's name was submitted to Temple officials from a prominent men's coach in the Steel City during the early days of the Owls' search.

Speaking of nostalgia, even all the way up here, the Guru is hearing reports of a former Atlantic Ten head coach with Philly roots joining Cardoza's staff when the announcements are made at Temple.

And in another staffing move, Carlene Mitchell has been promoted by C. Vivian Stringer at Rutgers to associate head coach, joining former Scarlet Knights aide Jolette Law, now the head coach of Illinois, as the only two to have held the title in the Hall of Fame career of Stringer.

It's another worthy move, considering Mitchell's ability to land the five-member all-America high school freshmen class arriving at Rutgers for the fall.

Besides, once Marianne Stanley departed as an assistant with the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks and Mitchell's name was involved in other collegiate head coaching vacancies, Stringer was expected to do whatever it took to avoid having to increase her supply of headache medicine filling another vacancy.

In another news, former Immaculata coach Cathy Rush, who will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in September in September in Springfield, Mass., says the movie Our Lady of Victory, about the Mighty Macs' first national title in 1972, may be ready for screening by the end of July.

"The orchestration has been done along with all the postproduction things," Rush said of the film that was shot on Immaculata's campus a year ago.

The movie was originally hoped to be released earlier, which Rush thought could help the Hall of Fame efforts. As it is, the Hall of Fame may help market the movie. An official release date has yet to be announced.

The Guru also read that the three spots to complete the Olympic squad will go to the Connecticut Sun's Lindsay Whalen, the Indiana Fever's Tamika Catchings, and the Sparks' DeLisha Milton-Jones.

As of this posting early Tuesday morning, the Guru had not received official notification from USABasketball, but the moves are surprising based on a conversation last month in Knoxville, Tenn., during the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame weekend with an official close to the Olympic team.

At the time, it was mentioned that Sacramento's Kara Lawson was a sure bet, that Catcbhing's move was certain in the wake of recovering from her injury, and that if that official had their say, the other spot would go to Sacramento's Rebakkah Brunson.

Speaking of Olympics, Kathleen Radebaugh had checked-in with a column on San Antonio's Becky Hammon playing for Russia, which will post above the Guru's report. Also, blogging team member Acacia O'Connor, from her new post-graduate location in Washington, says she's ready to report from the Mystics once she gets up to speed on the WNBA. She even has her own photographer on the scene.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Given that the Guru was jokingly, we hope, cited as a one-Guru search committee by Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw on Tuesday in the front of his introductory remarks presenting former UConn assistant Tonya Cardoza as the Owls' new women's basketball coach, it's time to return to such summer items as the WNBA and other routine events.

Part of that includes answering the question, "Do you ever go away?"

Sort of. The Guru will be hanging out for the first time in years the next four days on Cape Cod (Mon.-Thurs.), headquartered in Hyannis at a very responsible rate adacent to the docks of the island ferries.

But all communication tools and multi-media entertainment materials will, as always, be along for the trip.

And the news watch never stops, which reminds, the Guru hears Cardoza has quickly asembled her staff, but he has had no direct contact with Temple sources since the press conference.

We'll check on it later in the day.

Meanwhile, although many of the names to come in the next several paragraphs will pain our colleague Kate Fagan, who is down in Washington Sunday at the Mystics game chasing after the WNBA's Becky Hammon for a story, it was a regular family affair Saturday in Toledo, Ohio, for the wedding of former Wildcats star Courtney Mix to Ray Davis, the brother of Mix's former teammate Katie Davis.

Perhaps, as the Guru remembers this bunch, especially at a neighorhood establishment after Villanova coach Harry Perretta's 30th anniversary salute dinner, the Mix-Davis reception was appropriately held at the Toledo Zoo following the ceremony at St. Patrick's Church.

The Guru had a media representative on the scene and notes the reason many of the names will cause Fagan to wince is they were responsible for her collegiate career-ending loss at Colorado by Villanova in the Sweet 16 in the fabled year of 2003.

As for the details: Mix is a daughter of Steve Mix, the former 76ers broadcaster and NBA player who once coached the Toledo women's team.

The wedding party included former Wildcats teammates Mary Beth Snell, (La Salle assistant) Mimi Riley, Courtney Roantree, Betsy McManus, and Katie Davis.

Sister and former Drexel star Stephanie Mix was the matron of honor.

Other former players making the trip to the near-Midwest were Trish Juhline, Kelly Nash, who is also about to get hitched this month, Stephanie Baker, Kate Dessart Magar and Jen Hilgenberg.

Needlessly to say, with all those three-point shooters in attendance, the group had little difficulty tossing rice at the newlyweds from long distance after the ceremony. And since Juhline is working on her nursing degree, or may have already attained it from her alma mater, there might have been little hesitancy for a pickup game over the weekend, given the nearby presence of the MVP of the 2003 Big East championship.

UConn readership hear will painfully remember Villanova that year, also, but also have the fond recollection of redemption several weeks later with another NCAA title.

The Guru still has a shift of work ahead Sunday night before the darkness jaunt up North, so we'll be back later in the day.

-- Mel

(Guru's note: This is a major enhancement of a Wednesday print story at Philly.com)

(Jonathan Tannenwald's note: You can read everything about Tonya Cardoza's press conference here, and you can listen to interviews with her, Geno Auriemma and Temple athletic director Bill Bradshow at my blog, Soft Pretzel Logic. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post.)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA - Tonya Cardoza has a background rich in women’s basketball history.

However, the new Temple coach said Tuesday at her introductory press conference at the Liacouras Center she intends to become much more than a spinoff from past successes.

Hired off the Connecticut staff of Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma to become a head coach in her own right, the Roxbury, Mass., native promised the Owls’ style won’t be an extension of Dawn Staley, her good friend and former Virginia teammate.

“Well Dawn was a defensive coach, which I don’t understand how, because in college she didn’t really play defense,” the 39-year-old Cardoza smiled. “I was an offensive player and liked to score, which (the Owls) may have lacked a little last year.

“Definitely up tempo, we’re going to look to score in all types of ways – pressing, getting easy buckets that way, running the wings, motion offense.

“It won’t be a stall game with one or two people holding onto the ball. It’s going to be all five people involved in it.”

Staley stayed away from Cardoza’s big day, not wanting to be a distraction.

Cardoza said it wouldn’t be a problem to play Staley’s new team.

“Better to get her now, though.”

Besides Temple administrators and coaches, such as football’s Al Golden, the packed room for the press conference included Auriemma, Huskies assistant Jamelle Elliott and former UConn star Rita Williams, who was one Cardoza’s first guards in 14 seasons with the five-time NCAA champions.

Williams recalled those days in Storrs.

“It was a wonderful experience for me, because I was young and needed some molding and she was always there to help me in anything that I needed,” Williams said.

Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw characterized the search process – “56 days, that’s eight weeks, that’s two months” – in three stages.

“The first one is organizing a large pool of candidates. Then it’s getting that large pool down to a short list to interview. And the third part, obviously, is selecting the best fit for that which you are hiring.

“The search committee’s only goal was to get it right and bring the best coach that we can find at Temple University – Tonya Cardoza.”

The former 14-year UConn assistant is also associated with another Hall
of Famer in Virginia coach Debbie Ryan for whom she played in the early 1990s.

Bradshaw, in citing Cardoza’s connections, noted Staley’s “eight wonderful years,” and referred to her as a future hall of famer.

He praised Cardoza’s eagerness for the position and the homework she did for the interview that made her the right fit for Temple.

Quickly after Staley left Temple on May 6 for South Carolina, Cardoza campaigned hard to fill the vacancy.

“I’m a city girl,” Cardoza said of her attraction to Temple’s urban campus. .” I’ve been to Philadelphia in 2000, where we won the (NCAA title) and got to tour the city. That showed how great of a city it is.”

She said in her opening remarks, “A lot of schools have approached me in the past. But nothing peaked my interest like Temple. Once it opened I knew it would be the right fit. Dawn set the bar and I’m ready to take the baton and run with it.”

Cardoza said she talked to Staley throughout the search process, as recently as Monday night. “She will always be a source I can tap into for everything here. I definitely appreciate her support and will continue to have those kind of conversations with her.”

Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown, revealed that this was the first time Cardoza went hard to become a head coach.

“It came out of nowhere,” he said. “In the past she would ask me about this position or that one and then decide they weren’t worth it. But this time, she asked me to make a call.”

Cardoza does not believe in rebuilding based on her experience at UConn.

“At Connecticut, we strive to be the best. I’m trying to do it right away. I know there’s a foundation here and that the players are willing to work, I’m willing to work, and we’re going to do this as quickly as possible,” Cardoza said.

She added, “Everything I know and learned was at Connecticut, I’m going to try to bring it here. Obviously, I’m ready to do my own thing and win my own championships. But he’s done it the right way and I want to emulate that. Geno is a Hall of Famer and I wouldn’t change anything.”

Cardoza’s deal is five years, according to a source familiar with the agreement.

Auriemma was overheard to tell a Temple athletic official, “I told (Cardoza) that for starting out, with all the incentives and everything, she did just great.”

Cardoza recalled her hire by Auriemma.

“He’s a recruiter. He sold me as soon as I met him,” Cardoza said. “It was like recruiting all over again. I had no interest in coaching at the time.

“He actually promised me, the job that I had at the time was doing some substitute teaching, he promised me that if I took the job, in two years, I would make $30,000 and go from there and now look at me,” she said. “I signed a nice little contract and I owe it all to him.”

Auriemma talked about his desire to put Cardoza on his staff.

“I wanted someone from New England. And I wanted someone that had played at a real high level. I don’t like to hire anybody I don’t know – maybe that’s not a good thing but I wanted her because I knew who she was, I knew what she brought,” Auriemma said.

“You never know it’s going to turn out like this when you first hire somebody. I think her confidence level today is a thousand times higher than when we first hired her. But every year she’s gotten better and better at what she does. I’m not surprised to see her in this environment right now.”

Auriemma himself signed a five-year, $8 million contract extension through 2013 last week that will eventually make him the highest paid coach in the history of the women’s game.

Cardoza already has knowledge of the Atlantic Ten Conference in which Temple won four titles in Staley’s eight seasons.

“I know that Xavier is really good, George Washington is really good. Dayton has a great coach. Duquesne has a good coach in Suzie McConnell-Serio. I just know it’s a fun league to be part of and I’m excited to be part of it.”

Cardoza said one reason she hadn’t looked seriously at head coaching jobs in the past was she took it as a personal affront when the Huskies’ guard play was criticized several years ago.

“I felt I needed to stay there and prove to everybody that – I took it personally, I felt that was a shot at me and I wanted to prove our guards are going to be the best. And this past year we had two all-Americans and a first-round WNBA draft pick.”

Temple junior LaKeisha Eaddy is ready to move forward under a new coach.

“Me and a couple of my teammates were going to have to step up and keep us altogether to stay here at Temple,” she said. “Now we’re all motivated and we’re ready.

“Before (Cardoza) was announced as our coach I didn’t know who she was. But once I learned she was one of the candidates I did a little bit of research and found out more about her.”

Cardoza has to assemble a new staff with three assistants and a basketball operations director, positions she expects to fill quickly.

She expects one to come from Connecticut. “Got to have that if I can.”

Cardoza is not worried about ,having more difficulty recruiting the blue chip athlete that is easily obtainable by the Huskies.

She noted her ability to develop players, citing Ketia Swanier, a WNBA rookie on the Connecticut Sun.

Swanier on Tuesday expressed her enthusiasm over Cardoza’s hire at Temple.

“I know for sure that Tonya will have a great impact on Temple,” Swanier said. “Tonya’s a big reason why I am where I am today. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know where I would be right now.

“I wish I could have seen her play back in the day. I heard she was great. I know she’s going to bring lots of energy and knowledge to the game and I know she’ll do great. And I’m happy and excited for her.”

New Atlantic Ten commissioner Bernadette McGlade, called Cardoza’s hire “great for Temple and great for the conference.”

Illinois coach Jolette Law, a former Rutgers associate head coach, reacted by saying, “I am so thrilled for Tonya. She’s paid her dues. She’s been loyal at UConn for a long, long time and I’m thrilled to see her get the opportunity.”

-- Mel

(Guru's note: This is an enhancement of the print and edited version at Philly.com. More reaction will come in ensuing coverage. The Guru would like to thank his SID friends across the country -- many of whom are partying at the annual convention in Tampa -- and the WNBA PR group for making persons available Monday for comment. He would also like to salute his media colleagues in Connecticut, also known as the horde, for their friendship over the years and the standard of coverage they have set to keep the Guru on his game.
Also, the 2 p.m. event in the East will be streamed at Temple's web site on the internet. If you have not watched one of these webcasts before, visit the site a little early because you have to register. There is no charge.)

By Mel Greenberg
I
PHILADELPHIA - Even as Temple officials prepared to spend a while fishing around for a new women’s basketball coach, athletic director Bill Bradshaw knew in an early catch they had hooked the star of Tuesday’s introductory press conference at the Liacouras Center.

“Exceptional,” was a word repeated several times Monday by Bradshaw in describing Tonya Cardoza, a longtime assistant at Connecticut.

He applied it to Cardoza’s 14 years under Norristown’s Geno Auriemma that has included five NCAA titles with the Huskies.

Bradshaw classified the 39-year-old Cardoza as a “thoroughbred,” referring to native of Roxbury, Mass., and her playing career at Virginia. It was in Charlottesville that she was associated with another Hall of Fame coach in Debbie Ryan.

Most important was the budding friendship with Cavaliers teammate Dawn Staley, the legendary basketball legend from Philadelphia.

Two decades later that relationship has led to Cardoza landing her first head coaching job, succeeding Staley who has departed for South Carolina after an eight-year run with the Owls that is tops in the program’s history.

Cardoza arrives ready to build on Staley’s achievements that include six NCAA appearances, four Atlantic Ten titles and domination of the Big Five.

She was on campus Monday afternoon having separate meetings with Temple’s upper classwomen and the younger group to deliver separate speeches according to a source knowledgeable of Cardoza’s introductory remarks.

It will be a whirlwind day on Tuesday because Temple was also setting up a teleconference for Cardoza with the Connecticut writers who won't be in town and there are several TV appearances scheduled later in the afternoon.

“You have a candidate who knows what she’s accepting, who knows what she’s getting into, and wanted to be here,” Bradshaw said. “She knows exactly the time and place where Temple basketball is. She was a fascinating candidate who did a terrific job in her interview.”

Awareness includes moving from a team that perennially contends for the NCAA title to one that is aspiring to break into the Sweet 16.

In her 14 seasons at Connecticut, the Huskies’ won-loss record is 465-41, five NCAA titles in eight Women’s Final Four appearances, 12 Big East regular season crowns and 11 conference tournament titles.

It means leaving a locale whose two home court venues in Storrs on campus at Gampel Pavilion and in Hartford at the XL Center includes thousands in the stands. Attendance at the Liacouras Center improved in the Staley era but was still usually barely half full at major confrontations.

As far as media attention, the good news is that once the hoopla over Cardoza settles down there will be less distractions to occupy her time.

In terms of impressing recruits, however, that will also be the bad news.

Staley’s personal reputation as a WNBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist point guard got her into homes Temple could never get past the knock on the door prior to her arrival.

A key to Cardoza selling herself and her new program might come from a presence with strong local knowledge on Cardoza’s new staff, although Temple provides a substantial budget that allowed Staley to recruit nationally.

Asked Monday if she might be interested in moving from La Salle back to Temple where she was Staley’s first point guard, Stacey Smalls, a Cheltenham grad, said, “Hey, it’s my alma mater. Do I have to say anything more?”

Tina Nicholson, a former Penn State star guard from Downingtown, has expressed interest recently in joining the coaching profession.

Former 76er broadcaster Steve Mix, who once coached the Toledo women and is the father of former Villanova star Courtney Mix and former Drexel star Stephanie Mix is also rumored to have contacted Temple.

Dan Durkin, a former Duquesne coach from Philadelphia with extensive knowledge of the conference, might also be out there to be had in several places as an assistant coach.

Holy Family’s Mike McLaughlin, whose Tigers are a national power in Division II, might also be available.

Terms of Cardoza’s deal have not been revealed but a source knowledgeable with the negotiations said its length was five years.

Staley was earning a $500,000 package when she left. Cardoza couldn’t be expected to earn that much as a rookie coach. But in light of a need to rebuild an entire coaching staff with four positions to be filled, the overall program will continue to be well funded.

“Everyone knows we have a major commitment to women’s basketball,” Bradshaw said.

Auriemma contacted Bradshaw early to support Cardoza’s candidacy.

“He called me early, well before I met Tonya,” Bradshaw said. “He’s brutally frank in the way he talks to you and won’t let his coaches go anywhere they can’t be successful. He obviously wants his coaches to succeed. I was impressed by his candor and what he thought.

“He did say to me that in doing it the right way, having somebody who knows what it takes to be successful at the highest levels of Division I basketball in recruiting and in coaching, in practice and in total organization, that we couldn’t get anyone better at the time.”

Ryan recalled recruiting Cardoza, who was a year ahead of Staley and Tammi Reiss, the duo that helped Cardoza appear in two Women’s Final Fours prior to her graduation in 1991.

“She was a great scorer, but she also was an astounding rebounder,” Ryan said. “She was always a tough matchup.

“At UConn, she was a hidden jewel. Now she’s going to find her own way to success after being mentored by one of the best coaches in the game.”

Cardoza is the sixth former player of Ryan’s to become a head coach following Staley, Alabama-Birmingham’s Audra Smith, Albany University’s Trina Patterson, Colorado's Kathy McConnell-Miller, and Jenny Boucek of the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs.

“She played for Virginia, what else is there to day?” Boucek quipped Monday about Cardoza’s hiring.

Auriemma, who was in Tampa, Fla., Monday night to see former Huskies star Rebecca Lobo inducted into the College Sports Information Directors’ Academic All-America Hall of Fame, was hoping to be at Tuesday’s press conference.

He credited Cardoza with “developing some of the best players ever to play at this level,” citing her work with such All-American guards as Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, and Jennifer Rizzotti. “I’ve always said we have the best staff in the country and Tonya has been a big part of that.”

Auriemma cited Cardoza for “being part of all the championships.”

“Tonya will be a great head coach and the staff at Temple is going to love her.”

(click her to keep reading on the jump)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ Big Five and Atlantic Ten competitors St. Joseph's and Temple each announced a new arrival Monday tied to their respective women's basketball programs.

Both declarations involved graduates of the collegiate classes of 1991, but only the Hawks' news carried the name of the newcomer.

St. Joseph's coach Cindy Griffin, a Hawk graduate in 1991, and her husband Curtis officially added to their personal family Monday morning with the delivery of Curtis John Griffin Jr., weighing in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. Men's coach Phil Martelli was readying a scholarship offer, deciding the presentation now would save a 16-year recruiting effort.

Curtis Jr. snaps a two-female birth streak as he becomes a first brother to two-year-old Hannah and four-year-old Kaylie, who has had a past fascination with the Guru's hanging credential tag during Hawks women's games.

Temple also hatched a newcomer via the contractual agreement that officially stamped coach No, 23 in the long history of its women's program. The Owls are withholding the name of the 1991 graduate of Virginia until Tuesday's press conference, though her identity has been revealed in the Guru's blog, various Connecticut media sites, and other venues across the nation.

Unlike Curtis Jr's numbers at St. Joseph's, Temple will not describe the dimensions attached to its newcomer, but one can be found in the Guru's latest extended post above that goes beyond the printed story for Tuesday's sports section at Philly.com.

However, the signs of a new era are already apparent as images of former coach Dawn Staley, who left for South Carolina, begin to fade from the athletic department's web site.

Incidentally, that same web site will stream Tuesday's press conference at 2 p.m. EDT that will undoubtedly feature the back of the Guru's head during the speeches and interviews from the podium.

While you are here, in other news, the Guru made it to the Department of Recreation's NCAA Women's Summer League in Northeast Philadelphia for the first time this season Monday night to see rookie Inquirer sports department colleague Kate Fagan, a former Colorado star, go up against a team dominated by Holy Family players, the national Division II power.

It didn't take long for Holy Family to get the Guru to say "holy smokes" as the Tigers disguised as the Gold team easily handled Fagan's Red team.

Ironically, Villanova has always been her worst nightmare for beating the Buffs twice her senior season, including a collegiate career-ending loss in Knoxville, Tenn., in the NCAA tournament that enabled the Wildcats to advance to the Elite Eight in 2003.

A bigger nightmare for Fagan and her Red teammates was the absence of those attached to Villanova, including senior Laura Kurz who told the Guru on Sunday she won't be on hand for the games at Northeast High for another two weeks.

The Guru was impressed, however, at Fagan's range showing she can cover ground on the court as easily as she has covered stories on the Phillies, Eagles and whatever else the department's assigning editors have tossed in her direction since her arrival in May.

-- Mel