Women's Hoops Guru

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