Women's Hoops Guru

DelleDonne Watch

And now back to some commentary. The Guru mentioned he plans to be in Connecticut, tentatively, where he expects the words “Tonya Cardoza “ to be uttered less, now that she is settling in as the new Temple coach, and the words “Elena DelleDonne” to be mentioned more with the next flashpoint in the summer saga just several weeks away from occurring.

For those who checked out of paying attention in favor of beach time, etc., in June, the nation’s top recruit out of Wilmington, Del., returned home after two days of summer school to a myriad of rumors from being scolded by a new teammate in a pickup game to burnout after years of focused attention back to the ninth grade, if not earlier.

The Guru’s friends in the horde have it all chronicled if any of you need to be updated.

The interest in DelleDonne is there, no doubt, judging by the daily number of hits to the Guru site and other places caused by people searching her name for information.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who was in town for Cardoza’s press conference at Temple earlier this month, said at the time the situation was “low key” and that come September all might be calm again.

But no one knows for sure.

And again, according to the Big East, DelleDonne cannot transfer to Villanova to play, according to a recent note from the conference, although the Guru needs to review the specifics when a transfer occurred between UConn and St. John’s.

Speaking of the Big East, the Guru noticed some friend in the conference office is accessing his blog from Newport, R.I., which isn’t exactly Providence, home of the conference office, but close enough.

So unless the Big East mail server is located in the home of tennis, yachting and fine dining establishments, the only other thought is that officials are site prospecting the lavish mentions as a potential home for commissioner Tranghese when he retires after next season.

WNBA Thoughts

Turning to the WNBA, at the time the nickname was applied to the then fledgling Washington Mystics because of the then-NBA-parent Washington Wizards affiliation, ultimately has become appropriate.

What can be said of an organization that is constantly changing coaches and then has games of astounding surprise such as Sunday’s shocking rout of Seattle after another change in leadership.

While Jessie Kenlaw has the interim label, it wouldn’t be surprising for the Guru to learn job hunts and/or interviews were being held Tuesday night in the Marriott bar.

Meanwhile, the New York Liberty has a morning game in D.C. against the Washington, which might have given coach Patty Coyle an excuse to visitthe Marriott and mingle with her friends in the collegiate ranks.

Given Connecticut’s recent woes, perhaps Coyle might could be offered as a contender for coach of the year, but we’ll see how the rest of the season plays out before offering reasons. And there are a ton of good ones.

As for the recent outdoor game Saturday night at the Arthur Ashe tennis stadium, the Liberty have found ways to continue to be on the wrong side of history in their WNBA existence.

While the Liberty won the first-ever WNBA game in Los Angeles in 1997, they haven’t fared well, since, although they did win a few Radio City Music Hall contests during the last Olympic year when presidential politics temporarily removed them from Madison Square Garden. They also lost in the first WNBA championship, when the Houston Comets went on to own the league the next four seasons.

Hall of Fame I -- Ora Washington Update

Some historical record needs to be updated on the forthcoming induction next June of Ora Washington, who played for the Philadelphia Tribune team in the pre-World War II era.

According to some pages found in the “Shattering the Glass” history of women’s basketball publication, Washington was not born in Philadelphia, though that is where she made her fame after moving to Germantown from a Virginia town 75 miles south of Washington.

And she is not known to be in any Temple hall of fame, according to school officials, who also say there is doubt Washington even attended Temple.

Hall of Fame II - Immaculata Movie Update

The Guru recently received an email from Tim Chambers, the director of the Our Lady of Victory movie about the first national title won by Immaculata under Cathy Rush, who will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in early September.

The film was shot a year ago on the Immaculata campus and other parts of Chester County and places in the area.

Chambers confirmed screening for studios will soon get under way. But there is no chance the film would be ready for release to coincide with Rush’s big weekend.

“It takes several months to build a marketing strategy,” Chambers said, adding, “If it was my choice, I would release it around March Madness ’09.”

The Women’s Final Four will be held in St. Louis. At one point, the film was targeted for last April’s finals, during which Rush made news anyway with the announcement of her election to Naismith.

Cabrini Hire

Longtime Holy Family assistant Bernadette Laukaitis has left her alma mater after eight years under her former coach Mike McLaughlin to become the new head coach of Cabrini, which won the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference, now under a new name, last season in Division III.

Also, while the Guru was stealing away at Cape Cod a few weeks ago, it is now apparent to those of you reading all of the sports section, but for the record, Kate Fagan, the former Colorado star hired in May, has been made the new 76ers writer.

And while this may have curtailed her summer league activity, the Guru notes that commissioner Dave Kessler is coming down to his last several weeks after years running the operation. He made his decision a year ago that this would be his last season.

Look for more to come on the topic.

And on that note, we’ll be back in a few days or less with something more unless someone else on the blogging team gets there ahead of the Guru.

-- Mel