Women's Hoops Guru

(Guru's Note: Updating late night Saturday while working the desk in the home office, here are the Associated Press accounts of Candace Parker's exhibition debut followed by an advance on her WNBA impact, which moved earlier this weekend for editions. The advance story may not make print versions in many areas and may not have been seen by the friendly nation sites -- whoever you think you are -- that link back and forth to the Guru's blog.).)

By GEORGE HENRY
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA — Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie gave the WNBA its first glimpse of just how dangerous the Los Angeles Sparks could be this season.

Parker, the league’s No. 1 pick, had 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in Los Angeles’ 86-80 exhibition victory over the expansion Atlanta Dream on Saturday night.

Leslie played her first game since missing all of 2007 on maternity leave, but the three-time league MVP still finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.

After leading Tennessee to a second straight NCAA title last month, Parker is eager to help the Sparks win their third championship under coach Michael Cooper.

“I pulled Coop aside and said, ’Man, I love having someone to run the floor with me,” Parker said as she smiled at Leslie. “It’s like, ’Pick your poison.’ I mean if you stop the layup, I’m going to hit her, and she’s going to make a move, cut back or whatever. I was on the floor and just had pinch myself, honestly.”

Cooper, whose team led 70-49 at the end of the third quarter, pulled Parker out of the game with three minutes left in the period. Leslie was already resting on the bench, her night finished after less than 20 minutes.

“Tonight I was in ecstasy,” said Cooper, a five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers. “It was truly a pleasure to watch these ladies play.”

Carla Thomas and Tamera Young each scored 15 points to lead the Dream, who were outscored 18-6 on the fast break and 38-18 in the paint.

An announced crowd of 7,932 watched at Philips Arena, which hosted the Atlanta Hawks’ Game 6 playoff win over Boston the night before.

It wasn’t the first time Thomas tried to defend Parker. At Vanderbilt, Thomas faced Parker and the Lady Volunteers many times.

“She showed what she’s capable of doing,” Thomas said. “She can hurt you in so many ways on the floor.”

Parker’s problematic left shoulder was iced after the game, a customary procedure after getting injured in the NCAA tournament. She wasn’t concerned about irritating the shoulder after missing a fastbreak dunk early in the third.

“I was not warm, so I probably should’ve just laid it up,” Parker said. “Lisa made a little behind-the-head pass, so something came out of it.”

After the Sparks went 10-24 last season, Cooper feels rejuvenated. Los Angeles opens the regular season May 17 at Phoenix in the first of four straight road games.

Leslie’s return only reaffirmed Cooper’s belief that the Sparks have a chance to go deep into the playoffs.

“You kind of take her greatness for granted,” Cooper said before nodding at Parker, “and it is a true joy to watch (Parker) play and the way she plays. The exciting thing about it is she plays the game above the rim. Both of these do, so it’s fun to watch and it’s fun to coach.”

Leslie had no trouble with any aspects of her game.

“I felt pretty good,” she said. “We started out the game pretty strong. It’s just really exciting basketball to be out on the floor and obviously to have Candace as a teammate. I can’t stop smiling. I don’t know how we got the No. 1 pick.”

Cooper, sitting to her left, quickly interrupted.

“We were losing,” he said with a grin.

Leslie’s response was immediately.

“Well, I didn’t lose, so I was just used to winning and then we got her as the No. 1 pick,” she said. “I’m happy, and we have so many other great teammates around her.”

Parker Impacting WNBA Way Ahead of Season Oepeners
By VIN A. CHERWOO
AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK — Kathy Goodman admits she was wary of the hype about the impact Candace Parker would have on the Los Angeles Sparks if they selected her with the No. 1 overall pick in last month’s WNBA draft.

“I am the cynic of the group,” the Sparks’ co-owner said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. “I’m the one that’s like ’Yes I know there’s a lot of hype and let’s not believe our own hype. This is still going to take some work.’ And I have to admit, that even I was pleasantly surprised by the response.”

Although Parker has yet to make her debut with the Sparks, the former Tennessee Lady Vols star is already boosting the team and the rest of the league at the box office, in merchandise sales and on the Web.

Los Angeles sold seven times the number of season tickets during the first week after the April 9 draft compared to the same period last year. Also, individual game ticket sales for the first eight days after the draft increased nearly threefold.

No doubt, the Sparks’ ticket sales are also being fueled by the return of Lisa Leslie. The perennial All-Star and three-time Olympic gold medalist is back after a one-year absence following the birth of her daughter last June.

“It has been really overwhelming to see,” Goodman said. “The combination of Candace joining the team and Lisa Leslie being back on the team, both of those things have been a matter of a lot of buzz in the community.”

And that buzz hasn’t been limited to Los Angeles. According to the WNBA, teams around the league are selling three times as many individual game tickets for when the Sparks are scheduled to visit compared to their overall average.

“I feel like it’s a huge responsibility,” Parker said. “Obviously we’ve gotten people to buy tickets to the games, but it’s a matter of getting them to come back. I guess a little bit of added pressure to perform when we play ... not to take any nights off because there’s always going to be somebody watching you for the first time.”

Being a draw isn’t new for Parker. Tennessee is usually among the attendance leaders in women’s college basketball — at home and on the road. The Lady Vols averaged a school-record 15,796 at home this past season en route to their second straight NCAA championship, and eighth overall.

“It’s something I am used to in a way, coming from a storybook program at Tennessee,” Parker said. “We had a lot of sold-out away games this year, a lot of people wanted to see us play. I’m used to it, but it’s something you can’t take lightly.”

A few more numbers to quantify Parker’s impact:

—The league sold more Parker jerseys on WNBAStore.com in the first two weeks after the draft than any other rookie in league history during a similar time period.

—Parker’s page on WNBA.com received 70,000 page views in the week of the draft (April 6-12), trailing only the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and New Orleans Hornets’ Chris Paul when compared to NBA players.

—The Sparks’ Web site has already set all-time monthly traffic records during April for page views, and set a single-day record on the day of the draft with more than 40,000 visits.

“Obviously she’s a spectacular player and she’s also an incredibly charismatic personality. People are really drawn to her,” Goodman said. “She can be a gateway player where people get hooked on her but they realize ’Look at all these other great players we didn’t know about.’ This is not like this is a league that has nobody in it except for her. People will come to see her and stay to see the rest of the teams and the rest of the players.”

Parker knows she doesn’t have the pressure that usually falls on a No. 1 pick, of being the focal player for a struggling franchise. Although the Sparks were 10-24 last season, they had to contend with Leslie’s absence, injuries to key players like point guard Temeka Johnson, and the sudden retirement of six-time All-Star Chamique Holdsclaw five games into the season.

Not only is Leslie back this year, Los Angeles also reaquired two-time Olympian DeLisha Milton-Jones, who was on the Sparks’ championship teams in 2001 and 2002, from Washington last month.

“The team went 10-24 last year, but this year’s team isn’t a 10-24 team,” Parker said.

The Naperville, Ill., native admits she is looking forward to the Sparks’ visit to Chicago on June 3. And an added bonus to her rookie season is a likely trip to Beijing for the Olympics this summer as part of U.S. national team.

“The opportunity to represent my country is something I’ve wanted to do from the time I picked up a basketball,” she said. “It’s a neat experience that very few people get.”

The Sparks’ season-opener is on the road against defending champion Phoenix on May 17. Parker still has some unfinished business back in Tennessee before that.

“I’m trying to see if I can go back for graduation (on May 9),” she said. “I haven’t got that situated yet.”

By Mel Greenberg

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut Sun, at least those of the WNBA Eastern Conference power who are not finishing off overseas competition, opened training camp Monday at Connecticut College with a new look sprinkled with accents of area collegiate stars of the past.

“It’s never going to change, it’s only going to get harder,” said Connecticut coach Mike Thibault of the annual delay in getting a full roster to arrive. “The good thing is they’ll arrive in pairs as they finish playoffs. When Lindsay (Whalen) and (Tamika) Whitmore get done playing each other, they’ll both come back. I could probably root somewhere in there for a series sweep by either side to end it (quicker).

“It could be that Asjha (Jones) and (Sandrine) Gruda won’t play in exhibition games, depending when they get done. Gruda hasn’t stopped playing in two-and-a-half years, so she will go home for a couple of days. It’s possible we won’t have her and (Evanthia) Maltsi for the first game.”

The team is without Katie Douglas, who was traded to Indiana, and Nykesha Sales, who is taking the year off to heal a series of nagging injuries, while center Margo Dydek is taking the year off due to pregnancy. Additionally, Erin Phillips, recovered from being sidelined all last season with a knee injury, is with the Australian national team until after the Olympics.

“This camp is an open tryout in a sense that for our wing positions in many ways,” Thibault said. “We might keep one more post player. That’s open to debate as camp goes along. We have probably 10-12 people who can play the two and three competing for five or six spots. Whoever earns it, earns it.

“There’s more opportunity. Once we traded Katie and Keesha said she wasn’t playing, I had agents calling me, `I’m going to send my kid to your camp.’

“But it’s healthy in a lot of ways. People have to earn a spot, make a name for themselves, and we’re going to give them some time to do it. All those people competing for those spots are here.”

Despite Sales’ absence, the roster has a strong dash of former University of Connecticut personnel. Tamika (nee Williams) Raymond , who had played her whole WNBA career in Minnesota since 2002, comes by way of a trade that sent Kristen Rassmusen to the Lynx.

“This is home,” Raymond said Monday in a discussion indicating you can look at the media to approach her frequently for postgame sound bites. “When my mother drove me to the airport, it was the same place she took me to when I flew to play at Connecticut. Coming here, to put a word on it, is a rejuvenation.”

Raymond was part of the senior bonanza of UConn players, including Sue Bird, Jones, and Swin Cash, who all went quickly in the first round of the 2002 WNBA draft.

“At 27, I think she has seven more years if she wants to play that long,” Thibault said of Raymond’s ability and downplaying the perception of her as an aging veteran.

“Part of that is she’s had injuries and she played for a team that didn’t win. She has a bounce in her step that’s going to be great.”

Raymond had been an assistant in recent season’s to Ohio State’s Jim Foster.

“She’s coming into a comfort zone and she knows we need some more veteran leadership in our lockerroom,” Thibault said.

A year ago, Barbara Turner, another former UConn star, was being pressured by former Seattle coach Ann Donovan to get back from Europe when final roster spots were being determined on the Storm and then found herself quickly cut after she arrived.

She later signed with Houston.

“It’s a lot different,” Turner compared this camp’s start with her experience of a year go. “But things happen for a reason. I’m here. I’m happy.”

Ketia Swanier arrives as a first round draft pick off the UConn Final Four contingent.

Former Temple forward Kamesha Hairston, a first-round draft of last season, played in Israel in the offseason to improve her shot.

“It helped a lot,” Hairston said of driving against other post players.

Another newcomer in camp are former Duke star Jessica Foley, who was acquired as part of the Indiana deal involving Douglas. UConn remember her for the long three-pointer in Hartford at the buzzer tha enabled the Blue Devils to come back from a deep halftime deficit and end the Huskies' NCAA record home-win streak.

Jolene Anderson, a second-round draft pick, 27th overall, is here out of Wisconsin. Former Iowa State star Tracy Gahan is here as a training camp signee, while first-round draft pick and ninth overall Amber Holt out of MiddleTennessee was also in practice attire Monday,

Meanwhile Villanova senior Stacie Witman arrived shortly after the players began some warmup drills. She will be working as a practice player to get some experience.

“I’m a sleeper,” Witman laughed after getting her practice gear.

The Guru responded, “I hear you’re a deep sleeper.”

-- Mel

(Guru’s note: A print version of the WNBA draft is at Philly.com in the Inquirer section)
By Mel Greenberg and Stephen K. Lee

Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer and Maryland coach Brenda Frese beamed with pride Wednesday afternoon as they each watched two of their respective building blocks move on to the WNBA as first round picks in the pro women’s basketball league’s annual draft.

The Scarlet Knights star guards went quickly with the Houston Comets taking Matee Ajavon fifth overall, while shortly afterwards Essence Carson, a native of Paterson, N.J., learned she was going to play very close to home as the seventh overall pick of the New York Liberty.

Maryland’s Crystal Langhorne also learned she was not going to have to play far away, being taken sixth overall by the Washington Mystics, which is near the Terrapins campus and only several hours away from her home in Willingboro, N.J.

Cheltenham High graduate Laura Harper went 10th overall to the Scaramento Monarchs, which just lost veteran all-star center Yolanda Griffith to the Seattle Storm through free agency.

“It’s a great fit for both of them,” Frese said at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Glub where the draft was held in Palm Harbor, Fla., just outside Tampa.

“Laura is perfect in both style and personality to go with Sacramento coach Jenny Boucek, who played at Virginia,” Frese said.

“My coaching style is similar to hers. It’s a build-you-up, positive energy approach.”

It was the third straight year that the draft was held in the vincinity of the site of the NCAA Women’s Final Four and a day after the national championship game.

Less than 24 hours after delivering Tennessee a second straight title and eighth overall, junior Candace Parker, who won the Most Outstanding Player award, was taken, as expected, as the No. 1 overall pick of the Los Angeles Sparks.

The native of Chicago was eligible because she missed her freshman season due to a knee injury.

Asked earlier in the day at the NCAA morning wrapup press conference if she might still be in college if a WNBA smaller market team held the top pick, Parker quickly responded,

“One thing that I live my life by is the certain. I don’t go by the what-ifs. I just try to live in the moment. Going into the WNBA… I just feel like it is my time,” Parker said.

Way ahead of virtually every other collegian, Parker played last summer with WNBA players on the United States senior national team that qualified for the Olympics. LSU center Sylvia Fowles, whose team lost to Tennessee in the final second in the semifinals, has also played internationally on USA teams as has Stanford’s Candice Wiggins, whose team lost to Tennessee in the title game.

Fowles went second to the Chicago Sky and Wiggins went third to the Minnesota Lynx.

The current talent-rich group of senior collegians had been eagerly awaited by WNBA teams who saw them as a group who could elevate interest in the pro league.

“They’re not strangers to the public,” one coach said of the picks, especially the first round choices who came primarily from schools who became the elite eight in this year’s tournament.

“You knew those three are going to be great,” Connecticut Sun coach Mike Tibault, an assistant on the U.S. team said of the picks that got the afternoon action under way. “They’ve already proved themselves at the highest level. Everyone else in the first round has a chance to be great.”

Stringer was ecstatic after her two backcourt leaders went high only two years after former all-American Cappie Pondexter was taken second, overall, by the Phoenix Mercury and helped lead them to their first WNBA title last summer as the MVP of the playoffs.

“You know where I’m going to be spending my summer,” Stringer smiled of Carson’s choice by New York, which plays in Madison Square Garden.

“It helps our fans and everyone else to understand the magnitude of the backcourt at Rutgers University,” Stringer said. “For those three to have played together, I think it speaks volumes and we’re just elated of them. It speaks well of the respect the (WNBA) owners have for the program.

“Neither one of them were big scorers, but I think they worked so hard on the defensive side that the pro side (of their game) has yet to be discovered,” Stringer said.

“Essence has been a favorite daughter of the area, so it just makes sense (to be picked by New York). I hope in the future the Liberty looks at Rutgers players as players who can go on to the next level.”

New York coach Pat Coyle is a graduate of Rutgers and West Catholic in Philadelphia.

Rutgers center Kia Vaughn is likely to be a WNBA pick next year.

Stringer said Ajavon and Carson did not come early to Florida because of school work.

“This (Rutgers) was the most televised team in America,” she said. “So what was it that people don’t know about them. They’ve seen them play thousands of times, so why did they need to go to the draft early. They’ve heard them speak and handle themselves in difficult situations.”

Ajavon, who is also from North Jersey and was coaxed to Rutgers by Carson when they were high school rivals, is looking forward to her move to the Lone Star State and learning from the veteran Comets.

“I’m very excited for the opportunity,” said Ajavon in a phone interview minutes to Rutgers reporters back home after being drafted. “I think I can learn a lot from those ladies, Tina Thompson and Michelle Snow.”

Looking past the Comets’ rough 13-21 season in 2007, Ajavon is excited to become a part of Houston’s rich history of winning. Also, after Comets legend Sheryl Swoopes signed with the Seattle Storm on Mar. 3, Ajavon is wondering what she’ll do about her jersey number as both she and Swoopes wore No. 22.

“I thought about it and I didn’t even realize that (Sheryl Swoopes) left until just a while ago,” Ajavon said. “I have to consider that because I’ll probably be wearing her number and I’d say that I’d have large shoes to fill. So I really have to think about that one.”

Carson has been watching her new team for a long time while growing up in New Jersey.

“I’m very excited and I can’t believe that this day has come and that I will be a part of the New York Liberty,” Carson said over the phone. “And I’m just looking to go out there and play basketball.”

Carson said that these past few days, from the Greensboro regional to the draft buildup, have been an emotional rollercoaster.

“I’ve been on the run, trying to get things together, especially catching up on schoolwork,” she said. “And then there’s a lot of things that have to be planned out and well-thought-out going into this WNBA season. It’s coming at me fast pace, but you know what, I’m ready for it.”

Unlike the Comets or the Storm or the Phoenix Mercury, the Liberty lack a true superstar. Despite this void, Carson intends to maintain her anything-and-everything mentality while adjusting to her new league.

“I’m willing to do whatever I have to do that’s within my abilities and my capability to win,” she said.

“They’ve been improving year-in and year-out and I’m just looking to go in there and make an impact – just any type of impact on this team… I’m just looking to go in there and help make things right.”

After an impressive four years On the Banks, Carson said that she’ll miss the general atmosphere at Rutgers the most.

“I mean everyone,” she said. “I’m close to home, so I have the chance to go back and visit with a lot of people. (I’ll miss) just being a college student, you know?”

Both Carson and Ajavon intend to continue playing overseas once the WNBA season ends.

Former Connecticut star Rebecca Lobo, who played for New York and is now and ESPN broadcaster, applauded Carson’s pick by the Liberty.

“I’m thrilled for her because she is going to fit in real well there and the Liberty improved so much last summer.”

Frese, meanwhile, has had former players go high in the draft before when Minnesota’s point guard Lindsay Whalen went to the Connecticut Sun and center Janel McCarville went to the former Charlotte Sting as an overall No. 1 pick.

But Frese had already left for Maryland after a year with the Gophers by the time the duo had become pros in successive seasons.

Harper and Langhorne were major building blocks in a recruiting effort to rebuild the Terrapins and Frese’s efforts resulted in an NCAA title in 2006. A year ago, Shay Doron, who was her first major recruit, went to New York.

“We’re just elated, what a proud and special day for Maryland basketball,” said Frese, who recently gave birth to twins just before the start of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

“I couldn’t be prouder for both of them. To see both their names up there as the sixth and 10th pick, it’s amazing,” Frese said.

“Two have two first round picks just paves the way for future players,” Frese continued. “And what a great choice by the Mystics. With our fans (nearby), they’re going to increase their ticket sales 1,000 percent.”

-- Stephen was on the scene at Rutgers

By Mel Greenberg

Less than 24-hours removed from her final moments as an active collegian, Rutgers' Essence Carson was on a telephonic call Wednesday afternoon, courtesy of the WNBA, as part of a discussion involving what promises to be one of the best-ever drafts of the pro league when it is held next Wednesday in the outskirts of Tampa, Fla.

Innisbrook Golf Club, the site of the draft, happens to be among the holdings of one Sheila Johnson, the owner of the WNBA's Washington Mystics.

Carson, who along with senior teammate Matee Ajavon, is expected to go high in the selection process, found herself addressing both the immediate future and past due to the short timing between Tuesday's loss to UConn in the Greensboro, N.C., regional final and the WNBA call.

Willingboro's Crystal Langhorne, who was also on the call, had a little more time to collect her thoughts, since her new designation as a former collegian was 48 hours old after Maryland's loss to Stanford in Spokane, Wash., on Monday night. Terrapin teammate Laura Harper,who is also draft-bound, was among the players addressed by several league coaches, as well as broadcast analyst.

The draft itself will be headlined by Tennessee junior Candace Parker, expected to go first overall to Los Angeles. The Chicago native isn't jumping once the Vols' season is done, since she is eligible because she would be a senior this season had she not had knee surgery around the time she arrived in Knoxville as a freshman.

The other part of the marquee picks at the top of the line is LSU's Sylvia Fowles, expected to be taken second by the Chicago Sky.

Ironically, the 1-2 draft punch will be going against each other Sunday night in one of the NCAA national semifinal games in Tampa.

"I think in this situation both players would be No. 1 if they came out in separate drafts," new Chicago coach Steven Key said.

Incidentally, if you think the poor players involved ran into a collegiate-pro overlap, it was even more adventurous for the writers who cover both sports, since the early afternoon phone call with the WNBA was immediately followed by the NCAA's interview session with the coaches of the Final Four teams.

The Guru was in transit during all this so understand all the quotes are off the transcripts, although there's nothing exclusive since the public can find both discussions at the Web sites of both organizations.

Carson, in her opening comments, noted, "To have the chance to play in the WNBA has always been a dream of mine, to take part in something that is growing and to be given such a great opportunity."

Asked to reflect on her immediate past, Carson said, "I believed we stayed consistent throughout the season, especially defensively. As the season progressed, the chemistry increased and everything clicked on all cylinders by the time we reached the tournament. We had a great tournament run and unfortunately it ended up in a loss, but this season was a success and in the face of adversity we continued to rise and fight for each other; we never gave up."

Carson described the immediate aftermath of the loss to Connecticut after Rutgers had bolted to a 14-point lead in the first half.

"The locker room scene was very quiet, we were just taking in the game. It defnitely hurt a lot; it hurts to lose. We came straight back to Jersey,it was a very sad flight and everyone was really hurt by ending our season too quickly."

Carson's coach C. Vivian Stringer, has a bunch of former players in the WNBA, accented most recently by Cappie Pondexter, who was the MVP of last summer's title run by the Phoenix Mercury.

"Every players that has come through her program has learned the game of basketball as a whole," Carson said of Stringer. "She teaches you the game; she breaks it down. She really is a teacher and I think she is one of the best at it.

"Off the court how to maintain yourself as a young woman, especially professionally, she has done that. How to carry yourself, especially when you are a role model and when everyone else in looking at you. She has definitely been my mother figure for four years and I believe she has done a great job of that."

Since the odds of playing together in the WNBA with Ajavon are long, she addressed the moment when the two friends will have to go against each other the first time.

"It will be a weird feeling after playing four years with her," Carson said. "Just thinking back to high school when we played against each other; it was always a tough match-up. She's so quick with the ball and able to get to the rim so quickly; she;s really efficient with that. Playing against her in practice for four years you just know what kind of competitor she is. It is really going to be a tough match-up and it is going to be a weird feeling."

Los Angeles coach Michael Cooper said both Rutgers stars should make an impact. He noted that defense was Carson's "best asset." He predicted Carson and Ajavon would go in the first round.

Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer, who holds the fourth pick, is focusing on Ajavon along with several other guards and predicted both would go in the top eight. "It just shows what a great program they have at Rutgers."

Laimbeer, observing the NCAA tournament to date, noted that most of the projected first round of player picks all played in the elite eight regional finals.

Langhorne and Carson both commented on the impact their collegiate senior class should make on the WNBA.

"I think that with our class we hope the league improves so much," Langhorne said. "I think so many players in our class will really help the league, the depth of the league and the overall quality of play."

Carson agreed, saying, "We've all had a sense of how deep this class is over the past few years and even back in high school. The same question was posed when we were coming into college on how the (high school) `Class of `04' would change the face of women's college basketball. We seemed to live up to what they expected and I believe that we will continue to do so because we are those types of competitors. We love to play, we love the game, we love to win, this is our passion. What more can we ask than to play basketball."

Meanwhile, Temple's Lady Comfort, Pittsburgh's Marcedes Walker (University City), and Coppin State's Shalamar Oakley (Camden Catholic) were among the pre-draft camp invitees announced Wednesday. Virginia's Sharnee Zoll (Highland) and Penn State's Kamela Gissendanner were also listed in the initial group that will be supplemented by other players whose collegiate seasons are just ending.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day."

Conversely, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks were deconstructed in a summer and are about the reap the reward for futility.

Last season's implosion of the once-champion women's outfit in Tinseltown is but one of the many elements leading to the impending arrival of Tennessee superstar Candace Parker.

The Vols' multi-faceted all-American announced Thursday she will bypass her senior season to play in the WNBA and on this summer's Olympic squad in Bejing.

Los Angeles owns the No. 1 draft pick. Unless the Sparks are willing to listen to an offer from the Chicago Sky, which is willing to provide the No. 2 pick along with the Sears and Hancock towers, neither of which ever played in the WNBA, coach Michael Cooper will be using the phrase "no deal," until the moment a day after the NCAA title game to exercise his prized possession.

"Candace Parker is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Magic Johnson all rolled into one, that's how good she is," Cooper told the Chicago Tribune, alluding to the NBA Los Angeles Lakers' contributions to the all-time greats to basketball.

Curiously, Sparks center Lisa Leslie and the retired Chamique Holdsclaw -- two WNBA all-stars we'll get to in a little bit -- weren't mention.

But then Cooper was simply rebutting the Tribune description of its native women's star, who, on the Sky would be frequently compared to one Michael Jordan, who made the NBA Chicago Bulls a perennial power.

Incidentally, Parker, who is from Naperville, Ill., near Chicago, could stay put in her winter home in the Thompson-Bolling Arena in Knoxville to pursue her Olympic intentions and go for the gold.

She played with the national team last summer before returning to the Vols. Indeed,Oklahoma junior center Courtney Paris did likewise and has an outside shot at making the Olympic roster.

On the other hand, to not leave Tennessee now would be to risk that the prize behind door No. 1 in next season's WNBA auction might be a summer in -- well, let's leave that for the 2008 final standings to reveal a clue to that answer.

Much has gone into the impending signature moment in the Sparks' 12-year history: romance, disgruntlement, injury, a reluctance to dwell in desert heat, a cameo in this tale by the revitalized San Antonio Silver Stars, and, most important, the Minnesota Lynx's sudden attack of amnesia in the final weekend of last season. That's when the team suddenly forgot how to lose.

Now, as they say in RPI talk, let's look at the Nitty Gritty components leading to Thursday's announcement.

Injury: Parker missed her freshman season after having surgery to repair a torn knee ligament. Had she played, she would be a senior in eligibility, Thus, under WNBA rules she has the option of waiting one more season or turning pro now -- a move not unprecedented.

Tweety Nolan did such a thing leaving Georgia several years ago and helped Detroit Shock coach Bill Laimbeer to a pair of WNBA titles. In fact, he has become such a personality in the women's pro league, that a new generation has come along with no recollection of him as a member of the Detroit Pistons "Bad Boy" era that won several NBA titles.

Actually, his former coach Chuck Daly voiced similar sentiments about Laimbeer last September at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. One of the honorees was former WNBA and women's Olympic coach Van Chancellor, now at LSU.

"Bill's going to get in here, too -- but it's not going to be for anything he ever did for me," Daly, himself a Hall of Famer, quipped.

Parker, who excels in the classroom as much as she does on the floor, was far enough ahead in her studies, she could have actually chose to leave Tennessee a year ago after the Vols won their seventh title, snapping a 10-year drought.

The Phoenix Mercury held the No. 1 pick, but Parker chose to have the best of both worlds -- play with the pros during the summer in USA Basketball competition, and return for a run at another NCAA title.

With Parker unavailable, the Mercury took Duke's Lindsey Harding as the No. 1 pick and promptly dealt her to Minnesota, which had previously collected two No. 1s on their own.

Had the Tennessee all-American decided to go with Phoenix, the Mercury would have been prohibitive favorites to win their first WNBA title.

Come to think of it, two of Parker's USA summer pals helped acquire the trophy without her -- Rutgers alum Cappie Pondexter and Connecticut grad Diana Taurasi. They were guided by WNBA carpetbagger Paul Westhead, who produced the run-and-hit concept. The Mercury were speed demons on the court, but he personally was unable to acquire more cash -- no, not Swin -- and returned to the NBA as an assistant in Seattle.

Romance: This would be multiple MVP winner Lisa Leslie's department.

One of the all time centers in the women's game, the former Southern Cal star, who has been with the Sparks since their outset in 1997, married several years ago and learned prior to last season that early-round draft options can also result in pregnancy.

That meant time off, causing the Sparks to discover new levels. Unfortunately, they were discovered on a downward path.

Disgruntlement. With Leslie gone from the scene, Sparks fans still had hopes because of the presence of Chamique Holdslcaw, Parker's predecessor at Tennessee in the late 1990s who has since been sort of eclipsed by Parker's play in Knoxville.

On July 11, three days before Tennessee coach Pat Summitt's birthday, Los Angeles suddenly announced that Holdsclaw had decided to retire. The result was an immediate dive toward the bottom of the WNBA, with the Sparks plunging 3-12 the rest of the way to improve their chances to acquire the top pick.

Still, it took a little help from Minnesota to enhance the Spark's chances, because the Lynx were able to use such events as Harding's ACL to stay below sea level.

Lotto Dynamics: While a three-way race for the No. 1 seed in the WNBA West playoffs was being contested among the Sacramento Monarchs, San Antonio Silver Stars, and Phoenix, few noticed, except persons with occasional half-baked senses of humor such as the Guru, that real contest for future wealth was being fought at the bottom of the standings.

Minnesota went into anti-choke mode, winning three of the Lynx's final five games. After beating playoff-bound Seattle, 95-74, the Lynx quickly snapped out of their spell, losing to Los Angeles, 89-80, on Aug. 12.

That created a 2-2 tie in head-to-head competition in what had become a two-team race to become the worst of the worst.

Thus, if Minnesota and L.A. frinished with exact records, the first tie-breaker had become unoperable.

Lynx fans had to be thrilled on Aug. 14 when Minnesota fell at Seattle 81-67.

But on the same night, San Antonio, still pushing for tops in the West, beat Los Angeles, 84-77, in overtime.

The Lynx's once-solid last-place locale was being threatened by the Sparks, who were two games away.

When Los Angeles hands out thanks after the pick of Parker become official, nods should be made in the direction of playoff-bound Detroit and San Antonio, which didn't need to use the regulars much on the final weekend.

The result was Minnesota's 87-77 victory over the Shock and 81-55 triumph over San Antonio.

Meanwhile, that "thud" outside the Lynx's door was none other than the Sparks themselves, which lost at Seattle, 97-77, and Houston, 82-72.

Final records at the bottom of the West: Minnesota - 10-24; Los Angeles - 10-24.

Chicago was a distant third-worst at 14-20. The Sky performed all summer with the notion that second-year franchises can become contenders with such blossoming young talent as former Temple star Candice Dupree.

The San Antonio factor: Now, in terms of which of the two - Los Angelesor Minnesota - would be allowed a better shot at the draft lottery balls, the tie-break went to worst holder of in-conference won-loss records.

That result: Los Angeles - 6-16. Minnesota 8-14. The Sparks went 1-10 their final games against West teams. Minnesota was 4-7.

The Sparks also owe some thanks to the Connecticut Sun, which lost a double overtime game at Minnesota, 77-73, on June 13.A Lynx win that day is one to remember in terms of affecting the lotto ball action, although who knows what Parker's thoughts would have been if Minnesota emerged with the No. 1 pick.

Another factor was San Antonio's season 3-0 sweep of Los Angeles, while Minnesota went 2-1 against the Silver Stars. San Antonio coach Dan Hughes, incidentally, has held No. 1 picks when he headed the former Cleveland franchise.

Minnesota was also 2-2 against Seattle, while Los Angeles was 0-4.

All that remained was the luck of the lotto ball and Parker's announcement, the second of which occurred Thursday

Still, Minnesota, holding the No. 3 pick, will draw some attention the next few weeks with the Lynx's draft day move the first bit of suspense right now.

Chicago, failing to gain No. 1, had publicly indicated that if the Sky can't get Parker, they will be quite contented to take LSU's Sylvia Fowles at No. 2.

Click her on the jump to read Dawn Staley's reaction.

(Guru's Note: Here's the Associated Press story)

By Beth Rucker
Associated Press Writer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Candace Parker, the Tennessee All-America forward who made dunking in women’s basketball almost commonplace, ended all the speculation.

Parker, the first woman to win a national slam dunk contest, will skip her final season at Tennessee for the chance to play professionally.

“This was the most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make, but my family and I think this is the best choice for me,” Parker said Wednesday.

“I’ve been blessed with great coaches and teammates, an outstanding education and the best women’s basketball crowd support in the country. I will miss Tennessee, but I am eager to take this next step in my career.”

The redshirt junior will graduate at the end of this season and plans to participate in the summer Olympics and pursue a professional career, Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. Parker redshirted her freshman season to recover from surgeries to repair a torn knee ligament.

Parker will be honored as part of the third-ranked Lady Volunteers’ senior night activities before the Feb. 28 game against Florida.

“Obviously we’d love to have her another year,” Summitt said. “Who wouldn’t?”

The 6-foot-4 Naperville, Ill., native leads the team in scoring with 20.6 points per game and rebounds with 8.8 and is one of six women to have dunked in the college game.

Kara Lawson, a Sacramento Monarchs guard and former Lady Vols star, said Parker’s experience at Tennessee has prepared her to play at the professional level.

“Playing for coach Summitt, the opportunity to play with the players they have there, the tough non-conference schedule all gets you ready,” she said. “You look at the success of the players who have gone there and what they’ve done at the next level.”

In 2004 Parker beat five male competitors to win the slam dunk contest as part of the McDonald’s High School All-American Game.

Since then she has dunked seven times, becoming the first women’s player to go above the rim twice during a game and in a NCAA tournament game.

After leading the Lady Volunteers to their seventh national championship last season, Parker played with the U.S. national team during her summer break as the team earned its 2008 Olympic bid.

“Candace was ready for the pros two years ago,” U.S. team coach Anne Donovan said. “I think it’s an exciting day. Tennessee’s had her long enough.”

Parker also earned the women’s 2007 John R. Wooden Award.

Parker likely would go in the April WNBA draft as the top pick to the Los Angeles Sparks, which would give Parker the opportunity to play alongside Lisa Leslie and former teammates Sidney Spencer and Tye’sha Fluker. A spokesman for the Sparks declined to comment about Parker entering the draft.

Playing in Los Angeles would also put her just a few hours away from fiance Shelden Williams, who was traded Saturday from the Atlanta Hawks to the Sacramento Kings.

Donovan said Parker plays at a higher level whenever she’s around top-notch players such as Leslie.

“With Lisa coming back and Parker coming out that’s going to be a formidable combination for years to come,” she said. “I know L.A. is dancing in the streets right now.”

AP Sports Writer Doug Feinberg in New York contributed to this report.

By Mel Greenberg

This just in a little while ago via email and being posted thru Guru's blackberry:

The New York Liberty announced Thursday that Basketball Hall-of-Famer Carol “Blaze” Blazejowski has been named president and general manager of the team. The announcement was made by Steve Mills, president and chief operating officer, MSG Sports.
 
“We are pleased to congratulate Carol Blazejowski on her promotion to president and general manager of the New York Liberty,” Mr. Mills said. “Over the last eleven years, Blaze has excelled at combining her business acumen with deep knowledge and unrelenting passion for the game. We believe that she is the right person to continue leading this team into the future and to achieve our only goal – delivering a championship-caliber team to Liberty fans.”
 
Blaze has led the Liberty for 11 years and during that time the team has won three Eastern Conference Championships and made appearances in four WNBA Finals. In addition to assembling the team on the court, Blaze is responsible for overseeing the team’s marketing and business efforts. Under Blaze’s guidance, the Liberty successfully hosted the inaugural WNBA All-Star Game held at Madison Square Garden in 1999, and again in 2003 and 2006, and the historic Game at Radio City Music Hall in 2004.
 
Blaze’s professional career includes a 10-year run with adidas (1980-90), where she developed and implemented marketing initiatives for women’s sports programs. She then served in the NBA league office as Director of Licensing (1990-95) and Director of Women’s Basketball Programs (1995-96). Blaze was named the newly formed WNBA’s Director of Basketball Development before joining the Liberty as vice president and general manager on January 7, 1997. She was promoted to senior vice president and general manager in 2000.
 
During her playing career, Blazejowski earned Kodak All-American honors (1976, 1977, 1978) at Montclair State and was the first winner of the Margaret Wade Trophy as Women’s College Player of the Year (1977-78). Blaze’s on-court heroics earned her enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1994, an honor she currently shares with only 20 other women. In 1999, she was also inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, along with 26 other pioneers of the women’s game.
 
On September 18, 2003, Blaze reached yet another milestone when she was inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame for her 52-point effort against Queens College on March 6, 1977 - which still stands as the men's and women's collegiate scoring record in the current Madison Square Garden.

UPDATE: Word is that the Dunn hire is now confirmed and she will be announced at the press conferene described below. -- Jonathan Tannenwald

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ While on the way to cover the Villanova-Massachusetts game Tuesday night for print editions, the Guru was made aware that the WNBA's Indiana Fever was calling a press conference Wednesday to announce their new coach to succeed Brian Winter, who was not retained.

The leading candidate is believed to be Fever assistant Linn Dunn, which, if true, would make her the second former WNBA coach to return to the league in a similar capacity during the current offseason.

The new Atlanta team recently announced former Washington Mystics assistant Marynell Meadors as its coach-general manager. A former coach at Tennessee Tech, she was the original coach of the now-defunct Charlotte Sting, when it was one of the eight WNBA charter franchises in the summer of 1997.

Dunn has been with the Fever four seasons and her main duties have been to work with post players such as Fever all-everything Tamika Catchings.

She previously coached the Seattle Storm, drafting then-Australian teenage sensation Laura Jackson and former UConn star Sue Bird with successive No. 1 picks to set the foundation for Seattle's only championship in 2004.

Dunn was gone by then, however, replaced by Anne Donovan, the U.S. Olympic coach who recently resigned from Seattle.

Dunn also coached Austin Peay, Mississippi, Miami, and Purdue at the collegiate level and although she was also gone by then, helped set the stage for Purdue's NCAA title in 1999. She also coached the Portland franchise in the former American Basketball League.

If Dunn is the choice, that would bring the number of female coaches in the 14-team league to five, with Seattle still vacant.

Besides, Meadors, the other women are the New York Liberty's Pat Coyle, the Sacramento Monarchs' Jenny Boucek, and the Houston Comets' Karleen Thompson.

Grentz Heads For More Fame

Former Immaculata star Theresa Grentz, who went on to coach St. Joseph's, Rutgers, and Illinois, will be among the newest class of inductees Wednesday night into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

Grentz retired from Illinois last season and has returned to her alma mater as an assistant to the president, with primary duties as a fundrasier.

She was recently seen here at St. Joseph's when the Hawks played Rutgers, a night that brought her together with former Mighty Macs teammate Marianne Stanley, who is now a Rutgers assistant coach.

Rutgers, incidentally, will be at state-rival Princeton Wednesday night before taking a long break for finals and the holidays. The next collegiate contest will be against Temple, Dec. 30, at home in Piscataway, N.J.

Sun Sets Midwinter Media Gathering

The WNBA's Connecticut Sun will host its annual offseason media luncheon Wednesday afternoon in casino-land to provide updates on the team and league.

We had planned to attend but Amtrak was not cooperative in setting a train schedule that would allow us to return to Princeton in time for the Rutgers game.

The normally serene setting was recently the site of an outrage against the NCAA by local New London Day columnist and assistant sports editor Mike DiMauro.

He took issue with recent activities at the Jimmy V Classic game between Rutgers and Maryland at which North Carolina State coach Kay Yow, who was on the scene to help laiunch a new fundraising effort in her name in the battle against cancer, was not allowed in the arena because it would be considered a violation of the NCAA's no in-person scouting rule.

Maryland and North Carolina State compete against each other in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Yow has been battling breast cancer for some time.

Upon reading DiMauro's peppery critique, we suddenly had an instance flashback to Saturday's Maggie Dixon Classic in Madison Square Garden in New York during which Rutgers was in stands while Pittsburgh played Army, and Pittsburgh was likewise when the Scarlet Knights met Army.

Considering that Pittsburgh and Rutgers will meet in Big East competition, how was this possible in light of the Jimmy V event.

According to a conference official attending Villanova's game, Tuesday night, the Maggie Dixon doubleheader was considered a tournament, even though it was not a tournament format. All Four coaches Saturday were also involved in special presentations.

Villanova's Threes Equal Eight

That was the formula Tuesday night as the re-vitalized Villanova Wildcats (8-2) rolled over Masachusetts, 75-51, at the Pavilion on the Main Lline, shotting 15 three-pointers.

Last month the Wildcats tied a school record with 18 treys, three short of the NCAA record of 21.

Stacie Witman had 21 points for Villanova, while Lisa Karcic added 18 points, Laura Kurz scored 13, and Maria Getty had 11 points.

Last season, Villanova did not get to win number eight until the final game of the regular season to conclude a worst-ever 8-21 record.

``What a difference in their confidence level,'' observed the Big East's Barb Jacobs, a former Syracuse coach. `They miss a shot, they just keep going. Last year, they would be hanging their heads.''

The win made Villanova 3-1 against Atlantic Ten opponents after Tuesday night's win and Saturday's loss to A-10 favorite George Washington. Temple is still ahead in a key Big Five game on Dec. 21 at Temple (3 p.m.), in which the Wildcats will try to complete a 4-0 sweep for the City Series crown.

Temple has won three straight titles and is going after St. Joseph's all-time City Series win streak record of 15, which would be reached in the Owls' first Big Five game of the season.

The key in Villanova's turnaround is the activation of Laura Kurz, a transfer from Duke who starred here in high school at Germantown Academy.

Karcic has benefitted from Kurz's presence in increasing her scoring average.

``What's happening now, is teams are concentrating on defending Laura and Stacie, while using their slowest big player to guard Lisa,'' Villanova coach Harry Perretta said. ``So Laura ends up still contributing even when she isn't scoring.''

Villanova leads the nation in threes made with a 10.5 average, a little overwhat the Wildcats made in the first half against UMass.

-- Mel

(Guru's Note: Jumping rope was never our forte earlier in life, but there's no one less thing to do to keep Jonathan happy in the technological operation of this blog. We figured out how to jump pages on our own when the blog edition is somewhat lengthy, which this is about to be.

So after the first topic, simply click the link below that will appear to get to the end of the column.)

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ It's quickly getting to the point that the end of the regular-season rivalry between Tennessee and Connecticut is becoming better for women's basketball than the actual competition, itself.

Think about it.

If the two were still scheduled to play each other, the anticipation and hype would not accelerate until the actual date of the game was near.

One reason is the world now consists of a few more threats to the national championship than just those two teams.

But since Tennessee coach Pat Summitt determined for reasons yet to be definitely clarified to cancel the series, the media, as well as message boards, has continued to debate the significance as well as the cause.

In early September, Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said he would not have anything further to say until after the season and has told questioners to go chase Summitt.

Yet, last week at Big East Media Day in New York City, Auriemma was surrounded by reporters, of which some, not having access over the summer, quickly addressed the Tennessee-Connecticut breakup.

If anything new in his response, Auriemma noted the series was always good as a measuring stick of letting the coaches know where their teams stood in terms of the ultimate title chase.

He mentioned the attention, the increased media interviews, all of which occurs at the Women's Final Four.

Thus, if either or both teams held their poise in the lead-up and execution of the game, it bode well for March.

However, with a bunch of teams in the hunt this season, there are a number of games that could cause the same effect, depending on the records and rankings at the time of the matchup.

It seems that several years ago, the 1-2 Duke-Connecticut game had quite a bit of buildup as did the intra-Atlantic Coast Conference 1-2 showdown between Duke and North Carolina, when both were unbeaten.

Certainly, the Rutgers-Connecticut rivalry in the Big East, considering potential, and market location, could be just as big, especially with at least three potential matchups, besides one that could occur in the NCAA tournament.

Speaking of Rutgers, the other crowded interview table involved Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer and her players.

Stringer quickly tried to put a stop to further questions about last April's controversy that arose a day after the Scarlet Knights lost to Tennessee in the NCAA championship.

That's when national radio talk show host Don Imus made racial and sexual remarks about the Rutgers players that ultimately resulted in his firing and also enhanced the reputation of Stringer's team over the way they handled themselves in a nationally-televised press conference reacting to the Imus remarks.

Now, Stringer says, it's time to just talk about basketball.

Unfortunately, off the court at times the Rutgers program seems to appear like one of those whack-a-mole games at carnivals in which whenever the participant nails a mole back into their habitat, another pops up elsewhere.

Less than 24 hours after Stringer's remarks in New York, a new flap arose, although this one appeared to be nipped quickly in the bud.

ESPN had been preparing a piece on the recent sexual harrassment case involving New York Knicks' coach Isiah Thomas and former team employee Anucha Brown (Sanders), of which a jury in Manhattan ruled in her favor.

Stringer had been shown an edited acount of Thomas' deposition on tape in which he had said that there was a difference to a black man calling a black woman "bitch" than a white man making the same characterization.

The Hall of Fame coach took exception to his distinction and, to save space, you can read further details in their entirety at ESPN.com.

Then on Friday night, Thomas after an NBA game was asked about her reaction and Thomas claimed Stringer did not have the total context of his statement.

"It's easy to get what I said," ESPN.com quoted Thomas. "So don't speak out of ignorance, get the facts about what I said and not the portion that was taken out of context."

On Saturday, ESPN and Newsday reported Stringer and Thomas had spoken to each other and that Stringer apologized. "I responded to a question of which I had partial information and was not aware of the full text of Mr. Thomas' statement.

On a more positive note, last week Stringer was among a group of prominent women's basketball coaches named to a larger 100 most influential educators named by the Institute for International Sport.

The other women's basketball coaches are former Texas coach Jody Conradt, North Carolina State's Kay Yow, Tennessee's Pat Summitt, and Temple's Dawn Staley.

Now click the next line to "jump" to the rest of the blog.

(Guru's Note: Acacia has checked in at the original blog with a report on a recent speech given by John Amaechi, a former Penn State all-American men's basketball player who became the first former NBA player in February to come out as being gay. To those of you who stopped there first and then hit the link, welcome.)

By Mel Greenberg

Nearly a year after the the Charlotte Sting imploded from the WNBA lineup, the women's pro league is ready to attempt to rise again in the South.

A conference call has been announced for Wednesday afternoon, and while the topic has not been publicly announced, a league source familiar with the arrangements confirmed the discussion will be the entry of Atlanta into the mix for next summer.

One can envision a slick multi-media presentation with Bruce Springsteen belting his popular Glory Days number from the Born in the USA album.

However, that is not a way the WNBA would want to go, considering the painful reminders it could bring of the short-lived Atlanta Glory franchise a decade ago in the nearly as shortly-lived American Basketball Association.

But a deep-pocketed owner -- not the NBA's Atlanta Hawks -- is said to be ready to spend the money without regard to what could be a painful growth process in terms of attendance.

However, there has been an ongoing effort by a local group to land a team, and, well, with a CBA still to be negotiated prior to season 12, every dollar counts.

The owner has been described in the manner of Michael Alter, the real estate mogul in Chicago, who brought the Sky into existence two seasons ago.

In recent seasons, the asking price by the league has been $10 million for a franchise.

Curiously, while an operational group has yet to be fully identified, one can envision an attempt to snare local legend Teresa Edwards, the former Georgia star, as a potential head coach.

Edwards, who is the only American male or female basketball player to compete in five Olympics, got her feet wet in the profession last summer as an assistant with the Minnesota Lynx.

Not everyone around the league, however, is singing praises over the return to a 14-team operation -- two below the previous high of 16 that was reached after the ABL folded.

A team executive friend of ours recently questioned the wisdom of having a new team involved in a summer that will again be shared with Olympics participation as occurred in 2004.

The executive noted that the WNBA got more competitive last summer after the Charlotte demise dispersed talent to the remaining 13 teams.

"Now, you have players who were identified and embraced by the fan base who may be lost in the expansion draft for the new team," the executive said.

Travel will also be a challenge in that the Atlanta airport is not known to be on a popularity list around the country.

With 14 teams, however, the suggestion was made that travel costs could be lowered by taking the two-division, seven-team format and create four divisions in a four-four-three-three arrangement.

"That could go a long way toward building rivalries," the executive said. "And if it means that, say, several players on teams outside a division make only one visit during the regular season, well, hey, that game suddenly becomes a very hot ticket."

That is not likely to happen, soon.

And still to be learned is the date of the lottery for the lucrative talent coming out of the next collegiate senior class.

So for now, from the WNBA viewpoint, as they say in the casino parlors alongside the Mohegan Sun Arena where the Connecticut team thrives, all bets are one until otherwise proven.

AAU Tourney Heads to Philly in 2009

The Amateur Athl\etic Union at its annual covention in Chambourg, Illinois recently voted to award the 12-and-under girls basketball national championships to Philadelphia in 2009.

It will be the first AAU national girls basketball event held in a major city.

AAU groups from here who made the bid says an esitmated 125 teams are expected to come to the city for the event and they cited Larry Needle of the Philadelphia Sports Congress estimating that the city and suburbs can expect a minimum of $2.1 million in revenue from the tournament.

Nigeria Forever

That's the way former longtime Houston Comets assistant Kevin Cook feels about coaching the Nigerian national team.

Cook was also an assistant to Hall of Famer Marian Washington, when she was at Kansas, before joining up with Van Chancellor and the Comets in the WNBA's inaugural season.

We saw Cook last month when he attended the induction ceremonies in Springfield, Mass., that included Chancellor into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Chancellor, who left the Comets after last season, is getting ready to lead Louisiana State into another title quest as he returns to the collegiate ranks.

An interview with Cook is at the FIBA web site.

-- Mel

(Guru's Note: On behalf of my sister Annette Swartz, her husband Perry, and my nieces Neena and Allison, thanks to everyone who have reached out with thoughts and prayers in the past week since the passing of our mother Roslyn Greenberg.)

By Mel Greenberg

Just over a year ago, Ann Meyers Drysdale became general manager of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, as well as a vice president of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, and proceeded to assemble the final key pieces of the Mercury roster that led to a WNBA title earlier this month.

Now the Hall of Famer and former UCLA star of the late 1970s must find a new coach to lead next season’s defense of that championship.

Paul Westhead officially ended his two-year stint Thursday with the Mercury and returned to the NBA as an assistant to Seattle Sonics head coach P.J. Carlesimo, a longtime friend.

However, with the arena situation unsettled in the Northwest, Westhead's new geographical location could be situated elsewhere.

But after thanking Westhead for his efforts, Meyers Drysale is focused on the future.

“Well, the league meetings are next week, so I’m certainly not going to rush into anything,” Meyers Drysdale said Thursday night about the process to replace Westhead. “We’ll sit back a bit and see who has interest. I’m sure there are several assistant coaches in the league out there who probably wouldn’t mind being in charge of this group.”

Meyers Drysdale, anticipating Westhead’s move for a while, has her own list of people to contact, though she didn’t offer specific names.

However, through conversations over the years she spent as a women’s basketball broadcast analyst, Meyers Drysdale has had favorable opinions of persons who have been WNBA coaches.

Rutgers assistant Marianne Stanley, for example, is a contemporary of the Mercury GM and spent time as head coach of the Washington Mystics as well as an assistant with the Los Angeles Sparks and New York Liberty.

Stanley, who also coached Old Dominion to three national titles, including one in the NCAA, is believed to be a candidate who would be on the high end of Meyers' list.

“She knows the league, she had success at Old Dominion, coached at Southern Cal and Stanford, but would she want to move out here?” Meyers Drysdale said. “And it could be tough to leave Vivian Stringer’s staff that took Rutgers to an NCAA title game last season and is a national contender again.”

Former Auburn coach Joe Ciampi has had interest for a while in becoming a WNBA coach and was a finalist two years ago when Westhead got the job.

“Tell her, I’d help her improve her golf game,” Ciampi joked recently when news reports suggested that Westhead might move on.

“I don’t have time to do that much, anymore,” Meyers Drysdale laughingly responded.

“Of course, it’s now been a while since Joe was coaching,” she added Thursday night, weighing the positive and negative aspects when Ciampi’s name was mentioned.

Meyers Drysdale acknowledged that Corey Gaines, the Mercury assistant who played for Westhead at Loyola Marymount and Denver in the NBA, would be perceived as a favorite to move up the coaching ladder in Phoenix.

“Well, yes, he knows Paul’s system, but nobody executes it exactly as Paul did and you have to see what the chemistry would be with the team and Corey as a head coach,” Meyers Drysdale said.

When Westhead arrived two seasons ago, he brought his “Paul Ball” high speed scoring offensive schemes to Phoenix, which resulted in the Mercury’s first title after dethroning the 2006 champion Detroit Shock.

“Certainly, Paul showed his system works, so you’d like to try to retain it,” Meyers Drysdale said.

The style became successful with stars and personalities such as former Connecticut sensation Diana Taurasi, former Rutgers all-American Cappie Pondexter, and Australia’s Penny Taylor leading the scoring load.

“Now that Paul has achieved success, I’m sure there will be people with NBA experience wanting to run this team, especially as a route back to the NBA,” she said.

Meyers Drysdale did not say how much consideration those types of candidates would get but in her pre-GM days she was not favorable of the concept.

“You know, if you’re a WNBA executive, you’d like to have people who want to be around with you for a while,” she said several years ago after former NBA star Michael Cooper led the Sparks to two WNBA titles in 2001 and 2002, but later returned briefly to the NBA as interim head coach of the Denver Nuggets.

Cooper returned to the WNBA to coach the Sparks this past season.

Detroit’s Bill Laimbeer is another WNBA head coach who has been reported to harbor NBA aspirations.

WNBA assistants with previous head coaching experience in the pro women’s league include Brian Agler with the San Antonio Silver Stars,Lin Dunn with the Indiana Fever, and Marynell Meadors with the Washington Mystics.

Several WNBA assistants have come from successful collegiate programs such as the Chicago Sky’s Roger Redding, who was with Texas Tech under former coach Marsha Sharp. Detroit’s Cheryl Reeve was with Seattle’s Anne Donovan in Charlotte. She also was a head coach at Indiana State and was an assistant to Joe McKeown at George Washington.

Sacramento Monarchs assistant Tom Abatemarco , the Connecticut Sun’s Scott Hawk and Bernadette Maddox, and New York’s Nick DiPillo have been in the league a while.

Meyers Drysdale, herself, has been asked to coach in the league in the past, but she is quite happy and busy, thank you, also considering her duties with the Suns, to move down to the sidelines.

From an “adoptive parental" aspect, Pondexter would try to lure Rutgers’ Stringer, although the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame coach’s reputation for defensive emphasis probably would be too much of an alteration from the desert speed of recent seasons.

Had he not taken the LSU job last April, recent Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Van Chancellor might have been able to be coaxed out of presumed retirement after the success he had leading the Houston Comets to the first four WNBA titles and the United States to an Olympic Gold Medal in Athens, Greece.

Temple coach Dawn Staley has no aspirations, as of now, to coach in the WNBA. However, the more time she spends as an assistant to Seattle’s Donovan on the Olympic trail with USA Basketball coaching her former teammates and court adversaries, who knows how much the future Hall of Famer’s appetite for a pro career on the sidelines could grow.

Of course if Taurasi had her way, she’d cut a deal with the United States Treasury Dept. to lure her former college coach Geno Auriemma away from the Huskies to the Southwest.

“Down the road, we’re all going to be getting after each other up there, the way we do now,” Auriemma said several years ago to a group of coaches gathered around a watering hole at the Women’s Final Four.

But that future is still far enough away that the resumption of the Connecticut-Tennessee series has a better chance of occurring beforehand.

-- Mel

By Mel Greenberg

If former Connecticut star Diana Taurasi never picks up a basketball again, the five-year countdown to membership in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., will immediately get under way.

However, the Phoenix Mercury's triumph over the Detroit Shock on Sunday in Auburn Hills, Mich., to claim their first WNBA title automatically gave Taurasi membership in a far more exclusive group dominated by former stars of Huskies coach Geno Auriemma.

Taurasi has become the seventh woman and fourth ex-UConn notable to earn symbolic trinkets for capturing NCAA titles, Olympic gold medals, and WNBA championships.

The other former Connecticut stars to earn the distinction are Sue Bird, Swin Cash, and Kara Wolters, who earned her membership card by sitting on the bench, for the most part, of the 1999 WNBA champion Houston Comets.

Sheryl Swoopes and former Houston great Cynthia Cooper became the first members in 1977 when the Comets won their first WNBA crown in the pro league's inaugural season.

Cooper already owned a gold medal from the 1988 games in Seoul, Korea and and NCAA special ring off the 1984 title with Southern Cal during the "Cheryl Miller" era.

Swoopes torched the scoreboard for Texas Tech in the Women's Final Four in 1993 to earn a collegiate title and then was part of the Olympic golden girls of 1996 at the Atlanta Games.

Wolters played on the unbeaten and first UConn national champion in 1995. After playing in the short-lived American Basketball League, the center was drafted by Houston for the 1999 season. She spent the summer of 2000 with the Indiana Fever, but also got picked for the USA squad that took a gold in Sydney, Australia.

Former Notre Dame star Ruth Riley and former Huskies notable Swin Cash became trifecta members in 2004 when USA beat Australia for gold in Athens, Greece.
Riley began earning her qualifications with the 2001 NCAA title, while Cash got her first NCAA championship ring in 2000 at the Wachovia Center here in Philadelphia. The two reached their WNBA achievement as members of the 2003 Detroit champions, a feat they repeated a year ago.

Bird also earned a membership card with that USA squad in Athens. She already had NCAA titles as a classmate of Cash at UConn., and in 2004 she helped lead Seattle to the WNBA title.

As for some honorable mentioning and maybe a little more, former Texas star Andrea Lloyd Curry was part of the 1986 unbeaten NCAA winners and then was with the 1986 gold medal group. She also won two pro titles with the Columbus Quest under the former ABL, an achievement that probably should be equalized to WNBA success.

WNBA Seattle Storm coach Anne Donovan, who will head the USA team next summer in Beijing, China, starred at Old Dominion and won a national title at Old Dominion in 1980 under the former Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) in the pre-NCAA era.
She was a member of the 1984 gold medal winners in Los Angeles and got a second gold metal in 1988. Her WNBA title occurred as a coach of the Storm in 2004.

Detroit's Katie Smith was on the 2003 Ohio State NCAA runnersup to Swoopes' Texas Tech team. She won two titles with the ABL's Columbus Quest and played on the gold medal winners of 2000 and 2004.

Until the former Buckeye star got her WNBA crown following a late-season trade the previous summer from the Minnesota Lynx, Temple coach Dawn Staley had been the only player to participate in NCAA, WNBA, ABL and Olympic title games.

Having spoken of Cheryl Miller, she would have achieved Donovan's combo trick first, had not Phoenix, which she was then coaching, melted down in Game Two of the then best-of-three championship series in 1998 against Houston. The Comets went on to take the their second

She already had 1983 and 1984 NCAA rings with Southern Cal and an Olympic gold medal from 1984.

There are a bunch of others falling short of the trio achievement. Former New York Liberty star Teresa Weatherspoon won a gold in 1988 and an NCAA title the same year. But New York lost several WNBA title series during her pro career.

First-year Phoenix general manager Ann Meyers won an AIAW title with UCLA in 1978. But the USA team in their first Olympics in 1976 in Montreal earned a silver to the then-power Soviet Union squad. And the former all-American was denied a second shot in 1980 when former President Jimmy Carter ordered the United States' boycott of the Games in Moscow.

Incidentally, the 1998 Phoenix team that almost claimed that WNBA title had Bridget Pettis as a player. On Sunday, she finally got a chance to spray the bubbly as an assistant coach with the Mercury.

-- Mel

So I realized that I wrote an enormous amount Thursday night and pretty much nothing since. My apologies. I got back into Boston very late Friday night and had to wake up very early for rowing practice the next day. Then my brother was visiting -- we went to see Wicked for his birthday, which was, of course, fabulous.

But I did watch the game on espn2 last night, and I want to extend an enormous congratulations to Phoenix on winning their first championship. I grew up watching Diana Taurasi win championships, and it's nice to see her back at it (is there a level she hasn't won at?). And of course, Penny Taylor had a fabulous game, and Cappie Pondexter played great -- she was totally deserving of the MVP award, though you could make an argument for any one of those three.

Kudos to Detroit also for playing a great series, particularly Cheryl Ford, who played with knee injuries all playoffs and exacerbated them at the end of Game Four, but logged 12 minutes in the title game, and Deanna Nolan, who hyperextended a knee in Game Four and wasn't definite to play but logged 38 minutes and led the team with 27 points. Best of luck to Cheryl and Deanna in getting healthy this offseason.

Katie Smith (18 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds) and Shannon Johnson (13 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds) also fought hard, but in the end it wasn't enough for the Shock. Each of Phoenix' starters scored in double figures, led by Taylor with 30 points. Pondexter had a double-double with 26 points and 10 assists, and Taurasi added 17 points, 6 assists, and 10 rebounds. Reserve Kelly Mazzante stepped up in a big way, scoring 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting from behind the arc.

Anyway, you all saw the game (I hope) and read the articles from those who were there -- I don't need to recap it all. Here's to the end of a great 2007 WNBA season!

(Guru Calls a Quick Timeout From Philadelphia: Hi Everyone. For special comments from the Guru applauding Erin's effort the last few days, as well as past work of the entire blogging team, which attached to post referencing her move to substitute for the Guru in Phoenix, please visit our original womhoops guru site at anytime after reading Erin's coverage below. I believe if my link failed in this note, Jonathan also has a link from here to there at the "old blog" line below on the right column just above the "search" line.

-- Mel)

by Erin Semagin Damio

Phoenix and Detroit in this series have alternated wins, playing intense, physical games. Sunday, one of them will win the WNBA title.

Ford Out

Detroit will likely be without the services of All-Star forward Cheryl Ford, who was carried off the court after she went down late in the game Thursday. Ford was already rehabbing from a knee injury and Shock Coach Bill Laimbeer said he was "extremely pessimistic" about her returning.

Home Court

The Shock are excited about returning to Detroit to play for the title in front of their fans.

"That's why we played the whole season," Laimbeer said. "The regular season was a grind for us. We got through it. With the sole purpose of if we had to play a game in a series, we would play it at home. And all these series have gone to the last game in our building; they did what they had to do, now we're going home to do what we have to do."

Friends and Teammates

Phoenix player Cappie Pondexter is excited about high pressure games like Sunday's.

"It's now or never," Pondexter said. "We know that Detroit is a great team, they have great coaching staff, and it's going to be a great fight. And a great game to watch."

Pondexter's teammate Diana Taurasi agreed that Pondexter was a high pressure player.

"She's a closer," Taurasi said. "She's been doing it all year."

Said Pondexter: "I'm a winner. I love to win. And when the game's on the line, I feel like I can win every time."

Taurasi and Pondexter have been professional teammates for just two seasons, but they've been playing together in some capacity for years.

"Cappie and I have known each other for a long time," Taurasi said. "Going back to USA basketball. Going back to Rutgers and Connecticut. Where she couldn't beat us."

Taurasi said that it's much "sweeter" for the two to play on the same team, saying "it's truly been a great journey to share it with her, even last year."

Pondexter explained that they don't only connect well on the court.

"Aside from basketball, I think our friendship off the court has helped us on the court," Pondexter said. "And we have like a real love for each other. And I'm just happy that we are here together and not playing against each other."

Physicality

Detroit star Katie Smith came out to the press conference sporting a painful-looking black eye, and of course the second question she was asked was to discuss the physicality of the game and her injury. Smith shrugged the injury off.

"I don't necessarily think anything is outrageous or different," Smith said. "This is what the league is. This is what we do every day. I got hit in the eye with an off hand, and no, it is what is."

For the Record...

At the end of the first quarter, Phoenix led, 17-12. Detroit's 12 points set a new WNBA record for fewest points in a first quarter in a Finals game. Phoenix' 17 points tied the Finals record for second-fewest points in a first quarter.

Phoenix' three-point shooting began to return to their season form, as they shot 35 percent from behind the arc. Their overall field goal percentage, however, was just 38 percent.

Detroit shot an impressive 50 percent from behind the arc, though just 48.3 percent from the field. Both teams had trouble connecting on layups.

There were three technical fouls assessed in the game: one to Deanna Nolan, and a double technical on Taurasi and Plenette Pierson.

Probably the defining stats of the game were steals and turnovers. Phoenix had 11 steals and just ten turnovers, while Detroit had five steals and 18 turnovers -- including six in the last quarter.

by Erin Semagin Damio

PHOENIX -- Game four of the WNBA finals Thursday night was tied seven times, and saw 14 lead changes. Each team at one point led by as much as nine, but in the end it came down to a basket.

A three point shot by Kelly Miller and two jump shots by Cappie Pondexter propelled the Phoenix Mercury into a seven to three run in the last 1:55 in the game, beating the Detroit Shock 77-76.

The Shock had the ball for the last 21.7 seconds, but missed their one shot attempt.

"We just wanted, honestly, to just somehow, obviously, get Tweety (Deanna Nolan) the ball and let her break it down a bit, and obviously they ran at her and Pee Wee (Shannon Johnson) got a shot off in the corner," Detroit guard Katie Smith said about the Detroit possession in the last few seconds.

Phoenix was happy about their ability to match up to Detroit's more physical style of play.

"No matter what, in games like this, people want to talk about the up-tempo, but all year we have been grinding games, we've won it our way, we've won it other ways," Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi said. "And when the score is 90-90 or 70-70, the last two minutes are about possessions and stops. Today we fell back on getting stops and making plays on the other end, which we have done all year. So I think that just shows how much fight this team has. And I think that it will go a long way."

Cappie Pondexter had 26 points to lead the Mercury, along with five assists, three rebounds, and a steal. Taurasi added 20 points, six rebounds, an assist, two steals, and a block, and Kelly Miller had 13 points, four assists, four rebounds, and three steals. Penny Taylor was held to just six points on 1-11 shooting, but led the Mercury with nine rebounds, and had two assists, two steals, and a block.

Reserve Plenette Pierson led the Shock with 23 points, three rebounds, and two blocks, shooting 9-10 from the floor and breaking her own WNBA finals field goal percentage record, set earlier this year. Deanna Nolan had 17 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, and Smith added 14 points for the Shock. Cheryl Ford had just five points but led Detroit in rebounds with 14.

"I thought we came," Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said. "We played hard. We didn't get it done. We didn't play smart, we played with enough fire and intensity to give ourself a chance to win. We like games like this. We enjoy elimination games. It makes us concentrate, it makes us play hard for the entire game. And that's what we're looking forward to in Game five."

The final game of the WNBA finals will be in Detroit at 4:30 on Sunday, September 16, televised on espn2. The winner of this game will win the WNBA title.

"It's going to be a really hard game," Taurasi said. "We know that. Like the other four have been. I think we just have to go to Detroit and just focus. Really have to be focused, because that house is going to be crowded. Their players are going to come out extra energized, extra ready to go, we're going to have to find a way to match it."

by Erin Semagin Damio

Just back from the press conference.

The area outside the press room is kind of amazing. It's where all the families and friends of the players are waiting to meet them. Every time I walk through, it's just smiles, and hugs, and cheers.

I saw Kelly and Coco Miller leaving together in smiles, an exuberant Bridget Pettis, Cappie Pondexter chatting and signing basketballs, and Diana Taurasi catching up with her old coach, Geno Auriemma (the pair were the focus of two cameras and a microphone).

"If I'm a fan of basketball, if I'm a WNBA fan," Paul Westhead said post-game, "I couldn't have asked for anything more. Here we go. There have been four terrific games."

More from the players and coaches soon.