“While you were sleeping”

Or, in my case, while you were putting out fires at work, editing a chapter, reading thesi…thesettes? many thesises? and tromping through upstate New York with a surprising lack of internet access…

WhadImiss?

Well, if you’re a Lib or Seattle fan, not much. Ouch.

If you’re a Shock fan, you missed by a hair.

If your last name is Toliver, you missed being excoriated for your voluminous turnovers because you didn’t miss the shot.

If you’re Minnesota, you’re barely missing a beat, even when you have a hiccup.

If you’re a Washington fan, you’re missing the good old days of Julie Plank.

If you’re Phoenix, dang, you’re missing players whose name last name starts with T.

If you’re a Dream fan, you’re not missing much sleep, ’cause Angel is rockin’ and the Price is right.

If you’re a Sky fan, you’re thinkin’ “We’re not missing the playoffs this year!”

If you’re an Indy fan, you’re thinking, “Gee, when we’re not missing our star player, we’re pretty good!”

Read Full Post »

Anyone else feel like it’s damned if you do,

damned if you don’t when it comes to the question of parity in women’s basketball: if you say, “Look at all the ranked teams that lost (many to unranked teams)” folks will say, “The ranked teams aren’t that good,” or “it’s a down year for women’s basketball.”

Of course, if all the ranked teams win, then they’ll say, “There’s no parity.”

So, Sunday, clearly the ranked teams aren’t that good:

#9 Ohio State lost to Minnesota (12-11), 76-65.

#19 Penn State lost to Michigan State (13-9), 83-77.

Yes, #12 Rutgers had Rushdan go down (hopefully temporarily), but how do you only score 36pts in your loss to #16 Georgetown?

Ranked, and lucky to escape with a win:

#13 Texas A&M by 2 over Iowa State (11-8).

#16 Delaware by 7 over James Madison (15-5).

#24 Georgia Tech by 9 over Clemson (5-14)

#25 North Carolina by 4 over Wake Forest (12-9).

In the spirit of “there’s no parity in women’s basketball:”

#6 Kentucky over Alabama by 14.

#8 Miami over Boston College by 31.

#9 Tennessee over #15 Georgia by 17.

#21 Nebraska over Illinois by 20.

Conference undefeated UTEP over UCF by 29.

Conference undefeated Marist over Sienna by 11.

Read Full Post »

Don’t crown me yet, Argentina,

but you’ve got to wonder if (and that’s a qualified “if the tall Aussie doesn’t return) we didn’t see the WNBA finalists in action last night.

True, Indy needed a last second basket (from Bobbitt!) to squeak out a win over Washington — but they did get the win.

Not a lot of drama in Minnesota after the first quarter — the Lynx simply ran over the Storm.Yah, the Lynx are having fun being number one but, writes Tim Leighton at the Pioneer Press,

The Lynx, however, are leaving elevated excitement levels to their fans.

“The bottom line is that we haven’t done anything yet,” head coach Cheryl Reeve said. “We have a lot of work left to do, and we haven’t seen San Antonio yet. I don’t know if I am ready to say we are the team to beat, but we have put ourselves in a position to gain a lot of respect.”

Read Full Post »

With the season around the corner

Swoopes is ready for season with Shock

“It was a no-brainer,” Edwards said. “I mean, if she wasn’t (already) playing, how wonderfully blessed would we be if she is capable of playing. I wish she wasn’t struggling with a swollen knee but yes, she has brought everything I thought she could to the team. I’m very impressed with her.”

In Atlanta, Lindsey Harding Gives Dream Another Scorer

Connecticut is Moving On Without Sandrine Gruda and there’s the matter of A Player and A Symbol: Native American WNBA Guard Has Dual Responsibilities

In Phoenix, Penny Taylor treasures her career and Seth says the Merc are Bigger, Stronger, Tougher

In Minnesota, Lynx rookie Maya Moore talks: Bob Sansevere listens

San Antonio is busy Revitalizing the Silver Stars

In New(ark) York, a Rookie in W.N.B.A. Who Is Veteran in Life’s Lessons Faces Battle to Make Liberty

On draft day last month, the Liberty acquired Breland, a 6-foot-3 forward, from Minnesota, which selected her in the second round with the 13th overall pick.

This is business. Breland has to absorb a new system and prove herself quickly to stick around for the Liberty’s June 5 opener at Atlanta. But she is getting her chance to become a professional, armed with a new perspective forged on the hard road from diagnosis to remission.

In Chicago, the New Sky coach Chatman is not new to everyone

Read Full Post »

A little W stuff

From Chicago: Hoops with House features assistant coach Jeff House.

Each week I will share with you a little of what is going on as we prepare for our ’11 training camp. It may be a little player personnel update or some coded, behind the scenes, special insight into Coach Chatman’s look at how she plans to instill the Fight, Focus and Finish for 40 mentality from Day One with your team. It could be some basketball tactics, techniques or strategy. It might be to answer some of your questions. Now please don’t start emailing the “Who are we drafting?” questions, I would tell you, but then you’d have to be locked in the Sky offices and sequestered until the draft in April.

From Minnesota: On and on with Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen

It has been one year and one day since former Gophers basketball star Lindsay Whalen was acquired by the Lynx in a trade. Whalen is playing for a team in Prague in the Czech Republic for the fourth WNBA offseason in a row. So here she is, via e-mail …

 

 

Read Full Post »

In Europe, they’re

playing some basketball and the .com’s paying attention: Euroleague Wrap: Wright’s Week

Minnesota’s Monica Wright received the FIBA Europe Player of the Week award in the third week of overseas action. Wright, who is playing in Poland on the Lotos Gdynia squad, scored 26 points on 12-of-23 shooting to give her team its first win of the season. Lotos’s record improved to 1-2 on the season and ranks them fourth overall in Group B standings.

Read Full Post »