Atlanta vs. Washington, Sunday May 9th

Who: The Atlanta Dream (0-1, preseason) take on the Washington Mystics (1-0, preseason).

Here were the training camp rosters for each team in the previous preseason game:

Dream: Angel McCoughtry, Shawn Goff, Alison Bales, Armintie Price, Shalee Lehning, Coco Miller, Chanel Mokango, Brittainey Raves, Erica White, Brigitte Ardossi, Britany Miller.

Mystics: Monique Currie, Jennifer Lacy, Nakia Sanford, Katie Smith, Lindsey Harding, Marissa Coleman, Kristin Mann, LaTangela Atkinson, Nikki Blue, Ewelina Kobryn, Shanavia Dowdell. Lauren Ervin and Alexis Gray-Lawson, participants in the game in the link above, have already been cut.

What: The second of two preseason games, both outside of Atlanta. The last time the Dream played the Mystics in the 2009 regular season they lost 82-64 on the road in the Dream's final regular season game. Atlanta had already clinched, but the Mystics needed the win. Unfortunately, Shalee Lehning was hurt in that game and she could have been of help in the postseason against Detroit.

Where: The Hooper Eblen Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University in Cookeville, Tennessee.

When: Tipoff is 4 pm on Sunday, May 9th. The game will most likely not be available on TV, or on WNBA Live Access. Maybe there will be a live update of the box scores, maybe not. I'm sure we'll at least know who won. It is also the final competitive game before the Dream travel to San Antonio on Saturday, May 15th to kick off the 2010 regular season.

Why: In the first place, if you wanted an excuse for a road trip, this is it. For Marynell Meadors, it's a return to the place where she started her coaching career - she was a women's basketball player at MTSU between the years of (approximately) 1961 through 1965. Back then, says Meadors, their coach Sue Gunter left after their sophomore year and Meadors offered to take over duties as a player-coach as Middle Tennessee State didn't want to pay money to have someone coach women's basketball. (My, how much things haven't changed in fifty years). So your going to this game supports women's basketball, which is a good thing.

For players on the edge - Brittainey Raven, Alison Bales, Brigitte Ardossi, Britany Miller, Shawn Goff, Erika White - even Coco Miller, maybe - this is the final chance to show their stuff to Marynell Meadors, because she has to have this roster cut down by Friday, May 14th to just eleven players. Media Day for the Dream is the morning of Thursday, May 13th and the Dream might wish to showcase who they think will be the final roster. Meadors hasn't made too many cuts - there are theoretically twenty people who could call themselves members of the Atlanta Dream, including Demetress Adams and Dalma Ivanyi - so the axe will have to come out.

The Mystics have it tougher. Alana Beard, injured for the 2010 season, is still technically on the roster because Washington doesn't want to cut her and...oh Spencer Pratt, even I don't understand the WNBA roster rules. That means that Washington will have an active roster of only 10 players, one of which might be Jennifer Lacy, the former Atlanta Dream player that the Dream did not re-sign out of free agency.