PLKK 16/2009 - Krakow 100, Rybnik 53

Yes, that's the actual score - a 47-point whalloping by Wisa Can-Pack Krakow, which advances to 11-5 in the Polish league. Rybnik falls to 6-8. (Remember Rybnik when Kasha Terry was playing there?)

The box score is here.

Krakow shot 56 percent from the field, with Rybnik shooting 32 percent. Krakow led 56-26 by haltime. Rybnik had a couple of players with double-doubles - Nikita Bell had 18 points and 11 rebounds and Devanei Hampton had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Hampton had nine "fouls received", suggesting that Krakow spent most of the game beating the crap out of her.

As for Krakow, Katarina Zohnova led Krakow with 22 points. Iziane Castro Marques only played 21 minutes.

Her line:

12 points
5-for-11 shooting
3 rebounds
4 assists

Erika de Souza Crowned Queen of Basketball?

Well, not exactly. This is from a gallery of pictures taken at a reception at the Valencia city government celebrating Ros Casares's victory in the Copa de la Reina. In addition, there are pictures from Ros Casares's win over Joventut.

The full gallery is here. Check it out.

TBBL Mersin 85, Istanbul 53

Mersin picks up its 10th win in 11 games in Turkish league play with a 85-53 win over Istanbul University. Mersin still remains 1/2 game behind 10-0 Fenerbahce.

The box score (in Turkish) is here. There's no write-up of the game as of yet.

Jocelyn Penn was the top player for Istanbul with 11 points and eight rebounds. Penn last played for the WNBA in 2004.

For Mersin, the top player was Erlana Larkins with 17 points and 12 rebounds, with 7-for-7 shooting.

Ivory Latta's line:

11 points in 24 minutes of play:
2-for-9 shooting (with one 3-pointer) but 6-for-6 at the free throw line.
2 rebounds
4 assists
4 steals

A Picture of Ivory Latta

This picture is from last week's win by Mersin against Ceyhan. Unfortunately, it was the only picture of Ivory Latta on the TBBL website, so I thought I should catch it before it disappears.

LFB 15/2009 - Ros Casares 88, Joventut 56

Becky Hammon sizes up the opposition.

With Rivas Ecopolis moving up to a 14-1 record, it was up for Ros Casares to match that record. In Valencia, they had no trouble with visiting Joventut, 88-56. Ros Casares is now tied with Rivas Ecopolis at the top of the Liga Femenina at 14-1 while Joventut falls below .500 at 7-8.

The box score is here. A good writeup of the game can be found here.

What's there to write up? Ros Casares won every quarter of the game, going on a 14-0 run between the first and second quarters. El Ros out-rebounded Joventut 37-23 and hit 20 out of 23 free throw shots.

Shay Murphy was the best performer for Joventut with 16 points and three steals. Gisela Vega had eight points and eight rebounds.

As for Erika de Souza - the Beast was unleashed! She had an amazing performance:

21 points on 9-for-10 shooting - de Souza was finishing well at the basket
10 rebounds
3 assists
2 steals

UPDATE: A gallery of pictures can be found here.

LFB 15/2009 - Rivas Ecopolis 77, Perfumerias 58

The only blemish on Rivas Ecopolis's record this year was a home loss to Perfumerias. Rivas Ecopolis had a lot to play for, as neither team wanted a second loss. Revenge proved to be enough of a motivator as Rivas Ecopolis beat Perfumerias on the road in their rematch, 77-58.

Rivas Ecopolis advances to 14-1. Perfumerias drops to 13-2. The box score is here.

What's amazing is that Rivas Ecopolis, after getting thumped by Perfumerias in the (somewhat meaningless) Copa de la Reina, Rivas Ecopolis held Perfumerias to just 20 first half points. Perfumerias managed to get back within single digits, 64-53, with four minutes left, but Rivas was just too much for Perfumerias.

Why are these Euro games even important to a WNBA follower? Because when a player from your team is playing in a foreign league, if her team goes deep in the playoffs it means greater chances of both injury and a late return to the United States.

Catherine Joens was the player of the game for Rivas Ecopolis with 19 points and Jelena Dubljevic scored 16 points for Rivas Ecopolis. However, the best player of the game was Sancho Lyttle of Perfumerias. Lyttle had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the game's only double-double.

The final line for Sancho Lyttle:

23 points on 5-for-11 shooting
6-for-7 at the free throw line
10 rebounds
2 assists

I thought there would be some pictures from this game...but not yet, it seems.

Copa de la Reina Summary on YouTube

A summary of the Copa de la Reina from YouTube. About 1:45, if you look closely, you can see Sancho Lyttle (in blue) and Erika de Souza (in white):



Wouldn't it be great if people could bring drums to a WNBA game? Or wear those cool scarves emblazoned with the team name?

De Souza, Lyttle in the Copa de la Reina

For those who just can't get enough of Erika de Souza or Sancho Lyttle here's some video from the second quarter of the Ros Casares/Perfumerias Copa de la Reina final in Spain. (Sorry, no sound.)

Shock Players Resistant to Playing in Tulsa?

Jayda Evans at the Seattle Times writes a provocative article about the opening of free agency in the WNBA. Her comments about the Whalen/Montgomery trade:

Since a source back east said fan/media meddling led to the trade of PG Lindsay Whalen and the second overall draft pick from Connecticut to Minnesota for PG Renee Montgomery and the top overall pick, I'm wondering what you'd conjure up for the Storm or your favorite team.

And check out the comments:

It was no surprise to Shock fans that some of the players didn't want to go to Tulsa, especially those who attended the event Plenette put together after the team was moved. The mother of one of the players involved in this mess(who was already overseas) said then that her daughter wouldn't play in the WNBA next summer. What shocked me is how surprised by and unprepared to deal with it the league seemed to be. - CG12

CG12: A few reporters have calls into WNBA for an answer about the dual cored players, but aren't getting a response. Tulsa has problems anyway because former Shock players don't want to play there and are rumored not to play in the WNBA this summer. The WNBA may have flexed its rules because it needs big names to draw ticket sales and make games interesting. The Paris twins aren't going to do that on their own. Still doesn’t make it right. Stay tuned…- Jayda Evans

Free Agency Starts Today in WNBA

....and now it gets interesting. Teams are not allowed to communicate with free agents and make offers. Players can begin signing offers on February 1st.

ucdt3 over at RebKell gives us some definitions of free agent terminology.

Unrestricted Free Agent:
6 or more years service in league
Able to sign with any team unless designated as CORE player

Restricted Free Agent:
4-5 years service in league
Able to sign with any team, but prior team as 10 days to match qualifying offer
(becomes UFA if no qualifying offer is made from prior team)

Reserved Free Agent:
3 or less years service in league
Able to sign with prior team only
(becomes UFA if no qualifying offer is made from prior team)

Rookie:
3-year contract + 1-year team option

The full list is over at the WNBA website.

Coco Miller is an unrestricted free agent. Erika de Souza and Jennifer Lacy are restricted free agents, and Ivory Latta and Yelena Leuchanka are reserved free agents.

Let the fun begin!

Euroleague 9/2009 - Beretta 92, Krakow 88

Spartak Moscow can now sleep more soundly. The only other undefeated team in Euroleague, Krakow, lost on the road in Italy to Beretta 92-88. With Krakow 8-1 and Perfumerias and Beretta right behind at 7-2, Krakow needs a win in Croatia against 1-8 Gospic next week to finish in first place in Group B.

Tied at 68-68 entering the fourth quarter, a jumper by Beretta's Marissa Coleman put the home team up for good with 4:23 to play. Krakow could have tied it at 86-86 with 43 seconds left, but Audret Sauret-Gillespie's jumper fell short.

All of the information you need - a box score, play by play info, and a mini-gallery - are all here.

Laura Macchi was the top performer for Beretta with 24 points, four rebounds and five assists. Ewelina Kobryn led Krakow with 27 points and 7 rebounds..

Iziane Castro Marques's line for Krakow:

17 points on 6-for-12 shooting
35 minutes of play
1-for-3 from 3-point range
2 rebounds
3 assists

Eurocup 16th Finals 2/2009 - Ruse 77, K. V. Imperial 75

Despite the 77-75 victory in Ruse, Bulgaria over visiting K. V. Imperial, K.. V. Imperial advances to the 8th Finals of Eurocup. K. V. Imperial crushed Ruse 93-65 in the first game of the two-game series and the team advances on aggregate points, 168-142.

On Twitter, Chamique Holdsclaw had some sharp words for the Bulgarian fans.

@Chold1 Jus played n da most hostile gym ever. Omg cats was spitting throwing receipt rolls. I was about to get my Ron Artest on fuk dat.


@Chold1 I've been playing in Europe for 8years and never experienced anything like this. Like I was waiting for spit to connect.

A box score of the game can be found here. It's odd that the FIBA Europe site doesn't even have a play-by-play.

Holdsclaw did not take part in this game, probably because she joined the team mid-season. I've still not been able to find out any information about the game between K. V. Imperial and AEK Larnaca on January 10th. If I learn anything, I'll let you know.

Eurocup 16th Finals 2/2009 - Dynamo Kursk 93, Besitkas 72

In front of a crowd of 900 spectators, Dynamo Kursk clinched a move to the 8th Finals, or the "Sweet Sixteen" of Eurocup with a 93-72 win over visiting Besitkas. Dynamo Kursk won both of their games against Besitkas, by a factor of 188-141.

Information about the game can be found here.

An interesting quote from Dynamo Kursk coach Algirdas Paulauskas:

Now we are qualified to the 8th finals and that is what we wanted, but I am not satisfied with the team. It may sound strange, but it was harder to play at home, than to play in Turkey. When we played in Turkey all the girls were motivated to win and today many of the players relaxed and in the second period we began to lose the game, but found the way to recover to the fourth period and win.

Indeed, at halftime the score was 39-37 in favor of Besitkas. In the back half of the game, however, Dynamo Kursk outscored Besitkas 56-33.

For Besitkas Nykesha Sales had 29 points and five rebounds. Jillian Robbins was the leading player for Dynamo Kursk with 21 points and 12 rebounds...but Michelle Snowhad a game almost as great as Robbins's was.

Michelle Snow's line:

19 points
13 rebounds
5 assists

Dynamo Kursk will face Györ, a Hungarian team, in the 8th finals, in another "best of two" aggregate matchup. Eurocup teams will have one week off before the next round.

Euroleague 9/2009 - Good Angels Kosice 89, Prague 75

It looks like Angel McCoughtry was all that Good Angels Kosice needed to turn their Euroleague season around. The Good Angels advance to 5-4 in Euroleague and move into second place in Group C with an 89-75 win over Prague in the Czech Republic.

The last game in opening round play is next week against Gorzow. If the Good Angels win, they secure second place and move into the round of 16.

All the good stuff - the game report, the box score, and the play by play - is at this link.

Candice Dupree and Angel McCoughtry helped the Good Angels to a 14-0 run in the second quarter that put the Good Angels up for good. Dupree and McCoughtry scored all 14 of those points. Prague managed to close to 69-66 in the fourth quarter but could get no closer.

The Good Angels shot 35-64 for the game and had 46 total rebounds, winning despite 20 personal fouls and 20 turnovers.

Sonja Kireta was the top performer for Prague with 21 points and 7 rebounds. As for Angel McCoughtry...

...McCoughtry was dynamite. Candice Dupree had 23 points and 11 rebounds, but Angel McCoughty had 28 points and 15 rebounds. It was her best Euroleague performance of the year. Congratulations, Angel!

Euroleague 9/2009 - Perfumerias 97, Villeneuve d'Ascq 72

Lady Comfort plows by Sancho Lyttle.

Despite the presence of 1000 French fans (who can't be wrong), Villeneuve d'Ascq - also known as Lille Metropole - was flattened by Perfumerias 97-72. The win moved Perfumerias to 7-2 in Euroleague play, but Schio is right behind at 6-2 and Krakow is 8-0. Perfumerias will still have to fight.

All the good stuff - the game report, the box score, the play by play and gallery - are all here. Praise Euroleague.

Like its sister team Ros Casares, Perfumerias had some hot shooting - they shot 34-for-60 in the game and hit 16 out of 25 of their 3-pointers. Perfumerias won every quarter of the game.

Lady Comfort was the player of the game for Villeneuve d'Ascq with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Comfort was a graduate of Temple. Anke de Mondt scored 24 points for Perfumerias to lead all scorers.

Sancho Lyttle's line:

13 points in 20 minutes
6-for-10 shooting
8 rebounds
3 assists

Euroleague 9/2009 - Ros Casares 87, Taranto 59

What's de Souza wearing on her hand?

This year, Ros Casares's first loss in Euroleague was to Taranto. They made up for that loss by beating Taranto in front of 1400 spectators to move to 7-2 in Euroleague play. They split their season with Ekaterinburg, but they scored more aggregate points in those gamees, so I'm guessing that Ros Casares has an outside chance of finishing first in Group A if Ros Casares beats Galatasaray at home next week and Ekaterinburg loses to Riga in Russia - but that second outcome is highly unlikely, unless Riga has a good methamphetamine supply.

Everything you'd want: a box score, a game report, play by play, and a photo gallery - is here. It looks like Taranto hung in there for almost all of the first half, and then just faded away. Ros Casares shot 33-for-61 overall and hit 12 of 25 of their 3-point attempts.

Amayo Valdemoro led all Ros Casares scorers with 20 points. Elodie Godin was Taranto's top performer with 12 points.

As for Erika de Souza:

8 points in 35 minutes of play
4-for-8 shooting
15 rebounds, including 5 offensive rebounds

Wikipedia and WNBA Player Popularity

For those of you who don't know much about the internet, Wikipedia is a user-defined encyclopedia with several million entries. Users can edit encylopedia entries and accept that their own work will be edited. Just about every WNBA player has an article - those articles might not be up to date, but the articles exist.

One interesting fact about Wikipedia is that there is a statistics page where a user can enter an article name and determine how many hits the article gets. Wikipedia hits appear to measure popularity of articles both familiarity as well as intensity - an article which is being continually edited or read by the same subgroup of people will get lots of hits. Both depth and intensity of popularity can be measured in the same number.

Given that, I looked up how many hits each Wikipedia article devoted to an individual member of the Atlanta Dream received in the month of December 2009. All eleven current players of the Dream currently have articles; I duly entered each person's (article) name and counted the hits.

Wikipedia Hits for Dream Players in December 2009


Chamique Holdsclaw: 2090
Ivory Latta: 744
Angel McCoughtry: 707
Michelle Snow: 707
Coco Miller: 394
Iziane Castro Marques: 266
Armintie Price: 249
Erika de Souza: 225
Sancho Lyttle: 224
Jennifer Lacy: 186
Shalee Lehning: 146

The numbers all seem to pass the "smell test". Holdsclaw, having a decade-long history in the WNBA, having been the #1 Draft Pick and considered the future of women's basketball should be getting a lot of hits in a month.

As for the players of foreign nationality - Castro Marques, de Souza, and Lyttle - they don't get a lot of hits. In the case of the Brazilians it's because they didn't have college careers in the United States.

Some placements are real head scratchers. Michelle Snow might get hits because she dunked in a college game and because she's a Tennessee alumna. And why does Shalee Lehning have the fewest hits of all? At least it gives an idea of why it was so surprising that Marynell Meadors would let Ivory Latta (#2 in hits) go for a relative unknown.

However, there are WNBA players out there who make the Atlanta Dream's total number of Wikipedia hits seem paltry. Becky Hammon's 2266 total hits exceed Chamique Holdsclaw's. Sue Bird's 4621 hits make her Wikipedia article more popular than the articles of the six leading players in article hits among the Atlanta Dream.

Diana Taurasi's 6336 hits make her - by herself - more popular than the entire Atlanta Dream! As for Candace Parker's 21,547 hits, it makes Candace Parker a force to be reckoned with.

Can we do this for teams as well as players? Why not?

Wikipedia Hits for WNBA Teams in December 2009

WNBA: 5797

Los Angeles Sparks: 5308
WNBA Tulsa: 3450
New York Liberty: 2600
Phoenix Mercury: 2306
Seattle Storm: 2267
Chicago Sky: 2047
Atlanta Dream: 2042
Connecticut Sun: 1974
San Antonio Silver Stars: 1895
Washington Mystics: 1793
Minnesota Lynx: 1733

Do these numbers mesh with official attendance statistics? No, they don't. However, it makes sense that the Sparks and the Liberty would be the two most popular teams. Maybe going to Wikipedia can make sense out of the attendance numbers supplied by the WNBA. If Wikipedia is a better indicator of team popularity than announced attendance, it might give us a better idea of which teams have the most solid fan support.

Connecticut and Minnesota Swap Draft Picks, Trade Montgomery and Whalen

The big news in the WNBA is that Connecticut and Minnesota have traded first-round draft picks. Previously, Minnesota had the #1 Draft Pick and Connecticut had the #2 overall pick.

Trade:
to Connecticut: Minnesota's first round draft pick (#1 overall) and Renee Montgomery (PG)
to Minnesota: Connecticut's first round draft pick (#2 overall) and Lindsay Whalen (PG)

What does Connecticut get? First, it gets the #1 Draft Pick, which gives the Sun the chance to pick up senior center Tina Charles out of the University of Connecticut. Since Montgomery is also a UConn player, it looks like the Sun is stocking up on local players to help draw a crowd at Mohegan Sun Arena.

However, Tina Charles is no slouch. She'd probably edge out Jayne Appel of Stanford as the majority #1 consensus draft pick. She was #10 in the Boxscores Values for 2008-09, and most of the players above her were seniors and WNBA draft picks in 2009. Furthermore, 11 of the previous 13 WNBA #1 picks have been stars.

My prediction? Charles will be a great player, but you don't need a metric to see that.

Now what about Renee Montgomery? The player most statistically similar to Montgomery after her first year of play is Stacey Dales. The point guard most similiar to Montgomery after her first year of play is Matee Ajavon. Dales was at least an average player in the years before her first retirement; Ajavon has been less impressive.

Montgomery's rookie year vs. Dales's rookie year.
Montgomery's rookie year vs. Ajavon's rookie year.

Whalen, on the other hand, has been really good. I have Whalen as #25 in WNBA history in player efficiency rating (PER) among starters. She's a two-time All Star and is mentioned with Becky Hammon and Sue Bird among the premier point guards in the WNBA. Furthermore, Whalen will be 28 next year, and if 28 isn't a peak age, it's close to it.

So the question becomes "how good is that second pick in the 2009 WNBA Draft going to be?" If it's good, then you'd have to give Minnesota the win in this trade. However, this year's draft is generally acknowledged as a weak one and only five of the thirteen overall #2 picks can be considered to be stars - Griffith, Cash, Beard, Pondexter and Fowles. Given that, I think that the balance tilts in Connecticut's favor.

Of course, I could be wrong. And being wrong is the fun part.

Free Agency Begins January 15th

Friday for those of you who don't have a calendar. Teams can negotiate with players and agents. Teams, however, may not sign contracts with free agents until February 1st, 2010.

Our only free agents are Erika de Souza and Jennifer Lacy - at least, I believe they are both restricted free agents. There's a whole bunch of stuff about RFAs and qualifying offers in the WNBA Player's Assocation Collective Bargaining Agreement (2008), but it all depends on the players' salaries and how many years of seniority each player has and if they're core players or not.

My conclusion: re-sign Erika de Souza, at all costs.

Update: 2010 WNBA Draft Order

Regarding this news story, here is the new 2010 WNBA Draft order:

FIRST ROUND

1. Connecticut (*)
2. Minnesota (**)
3. Minnesota
4. Chicago
5. San Antonio
6. Washington
7. Tulsa
8. Los Angeles
9. Atlanta
10. Seattle
11. Indiana
12. Los Angeles (***)

SECOND ROUND

13. New York
14. Washington (****)
15. Connecticut
16. Chicago
17. San Antonio
18. Washington
19. Tulsa
20. Los Angeles
21. Atlanta
22. Seattle
23. Indiana
24. Phoenix

THIRD ROUND

25. New York
26. Minnesota
27. Connecticut
28. Chicago
29. San Antonio
30. Washington
31. Tulsa
32. Los Angeles
33. Atlanta
34. Seattle
35. Indiana
36. Phoenix

The Sacramento Monarchs folded and their picks are removed from the list.

(*) - Minnesota obtained Rafaella Masciardi and one of Los Angeles's two first round picks in exchange for Noelle Quinn. Los Angeles had obtained New York's first round draft pick - which turned out to be a lottery pick due to New York finishing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference - in exchange for Sidney Spencer. Minnesota then traded their first round pick and Renee Montgomery to Connecticut in exchange for Lindsay Whalen and Connecticut's first round draft pick.

(**) Minnesota obtained Connecticut's first round pick by trading their first round draft pick and Renee Montgomery in exchange for Linsday Whalen and Connecticut's first round draft pick.

(***) - Los Angeles obtained Phoenix's first round draft pick in exchange for Temeka Johnson.

(****) - Washington obtained from Minnesota Lindsey Harding, the Lynx's #23 pick in the 2009 draft and Minnesota's second round pick in the 2010 draft for Washington's #9 and #15 picks in the 2009 Draft.