Digest 01-2010

* Thinking about Training Camp
* The Meadors Hire: A Geno Conspiracy?
* Tony Wyman and the Gwinnett Post
* Dream Home Games Covered by Fox Sports
* Dream Players Overseas

I can't believe it. Tax Day has come and gone and we are now in mid-April. As I write this we're exactly a month away from the opening game of the 2010 Atlanta Dream season.

Training camp starts on April 25th, and it looks like everyone will be there - with a few exceptions. The first of these exceptions is in Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza. Each of those players is still in Spain, and undoubtedly will be dealing with the post-season playoffs. (Their teams are #2 and #1 in the Spanish League, respectively, and both teams went deep into Euroleague play.) The other exception is in Kelly Miller, who might still be finishing up with Spartak Moscow in Russia.

There are a couple of other players still theoretically attached to their European teams, but I don't know how strong that attachment is. Yelena Leuchanka is still on the Galatasaray roster in Turkey, and I don't know if the Dream, or Galatasaray expect her to remain in Turkey when there's a training camp going on. It took the Dream three years to finally get Leuchanka signed, a signing that was always real soon now. It looks like it has finally happened, but as I wrote before, I'll not believe it until I see Leuchanka wearing powder blue.

The other case is that of Demetress Adams, who is playing for Burgos in Spain. Burgos is a top team, but it's a top team in the FirstTop League at the end of the year, and Burgos is the #1 team in LFB2. How bad do they need Demetress Adams....

...and how bad do we need her? If Adams were really good, she'd be in the first league - the best players in LFB2 are usually college players who couldn't make a WNBA roster and are just looking to play basketball for some amount of money, somewhere. Adams should be dominating play in LFB2 if she were pro caliber - can you imagine what a Diana Taurasi would do against the warm bodies of LFB2 competition? - but she has struggled. The hiring of Adams has perplexed me, and the only conclusion I can come up with is that Adams is a warm body - until de Souza and Lyttle show up.

A final question is about Jennifer Lacy. The last I heard, Lacy was still (technically) an unsigned free agent. Can you appear in training camp if you're not signed to a contract?

Other training camp arrivees haven't clocked a single pro game over the past seven or so months. I don't believe that Coco Miller was signed anywhere in the off-season, and if she was, she was probably playing somewhere like Nicaragua where I never heard of it. Armintie Price and Shalee Lehning were busy brushing up on a potential future coaching career - Price at Ole Miss and Lehning at Kansas State.

Lehning had other distractions as well. First, she had to finish her degree. We can proudly say that Lehning graduated K-State in December. Second, she spent the first part of the off-season recovering from a horrible shoulder separation. It was one of the worst separations the doctor treating her had ever seen, and such injuries cast rational doubts about Lehning's power to recover. From my brief interactions with Lehning, she strikes me as a woman with a lot of willpower. If Lehning can recover, she will recover. The problem for both Lehning and Price will be in recovering and shaking off the rust at the same time.

Every other player on the roster (save for the newest acquisitions) spent some time overseas. Erica White was in Israel. The three draft picks spent time on a college roster somewhere. However, not all pro experiences are equal.

Take the case of Chamique Holdsclaw. The Claw started out with Good Angels Kosice in the fall, played a couple of games with them, and was unceremoniously dumped. My understanding is that the Good Angels felt that they had gotten a broken player, basically - that Holdsclaw's knee injuries were worse than what they were led to believe. The Claw returned to the United States for a few months, and then took off again to play for K. V. Imperial in Cyprus.

I hope I'm not insulting Cypriot basketball when I say that...well, it's not top caliber. K. V. Imperial is sorta top caliber - they did well in Eurocup, after all - but I don't think it's the kind of a team that leaves a Perfumerias or an Ekaterinburg or a Brno with night sweats and horrible dreams.

For the rest of the players, however, it has been a really good year overseas. Sancho Lyttle, Erika de Souza, Kelly Miller and Iziane Castro Marques all played for teams that went deep in Euroleague, one of the premier events in European basketball. Each of those players went into the postseason with their respective clubs in the various national basketball leagues. Most national leagues play a game a week; those players played two or more a week as they juggled the obligations of their national leagues with Euroleague. Playing the best top-ranked competition can only make you a better player; playing in the post-season teaches you what it takes to go deep.

A concern for anyone following how well players do overseas is fatigue. NBA players get a few months off where they don't have to play any basketball if they don't want to. Not so for the women: women's pro basketball pays poorly and it's a necessity to go overseas if you want to make a living. One would expect these players to be exhausted come the WNBA.

I believe that Marynell Meadors, on the other hand, might come to an opposite conclusion than the fans would come to. The Dream players are ready. Many played for clubs still in contention, so they're not dealing with an enforced four to eight week layoff caused by their European clubs not making the post-season. Their basketball reflexes are still fresh.

I know that Meadors has definitely been keeping up with the successes and failures of her various players. I also expect very little to surprise her. However, you never know what's going to happen until the 2010 WNBA season starts - let's hope that the 2010 Atlanta Dream training camp is a positive experience for the fans, for the players, and for everyone.

(* * *)

One of the most joyful/frustrating things about following women's basketball is the tendency of its fandom to attribute the worst possible motives to every single action that anyone could possibly undertake. Given the struggles of the game, I can understand why - betting on the worst, cheapest, most petty motive is usually the winning bet. (*) However, when taken to extremes the paranoia and hostility exhibited can be very very frustrating.

Take the case of Dream coach Marynell Meadors. Meadors was given the honor of being named to the coaching staff of the USA Women's Basketball Team, whose head coach is currently Geno Auriemma. Women's BB fans immediately began attempting to fit the hire into their existing world-view. The take: this hire had nothing to do with talent, and was merely the end result of the need for Auriemma to be in absolute control of his surroundings - since Meadors was such a bad coach (so the story goes) she would be a mere cipher on the coaching staff compared to the manaical brilliance that was Geno.

However, there are many other good reasons for Auriemma to have hired Meadors, none of which have to do with control fantasies. Let's look at some plausable theories:

As honorarium: As I've written before, Meadors is the oldest coach in the WNBA. She's contributed to the sport for decades. Last year, she was named the WNBA's Coach of the Year - I don't think she deserved the vote, but one could argue that she deserved to win on the basis of the team's turnaround from bottom-basement dweller from the previous year to playoff team in 2009.

If Auriemma really doesn't "need" a new coach - so the conspiracy goes - then why not Meadors? Of course, Meadors could be coaching into the 2020s but she might also decide at some point to hang up the clipboard. Maybe USA Basketball decided to add to Meadors's resume as a reward.

Management: You have to remember that Angel McCoughtry is currently on both the Atlanta Dream and the USA Women's Basketball Team. If there's anyone who knows Angel McCoughtry besides the women who have played against her, it's Marynell Meadors. Having Meadors on the team might give Auriemma some extra insight into McCoughtry's noggin. (Or he could just call Jeff Walz.)

Actual coaching: If you don't know Meadors's background, there are two things you should know. First, she has served as an assistant coach before. Meadors's career hasn't gone in a straight line of "first assistant coach, then coach." In her pro career, she's gone back and forth between head coach and assistant coach. Meadors knows what the role of assistant is. A person who had been head coach for the last twenty years might have find sliding into the assistant role more difficult.

Evaluation and building: The Atlanta Dream is not the first team that Meadors has built from the ground up. The other team was the Charlotte Sting, so Meadors knows what its like to build a cohesive team out of...well...nothing.

Furthermore, Meadors seems to have a good eye for evaluating talent. Some might claim that Meadors's acquisitions were either no-brainers (McCoughtry) or from luck (Lyttle, Holdsclaw) but I think that the proof for such claims lies on the one making the claim - choices such as Erika de Souza panned out when no one thought they were, and Shalee Lehning did a fairly decent job of running the point guard spot for a rookie.

In short, I suspect the complaints are more an attempt to insult both Meadors and Auriemma than they are attempts to explain the hire. One thing I know about Auriemma - he loves winning and he is the kind of man who would "run through Hell in a gasoline suit" to win a ball game. (**) If he signed Meadors to his coaching staff, there is only one logical conclusion: he thought she would help guarantee his team a FIBA medal. But of course, even American gold won't sway those that have made up their minds otherwise.



(*) - This is true for other professional sports as well. However, as women's pro basketball is on shakier ground, the creaks in the floorboards make more noise.
(**) - Quoted initally by Pete Rose, describing his own love of baseball.

(* * *)

The Gwinnett Daily Post writes an article about Toby Wyman, the new Chief Operating Officer of the Atlanta Dream. I'm glad to see that the Gwinnett paper is writing about the Dream; the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's treatment of the Dream is either neglect (in the print edition) or abuse (in the blog sections).

Whether the Gwinett paper will cover more Dream stories remains to be seen. The author is Christine Troyke, I think you should send a comment if you were glad to read the article. It looks like some Georgia paper might end up leading the pack on Dream coverage; the sad story is that the leader in Dream coverage might not be Georgia's supposed flagship paper.

Other than that, the treatment of Wyman's career is interesting. They ask him what the #1 goal of the Dream is, and it is not "to win games". It is this:

"I think what we want to do is, No. 1, it’s like anything else, we want to be a viable, successful franchise that is relevant in this marketplace. Which means putting people in the seats every night."

I like the phrase "to be relevant". The Number One goal of any franchise is survival, and in order to survive you have to be relevant enough to get the turnstiles turning. You have to be on the map in the local scene, and this is very difficult in the college-football crazy South. Over the off-season, I've watched Kathy Betty try to sell the team seemingly to one person at a time - appearing pretty much anywhere she can get the word out. You have to admire the effort, but at times I feel a little embarrassed. In my mind's eye, I see Betty appearing in front of sparse crowds anywhere she can hang her shingle, trying to convince potential fans and trying to drum up interest. Can you build a fan base that way? Yes...but is that method the best use of your time and money?

Wyman speaks about what I call the pro paradigm. It's the belief that the WNBA must promote itself like any dull NBA game. Troyke asks Wyman if a better model for the WNBA wouldn't be something like Triple-A baseball:

"But, yes, absolutely, from an accessibility standpoint, from and entertainment standpoint, one of our goals is we need to broaden ourselves out a bit. Certainly we’re a women’s product, but at the end of the day we just want to be perceived as good, sports, family entertainment.

That means we’re also committed to winning on the court. We want to win championships. But certainly we want people to feel like it’s a great entertainment product and, just like anything else, enjoy themselves and keep coming back."

Troyke then addresses the canard advocated by some that summer basketball is a bad idea because people would rather be outdoors. She writes, "People think of summer being meant for outdoors, but frankly, it’s too dang hot here most of the time — I’d like to be in an air-conditioned arena, you know?" I have to concur there - that argument might play out in Chicago or Seattle, but it's too damn hot in the South during the summer.

An illuminating question Troyke asks is whether or not the Dream should just tank in 2010 to pick up Maya Moore.

CT: "So you’re not going to try to lose all your games so you can draft Maya (Moore) in a year?"

TW: "No (smiling). Being from Boston, Red Auerbach drafted Larry Bird a year early. They closed that loophole and that was my first question to our GM, has the WNBA closed that same loophole?"

I suspect that Wyman might know what he's doing on the business end. Whether he'll have input on the pro acquisition end remains to be seen - it appears that Marynell Meadors will continue to wear the dual hats of GM and coach. However, the more I look at Wyman the more I like what I see.

(* * *)

Some great news today, where the Atlanta Dream announced that Fox Sports and SportSouth will cover 16 of the 17 home games of the Atlanta Dream this year.

The link to read is right here. But has Art Eckman moved on? God knows we loved Art Eckman and his interesting observations, particularly those involving Katie Feenstra-Mattera. The two announcers will be Bob Rathbun and LaChina Robinson. We all know Robinson from the previous two years covering the Dream and covering Georgia Tech women's basketball, but Rathbun comes from the Atlanta Hawks. He has his own Wikipedia entry, as he was the play-by-play announcer for the Braves from 1997-2006. He's also a member of Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

It will be interesting to hear Rathbun's take on the game, as generally the NBA announcers don't watch WNBA games. His bio on the Hawks page is here

(* * *)

I'm going to report briefly on what players are doing overseas. You can read the boxscores yourself. The format is borrowed from P. D. Swanson, the creator of Swanny's Stats.

Euroleague: Ekaterinburg 84, Krakow 50. The third place game took place on April 11th, with Ekaterinburg facing down Krakow.

EKA: Parker 21, Wauters 14, Bibrzycka 9 (Stepanova 8, Nolan 4, Abrosimova 3, Pondexter 2)
KRA: Burse 11, Fernandez 10
Iziane Castro Marques: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 6-for-17 shooting, 2-for-4 3-points shooting, 37 minutes played

Spartak Moscow 87, Ros Casares 80. Spartak Moscow wins their fourth straight Euroleague championship.

SPA: Taurasi 29, McCarville 20, Korstin 16 (Bird 5, Fowles 4, Jekabsone 0, Miller 0)
ROS: Milton-Jones 19, Valdemoro 14 (Snell 12, Montanana 10, Vesela 5)
Kelly Miller: 0 points, 2 rebounds, 5 minutes played
Erika de Souza: 16 points, 7 rebounds, 7-for-16 shooting, 30 minutes played

Russia: Spartak Moscow 102, Dynamo Kursk 87. Spartak Moscow wins the first game of their post-season semifinals match, and then....

SPA: Taurasi 20, Korstin 20, Osipova 14 (Fowles 13, Jekabsone 11, Bird 10, McCarville 4, Miller 4)
KUR: Snow 28, Lapteva 15, Bimbaite 10, Robbins 10
Kelly Miller: 4 points, 2 assists, 2-for-2 shooting, 9 minutes

Spartak Moscow 92, Dynamo Kursk 69. Spartak Moscow sweeps the best-of-three series and moves on to the finals against the winner of Ekaterinburg-Orenburg.

SPA: Taurasi 21, Osipova 16, Fowles 10 (Jekabsone 11)
KUR: Snow 11, Lapteva 10 (Psareva 14)
Kelly Miller: 3 points, 1-for-5 shooting, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 14 minutes played

Turkey: Galatasaray 68, Ceyhan 49. The final regular-season game of the year. Galatasaray goes 18-4 on the year and finishes in third place. (Fenerbahce finished 22-0; Kocaeli finished 0-22). Galatasaray plays #6 Tarsus in the quartefinals; the next games are on Thursday, April 22 and Sunday April 25th - doesn't look like Leuchanka will be back in Atlanta soon.

GAL: Catchings 20, Douglas 14, Sencebe 13
CEY: Campbell 19, Ervin 12, Yalcin 5 (C.Smith 3)
Yelena Leuchanka: 4 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2-for-6 shooting, 20 minutes played

Spain: Perfumerias 68, Rivas Ecopolis 65. Perfumerias wins the best-of-three series in Game 2 and moves on to the Semifinals against the Ros Casares-Mann Filter winner.

RIV: Cruz 16, Ujhelyi 16, Langhorne 15 (Tornikidou 4, Joens 3)
PER: Domínguez 19, Sánchez 10 (Willingham 6)
Sancho Lyttle: 12 points, 9 rebounds, 6-for-9 shooting, 27 minutes played

Ros Casares 80, Zaragoza 64. Ros Casares wins the first game of their best-of-three series at home against Zaragoza. If they win on Monday, they'll play Perfumerias in the finals.

ROS: Milton-Jones 27, Montañana 19, Valdemoro 14 (Aguilar 0, Snell 0)
ZAR: Feaster 16, Sten 11, Palomares 9
Erika de Souza: 12 points, 10 rebounds, 5-for-11 shooting, 23 minutes played

Spain, Second Division: Valbusenda 83, Burgos 70. Valbusenda upsets the #1 team in the LFB2. There are only three more games left in the LFB2 regular season.

BUR: Nascimento 18, Pablos Villarroel 15, Lozana Adan 11
VAL: Louden 18, Lassiter 15, Szoke 12
Demetress Adams: 0 points, 1 rebound, 0-for-1 shooting, 10 minutes played

Angel McCoughtry Among Eight Players to Attend USA Basketball Spring Camp

Before the first basketball is unwrapped in training camp on April 25th, Angel McCoughtry will be getting in some extra work in Storrs, Connecticut. (Storrs is becoming the center of the women's basketball universe.) The USA Women's National Team will be holding a spring training session between April 11th and April 18th.

The schedule, from the news release:

Led by University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma, available members of the USA National Team will begin training at 5:00 p.m. (all times EDT) on April 11 at the University of Connecticut’s Gampel Pavilion. The U.S. will return to Gampel Pavilion for 10:00 a.m. practices April 12-14. Following a day off, the USA will resume training on April 16 at 10:00 a.m. at Gampel Pavilion, and April 17 at 10:00 a.m. at the University of Hartford’s Chase Arena, with a 6:00 p.m. scrimmage scheduled both evenings at Chase Arena. The USA will close out its training camp on April 18 (location and time TBD).

No matter what, you can't say that Angel McCoughtry didn't get a good workout pre-camp.

McCoughtry Makes United States Women's National Team

It looks like Angel McCoughtry has impressed a few people. The WNBA. The Slovaks. The Euroleague. The NBA. And now, we can add USA Basketball, as McCoughtry has officially been added to the roster. Most likely, McCoughtry will play for the US in the FIBA World Championships in 2010 and she's also likely to play as an Olympian in 2012.

Here are the current players on the roster:

Sue Bird
Tamika Catchings
Diana Taurasi
Seimone Augustus
Sylvia Fowles
Kara Lawson
Candace Parker
Cappie Pondexter
Alana Beard
Swin Cash
Tina Charles (**)
Shameka Christon
Candice Dupree
Lindsey Harding
Asjha Jones
Angel McCoughtry
Renee Montgomery
Maya Moore (**)
Lindsay Whalen
Candice Wiggins

(**) - Player is currently a college senior.

Congratulations to Angel McCoughtry for all that she's accomplished.

Note: Kevin Pelton over at StormTracker noted that seven of the twenty players listed come from the same university - the University of Connecticut.

McCoughtry Named MVP of Ekaterinburg International Invitational

M. V. P.

Some new updates:

* Angel McCoughtry was named the Most Valuable Player in the Ekaterinburg International Invitational Tournament. She averaged 15.3 points per game over three games. I expect there to be some demand for McCoughtry from international teams.
* There is a gallery of images from the latest game right here.

A quote from McCoughtry:

How does it feel to win gold after such a short training period?
It feels great because I’ve never won anything big before. I haven’t won a national championship; I haven’t won a WNBA championship; so what have I really won? So the gold medal feels great.

E3/2009 - USA Women's National Team 78, Ekaterinburg 63

This picture made the USA Basketball front page.

Powered by a 23-0 run over the second and third quarters and a 20 point game from Angel McCoughtry, the USA Women's National Team swept the Ekaterinburg International Invitational with a 78-63 victory over their hosts, powerful Russian Superleague A team UMMC Ekaterinburg.

The box score is here. A write-up of the game will probably be forthcoming on the USA Basketball site.

The Four Factors of the game:

Field goal percentage: USA 47.7 percent, Ekaterinburg 30.0 percent. I'm surprise that the USA only won by 15 points.
Turnovers: Ekaterinburg 15, USA 16. Fairly even.
Offensive rebound percentage: Ekaterinburg 30.6 percent, USA 29.0 percent. Ekaterinburg had 15 offensive boards compared to the USA's nine.
Free throws: Ekaterinburg 15-for-23, USA 13-for-14.

And now, let's look at the performances from each team:

Ekaterinburg

Sandrine Gruda: 15 points and 4 rebounds from the Connecticut Sun forward of French nationality.
Celine Dumerc: 10 points, 6 rebounds.
Ann Wauters: 9 points, 5 rebounds from the Silver Stars player of Belgian nationality. 3-for-13 shooting.
Svetlana Abrosimova: This Connecticut graduate and eight-year WNBA veteran scored 6 points.
Asjha Jones: 6 points, 5 rebounds. Jones is a starter for the Connecticut Sun as well.

USA Women's National Team

Angel McCoughtry: 20 points, 6 rebounds on 9-for-15 shooting. Four turnovers.
Swin Cash: 13 points, 6 rebounds. 6-for-9 shooting.
Tina Charles: 10 points, 8 rebounds for the Connecticut senior.
Sylvia Fowles: 5 points, 12 rebounds.

E2/2009 - USA Women's National Team 79, Euroleasing Sopron 65

At the Ekaterinburg (Russia) International Invitation, the newly-assembled USA Women's National Team continued its winning ways, winning the second game of the tournament against Euroleasing Sopron, a team from Sopron, Hungary.

The box score is here. A detailed write-up of the game is here. An 11-2 run in the fourth quarter sealed the deal for the United States.

Angel McCoughtry didn't lead the USA in scoring, but she had nine points and tied Tina Charles in rebounding. The USA will play the very powerful Ekaterinburg team from Russia Superleague A today in the final game of the tournament.

Once again, a look at the Four Factors of Dean Oliver:

Field goal percentage: USA 53.3 percent, Euroleasing Sopron 40.6 percent
Turnovers: Euroleasing Sopron 18, USA 20. The United States really needs to solve this turnover problem.
Offensive rebounding percentage: USA 40 percent, Euroleasing Sopron 35 percent. Sopron was willing to match us on the glass.
Free throws: USA 9-for-11, Euroleasing Sopron 6-for-16. Sopron could have made a game of this if they could have bought a free throw.

And of course, the big performances on each side:

USA Women's National Team

Tina Charles: 15 points, 7 rebounds. 7-for-10 shooting. Charles will be a senior at the University of Connecticut this season.
Shameka Christon: 12 points from the New York Liberty starter.
Asjha Jones: 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting - I don't know if Jones is still suffering from the Achilles tendon injury that kept her out for the end of the Connecticut Sun's season.
Angel McCoughtry: 9 points, 7 rebounds. 4-for-9 shooting.

Euroleasing Sopron

Jelena Milovanovic: 25 points on 9-for-21 shooting. As Milovanovic went, so went Euroleasing Sopron. Milovanovic was drafted in the second round of the 2009 WNBA draft by the Washington Mystics, but did not play.
Amber Holt: 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Holt was a reserve forward for the Connecticut Sun this season.
Dora Horti, Zsofia Varga: 7 rebounds each, and Varga had four offensive boards.

E1/2009 - USA Women's National Team 100, Prague 81

The USA Women's National Team - including Angel McCoughtry for the time being - has traveled to Ekaterinburg, Russia for an international tournament. The first opponent for the USA Women was ZVVZ UKA Prague, and the USA Women got off to a great start with a 100-81 victory.

The box score is here. A detailed write-up of the game can be found here.

And guess who led the US team in scoring? That's right, Angel McCoughtry. McCoughtry had 17 points and 9 rebounds, coming close to a double-double with 7-for-8 shooting in 23 minutes of play, including two 3-pointers.

Let's look at the four factors:

Field goal percentage: USA 50.6 percent, Prague 41.4 percent. Not bad for the red, white and blue.
Turnovers: USA 18, Prague 18. A wash.
Offensive rebound percentage: USA 46 percent, Prague 23 percent. A 2-1 advantage in offensive rebound percentage for the American team.
Free throw shooting: Prague 15-16, USA 12-22. Okay, we have to work on our free throw shooting.

And now, we'll mention the big performances on each side:

USA Women's National Team

Angel McCoughtry: 17 points, 9 rebounds as mentioned.
Sylvia Fowles: 14 points, 7 rebounds.
Ashja Jones: 13 points.
Sue Bird: 4 points, 9 assists.

Prague

Evanthia Maltsi: 26 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists on 8-for-18 shooting.
Ieva Kublina: 13 points, 7 rebounds.
Cathrine Kraayeveld: 9 points, 8 rebounds for the New York Libery starter. 3-for-10 shooting.

Tomorrow, the USA Women's National Team will play Euroleasing Sopron. UMMC Ekaterinburg is waiting on Sunday.

McCoughtry Off To Russia for October Tournament

From USA Basketball via the Hartford Courant and John Altavilla:

"After training for six days in Washington, D.C., 2009-12 USA Basketball Women's National Team members and Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky) and Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks) will lead a USA squad in Russia in the four-team 2009 Ekaterinburg International Invitational. Also selected to play in the Oct. 9-11 tournament were USA National Team hopefuls Swin Cash (Seattle Storm), a 2004 Olympic gold medalist; Tina Charles (University of Connecticut / Jamaica, N.Y.); Shameka Christon (New York Liberty); Candice Dupree (Chicago Sky); Lindsey Harding (Washington Mystics); Asjha Jones (Connecticut Sun); Crystal Langhorne (Washington Mystics); Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream); Renee Montgomery (Minnesota Lynx); and Candice Wiggins (Minnesota Lynx).

Other teams in the tournament will be MKB Euroleasing Sopron (Hungary), USK Praha (Czech Republic) and UMMC Ekaterinburg (Russia). We'll get a real look at how well this new team plays.

Quoteth Geno Auriemma:

"Now we're going to find out if we can take that, transfer it over to game situations and see if I can identify those players who know how to win."

Hint: I think McCoughtry can win.

Where McCoughtry Finds out About Geno Auriemma

For those unaware, John Altavilla writes about Gene Auriemma presenting an "award" to Angel McCoughtry for Rookie of the Year:

"Angel McCoughtry couldn't have received the WNBA Rookie of the Year award in a more casual ceremony than she did Thursday. After Day 2 practice of a five-day fall camp for the U.S. women's national basketball team ended, the players formed a circle. Seimone Augustus, the WNBA rookie of the year in 2006, presented the glass trophy to her. There was polite applause, until coach Geno Auriemma pulled one of his trademark stunts.

He walked toward McCoughtry with a small box in his hand, saying a ring was also in order. "Yes, coach, I will marry you," McCoughtry said.

There were chuckles, but Auriemma got the last laugh. As he opened the box, he said, with perfect timing, "Oh, sorry, this is my national championship ring."

The team broke into guffaws. The ring, his seventh for winning NCAA titles at Connecticut, came last April at the expense of McCoughtry and Louisville in the title game.

"I will get you back for this," McCoughtry said.


Geno also had some words of wisdom for McCoughtry during a USA Women's National Tema practice:

"When you play off the ball, you steal every pass," Auriemma told her. "When you guard the ball, you get beat every single time. That shouldn't happen."

Message taken by McCoughtry, who for Louisville as a senior was No.4 in the nation in scoring (23.1) and No.1 in steals (4.2).

"That shows me a weakness I need to work on: on-the-ball defense," McCoughtry said.

Angel McCoughtry at USA Basketball Camp

Angel McCoughtry, Geno Auriemma, Shameka Christon.

John Altavilla writes in the Hartford Courant about the first practices for the US Women's Team, which will play in the FIBA World Championships in 2010 and in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Nothing about McCoughtry in the article, but Geno Auriemma had this to say:

"I also wanted them to understand that everyone here was someone I wanted, not just the UConn kids, but everyone. There is no one here against my wishes. There is no one here I am being forced to coach."

I suspect that Auriemma has wished he had McCoughtry for a long time after playing Louisville.

McCoughtry Off to Camp for the USA

Angel McCoughtry has accepted an invitation to attend the 2009 USA Basketball Women's National Team fall training camp.

The camp meets from September 30th to October 5th at American University in Washington, DC. A 12-member team will be assembled at some point in the future.

Currently attending the camp:

Alana Beard
Swin Cash
Tina Charles *
Shameka Christon
Candice Dupree
Lindsey Harding
Ebony Hoffman
Asjha Jones
Crystal Langhorne
Angel McCoughtry
Maya Moore *
Lindsey Whalen
Candice Wiggins

* - college player

Some players have already been named to the National Team, namely Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings, Diana Taurasi, Seimone Augustus, Sylvia Fowles, Kara Lawson, Candace Parker and Cappie Pondexter.

I believe that this roster will be cut down to 14 point in time for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women. The 2006 team, composed of WNBA stars and Candace Parker (at the time with the University of Tennessee), finished third at FIBA.

UPDATE: According to Chicago Sky Hoops, "After that, selected players will travel to Ekaterinburg, Russia, where the USA will compete in the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational from October 9th-11th."