THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
(Guru's note: Being in the home office to pen this Saturday night contribution means some detail and quotes were contributed off the Associated Press).
By Mel Greenberg
When the next revision of historic moments in WNBA history occurs, Saturday night's decisive Game 3 action in both the Eastern and Western Conference finals will need to be noted somewhere on the new list.
In the East, it will be remembered as a crowd of more than 18,000 in Indianapolis, thanks to the purchase of 9,000 tickets by Hall of Famer Larry Bird, saw the Indiana Fever end three previous years of frustration by dethroning the defending WNBA champion Detroit Shock, 72-67.
The former Boston Celtics and president of the Pacers organization that houses both the NBA and WNBA entities, bought the balcony after Friday night's win by the Fever evened the series with Detroit at 1-1.
The financial move makes Bird become the first WNBA playoff story whose first name is not Sue.
Ironically, the Fever were considered an endangered franchise, and may still be, at the season's outset, making Indiana join Seattle, Sacramento and Detroit, on the list of franchises which also were under similar duress before making a first-time finals appearance.
Detroit, under previous coach Bill Laimbeer, had shown Indiana the exit door three straight times in the playoffs.
The win returns Katie Douglas, a Hoosier State home girl out of Purdue, to the finals for the first time since she played for the Connecticut Sun when they lost to the Seattle Storm in the 2003 finals.
More important, it became a breakthrough evening for former Tennessee star Tamika Catchings, who has been waiting for this moment since being the No. 1 pick of the Fever and third overall in the 2001 draft.
She missed her first season with a knee injury suffered her senior year at Tennessee.
"Finally," Catchings said Saturday night after the Fever's win in the closely-fought contest. "I've been waiting for this for eight years. I don't want to get too excited; I want to finish it off."
Over in the West, the Phoenix Mercury stopped the visiting Los Angeles Sparks, 85-74, to also make it a 2-1 best-of-three triumph and return to the finals for the second time in three seasons and first since winning a title in 2007.
The Fever win wasn't determined until the fourth quarter. But in the West, just as the Sparks had done in Phoenix Friday night, the Mercury jumped to an overpowering start and the differential never got close until the last minutes when the outcome had been long decided.
On the Los Angeles side, the loss became a moment of poignancy for both the Sparks and WNBA as a whole.
The setback becomes the final chapter in the storied career of Lisa Leslie, who will head into retirement with three Olympic Gold Medals two WNBA titles, though she'll remain a role model for years to come.
In her spare time, Leslie can begin writing her Hall of Fame acceptance speech for 2015 in Springfield, Mass., where she'll surely be inducted her year she is first eligible to appear on the ballot.
Leslie, a founding player in 1997 who was the first to dunk in WNBA history, finished Saturday night with a game performance showing 22 points and nine rebounds and fouled out with 1:39 left to play.
"I feel great,"Leslie said at the postgame conference. "You know why? Because I have no regrets. Every time I stepped on that court I played as hard as I could, I've left everything out there.
"Today is my last day of playing professional basketball, but I will stay close to the game because I feel I need to be part of it."
It was a night for the Rutgers faithful to feel proud as another notch was added to the legacy of Scarlet Knights coach C. Vivian Stringer, who will have two former players on opposing sides in the championship best-of-five series.
Tammy Sutton-Brown, a member of the Rutgers 2000 contingent that advanced to the Scarlet Knights' first Women's Final Four appearance, had a team-high 17 points for Indiana in the win over Detroit.
Cappie Pondexter, prehaps the all-time star of the Stringer era at Rutgers, returns to the finals again with Phoenix after recently being voted on the Alll-WNBA first team. Two years ago she was the MVP of the Mercury 3-2 series win over Detroit -- the first time the visiting team took the title on an opponent's floor in the playoffs.
Kudos to Ann Meyers, the Hall of Famer and former UCLA star as well as Mercury top executive who kept the franchise and system moving under Corey Gaines after Paul Westhead left Phoenix following the 2007 ttitle to be an NBA assistant.
He's since left that job and is now the new coach of the Oregon women in the PAC-10 conference.
When league play begins this winter, he'll see a familiar face along the trail.
The Sparks loss also meant the second exit of coach Michael Cooper, a former NBA Los Angeles Lakers star, who will coach Leslie's alma mater at Southern Cal.
The last time Cooper departed it was for a few short-lived jobs in the NBA.
In his first tour of duty, Cooper's sparks ended the WNBA initial 4-0 title run of the former Houston Comets and set the stage for league owners to begin hiring more coaches who had an NBA pedigree.
"It kind of looked we missed out on a good game," Cooper said. "The Mercury established their game early on us and we never recovered from it."
He got emotional on saluting Leslie: "It's been a joy coaching her. Obviously we wanted her to go out on top and that's not going to happen. But you know what? She's had a heck of a career, I thought she did a wonderful job for us this whole entire series."
It is not known who will replace him with the Sparks, but assistant Marianne Stanley, a former Immaculata star in suburban Philadelphia who coached Leslie in college, has already had head coaching experience with the Washington Mystics.
If the Sparks don't stay in-house, another potential candidate is Anne Donovan, the interim coach of the New York Liberty, who becomes a viable free agent if she isn't promoted to full-time status.
Another candidate might be former La Salle star Cheryl Reeve, who, after Laimbeer departed three games into the season, added the general manager's job to her duties as a Detroit assistant to Rick Mahorn.
If anything, the Phoenix win again symbolizes a torch passing to a younger generation.
The Mercury were led by former UConn star Diana Taurasi, the leading regular season MVP candidate, Saturday night, who had 21 points, including 15 in the second half.
"It comes down to just wanting the game sometimes," Taurasi said. "Not necessarily defensive schemes, plays, just wanting the game. And unlike (Friday) night, tonight we wanted the game. We didn't necessarily play great basketball on either end but we went and took the game.
"You have Lisa, who didn't want to play her last game, and the way she played this series, she probably's got another 3-4 good years under her belt."
Phoenix also has former Auburn star DeWanna Bonner, one of the top WNBA newcomers this season.
In Los Angeles, the Sparks now officially become Candace Parker's team without any shared status, although the second-year pro and former Tennessee star was held to six points Saturday night.
There's no rest for her because the loss puts Parker on a plane this week for Washington to join the first USA Basketball women's national team training camp under Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who will head this country's efforts next year at the world championship and in the London Games at the 2012 Olympics.
The camp, held at American University's Bender Arena, will feature a public event next Sunday.
Catchings and Taurasi, members of the last two Olympic successes would have been Washington-bound as part of the core group of eight players had their WNBA teams been eliminated.
And in discussing coaches, Lin Dunn gets to her first finals at the pro level after having built Purdue into a national power in the late 1990s.
Dunn, as a former Seattle Storm coach, had the distinction of creating the Storm's building blocks with the back-to-back drafting of overall No. 1 picks Lauren Jackson out of Australia and former UConn star Sue Bird.
She was gone, however, before the squad blossomed under New York's Donovan for a title in 2003.
As for some who will speculate the WNBA didn't get the best markets in the finals, the reality is the two teams that were the best in their conferences and had the top two overall records made it all the way through, albeit with a few bumps and bruises along the way.
The two split their season series at 1-1 in cross-conference games with Phoenix earning home-court advantage in the championship series before the playoffs got under way.
Indiana sort of wobbled down the stretch after dominating an otherwise equal Eastern race through most of the season.
Both teams were under conference finals pressure -- Indiana lost its opener in Detroit and Phoenix was blasted at home Friday night, leading many to believe perhaps Los Angeles was on a destiny path.
But it was not to be.
If there's no more Connecticut-Tennessee annual get-together at the college level, the finals resemble a bit of an alumni showdown in Taurasi and Catchings.
The finals begin in Phoenix Tuesday night, remain there Thursday, and then move to the Midwest Sunday for Game 3. A Game 4, if necessary, will also be played in Indianapolis.
-- Mel
By Mel Greenberg
As the WNBA's Eastern and Western Conferences launch their best-of-three championship series Wednesday night, a glance at the overall rosters reveals a passing of the torch to a newer generation in the 13-year history of the playoffs.
Some of the big names from the early years of summer competition are still around, although in certain cases not much longer.
Obviously, the signature storyline in whether Lisa Leslie will be able to bid farewell with a third WNBA championship with the Los Angeles Sparks before her retirement. The former Southern Cal is the last of the three founding players in the runnerup of the league's inaugural 1997 season. Former New York Liberty star Rebecca Lobo is still in the house as a sideline reporter on the telecasts.
Sheryl Swoopes is gone, but her former teammate Tina Thompson is also on the Sparks' roster after signing as a free agent in the wake of the demise of the Houston Comets who won the first four WNBA titles.
In Leslie's path to a storybook finish is the high-powered rock and rolling Phoenix Mercury in the Western finals and then either the defending champion Detroit Shock or Indiana Fever from the Eastern side.
The Western finals are more of a statement of old and new, although both groups are well respresented in the Eastern series.
Ironically the most telling combination of newbie and veteran is right in the Sparks' frontcourt with Leslie and two-year pro Candace Parker, the overall No. 1 draft pick of 2008.
In a sense, Leslie begat Parker because her absence two years ago to have her first child was a major factor in the Sparks' plunge from lofty heights to get in position to win the lotto and rights to the No. 1 pick.
There must be some Pac-10 humor somewhere in the background because a Britany Spears concert is the Staples Center Wednesday night is forcing Los Angeles to use UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, the home of the arch-enemy Bruins when Leslie was doing her all-American thing for the Trojans.
Of course, if the Sparks survive, there will be one or two more Staples appearance for Leslie since the Eastern teams both hold rights to home court advantage over Los Angeles in the league championship best-of five finals. However, if it all goes right for the Sparks, they would be in position to win the title at home unless the finals go the distance.
Other Sparks close to the veteran status of Leslie are DeLisha Milton-Jones, who has played on the Olympic spaquad with her Los Angeles teammate. Thompson, incidentally, was right out of USC when she declared for the WNBA prior to the league's start in 1997.
Australia's Kristi Harrower was close to a contemporary of Leslie when she joined the league. Two other Aussies who are still in the playoffs are Tully Bevilaqua of the Fever, who turned 37 in July as did Leslie, and Penny Taylor, whose return to the Mercury helped Phoenix get back to the level of its first title run two seasons ago.
But the younger group on the Sparks have also made their presence felt besides Parker is Noelle Quinn, who will be back at her alma mater Wednesday, and former Tennessee star Shannon Bobbitt.
Meanwhile, Phoenix is dominated by the newer group fired up by former Big East rivals Diana Taurasi, who won three championships with Connecticut, and Cappie Pondexter, the all-American out of Rutgers. Rookie DeWanna Bonner out of Auburn has made a major impact in her first season.
Reeling through the Mercury depth chart, other college grads of the current decade, most more recently, are Tameka Johnson (LSU), Kelly Mazzante (Penn State), Nicole Olde (Kansas State), Brooke Smith (Stanford) and Le'coe Willingham (Auburn).
But don't overlook veteran center Tangela Smith, the former Iowa star when C. Vivian Stringer, now at Rutgers, coached the Hawkeyes.
Two seasons ago, Phoenix took former Duke star Lindsey Harding as the No. 1 overall pick and then dealt her to Minnesota for Smith, who validated the transaction by becoming a key component in the Mercury's drive to the title.
Over in the East, the storyline is two-fold in whether Indiana can finally solve Detroit's mastery over the Fever in the postseason or whether the Shock can finish off a second-half surge on the same track as Los Angeles to get back into title contention.
The old-young mix on the Phoenix roster is more a middle-young combination in age. While Bevilaqua is the most veteran, the Fever are propelled by the passion of former Tennessee star Tamika Catchings, and Kate Douglas, who came home to the Hoosier State a year ago after the former Purdue star had begun with the Orlando Miracle and then stayed with the franchise as it became the Connecticut Sun.
Former Rutgers center Tammy Sutton-Brown, who was on the Scarlet Knights' first Final Four team that advanced her in Philadelphia in 2000, has helped support Catchings in the Fever frontcourt.
Rookie Briann January out of Arizona State has made an impact in her first season, especially in the first game of the Washington series, while former Vanderbilt star Christina Wirth has also had her moments. Other recent college grads who performed at schools ranked in the top 20 are Jessica Davenport (Ohio State), who started out with the New York Liberty; Ebony Hoffman (USC), Eshaya Murphy (USC) and Jessica Moore.
Meanwhile Detroit is loaded with veterans but they could already be out on the golf course were it not for the play provided by rookie Shavonte Zellous out of Pittsburgh who made a major contribution off the bench during the Shock comeback.
If there's a discussion about most of the original WNBA stars heading for the sunset, there still seems to be a number of stars of the former American Basketball League, particularly Katie Smith and Taj McWilliams, who helped Detroit in its run last season after being traded by Washington before the stretch drive.
There's also a presence of middle veterans here who have impacted the Shock in former Georgia stars Kara Braxton and the resilent Denna "Tweety," not to be confused with Twitter, Nolan. That group also includes Cheryl Ford, whose entrance as a rookie in 2003 helped Detroit pull the worst-to-first turnaround when the Shock won their first title. The rest of the roster is filled with names familiar from college such as Alexis Hornbuckle (Tennessee), Crystal Kelly (Western Kentucky), Plenette Pierson (Texas Tech), Olayinka Sanni (West Virginia) and Nikki Teasley (North Carolina).
Incidentally, if folks here in Philadelphia are looking for some local identity in the WNBA postseason, other than the former Rutgers players, Detroit assistant coach Cheryl Reeve, who also became the Shock general manager after former coach Bill Laimbeer's departure at the start of the season. is a former La Salle star from the late 1980s.
Southeastern Conference Domination
While former Connecticut stars are among playoff headliners, the combined 44-player conference finals roster is ruled by alumnae of schools in the Southeastern Conference.
A total of 13 players from the SEC wars are still alive this season, while the Big East and Pac-10 each have seven former stars, and the Big Ten six. For those who like to continue the comparison, Tennessee has a 4-3 edge over UConn among individual schools.
Travel Advisory
In a year of parity in which it has been virtually impossible to book plane tickets long-range for the finals, unless one really had the most faith in Phoenix, here's how the dates would play out in home courts among what's left.
Going into Wednesday night, in terms of the finals, the pecking order is Phoenix, followed by Detroit or Indiana, and then Los Angeles.
So for you internet savings hunters here's the potential night-by-night city lineup. The prority team before potential elimination is listed first.
Game 1 (Tues., Sept. 29) at Phoenix (if alive) or Detroit or Indiana (if Los Angeles is alive.)
Game 2 (Thurs., Oct. 1) at Phoenix, Detroit or Indiana.
Game 3 (Sun, Oct. 4) at Detroit or Indiana (if Phoenix is alive) or Los Angeles.
Game 4 (Wed., Oct. 7 if necessary) at Detroit or Indiana (if Phoenix is alive), or Los Angeles.
Game 5 (Friday., Oct. 9 if necessary) at Phoenix (if alive), or Detroit or Indiana (if Los Angeles is alive).
USA Basketball Camp as the Alternative Travel Choice
Then, again for those in the East who can't afford to get to any of those places, one can find a host of WNBA players and a few current college stars in Washington, especially at the public presentation on Oct. 4), where the first USA Basketball training camp for the next Olympic and World Championship quad will be held at American University's Bender Arena.
If Taurasi's Phoenix team is ousted this weekend, she will be yet another participant of the UConn reunion in the nation's capital under the Huskies' Geno Auriemma, who is the Olympic coach.
Already listed is Sue Bird, whose Seattle team was dispatched by the Sparks in the first round, the Connecticut Sun's Ashja Jones, Seattle's Swin Cash and current Huskies senior center Tina Charles and Huskies junior Maya Moore.
Former Temple star Candice Dupree of the Chicago Sky and Willingboro's Crystal Langhorne, a former Maryland star with the Washington Mystics, have also accepted invitations.
-- Mel
By Mel Greenberg
Villanova released its women's basketball schedule on Monday and judging by the listed slate veteran coach Harry Perretta may add a few extra years beyond his actual age by the time March Madness approaches.
In large part due to the Wildcats' membership in the Big East, a winning record will lead to either a second-straight NCAA appearance or, at worst, a trip to the WNIT.
Once the conference portion of the schedule arrives, the Wildcats are almost guaranteed to have a strong showing in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), one of the tools used by the NCAA committee to help select and seed the 64-team field.
The major home date that will be become a quick sellout once tickets are made available is Saturday, Jan. 23, when defending national champion Connecticut visits the Pavilion at 2 p.m.
Besides the traditional homecoming visit of Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, who will head the United States in the 2012 Olympics in London, the game will mark the first return of former Germantown Academy star Carolyn Doty, who missed a large portion of her freshman season with a knee injury.
Auriemma won't be the only Hall of Fame coach visiting the Pavilion.
Rutgers and coach C. Vivian Stringer, who was recently joined Auriemma in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., will bring the Scarlet Knights to Villanova on Feb. 13.
The Big East game also marks a homecoming for Stringer, whose coaching career began at nearby Cheyney. Rutgers will also host Temple on Dec. 2.
Even games that would not appear so tough by comparison are matchups against teams who did well in their respective conferences.
Drexel, for example, won a first-ever Colonial Athletic Association title and feature reigning CAA player of the year Gabriella Marginean.
The Dragons will meet Loyola of Maryland on Dec. 28 in a first-round Wildcat Christmas tournament game against Loyola of Maryland, coached by former St. Joseph's assistant Joe Logan.
Villanova meets San Francisco in the other game. If the Wildcats and Drexel both win -- or lose -- they would meet the day marking the first time in an official game that Perretta on the sidelines would go against one of his former stars in Denise Dillon.
The two teams have met in NCAA privately-sanctioned preseason scrimmages in the past.
Villanova will meet another conference champion on Dec. 5 when the Wildcats travel to Bethlehem to meet Patriot League winner Lehigh.
Another coach with area ties returns when Pittsburgh coach Agnus Berenato brings the Panthers for a Big East matchup on Feb. 17.
Since joining the program, Berenato has turned Pittsburgh into a nationally-ranked power.
Also as part of the Big East agenda, Villanova travels to NCAA runnerup Louisville on Jan. 26, and to national contending Notre Dame on Jan. 9. There's also a visit to DePaul on Feb. 6. Blue Demons coach Doug Bruno was recently named an assistant to Auriemma for the FIBA World Championship tournament next year.
The Owls will meet NWIT champ South Florida in a Big East visit on Feb. 2.
Villanova also will host traditional Atlantic 10 contender George Washington on Jan. 21 to continue an ongoing nonconference rivalry.
As for the Big Five competition, the Wildcats launch their City Series play on Nov. 18 against Penn and new coach Mike McLaughlin. Villanova will have already played a preseason game against West Chester on Nov. 1 at home and a season-opening visit to Sacred Heart.
St. Joseph's, which helped make Big Five history with a triple-overtime win against Villanova last season, will visit the Wildcats this time around on Dec. 9.
Perretta's group will travel to Temple on Dec. 20 in a nationally-televised game on the CBS College network, and then visit La Salle on Dec. 22 to finish the four-game Big Five slate.
A Peek at Temple
The Owls have not yet made a formal release of their schedule while Temple determines which dates will be doubleheaders with the men's team and which games will be played in McGonigle Hall -- the men will also have a game or two in the former basketball home -- but dates, themselves, are firm and it is possible to glean some information off the recently-released Atlantic 10 schedule.
Temple will open at home on Friday, Nov. 13, against Illinois, which is headed by former longtime Rutgers associate head coach Jolette Law.
A major attraction will be played on New Year's Eve when powerful Duke visits. Temple has another matchup with a key Atlantic Coast Conference team on Jan. 23, traveling to Florida State.
Auburn, which was nationally ranked and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, pays a visit on Nov. 17 before Temple travels to Ivy power Dartmouth on Nov. 19.
As previously mentioned here, Owls coach Tonya Cardoza will go against a former UConn player she coached when she was an assistant with the Huskies when Temple travels on Nov. 28 to play Hartford, headed by Jen Rizzotti.
The visit to Rutgers was mentioned above.
In the Big Five, which Temple kept its streak alive at five straight, sharing last year's title with St. Joseph's, the Owls host Villanova, as mentioned above, and Penn on Jan. 23.
In three other games, which are also A-10 contests, the Owls visit La Salle on Feb. 6 and play home-and-home dates against St. Joseph's on Jan. 16 at Temple and on Feb. 2 at renovated Hawk Hill. Only one of the games with St. Joseph's will count as a Big Five game.
Summer League Commissioner Honored
On Thursday night, David Kessler, the longtime commissioner of the Philadelphia Dept. of Recreation NCAA Women's Summer League who is retiring, will be honored at Sumerton Springs, on Bustleton Ave. in Northeast Philadelphia.
The summer competition has featured many local players over the years from all divisions of area colleges as well as players from outside the area or local players who play elsewhere in the winter.
Philadelphia University women's coach and athletic director Tom Shirley is supposed to attend, as is West Chester coach Deidre Kane, and former Penn assistant Joe McGeever. The Guru will be on the scene to report.
Tickets, at this point in time, are $50 at the door.
-- Mel
By Mel Greenberg
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – It was the same old song for the Washington Mystics at the University Maryland’s Comcast Center Thursday night but with a different meaning because one more playoff loss and they’ll be gone.
Seeking to shake off the four-game sweep in the regular season by the Eastern Conference champion Indiana Fever, the Mystics gave reason the crowd of 6,332 things might be different after Washington held leads of eight points and a slim 58-56 advantage after the third quarter.
But the momentum was already swinging in Indiana’s direction and when the Fever bolted to a 10-0 spurt at the start of the final period, total extended the run to 15-0 across the two quarters and Washington once again succumbed at crunch time, 88-79, in a best-of-three Eastern Conference semifinal opener.
“Obviously, very disappointed with the loss,” first-year Washington coach Julie Plank said. “I thought our team had a chance to win. We were very competitive in the first three quarters. We have to find a way to finish the game.
“We gave up too many points in the paint,” Plank added. “I thought we made some defensive mistakes and gave up a lot of transition baskets. We have to continue to push the ball. Our defense was there for three quarters – I did not think it was there in the fourth and we have to find a way to fix that.”
Olympian Tamika Catchings, a former Tennessee star, had another monster game against the Mystics, scoring 26 points and grabbing 12 rebounds
Katie Douglas added 19 points and former Rutgers star Tammy Sutton-Brown added 12 points.
But the x-factor off the bench was rookie point guard Briann January, who scored 16 points, all in the second half.
“We’ve said all along we might have gotten a steal in the sixth pick with Briann January out of Arizona State,” Fever coach Lin Dunn said. “Just a super point guard, tremendous penetrator and I think when you saw her speed and her ability to get by their quick _ (Matee) Ajavon, (Alana) Beard, as quick as anybody in the league, to get to the rim in the second half, offensively, that really helped us.”
For a long time, a different story, one with a Maryland slant, was writing itself because of the setting and the play of two former Terrapins stars – Willingboro’s Crystal Langhorne and rookie Marissa Coleman, the second overall pick in last April’s draft.
In a building that several hours early saw President Barak Obama speak to an enthusiastic group of Maryland students, Langhorne and Coleman seemed to enjoy the comforts of their former collegiate home.
The Mystics were unable to use their home at the Verizon Center because of an arena conflict.
Langhorne, in particular seemed ready to own the night that began with her being named the league’s most improved player in her second season.
She scored 13 points in the first half before the Fever put some clamps on her the rest of the way.
Langhorne finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Coleman scored 16 and grabbed eight points.
Former Duke star Lindsey Harding, who was also familiar with the Comcast Center from the Atlantic Coast Conference wars between the Blue Devils and Terrapins scored 11.
“It was really exciting for me,” Langhorne, a second-year pro, said of her homecoming. “I never thought I’d play here again. I was pretty pumped up for it.
“I didn’t get too frustrated,” Langhorne said of her second half performance. “They just denied me the ball some, they had Catchings on me. We just went to other things.”
As for her improvement _ she dominated the media voting for award – Langhorne said, “I worked a lot on my shooting. Just the confidence the whole Mystics staff had in me and also my teammates, that helped me improve a lot.”
Plank wasn’t surprised about the play of Lanhorne and Coleman, who even got to enjoy their former lockerroom.
“It doesn’t take much to spark those two,” Langhorne said. “Langhorne, obviously winning that award, we know how improved she is – a double double, she’s very consistent _ you can count on it night in and night out. Just for a second-year player to bring that and be that consistent, is very remarkable and says a lot about Langhorne.
“I know that Coleman was very excited about playing here. Obviously, she has great memories from this place – just a tremendous player. She started out really well for us this season, her injury took its toll, but she’s coming back and she’ll just be better and better.”
Both players along with Chicago rookie Kristi Tolliver and formerCheltenham star Laura Harper, a second-year pro with Sacramento, were key players when Maryland won its first NCAA title in 2006 in Boston.
Dunn spoke of the problems Langhorne presented Thursday night.
“We changed some of the assignments, we put Sutton-Brown on Langhorne and then Catchings because she was really causing us some problems,” Dunn said. “I could certainly understand why she got the most improved player in the league. She was really awesome in that first half.”
But Catchings continued to be awesome, herself, especially once the postseason gets under way.
“It seems like against the Mystics, she’s awesome and I love that,” Dunn said. “She is a competitor. She is a winner. And when it comes playoff time, I don’t know anybody who thrives on that atmosphere any more than she does.
“I think the thing about her is her stat line. She didn’t just score 26 points. She had 12 rebounds. She was 6-for-7 from the free throw line. She was two out of three from the three point line. She gets steals and assists and just sets the tone, defensively,” Dunn added.
“She guarded everybody. At one time or another, she guarded everybody on their team.”
The series moves to Indianapolis on Saturday for the second game and will remain there, if necessary, on Monday night.
Free throw: Indiana’s Sutton-Brown and Washington’s Ajavon were members of Rutgers’ two teams to advance to the NCAA Women’s Final Four under coach C. Vivian Stringer who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., on Friday night.
Sutton-Brown played on the team that advanced to Philadelphia in 2000, while Ajavon was on the 2007 team that advanced to Cleveland.
Ajavon said she couldn’t watch Stringer’s acceptance speech on TV but got a copy of the tape.
“She was tremendous,” Ajavon said.
Phoenix shocked
After claiming the best overall record in the regular season, the Phoenix Mercury were shocked by the Western defending champion San Antonio Silver Stars, 92-91, in Texas in a semifinal opener.
Sophia Young had 24 points for San Antonio, who qualified the final week of the season and finished 15-19 in the regular season. Penny Taylor scored 18 points for Phoenix, which returns home Saturday to try to even the series. A deciding game will be played, if necessary Monday night in Phoenix.
--Mel
By Jonathan Tannenwald
Philly.com
Here's the TV broadcast schedule for this year's WNBA Playoffs. 15 games will air on ESPN2 and online at ESPN360.com, while four first-round games will air on NBA TV.
These are the ESPN2 games:
Sept. 16, 8 p.m.: Atlanta at Detroit (Pam Ward, Nancy Lieberman, Rebecca Lobo)
Sept. 16, 10 p.m.: Seattle at Los Angeles (Terry Gannon, Carolyn Peck, Heather Cox)
Sept. 17, 7 p.m.: Indiana at Washington (Bob Wischusen, Nancy Lieberman, Rebecca Lobo)
Sept. 17, 9 p.m.: Phoenix at San Antonio (Dave Pasch, Doris Burke, Heather Cox)
Sept. 20, 3 p.m.: Detroit at Atlanta (Pam Ward, Nancy Lieberman, Rebecca Lobo)*
Sept. 20, 5 p.m.: Los Anegles at Seattle (Terry Gannon, Carolyn Peck, Heather Cox)*
Sept. 21, 8 p.m.: Washington at Indiana (Bob Wischusen, Nancy Lieberman, Rebecca Lobo)*
Sept. 21, 10 p.m.: San Antonio at Phoenix (Dave Pasch, Doris Burke, Heather Cox)*
Sept. 23, 8 p.m.: East Finals (TBD)
Sept. 23, 10 p.m.: West Finals (TBD)
Sept. 29, 7:30 p.m.: Finals Game 1
Oct. 1, 7:30 p.m.: Finals Game 2
Oct. 4, 3:30 p.m.: Finals Game 3
Oct. 7, 7:30 p.m.: Finals Game 4*
Oct. 9, 7:30 p.m.: Finals Game 5*
* - if necessary
In addition to ESPN2's slate, the following first-round games will air on NBA TV. I don't have any information on broadcasters.
Sept. 18, 7:30 p.m.: Detroit at Atlanta
Sept. 18, 10:00 p.m.: Los Angeles at Seattle
Sept. 19, 7:00 p.m.: Washington at Indiana
Sept. 19, 10:00 p.m.: San Antonio at Phoenix
(Guru's Note: WNBA coverage resumes Sunday night as regular season ends. On Saturday night, Washington grabbed the last playoff spot in the East and overall with a win at home over Atlanta. Had the Mystics not made the postseason it would have been the first time in the history of the East that a team along the Middle Atlantic/Northeast Seaboard (Connecticut, New York, Washington) not qualified.
By Mel Greenberg
Returning from Springfield, Mass., and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductions the last few days, the Guru found some emails that either didn't forward to his blackberry or he overlooked in the crush of daily local college results in all sports that hit his Inquirer account.
But first, the Guru received notice late Saturday afternoon that a tribute planned Thursday night for Hall of Fame coaches John Chaney, the retired mentor who was at Cheyney and Temple, and Rutgers' C. Vivian Stringer, who was inducted Friday night, has been cancelled.
The event, at $75 per person, minimally, in West Philadelphia near Penn and Drexel to benefit several scholarship programs, was called off due to current economic conditions in the nation. Monies already donated will be returned.
No further elaboration was given other than notice will be given for planned future tributes.
Stringer's Scarlet Knights will visit Villanova here on Saturdaty, Feb. 13, as part of the Big East women's schedule released last week.
Temple visits Rutgers on Dec. 2.
Meanwhile, the following was contained in an email from the office of United States senator Robert Menendez (D.,, N.J.)
WASHINGTON – As Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer is inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame tonight, below is the official statement U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has submitted into the Congressional Record in her honor. Menendez announced that he would be submitting these official remarks upon Stringer’s nomination to the Hall of Fame in April, and he will deliver to Stringer a printed version of them. Menendez is an alumnus of Rutgers Law School.
The following is text of the statement:
Mr. MENENDEZ. M. President, I rise to extend my congratulations to C. Vivian Stringer for her induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. It is a proper tribute for such a distinguished and celebrated career. This is certainly an incredible honor which stands tall, even amongst her other considerable accolades.
The success that Vivian Stringer has achieved in her 38 year coaching career, including the last fourteen at Rutgers University, speaks for itself: 825 victories; 30 seasons of twenty or more wins; 22 NCAA Tournament appearances; four Final Fours with three different programs; Olympic Gold as an assistant coach with the 2004 U.S. Women’s Basketball team. Her commitment to excellence is unsurpassed and lauded by peers and supporters alike.
Most importantly, Vivian Stringer has served, above all else, as a teacher to each of her players. Her dedication to education beyond the court is clear, as her players traditionally graduate on par with their non-athlete classmates. The students who have walked into her program walk out of it as strong and dignified women, each ready to continue the legacy of achievement that Vivian Stringer has set before them, whatever the arena. Two years ago, Vivian Stringer’s leadership was on display as the Lady Scarlet Knights, in the face of adversity and slander, served as shining examples of exceptional poise and grace.
This 2009 Hall of Fame Class is indeed one of the most distinguished in memory, and it is fitting that Vivian Stringer enters alongside other luminaries that share her caliber of achievement. I applaud Vivian Stringer’s service to Rutgers University, the entire basketball community, and the great State of New Jersey. I wish her luck as she continues her career and in all of her other future endeavors.
Quirk of History
When John Chaney was unable to arrive Friday to be Stringer's presenter at the induction due to a cancelled flight, it put her on the other side of an experience she had several years ago.
Those of you who followed the Guru's induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn., in June, 20007, may remember the Guru chose Stringer to represent the coaching category at his ceremonies.
However, a major airline mess that weekend in the Northeast had caused a slew of flights to be grounded, which is known to have cost his longtime friend a few pennies as she scrambled trying everything imaginable to get there.
Just as Stringer quickly went to Hall of Famers Ann Meyers and Lynette Woodard Friday night, the Guru that afternoon appointed former Atlantic Ten commissioner Linda Bruno, who had come down, as a replacement.
Incidentally, after Friday night's ceremonies when Stringer was greeting well-wishers afterwards at the reception at the Hall, by concidence she was standing right under a contributor-style column-length plaque that had Big East rival-coach Geno Auriemma's picture at the top of the list of contributors. Plaques of several other Hall of Fame inductees were along the same wall.
It made for a few interesting moments of humor, however, when it was noticed several persons attempting to have their picture taken with Stringer realized he would be in the background.
Teresa Edwards To Speak To New York Students
For Guru readers in Gotham, the following was reeived from Chris Gonzalez of the CUNY system about a visit from former Georgia star Teresa Edwards, who also played in the WNBA and former ABL, and is a four-time Olympic gold medalist who will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June.
The City University of New York Athletic Conference has confirmed the guest speakers at the 2009 Student-Athlete Leadership Seminar on September 14, 2009, at Hunter College in Manhattan. Headlining the speakers will be four-time Olympic gold medal winner Teresa Edwards.The event begins at 5 p.m.
Edwards will open the seminar by addressing the over 300 student-athletes, coaches and administrators that will convene. The seminar, open to all student-athletes from the fifteen CUNY Athletic Conference schools, is designed to inform and educate student-athletes in the areas of both personal and inter-personal skills.
“Teresa Edwards epitomizes reaching the top of your chosen field with class, and that’s what we want to impart on our student-athletes,” said CUNY Athletic Conference Commissioner Zak Ivkovic. “We are thrilled to have someone as special, with her five Olympic medals, to serve as a role-model for our students.”
Edwards, a two-time All-American women’s basketball player at the University of Georgia, is the first basketball player to have played in five Olympics. In 1996, the Women's Sports Foundation named her Sportswoman of the Year in the team category, and in 2000, Sports Illustrated magazine placed her 22nd on its list of the "100 Greatest Female Athletes of the 20th Century". In August, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Hall of Fame.
The Auriemma-Hartford Courant Flap
No, this isn't about a set-to between Connecticut's largest newspaper and Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma of UConn, who has won six NCAA titles and will head the next Olympic squad in London in 2012.
Last week it was reported that one of Auriemma's daughters, Alyssa, who has graduated college, had been hired at $125 per article to do a monthly behind-the-scenes blog for the Courant in the wake of her highly entertaining and extremely well-written blog she began writing last spring as the Huskies made their run to an unbeaten season culiminated in the NCAA championship.
Since the announcement, it was reported that the decision is being re-thought after criticism from journalists elsewhere and an ethics person.
The Guru would just like to note that right before the NCAA tournament in 2008 the Associated Press, without pay due to many obvious considerations, signed up several star players from various teams to offer similar content during the drive for the national title.
The offerings were so well received that the practice continued throughout last season.
Coaches have written blogs for ESPN, also, while it's possible players are engaging in similar practice in their respective local newspapers.
-- Mel
(Guru's Note: The WNBA playoff race post is just below this one. Also, the entire speech will not appear at this point in time, but the beat writers at the Newark Star Ledger Site and the New Brunswick Home News Site may have been in better position to pick up some of coach Stringer's soft-voice end of sentences in a few places.)
By Mel Greenberg
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - In just under 15 minutes of time Friday night Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer delivered her best speech ever, achieving the difficult challenge of covering a lot of ground from family to athletics to tragedy and success in accepting her induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Stringer even overcame a major distruption to her mind set late Friday afternoon when a phone call informed her that John Chaney's flight had been cancelled.
Her longtime mentor from their days at Cheyney when he coached the men was supposed to escort Stringer up the steps to the podium in Symphony Hall, a new venue this year because of the magnitude of the class.
Former NBA greats Michael Jordan, the man headliner, John Stockton and David Robinson along with Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan were also inducted, though the Stringer was no less received by the crowd of 2,100 than the others in her class.
Chaney is already a member of the Hall of Fame, where the enshrinement ceremonies had been held, for his body of work in college at Cheyney and Temple.
"I was concerned that something had happened to him," Stringer said afterwards.
"Then in the speech, I had to change a few things around since he wasn't there, so I could still pay tribute to him but also get to other parts a little quicker."
Ever the coach, the native of the coal-mining town of Edenborn, Pennsylvania, in the Western part of the state, had substitutes on the scene ready to do the honors. Former UCLA star Ann Meyers, now general manager of the WNBA Phoenix Mercury, and former Kansas scoring sensation Lynette Woodard, who are also inductees, became Stringer's escorts.
The longtime coach of Cheyney, Iowa, and now Rutgers was given an accolade by Washington Post sportswriter Michael Wilbon, who was broadcasting the event on NBA-TV.
Referring to the group at the outset, Wilbon called the class "one-stop shopping," in terms of the skills of each of the individuals and concluded his summary by saying, "All of them as a team would love to be coached by Vivian Stringer."
Before she stepped to podium from her seat alongside her two sons, daughter, and mother, Stringer was saluted in an introductory video.
Chaney saluted her, saying, “Vivian was one of the people at the forefront fighting for the rights for women in athletics.
There was no Title IX at that time. She would take off on various ventures to speak on behalf of women.
“For keeping her team on top year after year, Vivian Stringer is the best,” he said.
Hall of Fame Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, a longtime friend whose teams have played against Stringer's in such national settings as the 2007 NCAA title game, spoke of Stringer's ability to cope with personal setbacks.
In 1982 when Cheyney was about to appear with Tennessee, Louisiana Tech and Maryland in the first-ever NCAA Women;s Final Four, Stringer's then-infant daughter Janine was stricken with spinal meningitis, which she survived but was handicapped for life.
Stringer shuttled back and forth to the hospital from the event but was able to get a win over Maryland to meet Louisiana Tech in the title game.
In 1992 just before the season got under way when she was coaching Iowa, her husband Bill died suddenly at age 47. Stringer was talked out of leaving the profession and that season concluded with Iowa's first-ever Final Four appearance.
Early in her Rutgers era she won a battle with breast cancer.
“She’s obviously a woman overcome so much in her life," Summitt said. "And she’s been challenged in so many ways. But I never hear her say, `Why me?’ I hear her saying, I’ll get through this. And she does.
“She’s given so much for this game," Summitt noted. "You’re talking about someone that affected, touch lives and been a difference maker – clearly, Vivian Stringer is that person.”
Cappie Pondexter, a former Rutgers all-American now with the WNBA Phoenix Mercury, spoke of being inspired by Stringer's health battle.
"I remember when had breast cancer," Pondexter said."She never showed it on or off the court. And that’s something I was inspired that in any situation wherever I might be in trouble, I know that if Coach Stringer (persevere) got through it, I could get through it as well.”
Stringer began her remarks in a speech she did not read by saying, “I have to tell you this is one of those most defining moments. This is the most humbling experience of my life."
She caused a roar of laughter from the crowd early on when she talked about growing up in Edenborn.
“I had dreams, big dreams," Stringer said in a soft, but firm voice telling people that Edenborn "didn't even exist on the map. I remembered watching soap operas on TV and wondering who are those people dressed in suits and gowns at 12 o’clock in the afternoon.
“I don’t know anybody like that. You see, because my parents and all the people in my community wore coal-mining clothes and carried a bucket. That’s what I saw."
She singled out her entire family, especially getting poignant in looking at Janine, saying, "I've never given up on you because you've never given up on me."
Stringer informed the crowd of Chaney's last-minute absence, telling the audience, “Somehow I was thinking coach Chaney is playing a joke on me. The reason I say that is because he’s been my mentor and been my colleague for many years.
“He’s the person who fought for equality for women before Title IX, financial aid and facilities," she explained.
“He’s the one who taught me everything. There wasn’t a decision I ever made … without consulting him.
“And so tonight I am here. – if it wasn’t for coach Chaney, I wouldn’t be here.”
She noted the limited resources at Cheyney but saluted her Wolves players who were able to become part of the first Final Four.
Stringer praised her Iowa contingent in the room, "I thank you for the resilence you taught me during the time I lost my husband. It was you who rose against all odds and somehow we ended up playing in a Final Four."
And then she spoke of the 2007 Rutgers team that had a dramatic turnaround to get to the NCAA title and then a few days later have to cope with the national attention caused by disparaging remarks by radio talk show host Don Imus.
"Rutgers was the worst team I ever had in 2007, it was that team that played its worst game and ultimately played for a national championship," Stringer said. "It was this team that received the indignaties spewed upon it (Imus) and was able to handle it with such class and dignity."
The crowd then interrupted with a long ovation.
Following the speech, Stringer was one of the more accessible inductees at the reception back at the Naismith Hall.
At one point she was praising the Iowa contingent for their past support. Among the group was women's athletic director Jane Meyer, who is the now chair of the NCAA basketball tournament committee.
The Guru then mentioned to Meyer to remember those kind words months from now when the NCAA tournament bracket is announcement. Stringer has expressed her displeasure with her team's placement in recent years on Selection Night.
"Don't worry. We've already joked about that," Meyer said.
The weekend's festivities will conclude Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Casino-Entertainment complex where each inductee will receive their ring.
Ironically, the event will be held less than 24 hours after the WNBA Connecticut Sun were eliminated from playoff contention for the first time since moving from Orlando to the Nutmeg State.
More to come later this weekend.
--Mel
