Off the Record - Mar. 2006
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Tournament Update
Posted on March 28
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The Tournament has been a lot of fun so far, and I've gotten a better look at several prospects who figure prominently in the WNBA Draft - scheduled for a week from today. Storm.wnba.com's 
Draft HQ is already in full swing as we count down toward next Tuesday.
Over in Europe, Anne Donovan and the U.S. Women's Senior National Team has completed three games and its second training session in preparation for this summer's World Championship. The U.S. women moved to 6-0 by beating USO Mondeville 87-66, a team of Hungary All-Stars 93-67 and finally MiZo Pecs 76-53. Check out some photos of Donovan in action at right and below (both photos courtesy USA Basketball).
The U.S. squad will be back in action next week, traveling to Australia to participate in the Opals World Challenge, which will feature China and Taiwan in addition to the U.S. and the host Aussies. USA Basketball announced the roster for these games Tuesday, and it includes a pair of players who will be WNBA rookies in likely top picks Seimone Augustus and Cappie Pondexter as well as college underclassmen Jessica Davenport and Sylvia Fowles.
"It's going to be great to get some of the college kids out here," said Donovan in the release. "These young players all have international experience, but it's all with our junior program. It'll be interesting to see how they adapt to playing in our senior program and I'm sure they're looking forward to playing with some of our Olympians."
USA Basketball also announced that assistant Dawn Staley will serve as acting head coach for the U.S. women in their first game in Australia on April 7 because Donovan and Connecticut Head Coach Mike Thibault will be busy with the WNBA Draft.
Speaking of the Opals, last Friday they completed the Commonwealth Games with a 77-39 win over New Zealand in the gold-medal game. Lauren Jackson led the way with a game-high 23 points. Check out a photo gallery of Jackson's Commonwealth Games experience.
The Aussies should get a tougher challenge from the competition in the Opals World Challenge. Jackson is looking forward to playing against the U.S. women.
"They're very wary of us," Jackson told the Canberra Times. "We've been silver at the last two Olympic Games so they know we're coming and we're hungry for the gold medal."
Despite her recent battle with stress fractures, Jackson has been feeling well enough that over the weekend to play for her hometown Albury Lady Bandits in their first game ever in the Southeast Australia Basketball League (SEABL). Jackson had 45 points on 19-for-28 shooting and 13 rebounds as the Bandits defeated Nunawading by a point, 91-90.
Feeling the Madness
Posted on March 18
With the NCAA Tournament starting today and the University of Washington playing as I finish up this post, it's the time of year for picks. WNBA.com
offers picks from several players, including the Storm's 
Sue Bird. If you want expert picks, check those out. If you want decidedly non-expert picks from your humble scribe, look no further:
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I feel a little bad about taking Minnesota over my alma mater, but I worry about jinxing my team and am concerned about the Huskies ability to match up in the paint with the Gophers. Admittedly, I don't have many upsets in the early rounds, but I'm hoping they're well placed - New Mexico over Florida, Temple to the Sweet Sixteen and Arizona State over Ohio State.
Of my Final Four teams, I don't think I have to explain much about North Carolina and LSU. I like Duke as well, but not quite as much as those two teams, and I don't think three one seeds will make it to Boston. In the Albuquerque region, I'm not sold on either of the top two seeds. If Jessica Davenport has a game where she gets in foul trouble, for example, can Ohio State survive? Maryland's worth is somewhat worrisome, even if they're battle-tested in the difficult ACC. I might be overrating Baylor after watching them in Seattle a year ago during the NCAA Tournament. Their losses (Chelsea Whitaker, Steffanie Blackmon) were major, which is why Baylor struggled a little bit in the Big 12 and is a three seed, but I was tremendously impressed with Abiola Wabara along with, naturally, Sophia Young.
I do think it comes down to the top-seeded teams in Boston. In that matchup, I like LSU's inside-outside duo of stars. I see this as Seimone Augustus' tournament, as she has a great run to solidify herself as the top pick in next month's WNBA Draft.
In addition to the excitement inherent to the NCAA Tournament, scouting for the WNBA Draft - which will take place on Wednesday, April 5 in Boston, the day after the championship game - is a big part of the fun of watching all the Tournament coverage on ESPN. WNBA.com has this covered for you, tracking prospect stats and also providing a complete schedule.
Elsewhere, have you checked out 
Janell Burse's most recent blog entry on her experience at the Euroleague All-Star Game?
Lauren Jackson is playing for the Australian Opals in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The Opals are 2-0 and have yet to be tested thus far, beating India 146-46 and Mozambique 104-26. Jackson had 41 points in 20 minutes against India and had 23 against Mozambique in limited action.
Leading up to the games, the Herald Sun had a great feature on Jackson.
"I've been more focused this year than I have in a long time," Jackson told the paper. "This year could be one of my best years. I'm aiming for that."
U.S. Women Complete Sweep
Posted on March 10
The U.S. Senior Women's National Team completed this week's training session and series of exhibitions in Europe undefeated at 3-0, winning consecutive games over Lotos Gdynia in Poland the last two days.
The U.S. women got a scare on Wednesday. Down six with less than eight minutes to go, the U.S. rallied for a 66-61 victory behind Diana Taurasi's clutch scoring.
"Lotos played very, very well," said Coach Anne Donovan. "We were forced to do a lot of different things that we really hadn't worked on, like the zone, tonight. They did a lot of good things to stay in the game and really made us work hard for the win."
Sue Bird had four rebounds, two assists and two steals in 26 minutes of action.
A night later, the U.S. women added DeLisha Milton-Jones (who had missed the previous game to play in the Euroleague All-Star Game) and cruised to a 69-54 victory. Milton-Jones was key, scoring a team-high 15 points. Bird had five points, three rebounds and two assists.
"Overall the things we had to do better tonight, we did," said Donovan. "Defending was one of our primary goals and we kept that goal, holding them under 55 points. Offensive rebounds, we had very few last night and we came up with 21 tonight. Specific things like that we were looking to do tonight we did fairly well."
Courtesy USA Basketball
Center Janell Burse represented the Storm in Wednesday's Euroleague All-Star Game, scoring five points and grabbing eight rebounds in 20 minutes of action. The evening belonged to Maria Stepanova, who scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Europe squad defeated the Rest of the World 86-67. Amongst Stepanova's scores were a pair of dunks.
U.S. Women Win Opener
Posted on March 7
The U.S. Senior Women's National Team defeated MKB Euroleasing Sopron 95-78 in yesterday's exhibition in Sopron, Hungary. The Euroleague squad got as close as five points during the fourth quarter, but the U.S. women closed the game on a 22-10 run to cruise to victory.
"To have four practices in and get a win is good against a good team," said Storm and U.S. Coach Anne Donovan. "Sopron is a competitive team; obviously, they're at the end of their season so they're very sharp, they're very organized, and I can't say the same for us just yet."
Storm guard Sue Bird came off the bench behind starting point guard Kara Lawson but saw 19 minutes of action. Bird scored 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting, canning both 3-pointers she attempted. Bird handed out three assists without a turnover and had a steal. She and the U.S. team's other point guards helped contain Sopron point guard Nikki Teasley, who had just seven points on 3-for-7 shooting.
The U.S. women are now headed to Poland, where they will take on Lotos Gdynia in a pair of exhibitions tomorrow and Thursday.
"We scored a lot of points, we shot the ball very well, particularly from the 3-point line," said Donovan. "So it's nice to see that. Defensively we've got a lot of work to do and we'll need to get focused on that once we get to Poland."
It's not all business for the U.S. women. Here's some behind-the-scenes photos from practice, thanks to Caroline Williams of USA Basketball:
It's a UConn reunion for Bird, Swin Cash and Diana Taurasi, who are prepping for a post-WNBA career in the movies, apparently.
Down under, Storm forward Lauren Jackson is preparing for the Commonwealth Games, which are just over a week away. X-rays conducted last week revealed that the stress fractures in Jackson's shins have yet to completely heal. Jackson's training time will continue to be limited, but she will be able to play in the Games.
"The Commonwealth Games are a huge goal for me and I'm going to do everything I can to help lead the team to that gold medal," said Jackson. "It's a very exciting time at the moment and nothing could stop me from playing in those games."
WNBA.com launched its new history page today, which has everything you'd want to know about the first nine seasons of the league's existence. Be sure to give it a look.
Sue and AD, Together Again
Posted on March 3
Storm guard
Sue Bird and Coach Anne Donovan have teamed up as the U.S. Senior Women's National Team visits Europe for a week of training in preparation for this summer's World Basketball Championship. Practices began yesterday and continue through Sunday. On Monday, the U.S. women will take on MKB Euroleasing Sopron. After practice Tuesday, the U.S. women will play a pair of exhibitions against Lotos Gdynia on Wednesday and Thursday.
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For more coverage, check out WNBA.com's Training Tour page.
