Before she headed off to paradise with the rest of the UConn women's basketball team, I asked UConn senior guard Renee Montgomery if she paid any attention to the recent WNBA lottery since it could ultimately determine where she ends up.

"I will care but right now I don't because my focus right now is just UConn," Montgomery said. "I will care when it comes time to care. I try to stay right here because when you start thinking about too many other things as far the future, things right here tend to slip right by you."

I found the lottery results interesting since Washington and Chicago, which will pick second and third, are both in need of help at point guard. So will Montgomery be picked that high? It's too early to tell but I think it will be determined by the fate of Oklahoma's Courtney Paris. If Paris is taken with either of the top two picks (I would expect Louisville's Angel McCoughtry to be the other top pick), Chicago is sitting there with both Montgomery and Maryland's Kristi Toliver on the board.

Speaking of the WNBA, the list of cored players was recently put up on the WNBA site. Former UConn star Sue Bird, Deanna Nolan of the Detroit Shock and Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever were among the seven players cored. With the cored players in place, now the fun starts. The period when WNBA teams can speak to free agents began on Monday although no contracts can be signed until Jan. 5.

Changing gears, there was some disturbing news coming out of New Zealand as the funding for New Zealand's senior women's basketball program has been cut. That could impact current UConn center Jessica McCormack, who played with the Tall Ferns in the 2008 Olympics, down the road.

On a more optimistic note, people who are into such things will likely be keeping tabs on the results of the Tournament of Champions in the Phoenix area later this week. UConn commit Samarie Walker will lead her Chaminade-Julienne team into the premier high school girls' basketball event in the country. Orsi Szecsi and her Oak Hill Academy team will also be playing in the event. Nine teams in the top 25 in USA Today's national high school poll will be playing in Session I of the event which begins Thursday. Top-ranked Long Beach (Calif.) Poly heads the list and will face Chaminade-Julienne on Thursday. With UConn playing in the Caribbean Classic at the same time, it will be difficult for the Huskies to have any staff members in attendance at the event.