Could former UConn stars Kelly Faris (34) or Kalana Greene (32)
be the final perimeter player cut by the Connecticut Sun this week?

Yesterday I made the trip down to Uncasvulle to get some stuff for the Connecticut Sun season preview. While I was there I took the time to pick the brain of Sun coach Anne Donovan of not only when the final cuts will be made but also what positions she is looking to make the necessary personnel decisions.

"We'll end up with seven guards/perimeter players and five posts," Donovan said. "It has been a little bit difficult because I still don't know where Bone (fits) she is going to be on the team, that is not a question but just how it is going to fit."

That led to the next question and that is whether she considers rookie Alyssa Thomas to be a perimeter player or a post.

"I told her from the beginning that you are going to be a perimeter (player) but what it has turned into is I want her on the floor so if that means a 3 (small forward) or a 4 (power forward), she tends to find her minutes," Donovan said. "She has really figured out how to play both spots, she does what she does whether it is post up a smaller guard or battle (inside), she can handle herself in the post and rebounding she is an asset no matter where she is."

After speaking with her, it looks as if one post player and one guard has to be let go. Obviously No. 1 overall pick Chiney Ogwumike and Kelsey Griffin, the only player to start every game for the Sun last season, will make the team and Donovan already stated that Bone (the last player to report to training camp) will make the team. That leaves two spots being fought for by the trio of Yelena Leuchanka (who practiced with the team for the first time on Saturday) and former first-round picks Kayla Pedersen and Kelly Cain.

"Yelena just came in today, Kelsey comes in tonight so we are probably going to go to the very end to figure out that last cut," Donovan said on Saturday. "It is going to be tough, Kelley Cain has made a great case for herself, Kayla Pedersen has come back and been a completely different player this year. It has been great, it makes for a really competitive camp."

As for the guards, Katie Douglas, Allison Hightower, Thomas and Alex Bentley won't be going anywhere. Renee Montgomery also figures to be on the final roster so that would leave three players vying for two spots with former UConn stars Kalana Greene and Kelly Faris joining Danielle McCray in the fight to make the team. I don't want to read too much into how the minutes were allotted in the two preseason games but McCray was the first of the trio summoned off the bench in Thursday's preseason finale. McCray and Greene both got playing time in the first half while Faris did not check into the game until 8:41 left in the game In the first exhibition game Faris was the first of the three to check into the game so perhaps it was simply the case of the coaching staff needing a longer look at McCray (who did not play last season) in the final preseason game rather than her being ahead of Faris in the pecking order.

It's not going to be an easy task for Donovan and her staff, especially when it comes time to cut loose one of the perimeter players. Greene played in all but one regular season for the Sun over the last three seasons after being acquired during a draft-day trade in 2011. She started 95 of the Sun's 102 games over the last three seasons. McCray played 62 regular-season games for the Sun during the 2011 and 2012 seasons and with 54 3-pointers and a 36.7 3-point percentage, she has proven to be the best perimeter shooter of the trio. Faris was showing tremendous growth during her rookie season before she was one of the many Sun players who had her 2013 season shortened due to injury. Faris displayed an ability to be a defensive stopper on the perimeter and she was the first draft pick of the post-Mike Thibault era with the Sun.

It is going to be interesting.

Even before the season began the injury bug was proving to have quite the appetite in the camp of the Connecticut Sun as veteran forward Asjha Jones made the decision to take the entire 2013 season off to recover from a variety of ailments and underrated wing Danielle McCray would also be sidelined for the entire season due to an injury she suffered playing overseas. However, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

If there was one image from last night's Sun/Washington Mystics game it was seeing Renee Montgomery, Kara Lawson and Tan White all in street clothes unable to play. Predictably, down the stretch the Sun struggled offensively without three of its best perimeter offensive players.

If you include Jones, McCray and Jessica Moore (who was not re-signed and promptly was picked up by Washington) the Sun played without players who accounted for 52 percent of the team's offense during the 2012 season and made 172 of the team's 199 3-pointers.

The good news is that Lawson's injury is considered to be day by day and there is a chance she will be back when the Sun return to action on Wednesday with a game at Indiana. However, Montgomery and White likely won't be back until next month.

Montgomery suffered a high ankle sprain during a gruesome-looking tumble to court late in a loss to Chicago while White broke the middle finger on her right hand during practice earlier this week. Both are expected to miss at least three weeks.

Montgomery has not watched replays of the injury nor is she planning to.

"I got hit on the screen and I went down and it was bad," Montgomery said before Friday's loss to the Mystics. "When he (Sun trainer Jeremy Norman) came out, I didn't know what was hurt and I just said 'my leg' but it was a bad fall. I never missed a game in junior high, high school, college or pros.. This is the first time I had to miss a game before." 

Montgomery realizes that the way that her leg bent backwards on the fall that she could have easily found herself on the sidelines for a much longer period than just three or four weeks.

"I feel blessed," Montgomery said. "I didn't go back and look at it but when it happened I knew it was bad. I could have been out the whole season the way the fall happened so I know I am blessed."

Right now Montgomery needs to stay off the injured ankle as much as possible. During games she will wear a walking boot but the rest of the time she will get around with the help of crutches.

White will be able to start doing cardio workouts in a couple of days. She is wearing a splint to protect her entire hand.

White said she was defending rookie Kelly Faris in practice and when Faris drove by, she swiped at the ball as she had done countless times during practices and games in her professional career. She missed the ball and made contact with Faris' arm. At first White thought she might have just jammed the finger but further examination the following day revealed that she had broken the finger. With her injury coming so soon after Montgomery went down left the Sun rather thin in perimeter options coming off the bench.

"It can happen on any team," White said. "It is not something that we planned to do intentionally but if you are playing the game these kinds of injuries come all the time. It is a bad situation to have both of us being out at the same time. It is what it is, mine is a short injury and hopefully I will recover and be back quickly.

"This is opportunity for everybody to step up because we need everybody to do a little extra and from here on until we get back and it is a great opportunity for these young players."

Faris is one of the young players who has impressed White especially with the way she played defensively against another former UConn star (Maya Moore) in the Sun's recent loss to Minnesota.

"She has responded well," White said. "At training camp she didn't get to play that much because she was injured but just to play such a tough team in Minnesota, she came out and showed defensively that she can be a stopper. I am excited to continue see her grow and have her put in a position where she can find a role here."

OPENING NIGHT FUNDRAISER A SUCCESS

The Connecticut Sun donated ticket sales from the season-opening win against New York to the American Red Cross to aid those impacted by the deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma.

The Sun doesn't want to make it look like they were engaging in a publicity stunt so there will be no ceremony with a check being presented to officials from the Red Cross but I was told last night that approximately $16,000 was raised.

MONTGOMERY THRILLED FOR FORMER HUSKY

Montgomery didn't cross paths with fellow former UConn point guard Jen Rizzotti that much during her time with the Huskies but she still admitted to feeling a sense of pride that Rizzotti is becoming the second former UConn player to be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame later today.

"I don't know if it is the culture that UConn has created but even if you haven't had much contact with somebody who is a UConn alum you still have this mutual understanding of friendship and camaraderie so I am happy for her and proud she is going into the Hall of Fame." 

According to the www.lovewomensbasketball.com site, Connecticut Sun guard/forward Danielle McCray was injured in an Italian league playoff game on Thursday.

The story said there are unconfirmed reports out of Italy that McCray's injury was a torn Achilles. If that ends up being the injury, McCray will be the second member of the 2012 Connecticut Sun to miss the 2013 WNBA season due to injury as All-Star forward Asjha Jones announced today that injuries would prevent her from playing this season. UPDATED AT 5:45 AM ON FRIDAY: the same website is reporting that initial diagnosis is indeed a torn Achilles.

McCray averaged 12.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game for Famila Schio during EuroLeague competition..

McCray started eight games for the Connecticut Sun during the 2012 season and averaged 4.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

Former UConn star Diana Taurasi led her UMMC Ekaterinburg team to a dominant run through the quarterfinal run of the EuroLeague players.

Taurasi had 13 points, four points and three rebounds as Ekaterinburg rolled by Galatasaray 72-44 to finish 3-0 with an average margin of victory of 27.3 to roll into the semifinals.

Taurasi, who won four titles with Spartak, leads Ekaterinburg into Friday's semifinals against Bourges Basket while Fenerbahce meets Good Angels Kosice in the other semifinals. The winners meet in Sunday's championship game.

Marissa Coleman of the Los Angeles Sparks had 19 points and six rebounds and former Cheshire Academy star Johannah Leedham, who will be at the Connecticut Sun training camp, added 10 points and nine rebounds as Bourges Basket clinched a semifinal berth with a 60-56 win over Famila Schio on Wednesday. Danielle McCray of the Connecticut Sun had 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and six steals for Famila Schio.

Natasha Lacy, recently signed by the Connecticut Sun, averaged 8.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in Good Angels Kosice's three games in the quarterfinal round.

After missing the playoffs for the last two years, the Connecticut Sun clinched a spot on Tuesday night.

It was far from an ideal way of getting into the playoffs as the Sun followed up a puzzling loss at Tulsa by losing 78-66 at San Antonio. But Chicago's loss to New York guaranteed Connecticut one of the four Eastern Conference playoff spots.

"This doesn’t feel real good," Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault said after the game. "You’d rather win to get in [the playoffs]. You don’t want to back in. We were going to get in eventually, but it’s not a fun way to have it happen. I’d rather walk off the court with a win and say we did something great tonight. We didn’t do much great tonight."

Veteran forward Asjha Jones, the only member of the 2008 Connecticut Sun team still with the squad, had a similar reaction.

"At least we’re in, right?" Jones said. "The last two years we haven’t gotten to the playoffs, so I guess that’s something to be thankful for tonight. We’re not too proud of our performance, but at least we’re in.”

Three years doesn't sound like a long time but just out of curiousity I looked at the Sun's 2008 statistics to see how much things have changes. Only six of the 14 players who suited up for the Sun in '08 are on active WNBA rosters (Jones, Minnesota guard Lindsay Whalen, Indiana guard Erin Phillips, Phoenix guard Ketia Swanier, Washington guard Kerri Gardin and Tulsa forward Amber Holt). Tamika Whitmore, Barbara Turner, Sandrine Gruda, Svetlana Abrosimova, Jamie Carey, Jolene Anderson, Tamika Raymond and Danielle Page were all members of the 2008 Sun squad who haven't played in the league this year.

Think about this year's squad as seven of the 11 players were college kids back in 2008. Renee Montgomery, Kalana Greene and Tina Charles were all teammates at UConn, Kelsey Griffin was enrolled at Nebraska, Danielle McCray was at Kansas, Allison Hightower and Jessica Breland were college students at LSU and North Carolina, Kara Lawson was a member of the Sacramento Monarchs, Tan White was with the Indiana Fever while Jessica Moore played for the Los Angeles Sparks.

Danielle McCray, taken with the seventh overall pick in the 2010 WNBA draft, signed a three-year contract with an option for a fourth season with the Connecticut Sun on Monday.

McCray, a former star at Kansas, missed the entire 2010 WNBA season as she recovered from a knee injury suffered during her senior season at Kansas. She made her pro debut playing in Israel with Hapoel Rishon Lezion. In 18 games she is averaging 18 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals with seven 20-point performances.

Here is the release from the Sun:
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (February 14, 2011) – The Connecticut Sun announced today
that guard Danielle McCray has been signed to a three-year contract with a
team option for a fourth season.

As per team policy, no terms were released.

“Had she been healthy, we think Danielle would have been a top three pick
in the draft last year,” coach Mike Thibault said. “It is like having a
first round pick this year be a lottery pick. She is having a great year in
Israel and we are looking forward to having her here in May.”

Selected by the Sun with the seventh overall pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft,
McCray missed the entire 2010 season after tearing the anterior cruciate
ligament in her left knee during her senior season at Kansas. With the
Jayhawks, McCray scored 1,934 career points and was a preseason Big 12
Player of the Year candidate prior to her injury.

The 5-foot-11 guard is currently playing overseas for Hapoel Rishon Le-Zion
in Israel. She is averaging 18 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 18
games for the Israeli club.

The Connecticut Sun will open its ninth season at Mohegan Sun Arena on
Saturday, June 4th by hosting the Washington Mystics at 7 p.m. Sun season
tickets and Mini Plans for the 2011 season are currently on sale and can be
reserved by calling a Sun Ticket Sales Representative at 1.877.SUN.TIXX or
by e-mailing the Sun at tickets@connecticutsun.com.

Former Connecticut Sun guard signed with the Seattle Storm on Wednesday. Phillips was signed as an unrestricted free agent.

A year ago the Sun was close to trading Phillips' rights but the deal fell through. My understanding of Phillips' situation was that her rights would be owned by the Sun and she would be classified as a "reserve" player as long as they offered her a contract. Obviously that is no longer the case or Seattle would not have been able to sign her as an unrestricted free agent.

Before UConn's game against Oklahoma on Monday, Thibault, assistant coach Scott Hawk and general manager Chris Sienko will be sitting down with members of the media so we'll be able to find out the dynamics of Phillips' situation but the bottom line is she was not going to come back to Connecticut so good for her that she was able to sign up with the defending WNBA champions.

With the Sun getting nothing in return for Phillips and Anete Jekabsone-Zogota's decision to skip the upcoming WNBA season, it would appear as if Danielle McCray will be playing a rather crucial role for the Sun in the upcoming season.

McCray is playing well in Israel, averaging 17.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.8 steals per game for Hapoel Rishon Lezion. She is one of three Connecticut Sun players in Israel as Kerri Gardin is averaging 16.5 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.2 steals for Elizur Holon and Renee Montgomery is averaging 18.4 points, 3.9 assists and 2.1 steals for Maccabi Ashdod.

Staying on the subject of overseas basketball, the first round series in the EuroLeague are now all in the books.

Ros Casares, Cras Basket Taranto, Bourges Basket and four-time defending champion Spartak Moscow Region won the decisive third games on Wednesday. Former UConn star Sue Bird had 18 points, four rebounds and three assists in Spartak's 69-63 victory over Beretta-Famila.

The quarterfinals begin on Feb. 22 with Fenerbahce playing Spartak, UMMC Ekaterinburg (led by the Connecticut Sun's Sandrine Gruda) facing Cras Basket Taranto, Wisla Can-Pack meeting Halcon Avenida and Ros Casares playing Bourges Basket. A player to watch for Halcon Avenida is Alba Torrens, who is averaging 16.3 points per game. Her WNBA rights are owned by the Sun but there's no word about whether she plans to come over to the U.S. after playing for Spain in the EuroCup.