Even a couple of months after the season, the UConn women's basketball program had a weekend to remember.

The highlight was former national player of the year Kara Wolters becoming the third member of UConn's first national championship team to be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
Rebecca Lobo was the first former Husky honored as she was a part of the Class of 2010, three years later it was Jen Rizzotti's turn.

Kara Wolters, Louise O'Neal and rest of Hall of Fame class
(photo courtesy of Women's Basketball Hall of Fame)

Wolters gave a tremendous and emotional acceptance speech, paid homage to her late mom and was escorted at the induction by her two daughters.

Wolters wasn't the only inductee with Connecticut ties as former Southern Connecticut State coach Louise O'Neal was a member of the class as well.

O'Neal coached the Owls from 1962-76 and helped Southern Connecticut be the only school to play in the first eight National Women's College Championships (an event that predated the NCAA tournament). The Owls finished third in 1973 and 1974 (losing by a combined six points in the semifinals both years) and also advanced to the semifinals in 1975.

After taking Southern Connecticut from a club program to a national powerhouse, O'Neal continued to make an impact even after her coaching career came to an end. She was the former president of the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women and served on the NCAA Long-Range Planning Committee, Women’s Basketball Rules Committee, Sears Cup Selection Committee and NACDA Executive Board.

Getting back to UConn, 10 former Huskies had double-digit scoring games and for those wondering, second on that list over the weekend was Duke with six followed by Notre Dame's four.

Stefanie Dolson had a career-high 25 points for Chicago while rookie Saniya Chong had her first career double-digit scoring game with 10 points against Minnesota on Sunday which came two days after she netted a career-best seven points. Breanna Stewart (23 points), Sue Bird (21 points), Moriah Jefferson (18 points), Renee Montgomery (13) and Bria Hartley (10) all set or matched their season highs. Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore, who each celebrated birthdays on Sunday, had games with 27 and 17 points respectively while Tina Charles had a 21-point game.



UConn legend Diana Taurasi closing in on pair
of WNBA career soring records

Taurasi is now 28 points shy of Tina Thompson's WNBA record for most points scored in the regular season. Thompson had 7,488 points in 496 career games while Taurasi has 7,460 in 375 games. Bird recently passed Delisha Milton-Jones to moved into ninth place on that list although it's going to take a while to move up to No. 8 as she is 243 points behind Becky Hammon. If playoff points were included, Taurasi would trail record-holder Tamika Catchings by 66 points.

On Sunday some players who could land at UConn were able to lead the U.S. to the gold medal at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Aliyah Boston, a forward from Worcester and a player very much on UConn's recruiting radar, was named the tournament's MVP. Boston had 15 points and six rebounds in the win over Canada in the gold medal game. She led the U.S. in scoring (11.8 points per game) and rebounding (8.6) in the tournament.

Fellow Class of 2019 UConn recruiting target Samanta Brunelle averaged 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.2 blocked shots in the five games and was the team captain. Paige Bueckers and Zia Cooke were other double-digit scorers for the U.S. in the tourney. In the title game, the top scorer was the team's youngest player Azzi Fudd from Falls Church, Va. The 14-year-old Fudd had 18 points as she was 4 of 6 from 3-point range. She also had five steals. Not bad for somebody who is several months away from the start of her freshman season of high school basketball. I would have to think her high school games will feature just a few college coaches in the stands.

The team was coached by another veteran of UConn's 1995 national championship team Carla Berube, the head coach at Tufts.

“We just kept getting stop after stop,” Berube said in the USA Basketball release on the gold-medal game. “In the first quarter, I thought we allowed them to get a lot of easy drives. They were getting to the rim on us. In the second quarter, we really shut that down and got some important defensive rebounds, and that was leading to easy offense. When you get stop after stop, it’s hard to sustain us in transition, because we have athletes and players who can make plays in transition and make plays for each other. It was awesome to watch. For a team that has not been together very long, they worked really well together.”

Finally, I've been out of the loop a little basketball wise over the last few days because of my responsibilities covering the semifinals and championship games in the CIAC softball tournament. While I was there I caught up with UConn incoming softball freshman Brianna Marcelino.

Marcelino scored from first base on a single and later drove in a run as Barlow won its first state title with a 4-2 win over Torrington in the Class L final.

There will be a story on Marcelino going up on the www.gametimect.com site later today focusing mostly on the state final and fact that Marcelino grew up in Madison (along with fellow UConn signee Hollis Wivell) before the family moved to Easton when she was in eighth grade. Heading into the state semifinals, she was batting .617 with 43 runs, 41 RBIs, 10 doubles, 12 homers, 21 stolen bases and just four errors.

While making the rather interesting drive from Newark, Delaware to Tarrytown, N.Y. yesterday for the latest media availability for the U.S. national team, I wanted to come up with a little different story angle than yet another update on the five UConn graduates on the U.S. team.

Since I have seen plenty of caustic posts on Twitter about how the U.S. team has become little more than a chance for Geno Auriemma to get his former players on the squad (a laughable point of view when considering the qualifications of Sue Bird, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi), I thought it would be fun to get some people to weigh in on whether an all-UConn team could win the Olympic gold medal. I spoke with Bird, USA Basketball Women's National Team Director Carol Callan, assistant coach Doug Bruno and guard Lindsay Whalen on the topic for a story which ran in this morning's paper.

When I mentioned it to Bird, she said "who is on the team" since she wasn't sure if I meant active players or all UConn players so here is the breakdown of the 15 current UConn graduates in the WNBA.

Current  Olympians
Sue Bird: Averaging 12.5 points and league leading 6 assists per game. Is 241 assists shy of Ticha Penicheiro's WNBA career record. Tied for eighth with 573 career steals.
Tina Charles: Currently the WNBA leader in both scoring (21.4) and rebounding and one of the frontrunners with WNBA MVP. Could join Chamique Holdsclaw as only player to lead WNBA in scoring and rebounding in same season.
Maya Moore: Three-time WNBA champion is fourth in league in scoring (19.4) and sixth in assists (4.4). One of five players to be named WNBA regular-season and finale MVP.
Breanna Stewart: Winner of WNBA Rookie of Month three times, she is second in WNBA in rebounding and fifth in scoring
Diana Taurasi: Sixth-leading scorer in WNBA at 18.9 points per game. One of three WNBA players with more than 7,000 points in regular season and fifth all-time with 1,547 assists


Swin Cash: Ranks 13th in WNBA history with 5,075 regular-season points and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. Key member of championship teams with Detroit and Seattle.
Stefanie Dolson: After averaging a career high 10.6 points and 5.6 rebounds for Washington last season, is contributing 8 points and 4.7 rebounds
Kelly Faris: Averaging 2.1 points and 11.9 minutes in 103 career games with Connecticut Sun
Bria Hartley: Averaging 6.5 points, 2 rebounds, 2.3 assists in 16.9 minutes with Washington Mystics. Since May 21 Mystics are 6-4 when she plays at least 15 minutes, 3-8 if she does not
Tiffany Hayes: Atlanta Dream's No. 2 scorer at 14.5 points per game. Averaging career highs in points, assists, steals and minutes played. Has seven 20-point games, Atlanta is 10-7 when she scores in double figures
Moriah Jefferson: Second on San Antonio in scoring (12.2), contributes 4 assists, 1.4 steals per game. Third among qualifying players with 45.3 3-point percentage. Averaged 17.1 points in last eight games before Olympic break
Renee Montgomery: Averaging 7.8 points per game for Minnesota, highest total since 2013 season. Hit game winner when Minnesota beat Los Angeles in showdown of undefeated teams. Minnesota is 7-2 when she scores at least 10 points
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis: Averaging 6.4 points and 16.7 minutes while shooting 47 percent from 3-point range in last seven games for Seattle
Kiah Stokes: Eighth in WNBA in rebounding (7.6), sixth in blocked shots (1.5). Second in league in rebounding per 40 minutes
Morgan Tuck: Averaging 7.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 17.2 minutes as a rookie for Connecticut Sun. Averaged 15.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in one three-game stretch in June.

There is already a portion of the women's basketball world tired of the "all UConn, all the time" coverage so a team of only UConn alums representing the U.S. in the Olympics might mean the end of Twitter but it was something worth pondering.

Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley were among the returning players at UConn learning to adapt to things on the court following the graduation of the legendary Maya Moore so there might not be two better people to provide insight into the challenges awaiting for next year's Huskies.

Led by Kia Nurse, Gabby Williams, Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson, the Huskies have the nucleus to make a run at an unprecedented 10th consecutive Final Four but the graduation of Moriah Jefferson, Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck leaves some major holes to fill for the Huskies.

"I didn't play with any of them (other than Saniya Chong) but I watched them and you can see their games are improving throughout the season," Hartley said before leading her Washington Mystics team to an overtime victory over the Connecticut Sun on Saturday. "They might struggle with some leadership and somebody is going to have to step up into that role. They are going to have some growing pains but you have seen it at UConn in year's past, players step up and players mature, players step into that leadership role and they are able to figure it out."

UConn lost in the national semifinals when Dolson and Hartley were freshmen and sophomores but those lessons proved beneficial later in the duo's time with the Huskies. That could also happen with the returning UConn stars.

"I think it will be fun," Dolson said. "I know Coach Auriemma will be excited, people are going to challenge him because they think the team is going to drop and that just gives him more ammo to make them great."

Dolson was one of the former UConn stars able to be in Indianapolis as the Huskies won their fourth straight national title. It gave her a chance to experience the run for glory from a different side of things.
"I think the best part was that their were so many alums and so many amazing women there who all went to UConn, all have gone through the same thing, all won a national championship at some point and to be able to be there for history was special," Dolson said. "I was like the biggest fan there. When they were getting the trophy, I was up in front taking the pictures because I was so excited for them and so happy I had the ability to be there."

Hartley was still playing overseas so she couldn't be there but she remained in contact with Jefferson, Stewart and Tuck.

"I would text them before every game," Hartley said. "It was kind of cool, especially those three, I have seen them grow up a lot. I was there when they were freshmen and it was our (Hartley's and Dolson's) first national championship. It was really exciting, I wish I could have been there but hopefully sooner rather than later I will get to the Final Four.

"You just look at winning four national championships and doing it every year ... If you look at my career, our first two years it was really hard to get to that point. They stuck to it each time even in games when they were kind of down a little bit, they were able to come back or when they had bad (stretches) they were able to maintain that maturity level, maintain their composure to come back and finish games."

Dolson and Hartley met up with Tuck for the first time as a professional in last night's game and the Mystics' next game is against Stewart's Seattle Storm squad on Thursday. The first on-court showdown with Jefferson won't come until June 29.

"I was just thinking about it today, it is funny to see them in the league because I feel like I always thought they would always be in college which I am sure people thought the same thing for me and Bria," Dolson said. "I am happy for them that they have grown up, matured and have been so successful. In the league, they are going to be special players so I am excited to see how far they go."

ANOTHER SPECIAL HONOR FOR LOBO
Former UConn star Rebecca Lobo is no stranger to being inducted into hall of fames but in November she will receive another prestigious honor when she becomes a part of the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame induction class.

In order to put this honor into perspective, it is not a sports hall of fame but for legends in all walks of life. The only other sports figures currently inducted are Olympic gold medal winning figure skater Dorothy Hamill, a player called this countries' "First Lady of Golf" Glenna Collett Vare and softball legends Joan Joyce and Donna Lopiano. Lobo will join some iconic figures like Prudence Crandall and Harriet Beecher Stowe as well as four-time Academy Award winning actress Katharine Hepburn.

Induction will take place on Nov. 2 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.

OLYMPIC SCHEDULE SET
Times have been announced for the Olympic women's basketball tournament. The U.S. team featuring five former Huskies has the first game of the day/night for its first two preliminary round contests. It' can be a little confusing when it comes to listing the dates of the game so rather than going by the tine locally in Rio, I will list the time here in Connecticut.

The U.S. will play Senegal at 11 a.m. on Aug. 7 and will be in the same time slot  the next day against a team to be determined by the results in the Olympic qualifying tournament. The U.S. will meet Serbia at 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 10 and then on Aug. 12 will meet Canada, led by UConn's Kia Nurse, also at 2:30 p.m. The U.S. will play another qualifier in the final game in pool play on Aug. 14 at 11:15 a.m.

Canada, which kicked the first of its training camps on Saturday in Edmonton, opened with a qualifying team at 1:15 p.m. on Aug. 6, will play Serbia on 1:15 p.m. on Aug. 8, Senegal on Aug. 10 at 2:30 p.m, followed by the aforementioned game against the U.S. before wrapping up pool play against a qualifier at 4:45 p.m. (the final game in the group play portion of the tournament). The top four teams in each of the two groups advance to the quarterfinals on Aug. 16, the semifinals are set for Aug. 18, the bronze-medal game and gold-medal contest scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 20.
France, the 2012 Olympic silver medalists, and Spain, which won the silver medal at the 2014 FIBA World Championships, highlight the 12 teams vying for five Olympic berths in the qualifying tournament which runs from June 13-19 in France. Two teams will be in Group B with the U.S. and Canada while three teams will be placed in Group A.

When former UConn star Stefanie Dolson posted a photo on instagram of a moment of pure joy with her and her partner, she wasn't thinking it would result in her declaring in a story on the ESPN site that she is in a gay relationship. However, in the days since that article was published, the All-Star forward for the WNBA's Washington Mystics has no regrets for letting people know who she is.

Before the Mystics played the Connecticut Sun on Saturday night Dolson entertained questions from reporters, many of whom covered her during her time as a Husky. The nearly 10-minute interview session was dominated with questions about the impact of the ESPN article.

"Everything is great," Dolson said. "Everybody has been supportive. I don't really see it as an announcement. It was mainly to get out that the WNBA as a league is supportive of who we are as women and that is why our fans are so great because they support us too. That is what I've got since the article and everybody has been supportive and just glad I am happy.

"I've had a few people say that it is something that our league needs to have people who are comfortable for themselves to say who they are and let the fans know. Not that everybody needs to, not everybody needs to be public but I am a pretty public person so why not let the fans into who I am."

ESPN, after seeing the aforementioned photo of Dolson, approached her about going public with her life as LGBT professional athlete.

"I had a decision to do it or not," Dolson said. "I think they just saw the instagram stuff, saw that I was happy and see if I would be willing to let the fans into my world.

"I didn't even think about it when I posted the picture. It meant nothing in that aspect, it was just posting a picture of two people really happy."

Not all of the reaction Dolson has received has been of the supportive variety but she merely shrugged her shoulders when thinking about any negative responses she has received in the last week and a half.

"There has been some positive stuff, some negative but everybody has opinions and then there has been stuff where 'OK.' It doesn't matter and that is probably the best reaction. They just take me for who I am and move on.
.
"We have taken really big steps forward as a society in general in accepting people for who they are, letting them live, be happy and love whoever they want. It is definitely different from years past to what it is now but there is still space and room to grow."

Dolson, who said in the article that her main objective in any relationship is more about her own happiness than sexual preference, is willing to take the torch as an advocate for the LGBT world.

"It is mainly to be a role model for the younger girls because they don't know what is going on in the world right now but they will grow up being an even better generation than ours for accepting who people are," Dolson said.

"I am willing to (be an advocate), the biggest thing is not labeling. The reason I did the article is putting it out there that the league is accepting but also labeling is not a big necessity. I don't think people should be labeled for who they are whether it is gay, straight, bi-sexual or whatever it is. I am a part of the LGBT community and I have always been even before I came into who I am, I've had friends who are and I am big supporters of them and always have been an advocate."

Dolson has received support from her family as well as current and former teammates.

"It is good that she is kind of able to step out and be herself, everybody can accept her for who she is," said Mystics guard Bria Hartley, a teammate of Dolson's since they were both freshmen at UConn. "I know I will always accept her.

"You have seen her grow and grow, become more open and more comfortable with who she is. I think she is happy and I am happy for her."

Hartley believes the step that Dolson has taken could benefit future generations.

"You want to see young girls and young boys come out and say they are comfortable with who they are regardless of their sexual orientation," Hartley said.

There are 11 players in the current national team player pool standing 6-foot-2 or taller and six of them are not in Storrs for the U.S. training camp.

The absence of former Olympians Tina Charles, Sylvia Fowles and Candace Parker opens the door for others to open the eyes of the selection committee members. Former UConn star Stefanie Dolson is among those looking to make a strong impression to put her name in the conversation not only for the 2016 team but the 2020 squad as well.

"It is a great opportunity," Dolson said. "Obviously I like Tina and Sylvia as people and players but the fact that they aren't here gives me a chance to show how much I have grown as a player and how hard I have worked to get to where I am now. I have to take the opportunity and show what I have. It may not be scoring, it may be screening, getting other people open."

Dolson joins Maya Moore, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi as the former Huskies among the 16 players at the three-day camp. Unlike the other three, Dolson's memories of her time at UConn is still relatively fresh in her mind.

"Thankfully I am still at that point, I am not at the Dee and Sue era where you come back and don't recognize anything," Dolson said. "I feel like I am still at home, I recognize campus so I was on the bus smiling. I love coming back here, it is always fun

"To be able to play with these guys, learn so many things from them, play for Coach Auriemma and all the other coaches here pushing me, I just love being back here in Connecticut."

Dolson, like the majority of the players taking part in the camp, spent the last few months playing overseas. She joined her Washington Mystics teammate Ivory Latta playing in Turkey for Edirne as she averaged 12.7 points aided by Dolson shooting 89 percent from the foul line and added 8.5 rebounds per game.

"We are all coming from different spots right now - overseas, home - it is crazy," Dolson said. "I think that is why we are all professionals, we are all coming here, put everything aside and focus on these practices that Coach (Geno) Auriemma set up for us."

After Sunday's practice was over Dolson made her way to the seats where the current UConn players were sitting. She played with six of the current Huskies including Breanna Stewart, the only college player taking part in the training camp. In the two years since Dolson last played for the Huskies she has seen Stewart take her game to even higher levels than when they teamed up to lead UConn to a 40-0 record.

"She has gotten better," Dolson said. "When I was here, she was a freshman and I was like 'wow, she is good.' But the fact that she has gotten better just shows how much work she has put in, how well the coaches have done pushing her so she doesn't get complacent to be where she was as a freshman. I am proud of her and how hard she has been working so it is always nice to see her play. 

"She came in, when you come to Connecticut you kind of have to have that angst about you that you know you are pretty good but she had the competitiveness also, she didn't give up on plays, she played great defense. That is something that is fun to watch, a player who knows she is good, who works hard and is always competitive with everything she does."

Dating back to her UConn days, Maya Moore has always carried herself in a way where she was fully aware of the impact she could have both on and off the court. However, her generous spirit went to a new level thanks to a partnership with with 4-foot-9 basketball junkie and Lupus patient Ariya Smith with the Make-A-Wish Foundation which turned into a segment on ESPN's "My Wish" project
.
Earlier this week the emotional video of Ariya Smith and her family coming to Minneapolis for the Minnesota-Seattle game aired on ESPN bringing tears to many people's eyes including Moore herself especially with Smith began to cry when a video of Moore inviting the Smith family to Minneapolis came across the computer screen at the practice of Smith's basketball team.

Moore reflected on her interaction with Smith after Friday's Western Conference WNBA All-Star Game practice at Mohegan Sun Arena. 

"We surprised her. She had no idea that was coming,," Moore said. "That (ESPN segment) the first time I got to see her reaction on the video I sent her and I was teary eyed watching it and how much it meant to her. I try to talk about being a role model and not knowing who you are impacting. That was such an encouragement for me to know that I don't have nearly the challenges the she has to face physically with her health at her age but to know that I can help make an impact on her life, keep her motivated in some aspect is really, really cool. On the flip side, she inspires me with her story and her
love of the game, her challenges.

"All she wants to do is play. She gets the news that her body is going through all of these things and she asked 'when can I play again? Come on, you are amazing with the love of the game.' It was really cool especially right around my birthday too, it was a really cool treat."

The partnership between Smith and Moore came via the Make-A-Wish Foundation when Smith expressed an interest in meeting her Moore, her basketball idol.

"I've been watching her a while," Ariya Smith told ESPN. "She's just an amazing player. She's like the girl Michael Jordan."

Like so many of these Make-A-Wish stories, the athlete turns a simple request into so much more.

One of the more compelling stories to come out of this year's Travelers Championship was defending champion Kevin Streelman inviting the family of Ethan Couch, a 14-year-old with an inoperable brain tumor, to the annual PGA tour stop in Cromwell even though he had already fulfilled Ethan's wish of going to the Masters. Listening to Streelman talk, it would not be a reach to suggest the
partnership meant more to him emotionally than anybody else involved. Moore has similar sentiments.

"I was presented with the opportunity and once they told me more about Ariya there is no way I am going to be a part of this because it is too cool and what better way to use my gift and my platform than to do something like we just did with Make-A-Wish," Moore said. "They have been doing this for years and it is an awesome thing to use sports to bring people together and celebrate the really awesome things in life to celebrate that you might not get a chance to see.

"It is just an every-day mindset I try to live with, that if there is a way I can help, it makes sense and it can happen I want to try to make it happen. This one was just on camera but I don't get to do things quite as special as I did in Ariya very often."

FROM HAIR TO ETERNITY
Even if the fans turning out to Mohegan Sun Arena during all-star weekend hadn't seen former UConn star Stefanie Dolson before, it wouldn't take much effort to pick out the second-year Washington Mystics center and first time all-star thanks to her rather colorful head of hair.

When she made her first time back to Connecticut as a professional during the 2014 she has started the process of turning her brown hair to various shades but most notably purple. With each passing week and month, her hair color continues to become more vibrant.

"I have grown to love it," Dolson said. "If I go back to brown, it would be so sad."

The idea of going with purple hair first popped into her head when she was at UConn. However, UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey did not share her enthusiasm for that move so Dolson waited until she became a professional player to begin experimenting with the color of her hair.

"I wanted this back in college," Dolson said. "It was a quick joking thing but CD (Dailey) was like 'no.' I asked her if I could shave my head. There was a style where I can shave half of my head but that didn't really work out."

However, don't think that Dolson bypassing the move to purple hair held her personality back during her college days.

"I expressed myself plenty of UConn too," Dolson said with a laugh.

"My personality is out there, people already stare at me because I am big but it is just fun. It is its own accessory for sure."

Connecticut Sun teammates Alex Bentley and Kelsey Bone
to make their first all-star appearances on Saturday

The WNBA released its all-star reserves late last night and leading the list are former UConn stars Sue Bird and Stefanie Dolson and the Connecticut Sun duo of Alex Bentley and Kelsey Bone.

This is Bird's ninth all-star game and the Seattle Storm guard has been a starter seven times. Bird leads the Seattle Storm in scoring (10.3 points per game) and is the WNBA leader with an average of 5.5 assists per game.

With the Tulsa Shock's Skylar Diggins, one of the Western Conference starting guards, out for the year with a torn ACL, and fellow starter Seimone Augustus of Minnesota currently out with a knee injury, Bird would have to be considering among the top candidates to be named a starter. WNBA President Laurel Richie will announce the injury replacements while all-star game coaches make the changes in the starting lineups.

Dolson will be making her first all-star appearance. She is 15th in the WNBA in scoring with an average of 13.4 points per game and is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game. There are now four former UConn stars on rosters for Saturday's WNBA All-Star game as Tina Charles of the New York Liberty will start for the East and Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx will be in the starting lineup for the Western Conference.

Bentley, in her third season in the WNBA and second with the Connecticut Sun, is sixth in the league in scoring (17.1 points per game) and her average of 2.64 steals per game is second in the WNBA.

Bone, also in her second season with the Sun and third in the league. She leads the Sun in rebounding (6.3 per game) and is second in scoring (15.4).

Here's reaction from Bentley and Bone courtesy of the Connecticut Sun

Alex Bentley on being named to the All-Star game“I am really honored to be a part of the All-Star game. I would not be here without the help of my teammates, and I also have to thank coach Donovan, who has put me in a great situation where I had more opportunity to succeed. It’s going to be great to play on my home court.”

Kelsey Bone on being named to the All-Star game“As a little girl, it’s something that you always dream about. It’s a testament to my teammates, and I am excited to be able to represent the Sun at home for this All Star game."​

Here are the reserves (although Lindsay Whalen's status is up in the air after being poked in the eye in Sunday's game and the Minnesota guard is considered iffy to play tonight when the Lynx host the Sun).

Eastern Conference: Bentley, Bone, Marissa Coleman (Indiana), Dolson, Emma Meesserman (Washington) and Cappie Pondexter (New York).
Western Conference: Bird, DeWanna Bonner (Phoenix), Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles), Plenette Pierson (Tulsa), Danielle Robinson (San Antonio) and Whalen.

Fans can watch Friday's all-star practices from 3-5 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena for free. The game is set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and will air on ABC.

Former Hopkins star Lauren Okafor had four points and four rebounds
in eight second-half minutes in her first game with the Atlanta Dream

Yesterday's WNBA doubleheader in Louisville was billed as a homecoming for former Louisville stars Angel McCoughtry and Shoni Schimmel but it was also a chance for a pair of players with Connecticut tie to take a step towards making the opening night rosters for their respective teams.

Former UConn standout Kelly Faris, in a fight to make the Connecticut Sun, certainly got a chance to show what she could do as her 22 minutes matched Alex Bentley for the team-high total in a 76-68 win over Indiana. Faris finished with four points, four rebounds, one assist, two steals and a blocked shot. Faris received at least twice the amount of playing time of the other players vying for the final roster spot as Kayla Pedersen played 11 minutes, Didi Simmons and Inga Orekhova played seven minutes each and Alyssia Brewer did not get into the game. It can be risky reading too much into playing time in preseason games because in the exhibition games the Sun will be playing on Wednesday and Thursday could see a totally different allotment of minutes.

The second game featured a dominating win by Washington over the Atlanta Dream as former UConn stars Bria Hartley (14 points, four assists), Kalana Greene (10 points, five rebounds) and Stefanie Dolson (10 points, four rebounds) were the only Mystics scoring in double figures in the 79-55 victory. McCoughtry and Schimmel were a combined 4 for 25 in the game although Schimmel did assist on the first professional basket by former Hopkins star Lauren Okafor.

Okafor, a third-round pick in last month's WNBA Draft, had four points and four rebounds in eight minutes for the Dream. Okafor checked into the game with 5:06 left in the third quarter and within 21 seconds had grabbed a pair of rebounds.

The news wasn't as good for a couple of other state natives as Stamford's McKenna Frank and Ridgefield's Meaghan O'Hara were among the players cut as USA Basketball whittled down a roster of 149 players trying out for the U-16 team to 70. There should be more cuts today before the team playing in the FIBA Americas U16 Championship is announced tomorrow morning. UConn commit Andra Espinoza-Hunter is among the prospects still in Colorado Springs vying for a national team spot.

While I was working on a feature on UConn senior forward/center Kiah Stokes I thought one of the most intriguing comments was made by teammate Breanna Stewart who said she wasn't on the court very often with Stokes last season.

Not that I ever doubt anything Stewart has to say but I decided to do some checking into the matter and the numbers back up what Stewart had to say.

The Boston University game was the only time when Stokes and Stewart were on the court longer than Stewart and Stefanie Dolson were playing together and 30 times during the season Stewart and Dolson had twice as much time on the court as Stewart had with Stokes.

Stokes and Stewart played at least 10 continuous minutes together only once, against Stanford in the national semifinal while Dolson and Stewart accomplished that feat 31 times including playing all 20 minutes in a half on three occasions.

"Even during summer in pickup games we were mostly on opposite teams because of my size which makes it difficult but at practices things are going pretty well for both of us and as long as we continue to do that, I think it will be good," Stokes said.
For those wondering about the total numbers, I had Dolson/Stewart playing together for 1008 minutes and 54 seconds in 40 games, an average of 25.2 minutes per game while Stokes and Stewart shared the court for 364:35 in 39 contests, an average of 9.3 minutes per game.

As luck would have it UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma was walking through the halls at Gampel Pavilion as I was working on some football stories and blogs and I was able to sit down with him for about 15 minutes. I got caught up with a lot of news including updates of how the rehabilitation process is going for veteran forward Morgan Tuck and freshman guard Gabby Williams, who both underwent season-ending knee surgeries last year.

First up, here is what he had to say about Tuck.

"She is just starting to do that (basketball-related activities) now," Auriemma said. "She is going to do some individuals this week and try to add to it next week and by the third week of September, she could be cleared to go. Usually these guys, they don't look forward to preseason conditioning in September, all the workouts and all the individual stuff that they are doing but I talked to her today and she said I have never been so anxious and so excited to start individual (workouts) and preseason conditioning. I think she will be pretty happy when they get started."

Tuck will bring so many dimensions to the 2014-15 UConn team with her ability to play inside and outside. She is an outstanding defense, underrated passer and can score in so many different ways.

"We didn't see it last year except for a couple of times," Auriemma said. "I went back and watched the Stanford game and the Cal game at the Garden and you really get to see Morgan playing and you say 'it is a miracle that we were able to get through the season and win the whole thing while not having her.' Losing Stefanie, you lost a couple of players so bringing Morgan back into the mix is like adding a couple of players. The other players are kind of anxious too because they know how many areas she can help us in. She is not just a one-dimensional kid."

Here is what he had to say about Williams, who suffered serious knee injuries in each of her final two high school seasons. So how is she progressing?

"Good, same thing (as with Tuck). We are starting (individual workouts) a week from Tuesday, give them a week to acclimated to everything. they went home towards the last part of August so she is going to get with Rosemary (Ragle, UConn's athletic trainer) and I would expect that by the time practice starts that she is going to be ready to do (everything)."

He was also in favor of Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis not being invited to the U.S. national team training camp next month so she can focus all her energies on getting ready for her senior season.

"I think more from way her injuries and the way her season went last year, I think that in my opinion, it was better for her to be here and get herself ready for us and for herself this season," Auriemma said. "That's a position where they are loaded with pros so I think it is best that she stays here and works out with our players."

With incoming freshman Kia Nurse spending the summer training with the Canadian national team and with Nurse set to play in the FIBA World Championships, I wanted Auriemma's take on how much this summer will benefit her.

"I think the maturity that Kia has is really what separates her from most incoming freshmen," Auriemma said. "Most incoming freshmen are used to playing high school basketball and it is a huge adjustment. I think Kia, by virtue of being on the Canadian national team, has made herself almost a sophomore coming in instead of a freshman and the style of play that Canada has is very similar to what we do in more ways than one so she is somebody that because she is not here right now that few people talk about but she is probably the one who is going to be the most intriguing of all the freshmen, I am looking forward to seeing her both in Bridgeport, in Istanbul and when we get back here in October."

I also asked Auriemma for his reaction to former UConn guard Brianna Banks landing at Penn State and whether that was a good landing spot for her.

"We will see," Auriemma . I think UConn was a good spot but unfortunately there are some things you have to do (to remain at UConn). I think having a year off, getting a chance to kind of gain some perspective by being away from it, hitting the books a little bit. It is a big place and they have a really good program. I am sure having a year to practice with the team is going to help a lot. I saw her this summer. I am rooting for her, let's hope she makes it."

Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley have been involved with so many glorious moments on basketball courts in the state of Connecticut so it seemed rather fitting that when it came time to help the Washington Mystics clinch a WNBA playoff spot, that special event would occur within state limits.

Hartley had 13 points, her 18th double-digit scoring game of the season, and Dolson added four points as the Mystics defeated the Connecticut Sun 71-67 on Friday night to clinch the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The win erased much of the drama from the final weekend of the regular season. If Washington lost to Connecticut, Washington could have been knocked out of the playoffs with a loss to the New York Liberty today and a New York win over Indiana on Sunday. Now the Mystics can start preparing for the postseason.

Hartley admitted after the game that it was a bit ironic that the playoff clinch took place in Connecticut.

"I used to play for UConn and Coach T (Mike Thibault) going against Connecticut and he used to coach here," Hartley said.

"I think it is really important (making the playoffs as a rookie). It is a great experience. There are some rookies who don't get this opportunity but you are playing and gaining experience that you can take with you for the next few years."

Hartley, who was in the starting lineup, and Dolson predictably got warm receptions from the Mohegan Sun Arena crowd.

"It is nice when you come back here and you have a bunch of people who want you to sign stuff or want you to take pictures," Hartley said. "I always stop and do that. Just the fans showing love, it is always nice to come back to your college and where your college is and have the fan support."

Wins by Washington and San Antonio on Friday allowed the Mystics and Stars to clinch the final two playoff spots. Half of the eight playoff teams feature former UConn stars as Diana Taurasi is the leading scorer for Western Conference regular-season champion Phoenix, Maya Moore is not only the top scorer for playoff bound Miunesota but is the league's top scorer as well. In the Eastern Conference, Tiffany Hayes is the No. 3 scorer for an Atlanta team which will be the top seed while Dolson, Hartley and Kalana Greene are all members of playoff bound Washington.

Joining a program that has won the last two national titles and became just the second women's team to post a 40-0 record isn't the easiest of tasks but in the eyes of UConn's most experienced players, the newcomers on the 2014-15 UConn squad are handling themselves just fine.

"Sadie (Edwards) is doing a great job of getting to the hole, Courtney (Ekmark) lights it up from the outside," rising junior guard Moriah Jefferson said. "I haven't really gotten to play with Gabby (Williams) and Kia (Nurse) yet but they are doing a really good job with workouts and everything so I am excited.

""They are coming in with the same mentality of work hard and we have had no problems so far and hopefully it just stays that way. I am proud of them so far and I like the way they are approaching it. Natalie (Butler, a 6-5 transfer from Georgetown) is good, she is a good post player and really versatile in the post. She has a lot of different moves and she has a nice jumper as well. She gets the year off and the training with the coaches, I am sure it will develop her even more."

While Butler will need to sit out this season due to NCAA regulations on transfers, the quartet of Edwards, Ekmark, Nurse and Williams could all have prominent roles as the Huskies attempt to fill the void left by the graduation of All-Americans Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley.

"They all have their own different assets," Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis said. "Sadie is really athletic, Courtney is very smart player, a very good shooter, Gabby we haven't seen her play yet because she can't do contact (drills) but when Kia was here and played pick-up, she is smart, she is aggressive, she is really good. I am just excited for them to play. Natalie is coming and she is a strong post player, she works hard every day and she wants to get better. It is a different feeling because they don't know anything but to try to keep everybody happy, try to work hard and whatever you say they are like 'OK, OK, we are going to try to do that.' It is nice to come in and you kind of get a chance to mold them into great UConn players, show them UConn values and what we expect here at UConn and they just want to make sure they meet those expectations." 

Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley were teammates for four years at UConn.
They are now teammates with the WNBA's  Washington Mystics and
 both made the list of candidates for NCAA Woman of the Year.

The NCAA announced the candidates for its prestigious Woman of Year award and former UConn All-American center Stefanie Dolson and guard Bria Hartley are among the recipients.

Dolson was a starter on national championship teams during her junior and senior seasons and she was a decorated student-athlete who was the winner of the Senior CLASS Award while Hartley was a two-time All-American at UConn and the co-captain of the 2013-14 team which became the second women's squad to finish 40-0.

Connecticut Sun rookie Chiney Ogwumike is also a candidate for the award. As for other Connecticut products on the list Megan Barry (Hartford cross country), Hannah Brickley (Trinity volleyball/basketball), Lianna Carrero (Albertus Magnus basketball), Hayley Moyer (Fairfield volleyball), Anna Pleban (Southern Connecticut State swimming). Also a pair of softball players from Connecticut made the list as Newtown's Kate Bowen was Manhattan's representative and Glastonbury's Johanna Clair was chosen from Tufts while Cheshire's Katharine Eddy, a women's lacrosse player from Colby, also made the list which included 446 athletes from Division I, II and III. The list will be cut to 30, 10 from each division. Three finalists in each division will be announced in September with the winner being honored at a ceremony in Indianapolis on Oct. 19.

Just call it UConn week at the White House.

This afternoon the UConn men's and women's national championship basketball teams will be honored in a ceremony with President Barack Obama a little after 4 p.m. and on Thursday former UConn star Maya Moore will join the rest of the WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx in a celebration ceremony at the White House.

My colleague David Borges, who is the beat writer of the UConn men's team, will be at today's ceremony.

It could be the final time the UConn women's team gets together as a group (although I have been told that Brianna Banks, who has announced her intentions to transfer, will not be at the ceremony).

"We have been through so much through all of these years and I think we are real excited to be all together again," All-American guard Bria Hartley said.

At last year's event, Stefanie Dolson and Kiah Stokes caused quite the commotion when they held up two fingers each behind the head of President Obama for a much-discussed "bunny ears" photo during a group shot. When Dolson and Hartley were back in Connecticut last week when the Washington Mystics played at Mohegan Sun Arena, Dolson claimed there is nothing special planned on this year's visit.

"I am going to go with the flow," Dolson said.. "I am not forcing anything."

Last night was all about catching up with their former UConn teammates but former Huskies Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley came back to Connecticut with one thing on their mind - teaming up for another win.

While neither one had the best of games, the mission was accomplished.

"I think we are both excited to be here and happy that we have started off OK so far," Hartley said. "Coming back here and we knew all the girls were coming back for summer school, that was another thing excited to see them and happy that they here."

The UConn team is expected to be in the stands as Dolson, Hartley and the Washington Mystics face the Sun tonight making a memorable trip all the more special.

"We went to see the girls last night," Dolson said. "The whole team and a couple of coaches will be here tonight so it is good to see everybody and feel like you are back at home since we were here for so long so it has been nice."

It has also been extremely helpful for the two of them to be on the same team as they are allowed to experience the growing pains of being a professional rookie together. 

"We understand each other so when we are on the court that helps," Hartley said.

On Monday there will be another reunion as the UConn men's and women's basketball teams will be honored in a ceremony at the White House.

"We have been through so much through all of these years and I think we are real excited to be all together again," Hartley said.

After engineering the infamous bunny ears photo last year, Dolson claims there is nothing out of the ordinary planned on this trip to the White House.

"I am going to go with the flow," Dolson said. "I am not forcing anything. I didn't say we were dancing off, I just said '(President) Obama, 'we are back.'"

Hartley started in Washington's 74-66 win and although she was 0 for 4 from the field, she was 6 of 6 from the foul line. Dolson finished with six points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.

"Obviously we played tough tonight as a team, six games in  we are learning how each other plays and starting to click," Dolson said. "Different things are getting better each game so it is good and it is nice to get a win in Connecticut."

The UConn team sat behind one of the baskets and Kiah Stokes caught some t-shirts during a timeout in the game and she walked up two rows to give a couple of them to some kids sitting behind them.

There wasn't a person at the U.S Olympic Training Center from Friday until Monday with a more hectic schedule than USA Basketball Women's National Team Director Carol Callan.

Knowing that I had requested to talk to her, as I do every time I head out to one of the U.S. junior national team events, she attempted to come into the area where I was working on multiple occasions only to be whisked away on more pressing matters.

After the U-17 national team was announced on Monday morning I was finally able to spend somewhere between 5-10 minutes catching up with her.

The first item was following up what Geno Auriemma said to me in New York the day that he received the Winged Foot Award and that was the U.S. women's national team could meet Canada and incoming freshman Kia Nurse in a game before the FIBA World Championships. While she wasn't ready to say that was definitely going to happen,  she did say that after the U.S. national team holds a training camp in Annapolis, Maryland that there would be another group of training sessions somewhere on the East Coast.

"We want to stay on the East Coast," Callan said. "There was going to be one thing that wasn't really our deal that was a reason to be up there which is no longer going to happen but we should know something in the next couple of weeks."

Reading between the lines, perhaps the Canada/U.S. thing could happen during that time as there is a gap in Canada's schedule from September 12 when the final training camp wraps in Edmonton and September 27 when the FIBA World Championships kick off in Turkey.

Remaining on the subject were some other questions regarding the national team.

A year ago USA Basketball had active college players including UConn's Stefanie Dolson, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Breanna Stewart take part in training camp. They were all added to the national team player pool along with Odyssey Sims, Kayla McBride and Alyssa Thomas. With Mosqueda-Lewis and Stewart the only ones still in college, I asked her if they were considering inviting any other active college players between now and when the training camp kicks off in September. I am sure there are other worthy candidates but the name of Notre Dame's Jewell Loyd was the one to pop into my head so I used her as a possible candidate so that is why she mentioned her name specifically in the quote below.

"I think for September it is probably too soon to bring college kids," Callan said. "I think one or two athletes could be added from the WNBA but for 2016, it gives us a little more time to continue to look. Jewell Loyd is obviously a great player and if we were to think 'hey we need a little help there I am sure we would add anybody."

So how much does Callan think that the college players gained by going head to head with Olympic gold medalists?

"I think there are some things you need to do physically," Callan said. "It gives them a level of confidence that maybe they can handle it so I think it is invaluable. We had middle school kids in here for our U-17 tryouts. It is the same thing on a completely different level."

It should be noted that picks No. 2-4 in the most recent WNBA draft were players who took part in the U.S. national team camp. No. 1 overall pick Chiney Ogwumike was reported to have had a scheduling conflict and sixth overall pick Bria Hartley was injured and unable to attend after being invited.

The final item on the national team was the selection of Geno Auriemma's staff for the upcoming World Championships. Normally it is two college coaches and two WNBA coaches on the staff. Considering how strongly Auriemma feels about having DePaul's Doug Bruno on his staff that results in the other two assistants being WNBA head coaches and normally female WNBA head coaches. However this staff features just one WNBA head coach in Minnesota's Cheryl Reeve as the other assistant coach is South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley. Her inclusion over any WNBA head coach makes total sense as it would come to the shock of absolutely nobody to see Staley on the sidelines as the U.S. head coach in the 2020 Olympics.

"When you look at their resumes individually and collectively, it is a great staff," Callan said. "Dawn talks to players about her experiences in USA Basketball, you want to have that for all of those players even though they are already at that level. Cheryl Reeve has been great at Minnesota and Doug, his contributions to women's basketball over time and his support to Geno, it is such a good feel to the staff."

Callan admitted that with the upcoming 3x3 U-18 tournament in Colorado Springs and championships the U-17 and U-18 teams will be going after, she has plenty of think about before the national team camp or World Championships but she is still excited about the prospects.

"I have a few things before I get down there but we have been working on it, we have been planning," Callan said. "It is like you have been planning all year to get to that point so I am very fired up and ready to go. I think it is going to be great. I think the talent pool we have to work from is exceptional. It is going to be hard to pick 12 and that is what this is all about."

Callan was bouncing back and forth between the U-17 practices at Sports Center 2 and U-18 tryouts at Sports Center 1 and with nearly 200 athletes vying for 24 spots, she got to see a lot of talent on display.

"The younger group that we just finished, it was the most that we ever had to the point that we maxed out (in number of competitors)," Callan said.  The talent level, it is amazing to me that it become as difficult as it is and when you throw in those numbers it is a task. At the end of the day what defines it is that there are some kids who played on our U-16 team that didn't get selected (for the U-17 team), clearly we have a larger pool of athletes and we were very talented. We could have gone many different directions with our teams so that to me shows that this works.

"This older group, they are only a year older than some of the (U-17s) and they just look more mature and to a person they are all great kids, it is not like you are going to deal with effort and attitude, they are just great kids. You'd almost like to not turn kids away when you select 12 but that also makes it that much more special."

With three Connecticut high school players among those taking part in the U-17 trials including Avon's Abby Laszewski, who survived the first two cuts, and Meriden's Kiah Gillespie, who lasted until the final cut, I asked Callan what she thought of the performances of Laszewski, Gillespie and Desiree Elmore.

"I think if you live in Connecticut you probably dream of playing at UConn but you are almost sucked right into that feeling so you want to get better, better and better because you know what you would need to do to get to UConn," Callan said. "I think there is enough competition out there with good players that they have to continue to improve and I think you see that, not only the competition but the attention that is paid to women's basketball in Connecticut and I am sure it brings them right along."

This year's U-17 trials marked the first time players could apply to be a part of the process. Laszewski and Elmore were part of the more than 100 kids who were invited to the trials after submitting an application. While the 12-member U-17 team did not include any of those players who needed to apply to be included in the process, it was a valuable experience for them and it didn't hurt that representatives from pretty much every organization which ranks high school players were in attendance either. This format began at the U-16 level Callan said she wants to do whatever it takes to best identify and develop the top prospects in those age groups.

"It makes us think that maybe we need to take this regionally," Callan said. "I think we are going to work to that end."

I asked her if she meant having some regional tryouts and then inviting the best of the best to one training camp to select the final roster of 12.

"I don't know if 'you come to that and if you are this, you get to come' but just to try to see who is out there and maybe we still do the open application process with the national team trials too. If we keep doing this, we are going to have a pretty good idea of who the kids out there who are pretty good. It is going to give a lot of kids a chance to get to know us ad maybe get the benefit of what we can do with them."

So where did this idea come from?

"I have been around forever and we used to have an Olympic Festival by the USOC and four teams played each other just to have the Olympic experience," Callan said. "We used to have regional tryouts with 250 kids so the format we have is a little bit based on that, we added the skills thing and it is a progression kind of thing. We used to open trials only then we did a combination of open and invites then we went to only invite and now at this youngest level we realize that there are a lot of kids out there that maybe kids don't know about. There is very little different between 35 and 36 so it is based on experience and we tweak it as we go down."

Kayla Pedersen was aware that when she graduated from Stanford that she held the NCAA Division I women's basketball record for most career starts even if she admitted "I had no clue that they even kept track of that."

During the NCAA tournament she became aware that UConn's Stefanie Dolson broke her mark as she set the standard with 152 career starts.

At Connecticut Sun media day I asked Pedersen, who is in her first full season with the WNBA team, for her reaction to Dolson setting the mark.

"More power to her, that is cool," Pedersen said.

Pedersen's situation as a freshman at Stanford was similar to Dolson's at UConn as graduation losses opened up a chance to start immediately.

"I am extremely blessed to get that opportunity," Pedersen said. "They needed somebody to battle in there and help Jayne (Appel) out. I think a came into a class that (graduated) of a lot of folks and I made the most of that opportunity and I am forever grateful for that."

THREE STATE NATIVES GOING TO U-17 TRIALS
The initial list of invitees to the U.S. U-17 national team trials came out earlier in the month. Today USA Basketball released the list of 162 players who will try out for the team. That list includes three Connecticut natives as Capital Prep teammates Kiah Gillespie and Desiree Elmore are joined by Avon High's Abigail Laszewski.

The trials will run from May 22-26 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. with the 12-member squad playing in the FIBA U-17 World Championships being announced on May 26.

It was a pretty uneventful day at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Oh, other than the fact that Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley will remain teammates at the pro level and Tina Charles' run with the Connecticut Sun ended after four seasons.

Dolson's day was probably the only one that was anything close to normal. She was picked by Washington with the sixth overall pick and then Hartley went a few minutes later to Seattle with the seventh pick. However, Hartley wasn't staying with the guard-heavy Storm for very long and she was shipped along with Tianna Hawkins to Washington for perennial All-Star forward Crystal Langhorne.

“I think we are really excited to be able to go through this process with her and now we are going to go in and be rookies together,” Hartley said shortly after finding out she was part of a trade that send All-Star forward Crystal Langhorne to Seattle. “It is a dream come true moment.”

Dolson wasn't in the room when Hartley was drafted but the crowd's reaction made it obvious who went with the seventh pick.

“I was in the hallway and I heard the uproar and I said 'it had to be Bria.'” Dolson said.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma believes Dolson will be a good fit with Washington.“They certainly have had their experiences of working with post players,” Auriemma said. “Mike did a great job with Tina and I think Stefanie brings a lot to any organization. He has a certainly style of play that I think taps into Stefanie’s skills and she is going to be phenomenal pro.”

There were rumblings of some transactions taking place on draft day. With all due respect to Langhorne, word of the block buster came before the first pick was announced with Charles being shipped to New York in exchange for the fourth overall pick, used to select Maryland's Alyssa Thomas, a No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft and Kelsey Bone, taken in the first round in 2013 by New York.

The Sun hierarchy did not hold back in making it clear that this trade was Charles' doing.

“It is so disappointing but we have to move on as an organization,” Connecticut Sun general manager Chris Sienko.

“Two weeks ago was when we heard that she was not going to play. She said through her agent, if (she was) not traded she would sit out. We were expecting her to be here, she knew we were selecting Chiney and they would be a lethal duo but we moved on, that is our job as an organization. We are not going to be held hostage by anyone or anybody and we are going to do what is best for our organization. New York stepped up to be able to get her.”

Then there is this from Sun head coach Anne Donovan.

“We had hoped Tina would want to be a part of our future with KT (Katie Douglas) and we were so looking forward hoping that Tina would be a part of that,” Connecticut Sun coach Anne Donovan said. “As time went on, we had no indication until late March that this was going to go down and Tina would not play here. As it stands I think we got really good value out of the trade. We were not the driver of that trade. Tina and New York were the ones who were in the drivers’ seat for that trade.

“I am disappointed but truthfully you just have to have people who are committed to winning and want to be here. Tina did not want to be in Connecticut, she made it clear so moving forward we will have played here who want to be here, will put it out on the line night in and night out. I think all of that is going to translate into a really good team.”

Chiney Ogwumike, taken by the Sun with the No. 1 overall pick, couldn't contain her excitement at being part of the new-look Connecticut Sun.

“I am excited to come in play hard and play,” Ogwumike said. “I just want to play, that is one thing that losing in the Final Four has made me realize I want to get back out there as fast as possible, redemption I guess you can say. I lost to Connecticut and I am going to be in Connecticut.”

When the Sun began the 2013 season, they were coming off a trip to the playoffs with the team built around the all-star duo of Charles and Kara Lawson. Lawson was part of a three-team trade with her landing in Washington and former first-round pick Alex Bentley coming to the Sun. Asjha Jones will miss the season with a torn Achilles which led to the drafting of Ogwumike to play that position. The Sun also signed perennial All-Star wing Katie Douglas, a star on some of the Sun’s great teams, away from Indiana. The Sun also engineered a trade with Los Angeles to get the 11th overall pick for Sandrine Gruda, another player with little desire to play in Connecticut. With that pick the Sun took Duke’s Chelsea Gray, who is expected to miss the upcoming season due to a knee injury she suffered as a senior.

Sienko said that Spanish star Alba Torrens, whose rights are owned by the Sun, is focused on the FIBA World Championships but he is hopeful that she will come over to the WNBA in 2015.

Obviously the games against New York and Washington at Mohegan Sun could have a little extra juice to them this year. Connecticut hosts the Liberty in the preseason and regular-season openers on May 4 and 16 while the first Connecticut/Washington game is June 5 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The WNBA is one of the few professional leagues where there is no chance for the top prospects to work out for pro scouts. There has been something resembling a combine at previous Final Fours but it typically is for players who are borderline prospects at best.

Well, this year the WNBA teams should have a better sense about the top players since four of them got to compete with and against current WNBA stars during the U.S. national team training camp back in September.

UConn's Stefanie Dolson, Notre Dame's Kayla McBride, Baylor's Odyssey Sims and Maryland's Alyssa Thomas joined UConn underclassmen Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Breanna Stewart as the active college players able to go through drills with Tamika Catchings, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles and other current WNBA stars.

On a recent pre-draft conference call, I asked Dolson and McBride about the impact of taking part in the national team training camp.

"For me it was definitely an eye-opening experience being able to play with all those women at the USA trials," Dolson said.  "I realized that I need to get stronger obviously down in the post, get more physical. That way I'm better at rebounding the ball because obviously being in the league it will be older women who are stronger than most girls in college. 

"I definitely have to work on my strength, work on my quickness.  At the trials, there were a lot of players that could drive right by me.  Doesn't happen a lot in college. 

"There's definitely some things I need to work on."

Here are McBride's thoughts.

 

"I think it was just humbling. You look at all those great players, that's what you strive to be. It was a great experience. 

"It's a whole different level of play.  Tamika (Catchings), watching how hard she plays the entire game, that's how it is every single game. It's bringing that intensity to a whole other level." 

The draft begins tonight shortly after 8 p.m. with the first round airing on ESPN2. The second and third rounds will be shown on ESPNU. The Connecticut Sun will pick first and the feeling is that Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike will be the first player of the board.

UConn's Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley shouldn't have to wait long to
hear their names called during Monday night's WNBA Draft

It's a foregone conclusion that Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley will become the 14th and 15th UConn players taken in the first round of the WNBA Draft.

The biggest question is where they will land.

Connecticut and Tulsa have the top two picks and on a pre-draft conference call on Thursday, the team's respective head coaches Anne Donovan and Fred Williams said that Stanford's Chiney Ogwumike and Baylor's Odyssey Sims will be the first two players off the board.

"Sims is quite the player.  Everybody who thinks that it's a foregone conclusion that Chiney Ogwumike is going to be here with us," Donovan said. "We'd love to have Chiney Ogwumike, we'd love to have Odyssey.  It just depends on guard or post truthfully.

"I don't know that Odyssey is not the most prepared player skill-wise to be in the WNBA. She's shown she can pass the ball really well when she played three years with Griner. A lot of people are knocking her now she takes too many shots. That's what her team needs her to do. She's focused defensively as she is offensively. I think Sims is a great get for Connecticut or Tulsa."

As for what Tulsa is thinking:

"Well, we're going to do the opposite of what you do," Williams said. "You got the first call on that one there. But either player on that end is a good find and good pick. You can't count the other players that's in there with Thomas and some of the others. But, yeah, either player is a good fit."

If things go according to the plan with the top two picks that could mean the rest of the draft could be determined by what San Antonio does with the third pick. There have been plenty of rumors of the Silver Stars looking to move out of the pick so that certainly bears watching. If San Antonio holds onto the pick the feeling is it is looking for rebounding help. San Antonio took Syracuse center Kayla Alexander in the first round last year and also have Jayne Appel on the roster.

From the first time I saw Dolson play when she was at Minisink Valley High School, Appel was the player whose game Dolson's reminds me of. That hasn't changed over the last four years. Apparently, I am not alone.

"Similar but Stefanie been fairly healthy and I think she could contribute more significantly early than Jayne did her rookie year," ESPN's Rebecca Lobo said.

San Antonio has tended to draft the "best player available" as much as any other team in recent years. In my opinion, that would be McBride although Thomas could provide some help in the rebounding department.

New York picks at No. 4 and obviously Dolson and Hartley, both New York natives, would be delighted to land with the Liberty. However, if McBride is sitting there I would be stunned if Bill Laimbeer didn't scoop her up in a heartbeat. With New York taking Kelsey Bone and Toni Young a season ago, it would seem as if guard help would be more of a pressing need (although the serious knee injury suffered by former Plenette Pierson could alter some of the thinking).

Indiana made the trip to Connecticut to watch the Huskies practice and Indiana coach Lin Dunn said on the same call that Hartley and Dolson are very much on the Fever's radar.

"I think when we get to the fifth pick there, we've got McBride, Hartley, (Florida State's Natasha) Howard, Dolson, Thomas," Dunn said.  We're looking closely at all five of those players."

Washington and Seattle are set to pick at No. 6 and 7. Nobody knows more about drafting UConn players than Washington coach Mike Thibault and Seattle coach Brian Agler was in attendance at the regular season finale against Louisville and he could take a look at either Dolson or Hartley if both are available (which would be a stunning turn of events if both are still on the board).

"Stefanie's success will be determined more by where she goes and what system they run but I think she could be a really good center at the pro game, she is smart and she gets everybody better," Lobo said. "She doesn't need to take a lot of shots to really affect a game in a really positive way. I think Bria will be really good, she is tough, she is smart, she works really hard and I think both of those players have really great pro careers ahead of them.

"I think Bria it doesn't matter too much (which team drafts her) because of speed, she can do whatever but if Stefanie goes to Atlanta, that is probably not the best fit, a team that just goes up and down, doesn't necessarily run as much of having the post where they can make decisions. There are some places where she could be really, really successful."

Stay tuned as the first round starts a few minutes at 8 p.m. on Monday and will air on ESPN2.