Tamika Catchings and the Indiana Fever finally have that elusive WNBA title.

Catchings' 25 points in Sunday night's win as Indiana closed out the defending champion Minnesota winning the best of five series in four games. Former Connecticut Sun guard Erin Phillips added 18 points, eight rebounds and two assists while Briann January and Shavonte Zellous had 15 points each as the Fever clinched the title with an 87-78 win in game four on Sunday. Catchings finished the series averaging 22.3 points in the four games.

In a nice touch, Indiana Fever coach Lin Dunn inserted former Connecticut Sun star Katie Douglas in the game for the final three seconds. Douglas injured her ankle in the final game of the Eastern Conference final against Connecticut and missed the entire championship series before being allowed to be on the court for as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

Former Connecticut Sun guard Lindsay Whalen led Minnesota with 22 points while former UConn star Maya Moore added 16 points.

With Indiana winning, this is the first time since 2005 that there are no former UConn players on the WNBA championship team and since the league began play in 1997, this is just the sixth time the WNBA champs don't have at least one former Husky on the roster.

The best tribute I could give the six former UConn stars who comprise half of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team is that if somebody not familiar with the Olympic team members were to wander into the training camp held over the weekend in Washington, they would not be able to tell which players were UConn grads and which ones attended other schools.

 There seems to be a tremendous amount of camaraderie on the U.S. team and I think the former Huskies should be commended for not allowing UConn and non UConn factions for forming.

 "People say it is a UConn clique but I joke around and I love Catch (Tamika Catchings), Angel (McCoughtry), Candace (Parker) and everyone," former UConn star Swin Cash said. "It doesn't mean that you have to g to UConn to have the love that we have here. We just try to embrace everybody. Obviously we have a special bond. We don't x anybody out of that at all."

Carol Callan, USA Basketball's Women's National Team Director, admires and is appreciative of how the former UConn stars have maintained close friendships with their college teammates while not making any of the other six players feeling like they are left out.

"What's interesting is you see the camaraderie (between former UConn teammates) but not as much as I thought I would see it," Callan said. "They have a very easy way with each other and it is very comfortable but they are also very cognizant of this being a different team and it is not like it becomes them (being part of) a bigger group in the inner circle which I think is maybe even more impressive."

Tamika Catchings, one of two former Tennessee stars on the team, gets a kick out of it when she is asked how former UConn and Tennessee stars coexist on the same team.

"At some point in time you put that to the side and you grow up and move onto the next level. People are like 'oh my God, Connecticut and Tennessee on the same team.' You know what, it is not only classified as a Lady Vol or a Husky now we are USA and we are representing something even bigger. "

U.S. head coach Geno Auriemma played against each of the six non Huskies when they were in college so he had a sense of what they were all about before he began his duties as national team coach. He probably knows former Louisville star Angel McCoughtry the best since she is the youngest of the non UConn products on the Olympic team and McCoughtry is the only one of the six to have played in the Big East. It should be noted that Catchings and fellow Tennessee alum Parker and former LSU star Sylvia Fowles own wins over Auriemma-coached UConn teams. It is pretty interesting that UConn was not involved in recruiting any of the six non-UConn Olympians.

"I didn't even know who Lindsay Whalen was in high school and she went to Minnesota and almost kicked out butts in the (2004) NCAA Final Four so I have always been a big fan of hers since college," Auriemma said. "Tamika Catchings we never had a chance to really get involved with but I've always loved her and she is my favorite player ever that played at Tennessee. She just plays so hard and plays with an intensity level and passion that you just have to love. Seimone, having coached against her all those years when she played at LSU ad Sylvia the same thing."

His relationship with Parker is the most interesting to watch. While the UConn/Tennessee games during Catchings time with the Lady Vols were something to behold, the relationship between Auriemma and Tennessee's Pat Summitt had yet to completely deteriorate. That couldn't be said during the Candace Parker era at Tennessee. I still remember after Tennessee beat UConn in Hartford and at the postgame press conference Parker and her fellow teammates would not only not touch the bottles of UConn water placed in front of them, they had looks on their face as if to say 'you don't think I'm going to drink that, do you?'

Auriemma and Parker seem to be on the same page and Auriemma has tremendous respect for the potential Parker has as a basketball player and Parker has a strong enough of a personality to dish it out as well as she can take it.

"Candace, we didn't recruit and I let her know that all the time," Auriemma said with a laugh. "She said 'well, I wouldn't have come there anyway.' "I am always trying to get her to believe that she is the best player in the world and she should act like it every moment of every day. That has been fun for me to watch her try to prove that there is nothing on the court that she can't do and which basically there isn't. I know what they are thinking, what bothers them, I know a little bit of how to tweak them a little bit so it has been fun. I have really really enjoyed it."

Later today I will be doing a story on the remarkable achievement Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Asjha Jones (all part of the same recruiting class at UConn) making the 2012 U.S. Olympic team.

I did a bunch of interviews after last night's practice and those quotes will be prominently displayed in the story running in tomorrow's edition of the Register.

However, I want to take a different view of things. I spoke with fellow Olympian Tamika Catchings who can offer a unique perspective because she helped her Tennessee teams beat the Bird-Cash-Jones powered UConn teams twice. During the 1999-2000 season, UConn's only loss came to Catchings and Tennessee. The following year Catchings and the Lady Vols defeated the Huskies in the regular season again so who would be better to put the accomplishments of what figures to go down as the best recruiting class in women's basketball history than one of the few players to have gotten the better of them?

"I think when you look at the makeup of that team and you look at the makeup of our team, it is about
getting the best of your players," Catchings said. "You see the impact of that is you see people that now are on the Olympic team, just how they were able to fit in his system and be successful not only in college but even in the pros."

Catchings always has a nice chuckle when people ask her about co-existing with her fiercest college rivals.

"At some point in time you put that to the side and you grow up and move onto the next level," Catchings said. "People are like 'oh my God, Connecticut and Tennessee on the same team?' You know what, it is not only classified as being a Lady Vol or a Husky now we are USA and we are representing something even bigger."

Finally, I asked her about the impressive first half that Kara Lawson, her former college teammate, put together with the Connecticut Sun.

"I am excited for her," Catchings said. "In this offseason she worked really hard and did a lot of things differently than she has in the past. I know talking to her, she was talking about the things that she did and how excited  she was coming into the season. To hear the excitement and see her doing well has been great."

Former UConn stars Maya Moore and Swin Cash had 15 and 10 points respectively to lead the United States to a 100-62 win over China in an exhibition game at the Key Arena in Seattle on Saturday night.

Six players scored in double figures led by Tamika Catchings' 19 points as the U.S. Olympic team played together for the first time since the 12-member team was announced. A groin injury kept former UConn star Tina Charles out of the game but still Connecticut alums combined for 38 points, eight assists and five steals in the game.

“I thought it was a great start for us,” Cash said. “Everyone came out with a lot of focus on what we wanted to get done and that was to try and build some chemistry. I thought we achieved that. We understand we have a ways to go, but this is a great first step.”

The U.S. will scrimmage Japan later today before the players head back to their WNBA teams to prepare for the start of the season. The team will get back to together in July for a training camp in Washington, D.C. before heading overseas for some final tuneups before the start of the Olympics.

You can check out the USA Basketball site for some thoughts from UConn and U.S. head coach Geno Auriemma as well as former Huskies Sue Bird (two points, three assists), Diana Taurasi (nine points) and Cash.

SITE CHANGE FOR CONNECTICUT SUN OPENER
With the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. hosting game three of the NHL's Eastern Conference fnal between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils on May 19, the WNBA game between the Connecticut Sun and New York Liberty has been shifted to Madison Square Garden. The game is still set for a 4 p.m. tip.

This is the second consecutive year that renovations at MSG have forced Liberty home games to be played in Newark

Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings was named the WNBA MVP for the first time in her career, easiy outdistancing former UConn star and Connecticut Sun center Tina Charles.

Catchings, who averaged 15.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals, received 21 first-place votes from a media panel and her total of 292 points was well ahead of Charles' 209 points.

Spent a few hours up at the XL Center for the U.S. national team practice and the focus of my story in tomorrow's paper is on Maya Moore being able to play alongside of her basketball idol, Tamika Catchings.

As you would expect, both Catchings and Moore were wonderful on the topic.

"She is awesome to watch, just her aggressiveness is something to admire," Moore said. "She is one of those player who you can feel the team elevates when she comes. She's a class act, very conscious of how she treats people just a nice person and somebody you want to hang out with. She represents herself and USA Basketball (very well)."

When I asked Tamika about how she is perceived by Maya, who is the only active college player in the U.S. national team poll, she reflected back to the 2002 World Championships when she was the new kid on the block just a year removed from a brilliant college career at Tennessee.

"It is really cool because I know for me watching the '96 Olympics, watching Sheryl (Swoopes), Lisa (Leslie) and Dawn (Staley) those were the players were I said 'oh my God, if I ever get a chance to play on the same team with them ...' Then in 2002, I am playing on the world championship team with them, goo goo eyed knowing to make the squad what I have to do. Now it is fast forwarded and I am that (player) for her and some other players and it is kind of cool to have an impact on them."

Catchings received one of the best compliments she could get from UConn coach Geno Auriemma.

"I said of all the players who have ever played who I have coached against, (Catchings is) the one I would to have loved to have coached the most regardless of what other school they went to, in the four years we competed against them I always thought that. If there is any player we can take from any school in the country."

Speaking of Moore, she is not concerned about falling behind academically when she is playing in the FIBA World Championships and Auriemma said Moore is mature and responsible enough to take care of things from the academic end when she is in the Czech Republic.

Moore said she is not planning to apply for the Rhodes Scholarship as she hinted she may attempt to do.

"There's nothing there, sorry," Moore said when she was asked about it on Thursday.

The deadline for applying is October 4 which happens to be the day after the FIBA World Championship final so even if she changed her mind, there would be no way for her to navigate her way through the arduous Rhodes application process.

She also said that she will not be getting an internship and she will be able to gradate without an internship.

"It is just a different way of doing it," Moore said. "There really wasn't a time in the summer to have a real internship. I was able to take a class which gave me the hands' on experience called 'best of sport'."

Auriemma was asked a couple of times if he was concerned about being away from UConn for as long as he will be as the U.S. national team coach.

"There would be nothing for me to do in terms of getting my team ready," Auriemma said. "If I was home, I'd be pretty much watching Chris (Dailey), Shea (Ralph) and Marissa (Moseley) handling the individual workouts. Amanda Kimball handles the strength and conditioning part of it. We are not one of those teams who does a lot early on, we are hoping our season lasts until April so that is a long time. (It's) more of a concern is trying to find a way to incorporate five freshmen into the mix and that is not going to be easy.

"I was talking to somebody and they said 'you have a lot of experience. Tiffany Hayes looks really, really good right now. She has two years of experience, she hasn't lost a game in college. Man, she looks great. Then you have Maya who has been unbelievable.' Then we just stopped. There's a lot to fill in and it is going to be filled in by players who haven't had the opportunity to do that. That is going to be something that is going to worry me while I am away. If I stayed home, there is nothing I could do about that."

I asked Auriemma for his reaction to the death of former Cincinnati head coach J. Kelley Hall.

"It is just incredible," Auriemma said. "I still don't know all the details. I don't know what happened. I knew who he was when he was an assistant for a long time, he had been around for a while. You get reminded a lot of what's out there and what's important. I come to practice and I am the happiest guy in the world to be at practice, I enjoy being here except when they don't play defense or rebound."

Speaking of the practice, the players taking part were Moore, former Huskies Asjha Jones, Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery as well as 2008 Olympians Catchings, Seimone Augustus and Kara Lawson. Lindsay Whalen, Lindsey Harding, Ebony Hoffman and Jayne Appel.

Carol Callan, the U.S. women's national team director, said that former UConn star Diana Taurasi should arrive (barring any traveling snafus by early Friday evening) and her Phoenix Mercury teammate Candice Dupree is expected to be in town later on Friday. Callan said details on Cappie Pondexter's itinerary are still being worked out while a knee issue will keep Kia Vaughn from coming to camp. There's an outside chance that Taurasi could play on Friday but Callan thought that was unlikely.

Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm was the top vote-getter and her former UConn teammates Diana Taurasi (Phoenix) and Swin Cash (Seattle) finished in the top five as the WNBA announced the top 10 vote-getters in the fan balloting for the July 10 all-star game at Mohegan Sun Arena. They will join Tamika Catchings as members of the U.S. squad since any of the top 10 finishers in the fan balloting currently on the U.S. national team player pool are guaranteed spots on the U.S. squad.

Following Bird, who received 127,490 votes, was Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Silver Stars, Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever, Lauren Jackson of Seattle, Candace Parker of Los Angeles and the San Antonio trio of Jayne Appel, Michelle Snow and Sophia Young.

These 10 players have earned a spot in the "WNBA vs. USA Basketball: Stars at the Sun" all-star game although Parker is out for the season with a shoulder injury. Hammon has become a Russian citizen, Jackson is from Australia and Young from the West Indies so they will be ineligible to play for the U.S. team, which will be coached by Geno Auriemma.

The 11-member U.S. squad will be announced on Thursday. I'd expect Sylvia Fowles, Tina Charles, Cappie Pondexter, Angel McCoughtry and Maya Moore to make the squad which would leave two spots available. Kara Lawson and Seimone Augustus are part of the core group on the USA Basketball national team pool and could be named to complete the team although Crystal Langhorne, who is enjoying an outstanding season with Washington, could be added while Candice Dupree and Renee Montgomery, who took part in the spring training camp in Connecticut, are other contenders.

The WNBA coaches will cast their ballots on July 6 to complete the 11-member WNBA squad.

Here are the voting results (with former UConn players in bold):
Sue Bird (Sea) 127,490; Becky Hammon (SA) 116,391; Tamika Catchings (Ind) 100,248; Diana Taurasi (Phx) 93,649; Swin Cash (Sea) 85,236; Lauren Jackson (Sea) 80,392; Candace Parker (LA) 78,624; Jayne Appel (SA) 69,316; Michelle Snow (SA) 67,906; Sophia Young (SA) 65,974; Briann January (Ind) 65,164; Tina Charles (Con) 61,664; Katie Douglas (Ind) 61,075; Sylvia Fowles (Chi) 60,342; Shavonte Zellous (Ind) 60,339; Cappie Pondexter (NY) 57,169; Ruth Riley (SA) 56,281; Kara Lawson (Con) 53,538; Penny Taylor (Phx) 53,509; Shameka Christon (Chi) 53,157; Katie Smith (Was) 52,878; Camille Little (Sea) 51,385; Alexis Hornbuckle (Tul) 49,039; Angel McCoughtry (Atl) 48,838; Tina Thompson (LA) 47,972; Tanisha Wright (Sea) 47,912; Ebony Hoffman (Ind) 46,840; Plenette Pierson (NY) 46,123; Tammy Sutton-Brown (Ind) 45,206; Janel McCarville (NY) 45,016; Epiphanny Prince (Chi) 44,522; Kara Braxton (Tul) 44,253; Cathrine Kraayeveld (Chi) 43,481; Scholanda Robinson (Tul) 42,382; Taj McWilliams-Franklin (NY) 42,280; Renee Montgomery (Con) 41,372; Monique Currie (Was) 39,920; Erika de Souza (Atl) 39,620; Iziane Castro Marques (Atl) 39,546; Lindsey Harding (Was) 39,090; Asjha Jones (Con) 38,353; Crystal Langhorne (Was) 37,551; Jia Perkins (Chi) 37,457; Nicole Powell (NY) 36,540; Nicky Anosike (Min) 35,531; Candice Dupree (Phx) 34,666; Betty Lennox (LA) 34,390; Marissa Coleman (Was) 33,806; Ticha Penicheiro (LA) 33,760; Lindsay Whalen (Min) 33,640; Anete Jekabsone-Zogota (Con) 33,321; Sancho Lyttle (Atl) 30,163; Shalee Lehning (Atl) 29,452; Essence Carson (NY) 29,211; Candice Wiggins (Min) 28,767; Charde Houston (Min) 25,242; DeLisha Milton-Jones (LA) 25,232; Tangela Smith (Phx) 21,465; Temeka Johnson (Phx) 21,262; Seimone Augustus (Min) 17,439.

Renee Montgomery is proving she is a quick study as well as an offensive force for the Connecticut Sun.

Montgomery, acquired in the trade which sent Lindsay Whalen to Minnesota and allowed the Sun to take Tina Charles with the top overall pick in April's WNBA draft, was just 9 for 23 from the floor and had 19 points in the first three games of the season.

Thibault decided to bring Montgomery in for a film session to drive home how he thought she should play. Montgomery's career-high 29 points in Friday's 86-77 win over Indiana was the coupe de grace.

"Coach (Mike) Thibault and I had a film session just 1 on 1 and he showed me some things on film I was doing good and bad," said Montgomery, who has averaged 16.6 points in the last five games. "It is nice to see that because now in the game you know what to look for, you know what to fix so it is a daily thing where I am getting more comfortable with everybody on the team."

While the UConn connection on the Sun has been well documented (Montgomery, Charles and Asjha Jones combined for 43 points), there was a touching moment involving former Tennessee teammates Kara Lawson and Tamika Catchings.

Lawson injured her left shoulder, the preliminary diagnosis is a dislocated shoulder,
driving the baseline midway through the second quarter. Lawson clutched her shoulder in pain as she voiced her displeasure to the officials for not calling a foul. Lawson then crumbled to the court in pain. Among the first people to attend to her was her husband, sitting underneath the basket, and Catchings, the perennial All-Star of the rival Indiana Fever.

"They said she tried to call timeout for me," Lawson said of Catchings. "I said I hope she isn't going to get in trouble by her coaches. Catch is one of my great, great friends so I know she was genuinely concerned as I would be if something would happen to her. That was a nice gesture of sportsmanship."

Catchings saw Lawson's shoulder pop out and instinctively went to check on her former teammate.

"I think for me any time anybody goes down, it is definitely one of those things you don't want to see happen," Catchings said. "K-Law and I go way back, she is one of my great friends obviously. Definitely seeing her down 'oh God, what do I do?' I can't do anything. I am not a doctor. I am trying to comfort her and make she was OK.

"I am not worried about it (trying to call the timeout). When you see it like that, it is different. When it is one of your friends and I saw her shoulder out. It was something where I felt like I needed to do something and I tried."

The win combined with Atlanta's loss to New York moved Connecticut into a tie for first place in the East with Atlanta. The Sun (6-2, .750) would actually win the tiebreaker with a better winning percentage than 7-3 Atlanta.