e-Zine September 2005 by Mel Greenberg INSIDE SCOOP™… WNBA PLAYOFFS IN FULL SWING The WNBA playoffs are barely This time around, the Sun own the under way, each team has played overall top record, the best-ever one game, with New York, Detroit, win achievement for an Eastern Houston and Los Angeles trying to Conference team, and a whopping avoid elimination the next few 13-1 performance against the days. Western Conference. And if you think about those four Detroit was the only big thorn in names, you can see how far the the side of the Sun all summer, WNBA has come competitively winning the regular season series, through the recent influx of 3-1. outstanding collegiate talent. Connecticut, however, made life Three of the four teams with their easier Wednesday night by backs to the wall are past beating the Shock in Detroit to champions, while the fourth - New need only one win in two York - has been to the finals four opportunities at home to continue times in the previous eight its Eastern Conference playoff seasons since the league title of a year ago. launched in the summer of 1997. The Indiana Fever has also found The Houston Comets won the first a way to avoid late season slides four titles, followed by the Los and might be the darkhorse in the Angeles Sparks with the next two, field. and then the Detroit Shock before the Seattle Storm captured the In the West, Sacramento has prize last year. become the new power with its first-ever regular season title. The Connecticut, formerly the forlorn Monarchs are a win away from Orlando Miracle franchise, has dispatching Los Angeles in the continued to get better since its first round for the second straight move to the Nutmeg State three seasons. seasons ago. e-Zine Page 2 Seattle suffered free agents Connecticut, Utah became San losses to the roster in the Antonio, while Miami and Portland offseason but managed to finish in dispersed. second place. The mainstay inside-outside combo of Lauren While it's hard to predict what Jackson and Sue Bird continues surprises might occur this time, to thrive with Betty Lennox, the the big news early on will be the MVP of last year's playoffs. jockeying by teams to protect players prior to the expansion AUTUMN OF SUSPENSE? draft by the new Chicago team that will take the court next In recent years, the WNBA has summer. had a way of springing surprising news soon after the playoffs end, The collegiate season will be which this year will be in mid- extra worth watching with such September. prized seniors as Louisiana's Seimone Augustus and Rutgers' It was last year that Val Cappie Pondexter expected to be Ackerman announced she was high draft picks. giving up her presidency after running the league the first eight There's also the possibility years. another expansion city could be announced for 2007. Two years ago, the Cleveland Rockers announced they were The offseason will see the folding up shop, citing finances, retirement of another longtime although many believed the NBA- veteran as Indiana Fever center brother Cavaliers' addition of Natalie Williams, a former UCLA rookie sensation LeBron James star who played in the former and how the organization wished American Basketball League, to spend its promotional money reaches retirement. might have been a mitigating factor. Since we stopped by at the beginning of August, the league Three years ago, the WNBA had two block-buster trades in changed its business model and in Katie Smith moved from the process, Orlando moved on to Minnesota to Detroit, and Dawn e-Zine Page 3 Staley went from the Charlotte One poignant note: Sting to Houston. Next week, the late Sue Gunter, The Staley deal added one more who dies last month and is one of season for certainty to her career four coaches with 700 victories, that includes her collegiate will be inducted into the Naismith coaching job at Temple. Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Speaking of the ABL, we count 12 players, give or take one or two, Pokey Chatman, a former player of on playoff rosters whose pro Gunter's who succeeded her at careers began in the other league. LSU, will speak on her behalf, as will broadcaster, Hall of Famer, We'll keep it a little short this and former UCLA all-American Ann time, since the playoffs have yet Meyers. to run their course and collegians are just reporting back to school. Get Your Own Gear at REALSPORTSMAG.COM/MARKETPLACE .