LJ Officially an Olympian

On Thursday, Basketball Australia announced the roster for the Opals for next month's Beijing Olympics. And, in news that comes as something less than a surprise, Lauren Jackson headlines that roster.

More noteworthy is that former Storm guard Tully Bevilaqua was chosen for the roster despite choosing to play with the Indiana Fever this season. In 2004, Bevilaqua's decision to play for the Storm instead of staying in Australia played a role in costing her an Olympic bid. This time around, a roster spot was likely but no sure thing.

"I'm just playing it as 50-50," Bevilaqua said last month. "I'm supposed to find out towards the end of this month whether I am included or not. I'm trying not to think about it because I don't want it to affect how I play here. I'm just trying to stay loose, not worry about things. That's how I'm playing at the moment. When the time comes to get the call, hopefully it will be good."

Former Storm center Suzy Batkovic is also on the roster after not taking part in the 2006 FIBA World Championships, won by Australia.

Locally, the bigger news has been Storm forward Swin Cash receiving word from USA Basketball that she will not fill one of the last thee spots on the U.S. roster for Beijing, which have yet to be announced.

When Storm rookie Kristen O'Neill made her WNBA debut on Thursday, her college coach June Daugherty was in the KeyArena crowd. Daugherty, now coaching Washington State University, chatted with Dick Fain and Adia Barnes on the 1150 AM KKNW broadcast on Thursday. If you were there yourself or just missed it, here's the audio from that interview.