WNBA Draft Viewing Tonight

Coleman

McCoughtry

If you're interested in watching the likely top picks in the 2009 WNBA Draft as they complete their college careers, tonight offers a terrific matchup. Louisville and Maryland will square off at 4 p.m. Pacific on ESPN with a spot in the Final Four on the line. That means a matchup between Louisville's Angel McCoughtry and Maryland's Marissa Coleman, the No. 1 and No. 2 picks in my first mock draft. McCoughtry and Coleman will likely end up going against each other much of the evening.

The Terrapins also feature senior Kristi Toliver, who could be the first guard selected and topped storm.wnba.com's rankings of the point guards released last Friday. Louisville forward Candyce Bingham is another senior prospect.

Tonight's second regional final, Stanford-Iowa State, is not as big in terms of the draft. Cardinal forward Jillian Harmon is the top senior prospect on display, with Stanford's top players still underclassmen. Still, Iowa State will be looking to complete an improbable run to the Final Four while Stanford looks to get back for a second straight year with the benefit of a friendly crowd in nearby Berkeley. That matchup follows Maryland-Louisville on ESPN2.

While watching Saturday's games, I shared some thoughts on Twitter, including my belief that Coleman might just be the best prospect available.

Dynamo On to Semis

In the weekend's biggest game, Janell Burse and Dynamo Moscow defeated Nadezhda 66-61 in Sunday's Game 3 of their quarterfinal series. It turned out to be home-court disadvantage for Nadezhda, as the road team won all three games. Burse had six points and six boards and Dynamo got a 22-point effort from new San Antonio Silver Star Belinda Snell. Having built a 14-point lead, Dynamo was able to win despite a six-point fourth quarter. The key was defense. Nadezhda's Betty Lennox shot 3-of-15 from the field, and Olga Ovcharenko was 1-for-11 as the team was limited to 31.1 percent shooting.

Dynamo moves on to battle top-seeded UMMC Ekaterinburg in the semifinals. The teams will have this week off as Ekaterinburg and Spartak prepare to face off in the semifinals of the Euroleague Final Four this weekend. The Russian Superleague Playoffs will resume on Easter Sunday, April 12.

Elsewhere overseas ...

The playoffs are also underway in Turkey, where Ashley Robinson's Ted Kayseri Koleji squad is a major underdog against a Fenerbahce squad that features WNBA stars Matee Ajavon, Katie Smith and Tammy Sutton-Brown. My understanding is that in Turkey the higher-seeded team starts with a 1-0 series advantage, so the first game on Thursday was actually Game 2. Fenerbahce dominated that game 87-50 to take a 2-0 lead. Robinson was a bright spot for her team, scoring a game-high 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting and grabbing nine rebounds. It's great to see Robinson playing so confidently overseas. Game 3 is scheduled for Tuesday.

Ibiza-PDV continues looking to move up in the standings after an easy 67-45 win over Celta Indepo moved them within a game of Joventut Mariana for sixth place in the Spanish Lega Feminina. Shannon Johnson had 14 points in the win, while teammate Sancho Lyttle posted 22 points and 15 rebounds to win MVP honors for the weekend. There are just two weekends left in the Spanish regular season.

Tanisha Wright played passer in Tarbes' lopsided 78-55 win over Aix en Provence (pdf), which saw Tarbes hold a 22-4 advantage in the second quarter. Wright handed out nine assists in addition to scoring nine points in 25 minutes of action. At 22-1, Tarbes remains tied atop the LFB.

In Italy, Cras Basket Taranto remained tied with Famila Wuber Schio atop the LegA Feminnile standings with Sunday's 76-57 win over Liomatic Umbertide. Five Taranto players scored double-figures, including Suzy Batkovic's 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. She added five rebounds.

Spartak Sweeps; Dynamo Headed to Game 3

Thursday saw the Russian Superleague Playoffs continue, with Spartak advancing to the semifinals by sweeping overmatched Kursk Dynamo with an 80-52 road win. The hosts actually were within one at halftime, but Spartak turned up the heat in the second half, outscoring Kursk 21-8 in the third quarter and 20-6 in the fourth. Lauren Jackson paced Spartak with 16 points and nine rebounds, Diana Taurasi adding 16 as well. Sue Bird scored 10 points and handed out five assists.

The two other top seeds also swept, so Spartak will prepare for a challenging semifinal matchup against CSKA Moscow. Meanwhile, Dynamo Moscow is worried about just getting to the semifinals. The Dynamo-Nadezhda matchup is the only one that will go the distance, with Game 3 tomorrow.

Thursday saw the Nadezhda match Dynamo's opening road victory, winning 87-84 in Moscow. Dynamo took a two-point lead to the final quarter, but never got any closer than four points in the closing stages until the final margin, with Belinda Snell making three free throws just before the buzzer. Janell Burse had 13 points and five rebounds for Dynamo, which was able to score. The challenge was at the other end, where wings Betty Lennox and Shameka Christon got loose for a combined 51 points after hitting for 22 in Game 1. Lennox shot 10-of-20 from the field, while Christon was on fire from downtown, hitting six threes in 10 attempts.

Storm Players Take Russian Playoff Openers

The Russian Superleague Playoffs kicked off today and yesterday, and the Storm players involved got off to winning starts. Spartak is a heavy favorite against Kursk Dynamo and played like that in today's Game 1, cruising to an 86-57 victory. Lauren Jackson (19 points, eight boards) and Sue Bird (17, six assists) were the leading scorers for Spartak before calling it a night early. Even with Sylvia Fowles sitting out and Diana Taurasi quiet, five Spartak players reached double-figures.

Dynamo Moscow has a battle on its hands against Nadezhda, but went on the road to earn a 71-60 Game 1 victory. Janell Burse, who had 10 points and seven rebounds, joined three other Dynamo players in scoring double-digits, led by 19 from Anete Jekabsone-Zogota. The real key to the win, however, was defense. Nadezhda's Betty Lennox needed 19 shots to score 16 points, and Shameka Christon was held to six points on 2-of-16 shooting. As a team, Nadezhda shot 30.0 percent from the field.

Game 2 of the quarterfinal series will be played Thursday, with Spartak going on the road and Dynamo coming home to look for the sweep.

Elsewhere overseas ...

Semifinals series wrapped up over the weekend in Ireland, and both Kristen O'Neill and newcomer Mel Thomas saw their teams eliminated. O'Neill's UL Aughnish squad needed a win by 14 or more points to take the aggregate series and looked good early, leading by 12 after one quarter. Though the Aughnish won 66-61 on Saturday, Team Hotel Montenotte Cork still took the series on aggregate. Thomas scored 17 points, but her Bausch and Lomb Waterford Wildcats squad was too far behind to ever seriously threaten DCU Mercy.

A key game in Italy saw first-place Cras Basket Taranto take on second-place Famila Wuber Schio. Despie playing at home, Taranto was upset by Schio 78-66. Laura Macchi (remember her from L.A.?) scored a game-high 20 points. Suzy Batkovic had a solid game in the loss, scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

Ashley Robinson had a big outing in Turkey, scoring 22 points, pulling down nine rebounds and blocking three shots. All of that led her TED Kayseri Koleji squad to a 77-70 triumph over Samsun Basketbol.

In Spain, Ibiza-PDV moved above .500 by beating Gran Canaria 76-64 on Saturday. Shannon Johnson powered the team effort from the point, contributing 10 points, six assists and five rebounds.

Dramatic Finish to Seattle Subregional

If you weren't at Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion last night, you missed out on some terrific basketball. Gonzaga and Pittsburgh went back and forth all night long before the Panthers overcame a pro-Zags crowd and made just enough plays down the stretch to steal the win.

It looked like Gonzaga might pull the upset when Pitt turned the ball over while leading by one with just under 30 seconds to play, but Janelle Bekkering traveled and a three attempt that would have tied the game in the closing seconds missed.

Pitt star Shavonte Zellous, a sure first-round pick in next month's WNBA Draft, showed why she is considered a streaky but dangerous scorer. Using both man and zone, Gonzaga did an excellent job of keeping Zellous on the perimeter and contesting her shots. Zellous was 1-of-6 in the first half and made six of 21 shots for the game, but she was able to get to the free-throw line to score a game-high 24 points. It was Zellous who had a key three-pointer to tie the game and a transition score in the late stages. She has a WNBA body with athleticism to match, including an impressive vertical.

While the loss was heartbreaking for the Zags because of missed opportunities and turnovers down the stretch, I came away from the weekend highly impressed with Kelly Graves' squad. Before wearing down in the final minutes, Courtney Vandersloot more than held her own against elite competition, coming up with 18 points, seven assists and a career-high five steals. Heather Bowman was obviously bothered by Pitt's combination of length and quickness, but ultimately found a way to contribute. Of the Gonzaga players who saw action, only defensive specialist Jami Schaefer graduates, while the Zags will add Katelan Redmon, a Pac-10 All-Freshman Team pick at UW in 2007-08 before transferring. Something tells me we haven't heard the last of the Gonzaga women in the month of March.

Mel Thomas in the News

Mel Thomas is not your average training camp invitee. Thomas' scrappy style of play made her a fan favorite during her four years at the University of Connecticut, where women's basketball is a way of life. As a result, Thomas signing on with the Storm to attend camp drew attention from the media that covers the East Coast Huskies, better known as "The Horde."

Joe Perez of the Norwich Bulletin writes about Thomas' continued recovery from a torn ACL that ended her senior season at UConn and has a little more in his blog. Thomas' thoughts appear unfiltered in the Hartford Courant's blog.

Over the weekend, Thomas appeared on NPR's Only a Game to talk about this year's undefeated UConn squad, Head Coach Geno Auriemma and making the transition to the WNBA (the interview starts about five minutes in).

Another interesting weekend link unrelated to Thomas: The Canberra Times reports that the plans for a new basketball arena in Canberra include a scuplture that could feature long-time WNBL Capitals star Lauren Jackson.

"Lauren Jackson is the obvious choice for me," said Carrie Graf, the Capitals' head coach and a former Storm assistant. "She played for six years, she one of the most well known women's sport stars in Australia and the world, she's an icon."

Gonzaga Pulls Day 1's Biggest Upset

How's your bracket looking midway through the first round of the tournament? I went 13 for 16 on the first day. One of those three misses came in the game I attended at Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion - 12 seed Gonzaga taking down fifth-seeded Xavier in front of a partisan crowd. In hindsight, I underestimated the energy the underdog Zags would draw from their fans.

As expected, 6-6 Xavier center Ta'Shia Phillips dominated the paint against a Gonzaga team with no player taller than 6-2. Phillips finished with 26 points and 18 rebounds, 10 of them on the offensive end. Alas, she had a lot of chances for putbacks because her teammates shot a combined 13-of-55 (23.6 percent) from the field.

Meanwhile, the Zags were led by their talented inside-out duo of point guard Courtney Vandersloot and post Heather Bowman. Vandersloot controlled the tempo and efficiently ran the team, handing out 11 assists against three turnovers in 38 minutes. Bowen battled Phillips at one end and found multiple ways to score at the other, finishing with 23 points. Vivian Frieson (17 points) relieved pressure when the Musketeers sold out defensively against Vandersloot and Bowman. I was also very impressed by the coaching of Kelly Graves, who kept his team calm as Xavier rallied in the second half and drew up some great plays out of timeouts.

Now Gonzaga, which won its first NCAA Tournament game ever in its second appearance, can legitimately aspire to reach the Sweet 16 by winning Monday's matchup with Pitt, which beat Montana 64-35 in the first game of Saturday's Hec Ed double-header. To do that, the Zags will have to find a way to slow down Panthers star Shavonte Zellous, who scored 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the win.

Once again, Gonzaga will have a home-court advantage of sorts. It's possible the crowd may be filled with even more Bulldogs supporters, since today fans had to divide their attention between the Gonzaga women and the men, who advanced to the Sweet 16 with a buzzer-beater against Western Kentucky just as the women were tipping off. Pitt-Gonzaga, which will air on ESPN2, tips off at 6:30 p.m. Monday.