Not a surprise that MLM (Mo, Lang, and Matee, not multi level marketing) made the roster. Given that Trudi Lacey wanted this team to be a veteran team as opposed to last year which went young, not a surprise that most of the older players that were brought in will make it to opening night.

I wasn't surprised that the rookies may not make the final roster at the end of the season in order to accommodate a better player, but a little surprised that one of them was cut so soon. Why even draft LaSondra in the first place if she won't make it past camp? She could have been traded for another vet who could have had a better shot at this roster! I could go on with a rant, but I'm pretty high on young players on rebuilding teams.

This year is the 15th season of Mystics basketball. One of the biggest promotions for this year is the All-Time team, where fans can select their favorite Mystics. 14 players have been selected to be voted, and fans can also select a player by write in vote. Voting starts this Saturday, on May 19.

Here are the Candidates:
Alana Beard
Vicky Bullett
Monique Currie
Stacey Dales
Lindsey Harding
Chamique Holdsclaw
Crystal Langhorne
Nikki McCray
Chasity Melvin
Coco Miller
Delisha Milton-Jones
Murriel Page
Nakia Sanford
Nikki Teasley

The team will be recognized on August 19 during the game vs. the Chicago Sky.

Note: Six of the 14 players were members of the 2010 Mystics Dream Team, and five of them played on it because Alana was out that year. Either way I will cheer my guts off for the players on the 2010 team, assuming they come to this game at all.

No surprise about the top and bottom teams on the list. But I think there are some surprises. Here they are:

1. Minnesota (flash that shiny badge Shannon!)
2. Connecticut
3. Chicago
4. Indy
5. Seattle
6. LA
7. NYC
8. Phoenix
9. DC
10. ATL
11. San Antonio
12. Tulsa

Homer Note: I guess Evans thinks Currie will keep the Mystics out of the cellar, and she makes a good point that Atlanta has lost Bales and de Souza to retirement and the Olympics respectively, but I don't think that would drop the Dream to last, or could it?

What are your takes on this preliminary list?

That's right ladies and gents. 83% of the GM's (or 10 of 12 after figuring out the math) believe the Lynx will make it two in a row for this year. In addition, all but one GM believes that Minny will also win the Western Conference. For the East, 5 GM's thought Indy will win it; 3 thought Connecticut will, and every other team had 1 GM. Yes, the Mystics got a vote in as Eastern Champs and I bet that same GM was the one who voted the Mystics as a team that would be in the playoffs. I wonder who that is.

Among players, three each thought Sparks forward Candace Parker and Lynx guard Seimone Augustus will be the 2012 MVP. Seattle guard Sue Bird won the most superlatives in this survey though, being named the best point guard, best passer, best leader, best IQ , best at making her teammates better, and best future head coach of a hoops team someday. She was tied for 2nd as the first franchise player to build around too. I think some of these same GM's just forgot to make her MVP and best three point shooter when it counts.

Among rookies, Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike is the GM's presason rookie of the year. No surprise.

To add to more Mystics homerism, Crystal Langhorne was tied for the most underrated player in the league, and was second for best post moves (behind Connecticut center Tina Charles) so I'm glad she is getting some respect league-wide.

These are fun reads and allow some homerism and friendly trash talk. Enjoy reading the survey.

This may be old news now, but the first regular season home game for the Sparks next Sunday has been delayed. This is because the 8th seeded Kings are battling the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Lakers and Clips also have their second round NBA playoff matchups against the Thunder and Spurs respectively. Pretty crazy that all these things would be happening at once, but they are.

While this is great for the Kings, Lakers, and Clips fanbases, if you're a Sparks fan who doesn't support either of these three teams, or a Storm fan, this may not sit well with you. Sorry. The new date for the game is next Tuesday, May 22 at 7:30 PM local time (10:30 PM Eastern). That's the reality of the WNBA, in particular with teams that don't own their arena.

From The Boss.

While renewal rates are great for the NBA and NHL teams in Monumental Red, season ticket holder sentiment is different than general fan sentiment.

Ted mentioned this at the first chalk talk this season, where he mentioned that non-season ticket holders were much more likely to tell him to gut the current Wizards team than season ticket holders who are a more patient bunch.

Here's what decided this matinee game earlier this afternoon:

1. Minny made 52.9% of its shots vs. Chicago's 38.5% field goal rate.
2. Minny had a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio for the game. Chicago's was negative. I've never seen a game when a team got that to happen. So wow!
3. Playing this game at the University of Minnesota, the alma mater of starting guard Lindsay Whalen. She had a stellar game with 9 points, 8 dimes, and 5 boards, all in 22 minutes.

The Sky's recap can be found here.

The preseason is now over for both squads where the Sky will begin regular season play against the Mystics on Saturday at 7 PM Eastern.

The Lynx begins its championship defense on Saturday at 12:30 PM Eastern against the Phoenix Mercury, at home. This game will also be on ABC so wake up early west coast fans!

It certainly hasn't been the best of weekends at Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the ownership group of the DC WNBA, NBA, and NHL teams. First Caps Nation is still reeling from Saturday's Round 2, Game 7 Loss to the New York Rangers at the Garden. Now, Caps Nation learned about head coach Dale Hunter's departure earlier this afternoon.

That quickly changed with the basketball teams. First Wizards guard John Wall was named to the Team USA Select team. But wait, this is a Mystics post!

The Mystics certainly didn't disappoint in their preseason home game earlier tonight. This game was decided in the 2nd and 3rd quarters as Monique Currie scored 19 for the ladies in Monumental Red, 16 at the half. Natasha Lacy added 12 points and six dimes. Lang of course was great as usual with 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists. Mystics outrebounded the Sun 40-26...

Wouldn't put too much stock into it when the Sun didn't have Olympian and All Star Tina Charles in the game. Then again, the Mystics didn't have Matee Ajavon either and Olympian forward Ashja Jones played, and she dropped 17 points (but no rebounds, that's right none). But still, the game I saw today was the style of ball that Trudi Lacey wants to showcase this season. We shall see if this style can remain this consistent as the season rolls on.

UPDATE: One thing to note that's not in the box score. Mistie Bass was ejected from the game with a Flagrant 2 after she hit Michelle Snow. I didn't get a clear view at the play, but someone next to me told me that Bass smacked Snow with the back of her hand at the end of a play somewhere. I believe it was in a rebound situation or something like that, so there wasn't a fight or anything, but there was a chippy moment.

Despite the fact that the Americans made over 60% of their shots, and that six players scored 10 points or more, Geno Auriemma wasn't that pleased with the team's performance saying that "When you’ve only had one practice with the team and this is our first game, it’s not going to look great."

From the box score, Team USA had a total of 16 assists, but also gave up 21 turnovers. Granted, the Chinese aren't as good as the Americans, but in the long run, teams don't win too many games with a negative assist to turnover ratio.

Neither team attempted too many or too few threes (China with 11, USA with 12) which are at the FIBA length at 22 feet and 1.74 inches vs the WNBA length at 20 feet and 6.25 inches. I don't know if it was because the Americans in particular were just able to score down low (because it looks like they had their way from the stat sheet), or if it's because the women really are having problems from shooting at the further length. Doesn't look like the latter, when both teams shot efficiently from the FIBA length three, and I assume this is the case in Euroleague too.

This game last night wasn't televised or streamed as far as I know, I would love to see if anyone was at this game in Emerald City and could provide more insight.

13 of the Shock's 14 players score in the game and two players, Glory Johnson and Riquna Williams scored 10 each to lead Tulsa.

Seattle outshot Tulsa 47 to 44%, but the Storm gave up 35 TO's to the Shock's 19 TO's. The Storm had 10 assists while the Shock had 14 assists. Basically this is where the game was decided.

For Seattle, Victoria Dunlap led all scorers with 13 points, and also grabbed 5 boards and dished 2 assists. As you probably know, Lauren Jackson isn't with the team now due to her commitment to Team Australia, and Sue Bird is with Team USA preparing for tomorrow's contest vs. China at KeyArena.

Still for the Shock, this is a good win and wins are contagious.

According to the AP, Glen Taylor, owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, is looking for a minority partner who would eventually be his successor. This transition would be along the lines of the Wizards/Mystics/Capitals ownership transition from Abe Pollin to Ted Leonsis which took place from 1999 to 2010.

Obviously, the biggest asset in this ownership transition would be the Timberwolves NBA team, and like many other articles of this type, the Lynx isn't even mentioned, but I'd say that it's safe to assume that they're on sale with the Wolves. What would do you think or would like to see with the ownership situation of the Lynx basketball team?

Congrats to Coach Summitt for a great career!

Holly Warlick is now the new Lady Vols head coach.

He bumped into Grant Hill's shoulder really hard on Tuesday...

Old news by now, but seriously, this is the first time I saw this article if it was linked already.

After five years, it appears that Coach G will leave Austin, and I'm not surprised if it's under some pressure because rival schools like Baylor and A&M have really made strides on the national scene, while the Longhorns never made it past the second round of the tournament (her first year, back in 2008).

Coach G will be best known as the Duke women's basketball coach, where the Devils made four Final Four appearances, and two national championship game appearances in 1999 and 2006 when they lost to Purdue and Maryland respectively.