Practices and things

Collegiately speaking.....

The Vols' take on earlier practice starts.

Meet the Oregon Ducks.

Up the road, the Oregon State Beavers had their first practice today.

ESPN's Mark Lewis has an insightful column on the evolution of college recruiting.

International.....

The Australian basketball powers are again calling for their superstars to skip next year's WNBA season. That's selfish, not to mention a waste. I'm going to be blunt: Australia is good, but they're never going to take the gold medal from the USA.

High school.....

One more great ESPN tip sheet.

Pre-season Wooden Award nominees announced

Great list:

Name Height Class Position University Conference

Danielle Adams 6-1 Sr. F/C Texas A&M Big 12
Kachine Alexander 5-9 Sr. G Iowa Big Ten
Angie Bjorklund 6-0 Sr. G/F Tennessee SEC
Jessica Breland 6-3 Sr. F North Carolina ACC
Elena Delle Donne 6-5 So. G/F Delaware CAA
Skylar Diggins 5-9 So. G Notre Dame Big East
Jasmine Dixon 6-0 Jr. F UCLA Pac 10
Victoria Dunlap 6-1 Sr. F Kentucky SEC
Dawn Evans 5-7 Sr. G James Madison CAA
Brittney Griner 6-8 So. C Baylor Big 12
Amber Harris 6-5 Sr. F Xavier Atlantic 10
Tiffany Hayes 5-10 Jr. G Connecticut Big East
Shenise Johnson 5-11 Jr. G Miami ACC
Jantel Lavender 6-4 Sr. C Ohio State Big Ten
Italee Lucas 5-8 Sr. G North Carolina ACC
Maya Moore* 6-0 Sr. F Connecticut Big East
Deirdre Naughton 5-10 Sr. G DePaul Big East
Nnemkadi Ogwumike* 6-2 Jr. F Stanford Pac 10
Kayla Pedersen 6-4 Jr. F Stanford Pac 10
Ta’Shia Phillips 6-6 Sr. C Xavier Atlantic 10
Samantha Prahalis 5-7 Jr. G Ohio State Big Ten
Lauren Prochaska 5-11 Sr. G/F Bowling Green Mid-American
Chastity Reed 6-1 Sr. F Arkansas Little-Rock Sun Belt
Danielle Robinson 5-9 Sr. G Oklahoma Big 12
Sugar Rodgers 5-11 So. G Georgetown Big East
Shekinna Stricklen 6-2 Jr. G/F Tennessee SEC
Helena Sverrisdottir 6-1 Sr. G/F TCU Mountain West
Carolyn Swords 6-6 Sr. C Boston College ACC
Jasmine Thomas 5-9 Sr. G Duke ACC
Courtney Vandersloot 5-8 Sr. G Gonzaga West Coast

Bonus: The NCAA may create different ref pools for women's and men's basketball to improve consistency in officiating.

Mid-day news

This fantastic story about Cal's Tierra Rogers was in the paper Sunday, but just made the online edition today. Good stuff.

Things look great for the US team.

But the Australian superstars are being encouraged to take next summer off. Think that'll happen? Me neither.

Jayda Evans is ceasing production of her hoops blog, seen in the Seattle Times.

ESPN's "body" issue features Taurasi

Diana Taurasi will go nekkid for the issue, which hits newstands Friday. Holy crizzap.

San Antonio resident Marie Ferdinand-Harris, who plays for the LA Sparks in the summertime, now has a "Marie Ferdinand Basketball School of Excellence."

Basketball celebrities past and present will converge on Kansas in a few weeks to play for breast cancer research.

There were numerous national fall basketball tournaments this past weekend. ESPN was at the Philly Fall Frenzy.

College hoops practice starts early this year

A new NCAA rule allows teams to begin practices 40 days before their first game, instead of 30 days. Teams are still only allowed 30 practices, which gives them more time to adjust to the system while resting.

While some coaches are opting to start on the traditional third week in October, it seems that many more are beginning practices this week. On twitter tonight, there are reports from the following colleges about the first day of practice today: Louisiana Tech, Arizona State, Texas, Arizona, UCLA, Cal, North Carolina State and Tennessee, just to name a few. Rutgers and Oregon State will begin Wednesday.

It's a good idea. Teams have already been conditioning and scrimmaging together for most of the summer. Why not get "the real thing" started sooner and get them focused? A month isn't much time to prepare for a long season. A little longer is a lot better.

Congrats, USA (but keep the rim the same)

The USA won, and they won big: 89-69 over the Czech Republic.

Spain took the Bronze medal with a 77-68 victory over Belarus.

The final standings are here.

But what's this?....FIBA is considering lowering the rim in the women's game? Boo!

Sunday items

USA Basketball is looking today to redeem their poor performance at the World's in 2006.

The removal of General Manager Angela Taylor indicates that the Mystics are on a merry-go-round again, according to the "guru."

Mickie DeMoss' return to Tennessee indicates that "the band is getting back together."

More on Angela Taylor

Apparently the Mystics organization and former GM Taylor failed to reach an agreement.

I know some fans of other WNBA teams who are wondering why this couldn't happen to their GM.

What's going on??

It looks like Angela Taylor has been fired as General Manager of the Washington Mystics. As with the Carol Blazejowski (Liberty) dismissal a couple weeks ago, Taylor's departure is shrouded in mystery, and comes on the heels of a successful season.

Russia and Australia met in the 2006 World Championships, but neither team will medal this year.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and former WNBA guard and breast cancer survivor Edna Campbell is on a mission.

WOW day

ESPN is targeting a female audience with ESPNW. (I think I'm gonna drop dead of shock)

The Czechs knocked off Australia today at the world's, 79-68. It's the first time in 16 years the the Down Unders have failed to medal.

Faith Dupree is leaving the Tennessee program so she can get more playing time.

The dude who IUPUI named as head women's basketball coach a couple days ago is just the interim coach. That is one confused university.