Dishin & Swishin 09/18/14 Podcast: USA Basketball adds players in Paris, Mechelle Voepel ranks the WNBA’s teams
This is one of those weeks you would call a “tweener.” The WNBA season is over, the FIBA world championship is coming and the NCAA season is on the horizon. So there is not too much “news” to talk about in women’s basketball this week.
The USA senior national team candidates for the World Championships are in Paris, sort of. The thirteen candidates that survived training camp in the United States and played Canada in an exhibition game Monday night all left the United States on Tuesday, but not with them were the candidates from the WNBA finalist Phoenix Mercury and Chicago Sky.
One of the more interesting stories to follow is how will coach Geno Auriemma and his staff integrate these players into the rotation and mix. Auriemma said all along that it is not just the best players make the team at this level, there are other factors including how players interact, work together, and even get along. How do you measure that on the fly, in such a short period of time?
We start this week’s podcast with an interview with Auriemma prior to the team departing for Paris on the topic. He gives a very interesting look at the pitfalls of bringing in these new players.
After that, veteran point guard Sue Bird was asked the same question. Her response is more go with the flow than Geno’s response, which you would expect from someone who has been on the senior national team since 2002.
ESPN’s Mechelle Voepel returns to Dishin & Swishin after that. Voepel wrote an interesting column giving the final power rankings of the teams in the WNBA this season. There are some surprises, starting with Tulsa being at the bottom, and Voepel explains her reasoning on the podcast.
In addition, Voepel weighs in on the veteran versus youth discussion for Team USA’s final roster.
Enjoy the podcast!
