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boogiezen
Joined: 29 Nov 2004
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Nerd2
Joined: 06 Jun 2010
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 Posted: 08/10/12 2:52 am ::: |
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I had a fantastic seat for this game - 7th row center court. Across from me was a ton of empty seats as the sports federations once again were no-shows. So many prime seats going to waste. But fear not - the rest of the stands were packed.
The Opals guards played much better today and were able to get the ball into Cambage in the first half. Lauren's role seemed to be to deal with the defenders to free up Cambage. She was consistently in the better position for the rebounds, too. Had Cambage been in better condition and had they had Taylor and Phillips the outcome could really have been different. But maybe not as Geno adjusted his defense very well at the half.
Taurasi allowed herself to be mentally taken out of the game by fouls that were or were not called. You could see her just glaring at the refs and hanging back on transition. Bringing Whalen in and shifting Sue to shooting guard was a good move tonight. Not sure why we saw so little of Angel and Jones's defensive impact may not have shown up in the box score but it was very real.
Many fans obviously expected France to be in this game and Australia the next. There were lots of folks looking to swap tickets at the tube station (selling/buying is ilegal).
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p_d_swanson
Joined: 01 Dec 2004
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| Posted: 08/10/12 3:45 am ::: |
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| nsw43 wrote: |
| Jones definitely made a difference in the game. But Whalen and Augustus saved the day. |
Yes, I think Jones' biggest contribution was being on the floor with the right group and fitting in well. And that's not as easy as it may sound...
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Michelle89
Joined: 17 Nov 2010
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| Posted: 08/10/12 4:28 am ::: |
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| jaye wrote: |
| nsw43 wrote: |
| Jones definitely made a difference in the game. But Whalen and Augustus saved the day. |
seems like whalen or augustus or angel always save the day... |
Bird was 5 of 5 shooting(10 pts) in the first half and she kept them close in the first half. But i agree that i want to see more minutes for Whalen.
When she came in for DT in the 2nd half and she and Sue played together things began to flow. They both can play off the ball and be agressive and score
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"Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson were and are the dynamic duo. They're the one-two punch. They're all the clich�s possible to describe people that perfectly complement each other, who make each other better and also bring out the best in the team." �Karen Bryant
Last edited by Michelle89 on 08/10/12 4:43 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Michelle89
Joined: 17 Nov 2010
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| Posted: 08/10/12 4:42 am ::: |
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| Quote: |
Taurasi was convinced her teammates could do a better job of negating the Aussies' bigs, the duo strode into the locker room at halftime and unloaded on their star-studded roster.
"I went off for about eight minutes, and then Sue went at it for a good four,'' Taurasi said. "It was basketball stuff, you know? Australia's a big team. If you think you can just come down and play them one-on-one, then you're out of your mind.'' |
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So the team's leading scorer, who absolutely hates to sit, who had drilled two monster 3-pointers to jump-start the U.S. in the third, was yanked from the game at one of its most critical junctures.
But herein lies the beauty of this U.S. team. It is so deep the Americans managed just fine without one of their most strong-willed leaders.
Lindsay Whalen, who is playing some of the best basketball of her career, checked in and scored six straight points for the Americans. Tri-captain Tamika Catchings and Angel McCoughtry ratcheted up the defensive pressure and Charles starting working over Cambage in the post. |
| Quote: |
| Order was restored once Seimone Augustus added some key baskets, and Jones, who has not logged significant minutes during these Games, displayed the kind of defensive toughness that earned her a spot on this team in first place. She forced two turnovers, blocked a shot and boxed the Aussie bigs off the glass. |
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Asked if she sensed Auriemma might go to her, Jones said, "Actually, I think Dee told Coach to put me in.''
"I gave him the little nod,'' Taurasi confirmed. |
| Quote: |
By the time Taurasi checked back in with 4:48 left in the game, the U.S. was on top 76-66 and had matters in hand. That did not stop her from sticking her nose back into the fray, jostling with Australian forward Rachel Jarry and trading shoves with Samantha Richards.
"The pushing makes me crazy. Dee is so important to us, and if the wrong thing happens " Bird said, trailing off. "Dee just has to live on the edge. |
| Quote: |
That doesn't mean that Taurasi has any intentions of toning it down. As the final ticks clicked off, Australia's defenders bumped Taurasi numerous times with the intent of stopping the clock and sending her to the line. When the referees failed to call the initial contact, Taurasi harrumphed at them incredulously. When they finally blew the whistle, she flashed them one of her smartest wise-guy grins and kicked the ball back soccer style. Asked if she wanted to kill Taurasi when she did that, Bird rolled her eyes and answered quite simply, "Yes.''
"If they're going to [expletive] me up for one whole possession, well, then, that's what happens,'' Taurasi said. "I mean, come on, right?" |
Thats the DT we all know
http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012/espnw/story/_/id/8251001/2012-summer-olympics-diana-taurasi-brings-winning-attitude-us-women
_________________
"Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson were and are the dynamic duo. They're the one-two punch. They're all the clich�s possible to describe people that perfectly complement each other, who make each other better and also bring out the best in the team." �Karen Bryant
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
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| Posted: 08/10/12 5:19 am ::: |
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| p_d_swanson wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| Taurasi sits, and Team USA spurts out to their largest lead of the day. hmmm |
Sun posts + Lynx perimeter... |
I talked about this before the Games even started, and I'm surprised Geno hasn't done more of it - using team units who already have familiarity with each other. It just makes sense when you have so little preparation time. And it's far, far more recent familiarity than UConn. It was the Whalen/Augustus/Moore and Jones/Charles units that took the game away from Australia.
But then, I think Geno's gameplan - if there even was one for this game - was awful. The US did virtually nothing to exploit Australia's weaknesses, and eventually scraped by through basic depth of talent (as always). They got away with this one. |
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ccollin13
Joined: 14 Feb 2012
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| Posted: 08/10/12 6:28 am ::: |
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| Shades wrote: |
| kojthiabkuv wrote: |
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/basketball/highlights-u-s-women-advance-to-gold-medal-game.html
anyone else see the elbow shove Cambage gave to Charles? it's at the 3:04 mark at the end of the game. |
To me, it looked like Charles had her arm hooked up and Cambage was trying to free her arm. |
I'm surprised no one has mentioned what appeared to be Cambage almost punching Catchings at some point in the second half. The refs called a foul but didn't appear to see what the camera saw - which was Cambage's fist connecting with Catching's stomach. They replayed it on the nbcolympics.com live feed a few times and the commentators seemed convinced it was a punch. I'm not sure myself, but it looked like Cambage had a fist.
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Joe Foss
Joined: 23 Aug 2007
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| Posted: 08/10/12 7:26 am ::: |
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"LAUREN Jackson has warned that she might have played her last Olympic basketball tournament after a semi-final loss to the United States gave her losses to the Americans at four straight Olympics.
But the flag-bearer for the Australian team at the London opening ceremony said she would be pushing her teammates to concentrate on lifting themselves for their bronze-medal, using blunt language to put the US loss in perspective.
'Shit happens,' she said, as she stressed at a press conference that the players have to get over the 86-73 semi-final loss."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/london-games/lauren-jackson-flags-quitting-after-opals-semi-final-loss-to-us/story-fne3ajoz-1226447308539
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Admiral_Needa
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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TonyL222
Joined: 01 Oct 2007
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| Posted: 08/10/12 7:45 am ::: |
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| ccollin13 wrote: |
| Shades wrote: |
| kojthiabkuv wrote: |
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/basketball/highlights-u-s-women-advance-to-gold-medal-game.html
anyone else see the elbow shove Cambage gave to Charles? it's at the 3:04 mark at the end of the game. |
To me, it looked like Charles had her arm hooked up and Cambage was trying to free her arm. |
I'm surprised no one has mentioned what appeared to be Cambage almost punching Catchings at some point in the second half. The refs called a foul but didn't appear to see what the camera saw - which was Cambage's fist connecting with Catching's stomach. They replayed it on the nbcolympics.com live feed a few times and the commentators seemed convinced it was a punch. I'm not sure myself, but it looked like Cambage had a fist. |
It didn't look intentional to me. I'd like to see more of the Bird/Whalen combo. Whalen gets it done.
Charles did a great job on Cambage in the 2nd half, but she's gotta be tired as hell! She had to work at 300% for 20 minutes.
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This I command you, love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one�s life for his friends.
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caune
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 08/10/12 8:43 am ::: |
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I got to watch this game at work, I work at an Adult day care center, and if I had a dollar for every person in the room who made a comment about how hard the women play, or how they are so much tougher then they thought, well I could buy a juicy steak dinner with all those dollars, lol.
I LOVE that the Olympics gives people a chance to really see the sport in all it's glory!
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norwester
Joined: 14 Jun 2006
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dtsnms
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 08/10/12 8:51 am ::: |
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| Shades wrote: |
| readyAIMfire53 wrote: |
| cthskzfn wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| Asjha Jones answered the questions about why she's on the team in the 4th quarter |
you listenin', RAF???  |
Didn't get to see the game. Daggone work! But, I'll take everyone's word for it that Asjha finally earned her spot on the squad. Go Asjha! So, now we just have Swin who doesn't seem to belong. Prove me wrong! |
It might have been sarcasm. She had:
0 pts (0-0), 0 reb, 1 ast, 1 to, 1 stl, 1 blk in 9:48 |
No, it wasn't. Jones did an outstanding job yesterday defending, screening and doing the little things.
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Michelle89
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Michelle89
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PUmatty
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 08/10/12 1:15 pm ::: |
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| Richyyy wrote: |
| p_d_swanson wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| Taurasi sits, and Team USA spurts out to their largest lead of the day. hmmm |
Sun posts + Lynx perimeter... |
I talked about this before the Games even started, and I'm surprised Geno hasn't done more of it - using team units who already have familiarity with each other. It just makes sense when you have so little preparation time. And it's far, far more recent familiarity than UConn. It was the Whalen/Augustus/Moore and Jones/Charles units that took the game away from Australia.
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And to connect the two, the Moore-Charles UConn connection is much more recent and more likely to still work that the other UCONN players.
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mercfan3
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 08/10/12 1:18 pm ::: |
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| umbeta1455 wrote: |
| Angel and Whalen need more playing time. USA seemed to do so much better when Whalen is in the game. And as much as Angel irritates me during a WNBA season, she is having a great tournament and not getting enough minutes. |
Bird had a great game against the Opals. She's also the team's starting point guard and the leader.
Whalen's been excellent. But the reality is, Bird's going to get more minutes.
Angel, I like her energy off the bench, and she's been awesome too. But once again, I'm not going to give Taurasi less minutes, and I'm not going to give Catchings or SA less minutes. Depending on the game I might give Maya less minutes, but that's very much dependant on the game, particularly because Maya and Angel's games are so different, that the choice becomes what do you need.
But really, can we quit complaining about the playing time. It's ridiculous. This team is extremely talented and no, minutes aren't going to be completely balanced.
Any other coach and there wouldn't be this crying. And any other coach would be playing Taurasi and Bird the majority of the guard minutes. So just knock it off and enjoy the gold medal game. There's been no saving the day, THIS game was the only close game of the tournament besides Croatia. So..lol. And Taurasi has been our best player for the 3 games prior to Australia.
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 08/10/12 1:29 pm ::: |
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| mercfan3 wrote: |
| I'm not going to give Taurasi less minutes |
Why on Earth not? Taurasi has not really played very well for the most part. She shot lights out in the meaningless game against China and did pretty well against Canada, but overall her shot has been off.
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dtsnms
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 08/10/12 2:24 pm ::: |
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| pilight wrote: |
| mercfan3 wrote: |
| I'm not going to give Taurasi less minutes |
Why on Earth not? Taurasi has not really played very well for the most part. She shot lights out in the meaningless game against China and did pretty well against Canada, but overall her shot has been off. |
Well, that's part of the master plan, so she can claim injury and sit out the rest of the year, don't you know that?
Seriously, she definitely isn't playing at the best she can; but I'm not sure I wouldn't want her in more than anyone else on the team with the game on the line....if it comes to that.
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readyAIMfire53
Joined: 20 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 08/10/12 3:53 pm ::: |
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| mercfan3 wrote: |
| umbeta1455 wrote: |
| Angel and Whalen need more playing time. USA seemed to do so much better when Whalen is in the game. And as much as Angel irritates me during a WNBA season, she is having a great tournament and not getting enough minutes. |
Bird had a great game against the Opals. She's also the team's starting point guard and the leader.
Whalen's been excellent. But the reality is, Bird's going to get more minutes.
Angel, I like her energy off the bench, and she's been awesome too. But once again, I'm not going to give Taurasi less minutes, and I'm not going to give Catchings or SA less minutes. Depending on the game I might give Maya less minutes, but that's very much dependant on the game, particularly because Maya and Angel's games are so different, that the choice becomes what do you need.
But really, can we quit complaining about the playing time. It's ridiculous. This team is extremely talented and no, minutes aren't going to be completely balanced.
Any other coach and there wouldn't be this crying. And any other coach would be playing Taurasi and Bird the majority of the guard minutes. So just knock it off and enjoy the gold medal game. There's been no saving the day, THIS game was the only close game of the tournament besides Croatia. So..lol. And Taurasi has been our best player for the 3 games prior to Australia. |
I could be misunderstanding things, but I haven't heard people calling for Birdie to play less or saying anything about Whalen should be the starting PG. Both are great and very, very different PG's. I do hear people wanting to recognize how well Whalen is playing. L-Whay has outplayed Birdie in the WNBA the least season and a half, but Birdie still sets the bar and she IS the starting PG for this team and her assists are constant, if unspectacular and her shot has been red hot. I only wish one of them could play defense so they could be on the court at the same time more often.
Regarding Angel - she has had an AWESOME Olympics! She has earned more playing time, no matter who gets less. She has changed games on both sides of the ball, just about every time she stepped on the court. But has Taurasi earned the right to be on the court at the end of a close game? Absolutely YES. The bigger the arena, the more she shows up. Dee = Money.
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mercfan3
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 08/10/12 4:33 pm ::: |
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| readyAIMfire53 wrote: |
| mercfan3 wrote: |
| umbeta1455 wrote: |
| Angel and Whalen need more playing time. USA seemed to do so much better when Whalen is in the game. And as much as Angel irritates me during a WNBA season, she is having a great tournament and not getting enough minutes. |
Bird had a great game against the Opals. She's also the team's starting point guard and the leader.
Whalen's been excellent. But the reality is, Bird's going to get more minutes.
Angel, I like her energy off the bench, and she's been awesome too. But once again, I'm not going to give Taurasi less minutes, and I'm not going to give Catchings or SA less minutes. Depending on the game I might give Maya less minutes, but that's very much dependant on the game, particularly because Maya and Angel's games are so different, that the choice becomes what do you need.
But really, can we quit complaining about the playing time. It's ridiculous. This team is extremely talented and no, minutes aren't going to be completely balanced.
Any other coach and there wouldn't be this crying. And any other coach would be playing Taurasi and Bird the majority of the guard minutes. So just knock it off and enjoy the gold medal game. There's been no saving the day, THIS game was the only close game of the tournament besides Croatia. So..lol. And Taurasi has been our best player for the 3 games prior to Australia. |
I could be misunderstanding things, but I haven't heard people calling for Birdie to play less or saying anything about Whalen should be the starting PG. Both are great and very, very different PG's. I do hear people wanting to recognize how well Whalen is playing. L-Whay has outplayed Birdie in the WNBA the least season and a half, but Birdie still sets the bar and she IS the starting PG for this team and her assists are constant, if unspectacular and her shot has been red hot. I only wish one of them could play defense so they could be on the court at the same time more often.
Regarding Angel - she has had an AWESOME Olympics! She has earned more playing time, no matter who gets less. She has changed games on both sides of the ball, just about every time she stepped on the court. But has Taurasi earned the right to be on the court at the end of a close game? Absolutely YES. The bigger the arena, the more she shows up. Dee = Money. |
The reality is, if one person gets more playing time another gets less. You play Whalen more, Bird plays less.
You can't give Angel more minutes without giving Taurasi/Maya/Catchings/Seimone less time.
pilight...she's played well for half the tournament. Not as well as she's capable of..but well. She's only lead the US in scoring the past what four games? She's also the team leader and best player. She's not going to lose minutes. And she wouldn't lose minutes REGARDLESS of the coach.
That's my point. Quit bitching about "favoritism." Bird and Taurasi would be getting the most minutes regardless of coach.
Also..quit bitching because US is playing for gold. So even if it's not how you would have done it, the US is where they are supposed to be. There's no reason to bitch.
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“Anyone point out that a Donald Trump anagram is ‘Lord Dampnut’”- Colin Mochrie
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mavcarter
#NATC
Joined: 02 Sep 2010
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| Posted: 08/10/12 9:49 pm ::: |
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| mercfan3 wrote: |
| That's my point. Quit bitching about "favoritism." Bird and Taurasi would be getting the most minutes regardless of coach. |
Matter of opinion._________________
| wrote: |
| Or maybe said poster should quit being a nuisance when people don’t agree? |
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jap
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lynxmania
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p_d_swanson
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| Posted: 08/11/12 7:14 am ::: |
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| PUmatty wrote: |
| Richyyy wrote: |
| p_d_swanson wrote: |
| pilight wrote: |
| Taurasi sits, and Team USA spurts out to their largest lead of the day. hmmm |
Sun posts + Lynx perimeter... |
I talked about this before the Games even started, and I'm surprised Geno hasn't done more of it - using team units who already have familiarity with each other. It just makes sense when you have so little preparation time. And it's far, far more recent familiarity than UConn. It was the Whalen/Augustus/Moore and Jones/Charles units that took the game away from Australia.
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And to connect the two, the Moore-Charles UConn connection is much more recent and more likely to still work that the other UCONN players. |
Plus, Jones and Whalen were WNBA teammates for six years...
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I like that Sue calls D out for her antics. 