SUPER BOWL 2012

And Now Katie's Gone Too . . .

The Mystics have just announced that, as part of a three-team deal, Katie Smith has been traded to the Seattle Storm, along with Jacinta Monroe. You may recall that Jacinta, a 6'5" center from Florida State University, was the Mystics' first round draft pick last season, and that her rookie season was cut short by injury.

In exchange for Katie and Jacinta, the Mystics will receive guard Jasmine Thomas, who is about to graduate from Duke and was selected by the Storm with the overall 12th pick in the WNBA draft earlier this month. Jasmine worked as an intern last summer for the Mystics, and now she'll be back competing for a roster spot in training camp. The third team involved in this trade is the Indiana Fever, who've acquired veteran guard Erin Phillips from the Storm. Future draft picks are also part of the overall deal.

Well, the reinvention of the Mystics continues . . . hmmm. And to think that last September we thought this would be a quiet off season.

As for Katie . . . when she signed as a free agent with the Mystics in 2010 (the biggest free agent signing in franchise history), the BCs weren't sure how long we'd have the pleasure of seeing her play here in Washington. Between Katie's health issues and her age, there was a distinct possibility that 2010 could be Katie's only year with the Mystics . . . and her final season in the WNBA.

But what we didn't expect was that 2010 would be Katie's only year with the Mystics, not because she was retiring, but because she was going off to play for another team. We were wrong.

Photo Credit: DC BasketCases

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We’re Jealous

Our neighbors a few houses down were Caps fans and Caps season ticket holders long before it was cool. And long before the Caps were Rockin’ the Red in a sold-out Verizon Center, as they did this afternoon. We’re really happy for them today . . . for our neighbors, and for the Caps. But we confess, we’re also a wee bit jealous too.

Ted Leonsis had a long-term plan for the Caps; he stuck with it (even engaged in a little fisticuffs to defend it), and now it’s paying off.

Ted has a plan for another of his teams as well. Last Sunday, after the conclusion of the Wizards’ dismal 23-59 season, Ted told the Washington Post that the team nonetheless was “ahead of [his] expectations.” And he also went on record saying that Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld and Coach Flip Saunders would both be welcomed back next season. Because, as Ted says, “change has to be responsible.”

According to the Post’s Michael Lee, Ted was “convinced that the faults of the Washington [men’s] basketball team were rooted in a lack of continuity and a failure to commit to a strategy.” The article pointed out that before Ted took over the team, the Wizards had been led by 13 different coaches in 32 seasons. To his credit, Ted doesn’t appear to believe that a revolving door of coaches is any way to build a team, or to win. He has a plan for long-term success and he stands behind it, even when the team is playing in front of lots of empty seats.

You know where we’re going with this, right? We look at our neighbors today and are really happy for them. And we know that being long-term supporters of a frequently losing team makes winning (like today) that much sweeter.

And we relate to that. Because, as Mystics fans from a time when there was only a hope, and then a promise, of a WNBA franchise in Washington, from a time when the team still had no name, we stuck with them through 10 coaches in 11 seasons . . . and a whole lot of losing.

But finally, starting in 2009, thanks to what we believed to be a commitment from management to a strategy, the hallmark of which was supposed to be continuity, the Mystics put together back-to-back seasons with the same GM, the same Coach, the same core of talented young players, and were definitely showing signs of significant improvement. Remarkably, in year two of the new strategy (and even without the services of their top performer, Alana Beard), the team managed to finish the regular season on top of the Eastern Conference, and with a franchise-record-setting 22 wins to boot. That was sweet.

Yes, of course we were disappointed that our team lost in the first round of the playoffs . . . but so did the Caps last season. And look how happy the Caps made our neighbors – and all their fans – today!

But as pleased as we are for the Caps fans, we admit to feeling a little cheated, as Mystics fans. We keep asking ourselves the same question: why couldn’t the top management of our team stick to the plan?

Perhaps the Mystics’ Sheila Johnson didn’t have enough confidence in her own abilities to sell the team’s success. But if so, she was wrong. Because just a month after Angela and Julie were effectively shown the door, negotiations with Inova got underway, and now the Mystics have a “marquee partner” and jersey sponsor. And a good sponsor at that.

But in terms of the front office brain trust and the players on the court, the Mystics, to quote a recent headline in the Washington Post, have undergone “a total makeover,” not something expected – or warranted – after the most successful season ever. All the result of a failure to stick with a strategy, a failure of continuity.

Trudi has many good players on her roster (and she’s got Alana back). The team may do very well this summer. We hope so, for the sake of the players and the fans. But the team is once again starting a season with a new GM, a new Head Coach (not to mention a new PG) . . . the only thing NOT new is the lack of continuity. That’s something Mystics fans are very familiar with. And, once again, we're left to wait and wonder whether it’ll all come together.

Photo Credit: DC BasketCases (Happy Caps fans . . . but not our neighbors. Too young!)

Lacey says, "He felt the love from UK fans".

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Happy Earth Day today, tomorrow and forever!

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Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, a sophomore on the UConn men’s basketball team, was arrested on drug charges Thursday night, according to Mansfieldpatch.com.

The website cites an arrest report, which stated that UConn police responded to a narcotics complaint on campus Thursday night and found Coombs-McDaniel and two other individuals in possession of 5.6 grams of marijuana, a marijuana grinder and a package of cigars used to smoke marijuana.

The two other individuals identified, according to the report, were Shakwaan Ishmale Simpkins, 19, and Stanley Darnell Winn, 19, both of Boston.

Bail was set at $500 and Coombs-McDaniel is scheduled to appear in Tolland Superior Court in Rockville on May 5.

Spring Weekend festivities began Thursday night at UConn, and police reported making 11 arrests.

Coombs-McDaniel, a Dorchester, Mass native, averaged 5.6 points per game this season as a key swingman off the bench for the national-champion Huskies. He averaged 6.9 points per game in Big East play but was hobbled by knee injury through much of the NCAA tournament, where his production was limited.

While John Calipari will get $325,000 in postseason bonuses despite losing to Jim Calhoun in the Final Four, Calhoun may not get one dime back for winning a national championship.

Here's my story in today's Register detailing how Calhoun may not get his $87,500 bonus for winning the national championship due to the program's failure to meet APR standards.

The gist: according to the five-year contract extension Calhoun and UConn agreed to back in May, Calhoun is to receive a bonus equal to three months of his annual salary for winning the NCAA championship. Calhoun’s base salary is currently $350,000 (he makes nearly $2 million more in speaking and media fees), so that bonus, which would be paid out in August, would equal about $87,500.

However, the contract also stipulates that such a payment would only be made “if the Academic Progress Rate (APR) … for the men’s basketball team has been satisfactorily met.” UConn should learn in a few weeks whether it meets APR standards, but it’s a virtual certainty that the program will fall short of the standard score of 925.

That means Calhoun could suffer a double-whammy: not only could his bonus be kept from him, but per his contract, he must also donate $100,000 to UConn’s general scholarship fund if the men’s hoops program fails to meet APR standards. Oh, and the Huskies would lose at least one, and most likely two scholarships for next season (on top of the scholarship they’ve already been docked by the NCAA committee on infractions).

Ouch!

Some at UConn believe the school’s new administration, headed by incoming president Susan Herbst, could overlook the contract stipulation that Calhoun doesn’t receive his bonus. But if not, failing to meet APR standards could ultimately cost the 25th-year UConn head coach about $187,500.

The APR is a metric established by the NCAA in February, 2005, to measure the success of collegiate teams in moving student-athletes towards graduation. Each player on a given roster earns a maximum of two points per team – one for being academically eligible and one for staying with the institution.

The fact that Kemba Walker is on course to graduate in three years won’t help UConn right now, since this year’s APR, which should be released in mid-May, is based on the most recently completed academic year and the last reported four-year rolling average. That means that for this season, the APR data for 2009-10 is utilized.

In order to avoid scholarship reductions (and, in Calhoun’s case, to earn his postseason bonuses), teams must have an APR above 925 – equal to a 50-percent graduation rate.

What will hurt the Huskies this time around is the amount of players who left the program ineligible, and not on track to earn their degree. Once again, the program will get burned by Nate Miles, who was expelled from the school in the fall of 2008. His departure has counted against UConn’s APR score for the past two academic years, and will continue to do so for the next two, as well.

And this probably won’t make Calhoun feel much better: Calipari, his longtime nemesis whom Calhoun beat in the Final Four, is scheduled to earn $325,000 for Kentucky’s postseason run. According to reports, Calipari earns $50,000 for winning the SEC tournament, $100,000 for reaching the Sweet 16 and $175,000 for reaching the Final Four. That means Calipari’s bonuses alone nearly equal Calhoun’s base salary.

Calhoun’s contract has no bonuses for winning the Big East tournament. He would have earned half a month’s salary for winning national coach of the year and a quarter month’s salary for being selected Big East coach of the year, but he won neither.

Oh, and this: Geno Auriemma (another one of Calhoun's not-so-good friends) is slated to receive his bonus of about $58,333, even though the UConn women’s basketball team was upset in the Final Four. Auriemma has the same base salary as Calhoun and the same bonus stipulations: a month’s salary for reaching the NCAA tourney, two months’ salary for reaching the Final Four or three months’ for winning the national title.

UK's junior DeAndre Liggins and freshmen Terrence Jones and Brandon Knight have declared for this year’s NBA Draft. None of the three have signed or announced plans to sign with an agent. The underclassmen have until April 24 to declare for the draft and have until May 8 to withdraw their name from the draft, provided they do not sign with an agent. The 2011 NBA Draft will take place on June 23.

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