Guru Report: WNBA Announcing New President Thursday

By Mel Greenberg

Well, the word began to seep late Wednesday night that the WNBA will be unveiling its new president Thursday and perhaps after sunrise a name will be attached in advance of the press conference.

The guru has no idea and it appears that in the wee hours the group of national chroniclers many of you follow had no idea either considering all just made a comment on the process.

The third president following Val Ackerman and Donna Orender may very well be from a different background in that by now if it was someone from the women’s basketball world the identity would already be out there.

For those who think Jay Parry of the Phoenix Mercury organization might be in the mix, and she certainly has the business pedigree the NBA was seeking, it should be noted that a well-known high executive in the organization and longtime friend of the Guru wasn’t even aware an announcement was going to be from WNBA central.

Once the identity is known and the press conference is held, the larger item of interest will be the various reactions from throughout the league and beyond.

Xavier Names Waugh

The Musketeers went for continuity after the departure of Kevin McGuff to Washington, naming assistant and former Xavier star Amy Waugh as the new head coach on Wednesday.

Though the Guru mentioned VCU coach Beth Cunningham was in the mix in Wednesday morning’s post, he was basically relaying what many coaches who attended the Boo Williams games in Hampton were saying off the rumor mill.

But he did not say she had the offer and if one goes back to the post from Indianapolis during the Women’s Final Four when McGuff’s departure became public, the Guru noted that Waugh or assistant Mike Neighbors would be strong candidates for the two-time defending Atlantic 10 champions out of Cincinnati.

It is not known if Neighbors will now either follow McGuff to Washington, stay at Xavier with Waugh or head elsewhere. The Charlotte job in the Atlantic 10 is still open.

USA Basketball Camp

USA Basketball named the four coaches who will work with UConn’s Geno Auriemma at a three-day national team camp in Las Vegas May 10-12.

Three of them – DePaul’s Doug Bruno, WNBA Atlanta’s Marynell Meadors and WNBA Los Angeles’ Jennifer Gillom were on Auriemma’s staff for the gold-medal winning world championship in September.

A fourth assistant was not on the roster but WNBA Phoenix’s Corey Gaines has been added to the group, giving a sense that perhaps the quartet will remain with Auriemma for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Considering the injuries that held several players back in the fall, this could be quite the competition during the three days with Minnesota’s Seimone Augustus, Washington’s Alana Beard, and Los Angeles’ Candace Parker all healthy and ready for the WNBA summer season.

Now that Maya Moore had made the transition to an affiliation with WNBA Minnesota, the 24-player national team roster is devoid of collegians again.

Seven former UConn stars are in the group – Sue Bird and Swin Cash (Seattle), Maya Moore (Minnesota), Asjha Jones, Renee Montgomery, and Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun), and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix).

Additionally former Tennessee star Kara Lawson comes from the Connecticut Sun, a franchise for which Lindsay Whalen of the Minnesota Lynx starred before her trade a year ago that netted the Sun Tina Charles with the first round pick of 2010.

Former Temple star Candice Dupree of Phoenix, who was on the USA roster in Czechoslovakia, remains with the group as do former Rutgers stars Cappie Pondexter and Kia Vaughn of the New York Liberty.

Penn State’s Washington Says Tweet-A-Loo

The Lady Lions’ Coquese Washington announced she is closing her twitter account fueling speculation that she might be in the mix for either opening at UCLA to replace new LSU coach Nikki Caldwell or at California to replace new Virginia coach Joanne Boyle.

Unless the money is too much to turn down, it is hard to believe Washington would jump ship from a team that nearly advanced to the Sweet 16 and had achieved its best success making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005.

Last May Washington agreed to a two-year extension at Penn State through 2013-14.

New Ipad Apps Has Free Movies and TV Shows

With a lot of downtime the Guru is continuously hunting for new apps for the ipad and on Wednesday tripped into a new one for the iphone, ipod touch or ipad called Crackle.

Once installed, one can watch old TV shows or choose from an array of movies, all for free. The Guru tested it and it was pretty neat watching Ghostbusters and an old Seinfeld show as tests.

Since the new WNBA president is suppose to have a business background, the Guru is interested if the NBA will offer an IPad apps this summer for the WNBA in the same manner as that excellent NBA apps that was trotted out this winter.

That’s it for now until the WNBA news occurs Thursday and/or more coaching jobs are filled.

-- Mel