Mercury Rising . . . or Falling?

Who would have thought that the 2007 WNBA Champions, the Phoenix Mercury, would start their 2008 season -- defending their title -- (with Diana Taurasi, with Cappie Pondexter, with Tangela Smith, and with Kelly Miller all in their line-up) and be 0-4, tied for last place, as we begin the third week of the regular season? (Don't answer that, it's a rhetorical question.)

The not-so-rhetorical and more important question is this: can the Mystics add to Phoenix's woes and make the Mercury 0-5? We certainly hope so!

The answer will come Tuesday night (or for those of us on the East Coast, early Wednesday morning). The Mystics and the Mercury square off tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10:30 PM EDT in a game being nationally televised on ESPN2 (which means that the game probably won't end until 12:30 AM or thereabouts).

Some Mystics fans may actually be able to stay up that late on a school night to watch the game, but that "some" most definitely will not include the BasketCases. So, like "some" of the rest of you, we'll just have to read all about it the next morning . . . and then fire up the DVR Wednesday evening to catch up on everything we missed.

For Maryland Fans . . . Today's blog by Mel Greenberg of the Philadelphia Inquirer (linked here) contains a couple of items of interest. The "Guru" tells his readers that Bernadette McGlade, currently Associate Commissioner of the ACC (and well known to fans who've attended the ACC tournament in Greensboro) is about to be named Commissioner of the Atlantic-10 conference. (Now confirmed by the ACC.) And, if you keep reading, you also learn that Maryland Assistant Coach Erica Floyd is one of several candidates being mentioned as a possible replacement for (former) Temple Head Coach Dawn Staley, who was recently named the new Head Coach of the University of South Carolina.