Sky Hoops with House

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Jeff

Hey Sky fans! It’s conference tournament time! I have had a great time out and about seeing so many great games and players. Let me give you a quick rundown of my travels.

The Big Ten Tournament

This tournament started out so “normal” the first day I was there. All the higher seeds rolling along – then it just went crazy… Nebraska knocks off #2 seed Ohio State by 15, Purdue eliminates #1 seed Penn State and then Purdue and Nebraska go to double OT to decide the Big Ten Championship! Great, Great games!

The double OT final will be on ESPN Classic very soon I’m sure. Purdue dominated for much of the first half and led by 11 at one point, but Lindsay Moore made an underhanded, off-balance basket for the Huskers in the closing seconds of the first half to tie the score at 27 at the break. That gave Nebraska great momentum heading into the locker room.

Then, with the score tied at 56 in the final seconds of regulation, Courtney Moses drove to the hoop, but Hooper blocked her shot and got the rebound, giving Nebraska 1.3 seconds to win it. But, Hooper missed a heave at the buzzer forcing overtime.
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Sky Hoops with House

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Jeff

What’s happening Sky Fans! We’ve kept our streak alive… 4 weeks in a row with a player signing! Chicagoland basketball fans have to like this one… we’re bringing Felicia Chester back to play some ball in Chitown!

Felicia is a great fit for our roster. The former DePaul power forward is 6’3, can operate at both the high and low post offensively and has the athletic ability to defend multiple positions.

Let me give you the history of Felicia coming “back” to Chicago. Last year I flew to Chicago to see the DePaul vs. Notre Dame game with our owner Michael Alter. It was almost exactly one year ago, February 28, 2011. Do you remember the game? DePaul’s amazing win over ND at McGrath-Phillips Arena? It was one of the better college basketball games I saw last year. Felicia and the Blue Devils were playing great coming into the game. It was senior night. Felicia had scored double figures in 5 of her previous 8 games and there was a lot of “buzz” about this game. Well, on this night she rose to the occasion! 8/14 from the field (she hit a 3), 6 boards and 20 points in 39 minutes! The most important stat of all…. a W! It was a great game and a great win for DePaul. One game does not a career make. Her combined body of work throughout her DePaul career and a great game on a BIG night earned her the 14th overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft. (*That is the highest drafted DePaul player, ever.)

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Sky Hoops with House

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Jeff

How you liking all the free agent moves now Sky Fans! WOW! I can’t tell you how excited we are about how our 2012 roster is coming together! Pokey devised a plan; she executed her plan to perfection and is putting together a tremendous balance of veteran experience, championship experience, leadership, youth and overall talent on our 2012 roster! And we aren’t done yet! We still have the draft, a few more free agents to look at and a very competitive training camp ahead of us!

Hold on tight!

If you haven’t already done so, you better get your tickets for our games at Allstate Arena! It is going to be an amazing summer and you aren’t going to want to miss a single minute of it! As Swin says in all her tweets…. #skysthelimit!

With all the signings around the league, let’s take a look at how each organization goes about building a roster.

The WNBA mandates an 11-player roster. During the very early WNBA days, 1999, the roster was comprised of: 11 active players, two players on the injured list and one developmental player. The developmental player was a player that could practice with the team but did not dress for games, play or travel with the team. During the 1999 season we had a developmental player in New York, Simone Edwards, a 6’4 post/forward out of Iowa. Simone went on to have a very solid WNBA career. In 2000 she went to Seattle and played six seasons, 178 games and started 48 games. That developmental season was critical in Simone’s growth as a player.

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Pokey Chatman’s Interview on Dishin’ & Swishin’

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Jeff

Some may not have heard the interview by David Siegel on HOOPFEED.COM with Pokey Chatman regarding the signing of the WNBA’s All-Time assist leader Ticha Penicheiro.  It’s a great piece reviewing all the off-season moves in Chicago, directed from 3,500 miles away.  Check it out!

David and HOOPFEED.com are such a valuable resource to stay connected to the world of Women’s Basketball.  There is nothing they miss!

By David Siegel

Go ahead, just ask the Minnesota Lynx.

Sure, you can have an extremely talented, young roster of players, and what will it get you? Not into the playoffs necessarily, never mind a title. Now, what happens when you add experienced veterans who have won a championship and a point guard who loves to spread it around? We are talking championship in the case of Minnesota, when Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Rebekkah Brunson and Lindsay Whalen joined Seimone Augustus, Candice Wiggins and the rest.

So this season we may get the answer to the question what happens when you add four veterans who have won championships, including a point guard who loves to distribute to perhaps the best center in the league, a dynamic combo guard who we know can score, and a young point guard who needs tutoring.

Pokey Chatman, head coach of and general manager of the Chicago Sky and I talked yesterday, as the Sky announced the addition of Ticha Penicheiro to the Sky roster. Penicheiro, one of the greatest point guards in WNBA history, thought about retirement, but instead chose to leave her familiar west coast to join forces with previous championship winners Swin Cash, Ruth Riley, and Le’Coe Willingham, superstar center Sylvia Fowles, Epiphanny Prince and Courtney Vandersloot. She hopes to continue to transform the Sky into an Eastern Conference contender.

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