Every Tuesday I will be updating my list of the WNBA’s top five team’s based on my thoughts on what has happened in the league the previous week. This is the first installment of those rankings.
1. Minnesota Lynx (3-1), Why are the San Antonio Silver Stars, the WNBA’s only undefeated team remaining not at the top of the list? Well to be the best, you have to beat the best and Minnesota did that last Thursday with an 81-74 victory over the defending WNBA champion Seattle Storm, who had not lost in 23 consecutive regular and postseason games at KeyArena until the Lynx came to town. The Lynx lost their season opener to the Los Angeles Sparks, but won three straight after that, proving that the young collection of talent that Minnesota has is learning how to play together — and learning fast.
2. San Antonio Silver Stars (3-0), The Silver Stars have to take the second spot over the Storm for a simple reason — they haven’t lost a game. It was difficult to not put the Storm No.2 because two of three wins that San Antonio has came over the Tulsa Shock, who fell to 0-5 on Tuesday night. But a victory over the Atlanta Dream, last year’s finalist from the Eastern Conference, gets San Antonio the second spot in the first week of the rankings.
3. Seattle Storm (1-1), The Storm would be No.1 if it weren’t for their hiccup against the Lynx last Thursday. But the fact remains the Storm still have the biggest collection of talent in the WNBA and we should get a better view of what this year’s team is made of when they face the 3-1 Indiana Fever on Friday at KeyArena.
4. Indiana Fever (3-1), The Fever have wins over the Chicago Sky, New York Liberty and the Tulsa Shock. The team’s only loss came in a close 81-80 game with the Liberty. Katie Douglas is averaging just over 21 points per game. The Fever appear to be the early favorite in the Eastern Conference.
5. Chicago Sky (2-1), The Sky lost their opening game to the Fever, but have since earned victories over the Connecticut Sun and the Washington Mystics. With rookie and Gonzaga alum Courtney Vandersloot in the mix, and getting more comfortable with her new team, the Sky could make some noise as the season progresses.
The other seven teams:
Best of the Worst: Connecticut Sun (2-1), The only loss for the Sun came in a close 78-75 game with the Sky, but Connecticut has been impressive in its victories over Washington and Tulsa.
Worst of the Worst: Tulsa Shock (0-5), Most around the WNBA didn’t expect a whole lot from the Shock going into the season, but the team has clearly been the least competitive team in the league. The Shock’s closest game this season came in Tuesday’s 82-74 loss to the Fever. Their worst loss came in the form of a 93-62 drubbing at the hands of the Silver Stars.
Watch out for: The Phoenix Mercury (0-2) and the Atlanta Dream (1-3), The Mercury are winless, but they were picked to be one of the more competitive teams in the Western Conference and they do have arguably the best women’s basketball player in the world in Diana Taurasi on their side, don’t expect this early season slide to last too long. The Dream have struggled early as well, but they were a team that made the WNBA Finals a year ago. When Angel McCoughtry is fully healthy from her sprained MCL, expect the Dream to make a mad dash toward the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
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