Mel knows what she wants

John Reid (Palo Alto Daily News) brings us up to date on Melanie Murphy, who has begun to fulfill her lifelong ambition to make money — lots of it — with a job in Palo Alto as an investment advisor. Read more...

RosGO makes the Nigerian National Team

I don't know if Ros said, "Well, it's worth a try." But she must have said something to that effect as she tried out for the Nigerian National Women's Basketball Team and a chance to play in the 2012 Olympics. It was definitely worth a try — she was named a member of the team yesterday.

The Nigerian National Team will compete in Belgium and France this summer before going to Mali for the AfroBasket Women tournament from Sept 23 to Oct 2.

The winner of that tournament will qualify for the 2012 Olympics. The 2nd and 3rd place finishers will qualify for the 2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, a 12-team tournament that will take place in June/July 2012. The top five teams will earn a place in the Olympic Basketball Tournament.

There could be as many as five Stanford alumnae playing in the 2012 Olympics.

The USA Basketball National Team has already qualified for the 2012 Olympics by virtue of winning the 2010 FIBA World Championship. Jayne Appel and Candice Wiggins are on the 24-member national team roster as of April 26, The selection of the Olympics team will be made sometime next year.

Kristen Newlin is a member of the Turkish National Team, which has qualified for 2012 Olympics Qualifying Tournament by virtue of taking 2nd place in the EuroBasket Women tournament last month.

Jillian Harmon is a member of the New Zealand National Team, which will compete in the FIBA Oceania Tournament Sept 7-11. The winner will qualify for the 2012 Olympics. The runner-up will qualify for the 2012 Olympics Qualifying Tournament

Candice's downtime wasn't lost time

By Jim Paulsen (Minneapolis Star Tribune):

What should have been the bleakest time in Candice Wiggins' basketball life turned out to be far brighter than even she could have hoped ...

But it didn't take long for her to start thinking that her glass wasn't just half-full, it was spilling over the edges ...

The time off helped her see past her basketball career and get a feel for what the next chapter in her life might be.

Read more...

Kayla & Jeanette are among top 10 rookies

Nate Parham (Swish Appeal) presents his pick of the top 10 rookies in the WNBA after one month of play.

He ranks Kayla as #1, with this overall evaluation: Every single player on this list does something better than Pedersen: defensively, passing, rebounding or shooting. So as usual, it's easy to overlook Kayla Pedersen, only made easier because she's playing on the team with the worst record in the league right now. But here's the thing about Pedersen: there isn't much she doesn't do. Pedersen is proving that she's exactly what she was at Stanford: the ultimate teammate.

He ranks Jeanette as #8 because of her scoring efficiency and three-point shooting.

Read more...

Turkey wins the silver

Turkey couldn't keep up with a very strong Russian team and lost 42-59 in the EuroBasket 2011 championship game.

Not quite making it all the way is disappointing, as Cardinal fans well know. But, still, what a run for the Turkish team, who had never before even made it to the final eight. As New twittered, "Proud to bring home the silver. #goturkiye"

Here is the game card.

The second-place finish qualifies Turkey to compete in the 2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, a 12-team tournament that will take place in June/July 2012. The top five teams will earn a place in the 2012 Olympic Basketball Tournament.

New's reaction to EuroBasket semifinal victory

Listen to New's reaction to Turkey's victory over France in this video from FIBA

New is game hero as Turkey advances to Gold Medal game

Turkey defeated reigning champion France 68-62 in overtime in their semifinal game of EuroBasket Women 2011.

New was declared the game hero: "Nevin Nevlin (Kristin's Turkish name) was restored into the Turks' starting line-up to nullify the power of the French. It was the perfect tactic and she delivered 23 points and 8 rebounds."

Here is the game card, which includes a game highlights video as well as the usual game report, box score and play-by-play.

Turkey will play Russian for the gold medal on Sunday July 3 at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time. You can watch the game online here