Women's basketball links: Wade Watch List announced, Opals gain support for U.S. camp in 2014, and the 2013 WNBA Finals

Although I've been writing exclusively about the 2013 WNBA Finals, I've also been keeping up with other happenings around the women's basketball world and today seemed like a good day to play catch-up: the Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced their 2013-14 Preseason Wade Watch list.

The following are few more links relevant to the Wade Watch list as well as some other good reads from the last week or so before tonight's WNBA Finals game (8 p.m. EDT, ESPN2). For more on the Finals - including ratings for Game 1 - check out our 2013 WNBA Finals storystream.

• UConn's release about the Preseason Wade Watch list notes that Breanna Stewart is one of two sophomores on the preseason list (with Tennessee's Bashaara Graves). The Huskies led the way with four selections while no other team had more than two selections (Cal, Duke, Notre Dame and Tennessee). Read more >>>

• Doug Feinberg of the AP reports that the college players - including seniors and 2014 WNBA Draft prospects Stefanie Dolson, Kayla McBride, Odyssey Sims, and Alyssa Thomas - had an impressive performance at last weekend's U.S. national women’s basketball camp in Las Vegas. Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker had some high praise for Notre Dame's McBride: "Kayla McBride, she’s played extremely well. She’s knocking down the shot. I didn’t realize how strong and how much of a pro body she has already." Read more >>>

No Hallie Christofferson on the Wade Trophy watch list? Not a fan of that. Unanimous All-Big 12.

— Matt Shoultz (@mjshoultz) October 8, 2013

• John Naughton of the Des Moines Register wrote a feature describing versatile All-Big XII forward Hallie Christofferson's role on the team. "I think she’s one of the best players in the country that people don’t know about," Fennelly said. "To go from Exira, Iowa, to a unanimous all-Big 12 player, that’s quite a leap." The article also includes video of their media day, which has player opinion of what their new offense will look like. Read more >>>

• Boti Nagy of The Advertiser writes that Australian Opals coach Brendan Joyce has been successful in gaining support to hold a 12-day camp in the U.S. during the 2014 WNBA preseason. All four WNBA teams with Australian players have shown interest in hosting the camp, which would include Joyce pulling Australian players out of camps. Read more >>>

• Mike Tierney of the New York Times wrote a great feature about the past two years of Atlanta Dream All-Star Angel McCoughtry's career, including her reflection on what happened last year and buzz that the Dream should've traded her. McCoughtry maintains that she had nothing to do with former coach and general manager Marynell Meadors being fired but maintains that she felt disrespected. Read more >>>
  

• Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune had a great feature on Minnesota Lynx All-WNBA point guard Lindsay Whalen before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals shedding some light on her personality and demeanor off the court. Of particular interest was the extended reflection from Whalen and others on their mid-season slump, which included the loss to the Atlanta Dream on August 20: "We were getting some islands on the floor rather than getting together and getting stronger.’’ Read more >>>

• Dave Southorn of the Idaho Statesman had an interesting piece on Atlanta Dream coach Fred Williams who played for the Boise State Broncos in the late 70's. Fittingly, "Fast Freddie" played a style similar to what you see from the Dream today: "We pushed the ball up the floor, which suited me well, and the fans there, the fans were tremendous." Read more >>>

• Mark Ambrogi of the Indianapolis Star wrote last week that the biggest question mark for the Indiana Fever this offseason is what to do with unrestricted free agent guard Katie Douglas, who missed the majority of this past season due to injury. General Manager & President Kelly Krauskopf said they'll also be looking for players who can play both the power forward and center spots. Read more >>>

• Melissa Isaacson of the espnW wrote a feature on Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter, who detailed the challenges of making his team viable. Read more >>>

• Ben Watanabe of NESN reports that newly acquired Golden State Warriors star Andre Iguodala "...has gone to seminars about investing and how to run a team, and hopes to own an NBA and a WNBA franchise. He plans to pick the brain of Warriors owner and successful venture capitalist Joe Lacob, and calls himself the "biggest fan" of Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle Corp., based in Santa Clara, Calif." Bringing him to the Bay Area is looking better by the day. Read more >>>

Obviously, the past week had plenty more links that are probably worthy of our attention. If you have others to share with the community, drop them in the comments below or create a fanshot. If you have a longer commentary you'd like to share, write up a fanpost.