Thursday afternoon links: Lynx outhustle Mercury, Lindsay Whalen's NBA Finals pick, and Four Factors statistics

There was only one game last night and one this morning, but there are still WNBA links to be read.

• Donny Rodriguez of Gapers Block previewed the Chicago Sky's meeting with the Tulsa Shock today, including what the return of Epiphanny Prince means to the team. Rodriguez notes that Prince's 52% 3-point shooting so far this shooting could be of help. In her first game back after her return from Russia, she did shoot 3-for-6 from beyond the arc but just 1-for-6 everywhere else from the field as the Sky took a loss. Read more >>>
• Odeen Domingo of AZCentral Sports reported that Diana Taurasi believed that the Minnesota Lynx just out-hustled the Phoenix Mercury last night: "They beat us to every loose ball, every rebound," she said. "They kind of out-toughed us at every position. That’s just something we can’t let happen." Read more >>>
• Ed Bemiss of National Sports Rankings and I have been in contact for a couple of years about various WNBA statistics and his latest project might have been his simplest: a table of tempo-free statistics (e.g. Four Factors & points per possession) for the league. Ray Floriani and I refer to these statistics weekly (or daily) so it's nice to have them all in one place. And in fact, it's just nice to have more stats available for the WNBA period. As of yesterday, the top offense was Minnesota and the top defense was Atlanta. Read more >>>
• The Honda Collegiate Sports Awards for Women has given the Honda Sports Award for basketball to Delaware alum Elena Delle Donne, who is now a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the 2013 Honda Cup. In addition, Purdue's Drey Mingo has received the Honda Inspiration award. Both will be presented with their awards live on ESPNU on June 24. Read more >>>
• Dimas Sanfiorenzo of the Global Grind interviewed injured wing Essence Carson of the New York Liberty asking her about her music career, life beyond basketball, and shoes. She named the Balenciaga Arena sneakers as the sneaker of the summer. Read more >>>

• The Seattle Storm have announced in a release that coach Brian Agler will be inducted to the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame next May. Agler graduated from Wittenburg University in Springfield, Ohio where he led the school to its only NCAA Division III title and made an impact in the state by leading the ABL's Columbus Quest to the back-to-back titles in 1997 & 98. Read more >>>

• AJ Pearlman of the White House's Let's Move! project wrote up a brief blog summarizing the Indiana Fever's visit to the South Lawn last Friday for a basketball clinic, including a 44 minute video of the event. Read more >>> (Click here for our storystream documenting the event)
• Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reported yesterday that WNBA president Laurel Richie hopes that Elena Delle Donne, Skylar Diggins and Brittney Griner will have an effect on the league similar to what Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had on the NBA. She added that this current draft class is the embodiment of Title IX, which has supported the development of a faster and more athletic brand of women's basketball. Read more >>>
• Bob Sansevere of the Pioneer Press asked Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen for her thoughts on on who would win tonight's Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Her answer: "I know my teammate Amber (Harris) is not going to like me for this -- she's a huge Heat fan -- but I've got to say Spurs, even though they're going into Miami." Read more >>>
• Kevin Zimmerman of SB Nation writes that Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh says the fans who left Game 6 early can 'watch the game at home.' And he also knows how arena protocol works, which means less sympathy for Miami fans. Any wonder why the Sol left? Game 7 is tonight at 9 p.m. EDT. Read more >>>

As usual, there are other links out there which you can drop in the comments or a fan shot. If you have an extended commentary to make, feel free to write up a fan post.