Daily Swish: The college basketball season is about to start

Sorry we haven't done link posts on the regular as of late. But with that said, we have some links that you may find interesting:

College basketball

ESPN's Charlie Creme, Graham Hays, Michelle Smith, and Mechelle Voepel give their preseason player and championship picks for the 2014-15 season - Spoiler alert: Not everyone thought UConn would win it all.

Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant talked with UConn head coach Geno Auriemma on his longevity as a coach - though Auriemma is now 60, he doesn't know when he would stop coaching. But he admitted that he didn't think that he would have been in the field as long as he has. Auriemma also had some lighter moments, where he talked about the piano app on the iPad, Wall Street, and landing a Navy fighter jet.

I know I've already been talking about where UConn junior forward Breanna Stewart could play in 2016 when her WNBA career would start. But in the meantime, she is the country's preseason player of the year - link to Mechelle Voepel's column on espnW.com.

Mount St. Joseph Freshman Lauren Hill has her own personalized Wheaties box and NBA Live 15 cover - Links go to espnW.com.

ESPN's Mechelle Voepel also wrote a nice column on the South Carolina basketball team last week - The Gamecocks are ranked #2 in the preseason polls and are as safe of a bet as anyone if you think another team (besides UConn) will win the national title. However, can this team make that jump this year?

SB Nation Maryland Terrapins blog Testudo Times was at the team's media day which was held last October - Not surprisingly, topics included how the Terps planned to adjust to life in the Big Ten Conference and without Alyssa Thomas after a 2014 Final Four appearance. But the Terps also asked questions about the team's new freshman additions and how they plan to take advantage of their athleticism.

WNBA

Last Friday, WRC-TV's Mark Segraves reported that Monumental Sports is closing in on plans to build a basketball practice facility in the Shaw Neighborhood of D.C. - It would be for the Washington Wizards NBA team, and that a 5000-seat arena could be the Washington Mystics' new home. For more on how Wizards fans are anticipating a new practice facility, check out SB Nation's Bullets Forever's take.

As you might have expected, the idea of the Mystics moving to what would be the league's smallest venue -- AND IS SMALLER THAN THEIR STATED ATTENDANCE -- doesn't sit well with us - There's a fan petition out there on Change.org to make sure that fans' voices are heard. Go here to put your name on it.

I'll get to a brighter topic involving the Mystics.

Halloween was nearly a couple weeks ago. But Mystics guard Tierra Ruffin-Pratt was in face paint as a half-faced skeleton - Watch the video feature with Monumental Network's Dan Nolan by seeing the embed below, or click here:

I wonder how many takes Nolan had to do to get that shot into the basket - at the 14 to 16 second mark.

From Halloween, we are already heading toward Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday season - Per a press release, the Monumental Foundation held a family-to-family initiative on Friday, November 77 at a Walmart in Washington, D.C. Wives and girlfriends of Washington Wizards and Capitals players, as well as Mystics guard Tayler Hill helped low income families shop for the Christmas holiday season. A Facebook picture of Hill and Maria Giovannetti, the team's director of basketball operations can be seen here.

Former NFL running back Willis McGahee said his crush is on Minnesota Lynx forward Maya Moore - Link is to a video on TMZ.com. I get that he has a crush, but I wonder if he'll travel to Target Center next season and hold some "Marry Me Maya!" signs.

AP reporter Doug Feinberg writes that Chicago Sky forward Elena Delle Donne is the first national ambassador for Lyme Research Alliance - Delle Donne has Lyme Disease, and has had flare ups which kept her from playing a considerable number of games during the 2014 season.

Last week, Feinberg also reported that Indiana Fever guard Shavonte Zellous filed a grievance with FIBA due to a dispute with her Turkish Team, Galatasaray - The dispute is due to bonus payments totaling about $100,000 that allegedly were not paid. Zellous did not report to the team during the fall due to lack of payments and Galatasaray terminated her. But she's not alone when it comes to salary disputes. Connecticut Sun forward Kelsey Bone, who also was on the team last year, didn't get her bonus, and neither did anyone else.

These are just a selection of many links over the past several days and even weeks. But if you have more, please FanShot them so we can share them across the Internet.