Tuesday morning links: Sylvia Fowles out for World Championships, Team USA beats Team Canada, Kia Nurse impresses

With Team USA facing and beating Team Canada yesterday, there were plenty of articles about players on both sides with content relevant to the upcoming World Championships, the WNBA, and NCAA.

The following is a sampling of some of the more interesting tidbits from those articles organized by the excerpts that I pulled out though most cross a few different categories.

FIBA

• From USA Basketball's recap of the game: "More questionable players are Brittney Griner, who is still dealing with an eye procedure to correct her retina after taking a blow to the face last week, and also Elena Delle Donne, who had to be shot up for most of the finals due to major back pain — hence, sitting for a six-hour flight might not be ideal. The one definite scratch from the group is Sylvia Fowles, who is still dealing with a nagging foot injury, according to Auriemma." Read more >>>

• John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant reported that we can also pencil someone else in another final roster decision: "...it seems there's no uncertainty about Stewart's status. The UConn junior is poised to become just the fourth undergrad to make a USA World Championship roster, joining Chamique Holdsclaw, Candace Parker and Maya Moore." Or should we just go ahead and write that in with a Sharpie? Read more >>>

• Abigail Lorge of USA Basketball reports that the U.S. has plenty of depth but coach Geno Auriemma was still waiting for someone to stand out for at least one possession. "I don’t think any of the post players have come out and clearly just blown everybody away," Auriemma said afterwards. "They’ve all had their moments where they’ve been really good, and they’ve all had their moments where they struggled. That’s why it’s going to be difficult [to pare down the roster], and the same with the guards."If you need a box score for the game, click here. Read more >>>

• Doug Smith of the Toronto Star mentioned at the end of his article critiquing the FIBA men's World Cup that the Canada Basketball Women's National Team's game against Team USA wasn't scheduled to be televised in Canada: "I just went to the NBA TV Canada listings to see if the Canada-US women’s game is on tonight (it’s on ESPN2 so there is a broadcast) and, of course, today’s listings aren’t up. Why would they be?...Maybe NBA TV Canada, once someone wakes up and can update the on-line listings, will do right thing." Read more >>>

NCAA

• Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register reports that people were impressed by Team Canada guard and incoming UConn freshman Kia Nurse, who scored six points on a pair of threes in yesterday's game: "Nurse drew rave reviews from teammates and opponents after a solid performance. 'She is definitely a big guard, she brings a lot and is skilled player,' U.S. guard Lindsay Whalen said. 'She has a very big future, it will be fun to see her grow and continue to get better. She is going to have a chance with the national team to keep getting better and play against some great competition.'" Read more >>>

• Both Altavilla and Fuller had plenty about Nurse in their articles linked above. But Altavilla also had a great feature on Sunday about Nurse in advance of yesterday's game, noting that for all the star power Geno Auriemma has gotten in Storrs this is just the second time he's had a player fresh off international competition (Svetlana Abrosimova was the other). Canada coach Lisa Thomaidis offered a brief summary of her game. "She has great length for a point guard and is very fast. And over the past year, she has put on some muscle, so she is not just a lanky kid. Kia does want to score, which is great. Now we are working on the other things." Read more >>>

• Michael P. Mayko of the Connecticut Post reports that ESPN is making a film about UConn: "...Ansonia Armory, which was reborn on Sunday as a backdrop for a three-part ESPN documentary on the rise of UCONN women's basketball. The documentary will air in three parts, according to Sheila O'Malley, the city's economic development director. The first part will be broadcast Nov. 16 followed by Dec. 9 and April 10 all on ESPN-2 at times to be announced." Read more >>>

• Andrew Schultz of the Daily Trojan wrote about senior guard Ariya Crook being kicked off the USC team due to an unspecified violation of team and university policy. Most notably, Crook was MVP of the 2014 Pac-12 Tournament after USC's surprise run to the title that secured them an automatic bid in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. It's a huge blow to the program after already losing Cassie Harberts to graduation (and the WNBA Draft). Read more >>>

WNBA

• Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times published an interview with Jenna O'Hea about her first season in Seattle, switching positions, and where she stands with the Opals. Although she is not playing with Australia this year, she says she hopes to represent her country in the Olympics: "Moving forward, I hope I’m called for the Olympics again. It’s really not in my control right now. It might be where I (have to choose between the WNBA and national team) but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it." Read more >>>

• Mechelle Voepel of espnW reports that Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve believes that 2014 WNBA MVP improved as a player who does more than just take advantage of openings this past season. "She became somebody we could count on all the time on both sides of the ball," Reeve said. "Before, she was more someone we could count on to shoot well when she was open and maybe post up a little. But she just evolved into somebody that we ran multiple plays for. She always seems to find a way to get things done." Read more >>>