Sun Begin Season With More Questions Than Answers

Sun head coach Anne Donovan (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The WNBA’s Connecticut Sun open the 2015 basketball season with, unfortunately, more questions than answers.

The Sun will kick off the WNBA season (19th season) this evening against the Washington Mystics at Mohegan Sun Arena (Uncasville, CT).

The Sun, who are coming off a 2014 season where they finished in the basement of the Eastern Conference with a 13-21 mark, have been riddled with injuries, most noteworthy to Chiney Ogwumike (15.5 ppg), last year’s WNBA Rookie of the Year.

The former Stanford University All-American, who was the first overall pick in the 2014 WNBA draft, has undergone extensive knee surgery and will likely miss the entire 2015 season.

When you consider that Ogwumike contributed 20 percent of the Suns total point production (75.7 ppg) last season, Sun Coach Anne Donovan has a major hole to fill in the lineup.

Donovan, who will be starting her third season as the Sun’s head coach, is hopeful that a lineup which combines some WNBA experience with youthful exuberance can prove to be a winning combination.

But there are many skeptics who have already written off the Sun even before the first center jump of the season has been tossed.

The Sun will be looking for Alyssa Thomas, the former Maryland standout who averaged 10.0 points per game last year, and Alex Bentley, who averaged 12.2 ppg last year, to provide the majority of the scoring punch.

They will be aided by Kelsey Bone and the recently acquired Shekinna Stricklen. Elizabeth Williams (Duke), the Sun’s top draft choice, is also another player to watch this season.

The Suns have a pair of strong on-court leaders in captains Camille Little (8th season, North Carolina) and Jasmine Thomas (4th season, Duke).

Donovan, the former Olympic Gold Medalist and Naismith Hall of Fame member, is in the final year of her contract, so the pressure to improve upon last year’s record will increase as the season progresses.

The Mystics are led by the likes of Ivory Latta, Bria Hartley, Kia Vaughn, Kara Lawson and Stefanie Dolson. Last year the Mystics finished third in the Eastern Conference with a 16-18 overall mark.

The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Live coverage of the game can be found at WNBA.com.

SUN SPOTS

Most prognosticators have picked the Atlanta Dream and the Minnesota Lynx as the teams to beat this season.

The Dream is led by leading scorer Angel McCoughtry (18.5 ppg) and their dynamic point guard Shoni Schimmel.

Minnesota is led by former UConn All-American Maya Moore.

Anne Donovan is the first female coach to win a WNBA league championship when she led the Seattle Storm to the 2004 title over the Connecticut Sun.

Kelsey Bone’s godfather is Antonio Davis who toiled in the NBA for 13 seasons.

Alyssa Thomas has a brother, Devin, who stars for the Wake Forest University men’s basketball team.

The Sun will head to Atlanta for their first road game of the season to face the Dream on Sunday, June 7 (3 p.m.).

They will return to Mohegan Sun Arena on Thursday, June 11 when they host the Chicago Sky (7 p.m.) and Sunday, June 14 against the Atlanta Dream (3 p.m.).