College Times

Issue date: 10/8/09 Section: Blogs

Media Credit: Kimberly P. Mitchell/Detroit Free Press/MCT The Phoenix Mercury celebrate winning the decisive Game 5 of the 2007 WNBA Finals. The team is one win away from its second championship in three seasons this Saturday in Phoenix.

All but a select few are witnessing the greatest team in Phoenix sports history - and no, it's not those 1-2 Cardinals, a bankrupt Coyotes squad seemingly destined for Canada, or most certainly that other hoops franchise that has "big plans" for Louis Amundson.

It's the Phoenix Mercury, the most exciting team no one knows about, and yes, the best team in the history of the Valley.

Never heard of them? Blame reputation.

The WNBA gets a generally bad wrap, and is certainly different from the NBA, but only in terms of scale. There are fewer teams than in the NBA (13, compared to 30), smaller crowds, smaller budgets and smaller players.

But the talent level is there. It just hasn't always been that way.

Starting in 1997, the now-defunct Houston Comets won the league's first four titles with ease, an imbalance that left fans in other cities a bit uneasy. Franchises relocated. Some folded.

But a funny thing happened. Amid financial turmoil and uncertainty, the league survived. The talent shifted around through free agency, the popularity of women's basketball soared across the country, and new, better talent was injected into once woebegone franchises through the draft.

The first women's professional sports league to stay afloat for a decade, ever, suddenly had something to build on. The head honchos caught on that identifying star power was key, and names like Lisa Leslie and Diana Taurasi became household. Momentum from nationally broadcast women's NCAA tournament games was carried through by holding the league's draft the day after the college championship game, a savvy decision.

Now, with five different champions in the past seven seasons, the league is at its most competitive.

Which makes what the Mercury are doing all the more impressive.

They finished 23-11 in the 2009 regular season, tops in the league. They scored 92.8 points-per-game, a league record. They shot the ball at a 46 percent clip. They made a league-high 247 three-pointers. They sank 85.5 percent of their free throws, among the best totals in the history of organized basketball. These are numbers that would leave even Mike D'Antoni's run 'n gun Suns short of breath.

They have the accolades to go with the numbers, too. Diana Taurasi was the league's leading scorer (20.4 ppg) and is the MVP winner. Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter were both named first-team all-WNBA. First-year player Dewanna Bonner won Sixth Woman of the Year, and could very well wrap up rookie of the year, too.

Get past the pre-conceived notions, watch this week's WNBA finals, bask in the Mercury's greatness; it's undeniable.

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