Kelly Faris Survives; Makes Final Connecticut Sun Roster

[JavaMan]

Huge congrats to one of our HARD WORKING faves!

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[MilfordHusky]

Yay! Way to go, Kelly!

 

[HGN]

Hip Hip Hooray..................Way to go Kelly. A testament to hustle.........And a feather in the Old-Hustle Hat.

 

[JavaMan]

Jamie Weisner, the rookie from Oregon State, and Jennifer O'Neill have been waived.

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The Connecticut Sun have released second-round pick Jamie Weisner as well as Jennifer O'Neill meaning that former UConn standout Kelly Faris has made the team's opening-night roster.

Veteran forward Camille Little has reported to camp after her overseas season came to an end as the Sun have the 12-player roster heading into Saturday's season opener at Chicago.

Little and Faris are joined by returning players Alex Bentley, Kelsey Bone, Chiney Ogwumike, Shekinna Stricklen, Alyssa Thomas and Jasmine Thomas. First-round picks Morgan Tuck, Rachel Banham and Jonquel Jones and free agent signee Aneika Henry make up the team's roster.

Also, former Hillhouse High star Bria Holmes has made the roster for the Atlanta Dream as four players including the Delisha Multon-Jones, the WNBA's all-time leader in games played, have been released.

[LINK]​

 

[UcMiami]

Guess her performance in that last game was enough on both ends to tip the scales.

 

[psconn]

Kelly the Cat... 9 lives. Very happy for Kelly. She works so damn hard 100% of the time.
As for the Sun, only time will tell if this was the right call. I only hope the decision was based on basketball, not fan base manipulation. Putting the best team on the court and winning ultimately will cure more problems than additional UConn players on the roster will.

 

[EricLA]

So glad to see Holmes find a home! Proud of a great Connecticut player, even if she didn't go to UCONN. Also thrilled for Kelly - I'm a bit surprised that Weisner and O'neill were cut, but I do think Kelly is better than both of them so IMHO the Sun made the right call.

Also glad for Banham and Jones - I think Jonquel has a chance to be terrific in the league. I just hope Banham doesn't follow the Shonni Schimmel school of diet and fitness.

Side note - anyone surprised that Simmons is actually still playing? I thought she was done in the WNBA.

 

[JavaMan]

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[Fiftyish]

Great news. Hard work and hustle gets it done.

 

[dbmill]

So glad to see Holmes find a home! Proud of a great Connecticut player, even if she didn't go to UCONN. Also thrilled for Kelly - I'm a bit surprised that Weisner and O'neill were cut, but I do think Kelly is better than both of them so IMHO the Sun made the right call.

Also glad for Banham and Jones - I think Jonquel has a chance to be terrific in the league. I just hope Banham doesn't follow the Shonni Schimmel school of diet and fitness.

Side note - anyone surprised that Simmons is actually still playing? I thought she was done in the WNBA.

I'm not surprised about Weisner being cut. It sounds like her Canadian olympic team commitments would require her to miss a goodly amount of Connecticut Sun games. It would be one thing if she was one of the top players on the Sun, but Weisner was competing for one of the last spots on the squad. Given the roster limitations of WNBA teams, it doesn't seem like a good move to give one of the last roster spots to a player who is only going to be available to play some of the time.

 

[UcMiami]

dvmill - Yeah - I was thinking that as well. This will be a strange first half of the season because a lot of teams are going to be looking for 7 day replacement contracts or playing one or two players short for long stretches of the next few months - Canadian team players have three separate training periods that will cut into the WNBA season. I think Weisner is good enough to play in the league and will get another chance next year.

 

[Fightin Choke]

From the story linked by the OP:

"If my math is correct, there should be 14 former UConn players on opening-day rosters including eight from the 2012-13 team (Faris, Tuck, Washington's Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley, Seattle's Sue Bird, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Breanna Stewart and San Antonio's Moriah Jefferson)."

If I were Fuller, I'd be more concerned about his parenthetical list than his math, as I am pretty sure that Sue Bird did not play on the 2012-13 team. I believe the 8th member of the team was Kiah Stokes (NY Liberty).

I'm happy for Kelly, as she is one of my favorite UConn players.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

It just goes to show ya that there still is a place for someone that does a lot of the grunt work making her teammates and team better. Kelly leading by example! One of my all-time favorite Huskies!

 

[DaddyChoc]

and someone mentioned that Shekinna Stricklen should be cut... she was one of the bright spots for the Sun last season IMO

congrats to Kelly

 

[Sonny44]

Go for it Kelly.

 

[meyers7]

I'm not surprised about Weisner being cut. It sounds like her Canadian olympic team commitments would require her to miss a goodly amount of Connecticut Sun games. It would be one thing if she was one of the top players on the Sun, but Weisner was competing for one of the last spots on the squad. Given the roster limitations of WNBA teams, it doesn't seem like a good move to give one of the last roster spots to a player who is only going to be available to play some of the time.

Good point.

 

[HardHatGuy#2]

Kelly the Cat... 9 lives. Very happy for Kelly. She works so damn hard 100% of the time.
As for the Sun, only time will tell if this was the right call. I only hope the decision was based on basketball, not fan base manipulation. Putting the best team on the court and winning ultimately will cure more problems than additional UConn players on the roster will.

Look at the roster; who is the defensive stopper? Yes, Bone will bang in the middle and Tuck will disrupt slashers and most post moves coming her way, but out on the perimeter, there is not a single avid defender on the roster outside of Faris. This was a NEED for them; hopefully this coach knows how to handle the perimeter better than Donovan, on both sides of the ball.

 

[huskyd]

It may be a good indicator that the WNBA has a sufficient surplus of talent to make the final spot on a roster competitive. What Kelly Faris needs that Kiah Stokes found was a coach who recognized her talent and found a way to utilize it to advantage. At UConn, Faris was often given the toughest player on the opponent side to guard. While she was usually outsized, she was never outworked. Besides being a quality person, Kelly loves the game and should find a niche in it. I'm sure all Husky fans wish her the very best. You go, girl.

 

[Striper69]

Hooray for Kelly!

 

[Striper69]

It may be a good indicator that the WNBA has a sufficient surplus of talent to make the final spot on a roster competitive. What Kelly Faris needs that Kiah Stokes found was a coach who recognized her talent and found a way to utilize it to advantage. At UConn, Faris was often given the toughest player on the opponent side to guard. While she was usually outsized, she was never outworked. Besides being a quality person, Kelly loves the game and should find a niche in it. I'm sure all Husky fans wish her the very best. You go, girl.

Stokes would've made the Chicago Sky the champs last year if Fowles would've also stayed and they drafted Kiah.

I can't think of any team that Kiah wouldn't have made better.

 

[UcMiami]

So Jasmine Lister got cut today from the LA Sparks - I would say in the final cuts, but they kept everyone in camp until today and only just announced the final roster - one US rookie - Whitney Knight from FGCU who is likely the first from that school to make a roster in the WNBA.

Still waiting on the Phoenix final roster 4 moves pending.

Seattle cut Tiffany Bias who they had claimed on wavers from Phoenix to get down to their 12.

Stars have one cut to make (happened by 5 PM but hasn't been posted.) and Washington also has one move pending.

 

[UcMiami]

FYI - the lack of information about roster moves, the lack of updates on the WNBA site and on the individual team pages, the lack of updates on their news links is just another indication of how dire the situation is, and how poorly some of the teams manage their publicity.

 

[noirwestern]

FYI - the lack of information about roster moves, the lack of updates on the WNBA site and on the individual team pages, the lack of updates on their news links is just another indication of how dire the situation is, and how poorly some of the teams manage their publicity.

I figure they've decided not enough people care for them to make the effort so behave accordingly.

 

[UConnNick]

Here's to the "Hoosier Hoopstress" - way to go, Kelly!

 

[Goodgood]

So Jasmine Lister got cut today from the LA Sparks

She should have gone with the Huskies to the White House ...