2008 Connecticut Sun season

2008 Connecticut Sun season
2008 Connecticut Sun season
Coach	Mike Thibault
Arena	Mohegan Sun Arena
Attendance	7,644 per game
Results
Record	21–13 (.618)
Place	2nd (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Lost in First Round
Team Leaders
Points	Asjha Jones (17.0)
Rebounds	Asjha Jones (6.1)
Assists	Lindsay Whalen (5.4)
Media
Television	WCTX
	← 2007 season 2009 season →

The 2008 WNBA season was their tenth season and their sixth in Connecticut. The Sun successfully advanced to the WNBA Playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. Lindsay Whalen was a key contributor to the club, averaging 14.0 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, and 5.4 assists per game.^[1]

Offseason

Expansion draft

The following player was lost in the Atlanta Dream expansion draft:

Erika DeSouza

^[2]

WNBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Nationality	School/Team/Country
1	9	Amber Holt	United States	Middle Tennessee
1	12 (from Indiana)	Ketia Swanier	United States	Connecticut
2	23	Jolene Anderson	United States	Wisconsin
3	37	Lauren Ervin	United States	Arkansas

^[3]

Transactions

August 27: The Sun signed Svetlana Abrosimova and waived Jolene Anderson.
June 27: The Sun waived Kamesha Hairston.
May 15: The Sun waived Cori Chambers.
May 7: The Sun waived Jessica Foley, Tracy Gahan and Christina Quaye.
May 6: The Sun waived Meredith Alexis and Natalie Berglin.
April 28: The Sun waived Crystal Erwin, Laura Hall and Jessica Richter.
April 23: The Sun waived Antoinette Upshaw.
March 20: The Sun signed Tracy Gahan to a training camp contract.
March 7: The Sun signed Sandrine Gruda.
March 5: The Sun signed Jessica Foley to a training camp contract.
March 3: The Sun signed Natalie Berglin and Kerri Gardin to training camp contracts.
February 19: The Sun re-signed free agents Lindsay Whalen and Jamie Carey.

^[4]

Date	Trade
February 19, 2008	To Connecticut Sun	To Indiana Fever
February 19, 2008	Tamika Whitmore, Jessica Foley, 12th pick in 2008 Draft	Katie Douglas
March 6, 2008	To Connecticut Sun	To Houston Comets
March 6, 2008	Barbara Turner	Megan Mahoney
March 14, 2008	To Connecticut Sun	To Minnesota Lynx
March 14, 2008	Tamika Raymond	Kristen Rasmussen

Free agents

Additions

Player	Signed	Former team
Lindsay Whalen	February 19, 2008	re-signed
Jamie Carey	February 19, 2008	re-signed
Tamika Whitmore	February 19, 2008	Indiana Fever
Kerri Gardin	March 3, 2008	free agent
Barbara Turner	March 6, 2008	Houston Comets
Sandrine Gruda	March 7, 2008	draft pick
Tamika Raymond	March 16, 2008	Minnesota Lynx
Danielle Page	April 16, 2008	undrafted rookie
Svetlana Abrosimova	August 27, 2008	free agent

Subtractions

Player	Left	New team
Margo Dydek	October 4, 2007	free agent
Katie Douglas	February 19, 2008	Indiana Fever
Megan Mahoney	March 6, 2008	Houston Comets
Le'Coe Willingham	March 10, 2008	Phoenix Mercury
Nykesha Sales	March 11, 2008	hiatus
Kristen Rasmussen	March 16, 2008	Minnesota Lynx
Cori Chambers	May 15, 2008	free agent
Kamesha Hairston	June 27, 2008	free agent
Jolene Anderson	August 27, 2008	free agent

Roster

Connecticut Sun roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	From
SF	25	Abrosimova, Svetlana	6' 2" (1.88m)	172 lb (78kg)	Connecticut
PG	10	Carey, Jamie	5' 6" (1.68m)	135 lb (61kg)	Texas
PF		Ervin, Lauren (DP)	6' 3" (1.91m)	–	Arkansas
SF	41	Gardin, Kerri	6' 1" (1.85m)	165 lb (75kg)	Virginia Tech
C	7	Gruda, Sandrine	6' 4" (1.93m)	185 lb (84kg)	France
G/F	1	Holt, Amber	6' 0" (1.83m)	167 lb (76kg)	Middle Tennessee State
PF	15	Jones, Asjha (C)	6' 2" (1.88m)	198 lb (90kg)	Connecticut
PF	52	Page, Danielle	6' 2" (1.88m)	179 lb (81kg)	Nebraska
PG	31	Phillips, Erin	5' 7" (1.7m)	162 lb (73kg)	Australia
PF	34	Raymond, Tamika	6' 2" (1.88m)	199 lb (90kg)	Connecticut
G/F	42	Sales, Nykesha	6' 0" (1.83m)	175 lb (79kg)	Connecticut
PG	11	Swanier, Ketia	5' 7" (1.7m)	144 lb (65kg)	Connecticut
G/F	22	Turner, Barbara	6' 0" (1.83m)	182 lb (83kg)	Connecticut
PG	13	Whalen, Lindsay (C)	5' 9" (1.75m)	150 lb (68kg)	Minnesota
PF	00	Whitmore, Tamika	6' 2" (1.88m)	190 lb (86kg)	Memphis

Head coach

Mike Thibault (St. Martin's University)

Assistant coaches

Scott Hawk (Nebraska-Omaha)
Bernadette Mattox (Georgia)

Athletic trainer

Jeremy Norman (Keene State College)

Strength and conditioning coach

Jodi Hopkins (Ohio)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(FA) Free agent
(IN) Inactive
(S) Suspended
Injured

Season standings

Eastern Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Detroit Shock ^x	22	12	.647	–	14–3	8–9	16–4
Connecticut Sun ^x	21	13	.618	1.0	13–4	8–9	13–7
New York Liberty ^x	19	15	.559	3.0	11–6	8–9	11–9
Indiana Fever ^x	17	17	.500	5.0	11–6	6–11	12–8
Chicago Sky ^o	12	22	.353	10.0	8–9	4–13	10–10
Washington Mystics ^o	10	24	.294	12.0	6–11	4–13	6–14
Atlanta Dream ^o	4	30	.118	18.0	1–16	3–14	2–18

Schedule

Preseason

2008 Game Log: Preseason

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
1	May 1	@ Minnesota	L 57-68	Gardin (8)	Gahan, Gardin, Holt (4)	Carey, Hairston, Turner (2)	Target Center 1,155	0-1
2	May 4	Phoenix	W 94-66	Holt (15)	Gahan (10)	Swanier, Berglin (3)	Mohegan Sun Arena 6,252	1-1
3	May 9	Houston	W 88-80	Whalen (18)	Anderson (7)	Whalen (8)	Mohegan Sun Arena 4,411	2-1

Regular season

2008 Game Log: Regular Season

May

Game	Date	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
1	May 17	Atlanta	CSS	W 100-67	Whitmore (22)	Whitmore (10)	Whalen (8)	Mohegan Sun Arena 7,420	1-0
2	May 18	@ New York	WCTX NBA TV	W 77-63	Whitmore (17)	Whalen, Raymond (6)	Whalen (8)	Madison Square Garden 10,460	2-0
3	May 24	Sacramento		W 87-64	Whalen (21)	Holt (7)	Whalen, Whitmore (5)	Mohegan Sun Arena 6,402	3-0
4	May 27	Indiana	ESPN2	L 46-75	Whalen (11)	Jones (7)	Whalen (5)	Mohegan Sun Arena 5,245	3-1
5	May 30	New York	MSG NBA TV	W 89-84	Whitmore (18)	Whalen (6)	Whalen (7)	Mohegan Sun Arena 7,052	4-1

June

Game	Date	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
6	June 1	@ Chicago		W 75-73	Whalen, Whitmore (19)	Whalen (7)	Whalen (7)	UIC Pavilion 2,276	5-1
7	June 6	Minnesota		W 78-77	Jones (25)	Whalen (9)	Anderson, Gardin (5)	Mohegan Sun Arena 6,327	6-1
8	June 8	Washington	WCTX NBA TV	W 87-79	Jones (16)	Whalen (7)	Whalen (7)	Mohegan Sun Arena 7,174	7-1
9	June 10	@ Minnesota	ESPN2	W 75-66	Jones (18)	Whitmore (12)	Whalen (6)	Target Center 7,186	8-1
10	June 13	@ Los Angeles		L 93-98 (OT)	Whalen (20)	Whalen (7)	Jones (3)	STAPLES Center 8,702	8-2
11	June 16	@ Seattle	WCTX NBA TV	W 74-67	Jones (15)	Raymond (9)	Whitmore (4)	KeyArena 6,872	9-2
12	June 18	@ Phoenix		L 81-102	Jones (18)	Turner (5)	Whalen (5)	US Airways Center 4,478	9-3
13	June 20	@ Sacramento		W 72-56	Jones (14)	Whalen, Anderson (6)	Whalen (5)	ARCO Arena 5,895	10-3
14	June 24	Detroit	WCTX NBA TV	W 85-68	Jones (20)	Holt (8)	Whalen (6)	Mohegan Sun Arena 7,501	11-3
15	June 26	@ Detroit	FSN-D	L 61-70	Jones (14)	Jones (7)	Whalen (4)	Mohegan Sun Arena 7,501	11-4
16	June 27	Atlanta		W 109-101 (OT)	Jones (30)	Jones, Whalen (10)	Holt (8)	Mohegan Sun Arena 7,612	12-4
17	June 29	Phoenix		L 80-87	Jones (16)	Jones (9)	Whalen (8)	Mohegan Sun Arena 9,518 (sellout)	12-5

July

Game	Date	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
18	July 1	Houston		W 78-68	Jones (15)	Turner (9)	Whalen (9)	Mohegan Sun Arena 6,357	13-5
19	July 5	@ Indiana	FSN-I NBA TV	L 74-81	Jones (20)	Gardin (9)	Jones, Whalen (3)	Conseco Fieldhouse 6,329	13-6
20	July 8	@ Detroit	FSN-D	L 82-88	Jones (21)	Whalen (7)	Jones, Whalen (8)	Palace of Auburn Hills 7,623	13-7
21	July 13	@ Washington	ABC	L 64-69	Whalen (33)	Whalen (8)	Jones, Whalen (6)	Verizon Center 9,610	13-8
22	July 15	New York	ESPN2	L 71-77	Whalen (19)	Jones (9)	Jones (5)	Mohegan Sun Arena 8,244	13-9
23	July 18	@ Chicago	WCTX NBA TV	L 65-73	Jones (18)	Gruda (11)	Jones, Swanier (3)	UIC Pavilion 3,379	13-10
24	July 20	Chicago		W 74-67	Jones (23)	Jones (10)	Whalen (6)	Mohegan Sun Arena 7,367	14-10
25	July 24	Los Angeles	WCTX NBA TV	W 87-61	Whalen (22)	Jones (8)	Whalen (4)	Mohegan Sun Arena 9,518 (sellout)	15-10
26	July 27	@ Washington	CSN-MA NBA TV	W 82-60	Jones (27)	Whalen (8)	Whalen (7)	Verizon Center 9,357	16-10

August

Game	Date	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
Summer Olympic break
27	August 28	@ Indiana	FSN-I NBA TV	W 84-58	Whitmore (15)	Turner, Raymond (5)	Gruda, Jones (4)	Conseco Fieldhouse 6,435	17-10
28	August 29	@ Atlanta		W 98-72	Whitmore (27)	Whitmore (6)	Whalen (8)	Philips Arena 11,442 (sellout)	18-10
29	August 31	Seattle	ABC	W 80-76	Jones (20)	Holt (5)	Gardin (4)	Mohegan Sun Arena 9,518 (sellout)	19-10

September

Game	Date	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Record
30	September 5	Chicago		W 80-75	Whitmore (17)	Jones (6)	Whalen (6)	Mohegan Sun Arena 8,088	20-10
31	September 7	San Antonio	ABC	L 73-85	Jones (22)	Jones (9)	Abrosimova (6)	Mohegan Sun Arena 7,956	20-11
32	September 9	@ Houston	WCTX	L 68-75	Jones (22)	Whalen (8)	Whalen (5)	Reliant Arena 5,769	20-12
33	September 11	@ San Antonio		L 74-78	Jones (18)	Gardin (14)	Carey (7)	AT&T Center 6,791	20-13
34	September 13	Washington	WCTX NBA TV	W 87-81	Phillips (18)	Phillips (8)	Gruda, Swanier (4)	Mohegan Sun Arena 8,652	21-13

Playoffs

In the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the Sun had to face the New York Liberty. Since the Sun had the better record, the series would be played with game 1 at New York, game 2 at Connecticut, and game 3 (if needed) at Connecticut. The Liberty won the first game, but the Sun won the second to force a game three. The Sun were upset on their home floor by the Liberty and were eliminated from the playoffs.

For the sixth consecutive season, the Sun advance to the playoffs.
For the second consecutive season, the Sun do not advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

2008 Game Log: Postseason

Eastern Conference Semifinals

Game	Date	Opponent	TV	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location/Attendance	Series
1	September 18	@ New York	MSG NBA TV	L 63-72	Whitmore (16)	Jones, Whitmore (6)	Whalen (6)	Madison Square Garden 7,649	0-1
2	September 20	New York	MSG NBA TV	W 73-70	Jones (16)	Whitmore (6)	Whalen (4)	Mohegan Sun Arena 7,234	1-1
3	September 22	New York	ESPN2	L 62-66	Whalen (19)	Jones (11)	Whitmore (4)	Mohegan Sun Arena 6,011	1-2

Depth

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Inactive
C	Tamika Whitmore	Sandrine Gruda	Danielle Page
PF	Asjha Jones	Tamika Raymond
SF	Kerri Gardin	Barbara Turner -- Amber Holt
SG	Svetlana Abrosimova	Erin Phillips	Ketia Swanier
PG	Lindsay Whalen	Jamie Carey

Regular Season statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage	TO	Turnovers per game
PF	Fouls per game		Team leader		League leader

Player statistics

Player	GP	GS	MPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Svetlana Abrosimova	6	0	17.8	3.3	2.0	1.33	0.00	5.7
Jolene Anderson	24	7	15.3	2.4	1.1	0.29	0.04	4.0
Jamie Carey	33	3	15.1	1.2	1.4	0.24	0.03	4.2
Kerri Gardin	34	15	15.9	3.3	1.2	0.85	0.21	4.0
Sandrine Gruda	31	1	15.4	3.5	0.9	0.61	0.84	6.2
Amber Holt	34	34	21.0	3.1	1.9	0.44	0.15	6.5
Asjha Jones	33	33	29.2	6.1	2.5	0.61	0.79	17.0
Danielle Page	3	0	4.0	2.0	0.0	0.00	0.00	2.0
Erin Phillips	8	0	10.8	2.1	0.4	0.50	0.13	5.1
Tamika Raymond	34	1	11.0	2.9	0.4	0.29	0.03	2.5
Ketia Swanier	25	6	9.2	1.2	1.0	0.56	0.04	1.6
Barbara Turner	34	6	19.5	3.2	1.5	0.35	0.41	8.0
Lindsay Whalen	31	31	29.3	5.6	5.4	1.45	0.03	14.0
Tamika Whitmore	34	33	26.8	4.7	1.4	0.59	0.38	12.6

Team statistics

Team	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
Connecticut Sun	.422	.330	.746	36.4	17.9	6.2	2.8	14.3	18.5	79.1
Opponents	.418	.321	.740	35.3	16.3	7.4	3.1	14.7	20.7	74.7

Team Ranking

This table shows how the Sun rank compared to the other teams in the league (14 total teams):

FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
8th	8th	12th	3rd	2nd	14th	12th	13th	13th	3rd

Playoffs statistics

Player statistics

Player	GP	GS	MPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Svetlana Abrosimova	3	2	21.0	3.7	1.3	1.33	0.00	8.0
Jamie Carey	1	0	00.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00	0.0
Kerri Gardin	3	3	19.0	2.3	1.0	1.67	0.33	3.7
Sandrine Gruda	3	0	8.7	1.3	0.3	0.33	0.00	2.7
Amber Holt	3	1	18.3	4.0	1.3	0.33	0.00	3.7
Asjha Jones	3	3	32.3	7.3	1.3	0.67	0.33	15.0
Danielle Page	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00	0.0
Erin Phillips	3	0	12.0	0.7	1.7	1.00	0.33	3.0
Tamika Raymond	3	0	9.3	2.3	0.3	0.33	0.33	1.3
Ketia Swanier	0	0	00.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00	0.0
Barbara Turner	3	0	19.0	3.3	0.3	0.00	0.33	5.3
Lindsay Whalen	3	3	30.0	4.7	4.0	1.33	0.00	13.3
Tamika Whitmore	3	3	29.0	4.7	2.0	1.33	0.00	10.0

Team statistics

Team	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
Connecticut Sun	.360	.218	.800	34.3	13.7	7.3	1.7	12.3	15.7	63.0
New York Liberty	.448	.433	.606	33.7	16.3	6.7	5.0	18.7	18.7	69.3

Awards and honors

Head coach Mike Thibault was named 2008 WNBA Coach of the Year.
Lindsay Whalen was named to the All-WNBA First Team.
Asjha Jones was named to the All-WNBA Second Team.
Amber Holt was named to the All-Rookie Team.
Lindsay Whalen was given the Peak Performer award (for assists) for leading the league in assists per game (5.4).
Lindsay Whalen was the second player in WNBA history to average at least 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game for the season. Only Nikki Teasley has previously accomplished this feat.
Lindsay Whalen was named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of May 27, 2008.
Asjha Jones was named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of June 30, 2008.
Lindsay Whalen was named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of July 14, 2008.
Asjha Jones was named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the week of July 28, 2008.

^[5]

Attendance

A sellout for a basketball game at Mohegan Sun Arena is 9,518.

Regular Season Attendance
Year	Average: Home	Average: Away	High	Low	Sellouts	Total for Year	WNBA Game Average
2008	7,644 (11th)	7,132 (14th)	9,518	5,245	3	129,951	7,948

References

^ Sports Illustrated, October 6, 2008, Inside the WNBA, p.80
^ "WNBA.com: Atlanta Dream". Archived from the original on August 20, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2008.
^ WNBA.com: 2008 WNBA Draft Board Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
^ WNBA.com: 2008 WNBA Transactions
^ "Players of the Week - WNBA.com – Official Site of the WNBA". Wnba.com. Retrieved September 4, 2022.

External links

[1] Sports Illustrated, October 6, 2008, Inside the WNBA, p.80

[2] "WNBA.com: Atlanta Dream". Archived from the original on August 20, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2008.

[3] WNBA.com: 2008 WNBA Draft Board Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine

[4] WNBA.com: 2008 WNBA Transactions

[5] "Players of the Week - WNBA.com – Official Site of the WNBA". Wnba.com. Retrieved September 4, 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Connecticut Sun
Formerly the Orlando Miracle Founded in 1999 Based in Uncasville, Connecticut
Franchise	All-time roster The Orlando Miracle years The move to Connecticut Current season
Arenas	TD Waterhouse Centre Mohegan Sun Arena
Head coaches	Carolyn Peck Dee Brown Mike Thibault Anne Donovan Curt Miller Stephanie White
Administration	Owner: RDV Sports, Inc. Mohegan Sun General Manager: Carolyn Peck Dee Brown Chris Sienko Curt Miller Darius Taylor
All-Stars	Alex Bentley Kelsey Bone DeWanna Bonner Tina Charles Katie Douglas Margo Dydek Allison Hightower Shannon Johnson Asjha Jones Brionna Jones Jonquel Jones Taj McWilliams Renee Montgomery Chiney Ogwumike Nykesha Sales Alyssa Thomas Jasmine Thomas Lindsay Whalen
Seasons	1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Playoff appearances	2000 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2011 2012 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Conference titles	2004 2005 2019
Rivals	Atlanta Dream Detroit Shock Indiana Fever New York Liberty
Media	TV: CPTV Sports (CPTV-S) Announcers: Bob Heussler Rebecca Lobo Jennifer Rizzotti Kara Wolters

v t e 2008 WNBA season by team
Draft Playoffs Finals
Eastern	Atlanta Dream Chicago Sky Connecticut Sun Detroit Shock Indiana Fever New York Liberty Washington Mystics
Western	Houston Comets Los Angeles Sparks Minnesota Lynx Phoenix Mercury Sacramento Monarchs San Antonio Silver Stars Seattle Storm
← 2007 WNBA season 2009 →