After reaching the Finals the last two seasons without bringing home a championship, the Connecticut Sun are hoping the third time is a charm. With promising rookie Erin Phillips joining the team this year, it may be the final piece needed.

Instrumental in putting together the team has been head coach Mike Thibault. “I'd done my research,” Thibault said. “I knew this team better than a lot of people did. Better than (the players) might have known themselves.

The Sun have not won a season opener since moving to Connecticut three seasons ago, but may reverse that trend tonight against the Liberty (on NBA-TV).

In other Sun coverage, Ned Griffin profiles easy-going Margo Dydek. “People think that maybe if I get mad I'll play more aggressively, but that's not true,” Dydek said. “It's not my nature. I'm never going to be mad just to play better.

Also, Mike DiMauro writes a great column on Katie Douglas. Douglas was the subject of a lot of media coverage during her playing days at Purdue as she lost both parents to cancer.

While her career has been a positive focus for her family and a reminder of the foundation set by her parents, Douglas has also evolved from a tomboy to a girly girl, a married woman and a better all around basketball player.

The Sun's opponent tonight does not receive as much press coverage. But they do have a promising player in Shameka Christon who moved into the starting line-up this season after two years of being one of the first players off the bench.

"It's so different than the situation when I was new here, because I was one player and there were so many veterans to take me under their wings," Christon said.