Practice guys push Lynx

Taj McWilliams-Franklin's layup brought down the house.

With a head fake, a dazzling spin and a swift up-and-under move, the 6-2 Lynx center embarrassed her defender, whose hopes of blocking the shot of the WNBA's oldest player vanished as McWilliams-Franklin soared to the rim.

Her Lynx teammates hooted and hollered. The defender, head shaking in disbelief on the baseline, pleaded in vain for a travel call that never came.

During an intensely focused morning practice inside a Target Center void of fans, the Lynx enjoyed their relatively unseen moment of glory with some good-natured ribbing.

Once again, they had shown up the men.

"You want to come out with your 'A' game, you don't want to come out here and get embarrassed," said Mark Cooper Jr., one of the 20 or so local men who regularly practice against the Lynx, before breaking into a laugh. "Well, today, Taj did a good move on me, she got me into the air with a spin. Everybody was going nuts."

As they do each practice, the men, organized by assistant coach Jim Petersen and former Armstrong player Tommy Franklin, acted as a scout team by executing the offensive schemes of the Lynx's next opponent. This time, they impersonated Seattle players.

"We'll mark each player, say you're Sue Bird today or you're Diana Taurasi," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "We try to get that guy to simulate what the player's going to do the next night. It gives us an idea of what we're going to face."

Most of the practice, however, was spent mirroring the Storm's defensive looks, working on man-to-man coverage and hedging ball screens against the Lynx offense.

Having an extra squad -- on this day, seven men -- enables Reeve to shuffle her players on the court at a pace resembling hockey line changes.

"It's especially important because our roster size is so small," said Lynx guard Candice Wiggins, who has been practicing against men dating to her days at Stanford. "We don't have to beat up on each other. Guys are faster, stronger. For me, there's no woman in the WNBA who's going to be as physical as these guys are."

The scrimmages, commonplace in the WNBA and college programs, are a two-way street. For players such as Cooper, a former Park Center standout who will play junior college basketball at South Carolina Salkehatchie in the fall, or Peter Olafeso, an NSIC all-conference guard at Concordia (St. Paul), scrimmaging provides a professional-level workout absent from local gyms.

"During the summer it's really hard to simulate game-time experience," Olafeso said. "I don't get this kind of discipline during the summer. We run plays from all the teams they play against. For us to get that down in one day, that's an advantage right there."

For others -- such as Kene Anigbogu, a Division I football recruit who is also the brother of Lynx forward Charde Houston -- the practices provide a grueling workout, one in which at least three head-snapping crashes into brick walls known as McWilliams-Franklin or Rebekkah Brunson are always free.

"It threw me off at first, how aggressive they are. Whenever you face Brunson or Maya Moore, they'll attack you hard," said Cooper, who is receiving looks from D-I programs such as Western Kentucky and Hawaii. "They'll hit you hard with a screen, they'll headhunt, they'll get you. Always try to make sure you don't get knocked down, because they will put you on your butt."

Even so, the men realize their role as challengers, depositing all ego at the door in favor of a mutual respect.

"They know it's not about them," Reeve said. "They know they're not trying out for the Timberwolves. Overall, they're generous with their time and it's been really beneficial to our team."

Given the first-place Lynx's recent success, maybe not all the ego is left on the sidelines.

"I don't want to say it's a credit to me, but ever since I started [practicing with the Lynx], they've been winning a lot more," Olafeso said, smiling.