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BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- Just after the United States routed Canada by 40 points, Geno Auriemma and his UConn greats posed for a group photo on the court.The five former UConn players, who helped the Huskies win 10 of their 11 national championships, received one last rousing ovation from the crowd. A fitting send off for the team from their adoring Connecticut fans.Auriemma gave those same fans an opportunity to cheer their former stars early on, starting all five. It was virtually the same starting lineup he used in a win over France on Wednesday. The only change was putting Breanna Stewart into the group instead of Elena Delle Donne.The Hall of Fame coach said it was the right thing to do.I hadnt had the same starting five in any games we played, he said after the 83-43 victory Friday night. I thought to myself, I asked Cheryl (Reeve), if you were head coach instead of me, youd do it, because its the right thing to do. She said OK. Im not going to worry about it and did it. It was fun for the kids and the fans.The players really didnt notice it until the opening tip.When you look at it, you have a good piece of history out there with Sue (Bird) and Diana (Taurasi) representing the early success and then Stewie on the other end, said Maya Moore, who helped the Huskies win two titles. It was really cool and really cool for the fans.The U.S. will aim for an unprecedented sixth consecutive gold at the Olympics. The Americans have one more exhibition game Sunday at Madison Square Garden against Australia, which beat France 76-67 on Friday night.Taurasi, Bird, Moore, Stewart and Tina Charles struggled a bit offensively when they were in, but defensively they shut down Canada. After struggling in their first two exhibition games in the first half, the Americans jumped all over their neighbors to the north.The U.S. only had a three-point lead on the select team in their pre-Olympic tour opener Monday and led France by one Wednesday at the half. The Americans wouldnt let that happen against Canada.The Canadians missed 13 of their first 14 shots and couldnt recover from the slow start, trailing by 13 after one quarter and 24 at the half.I thought defensively we were about as good as we can be given the short amount of work that weve done, Auriemma said. That kind of led to a bunch of other things.Taurasi scored 14 points, and Delle Donne added 12 to lead the U.S.Auriemma had always seemed to shy away from playing all his UConn players at the same time during the 2012 London Olympics and the last two world championships. He rarely had five UConn players on the court in either of those major championships.But just as he did starting Delle Donne in Delaware on Wednesday, he gave the fans one more opportunity to cheer the local favorites. The loud crowd gave the former Huskies a great ovation in pregame introductions and then cheered every one of their plays.When we get to Rio, the best five players for that situation will be on the floor regardless of where they come from, Auriemma said.The offensive highlight of the first half came from Delle Donne, who threw a nifty no-look pass to Taurasi for a layup.Canada finished fifth in the world championship in 2014 and will look to improve on that in Rio. The Canadians have never won a medal at the Olympics in womens basketball and hope to change that with a nice mix of veterans and youth.One of those talented young players is Kia Nurse, who is a junior at UConn. Nurse help lead Canada to the gold medal at the Pan-Am Games last summer. She got a nice hand from the crowd in pregame introductions, but had a rough game. She was scoreless in 25 minutes, missing all three of her shots.This was Nurses second game back for Canada. She had sports hernia surgery after helping UConn win a fourth consecutive national championship in April.I cant say how impressed and pleased we are that shes come back as well as she has, Canada coach Lisa Thomaidis said. Shes such a competitor, so tough, nothing surprises us anymore with her.Canada will play France in the opener at the Garden on Sunday.---Follow Doug on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg Tracy McGrady Jersey Large . On Tuesday, Ottawa placed forward Cory Conacher and defenceman Joe Corvo on waivers as trade rumours swirl around the Senators. Rockets Jerseys China .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. http://www.customrocketsjersey.com/ . After Martin Skrtel put the Reds in front from close range at Stamford Bridge after only four minutes, Hazard hit back in the 17th with a superb strike. Etoo gave Jose Mourinhos team a decisive lead from Oscars back pass in the 34th. Custom Rockets Jerseys .Y. -- Injured Buffalo Sabres forward Marcus Foligno did not practice with the team Monday and head coach Ron Rolston said its unlikely hell play in Wednesdays season opener in Detroit. Custom Rockets Jersey China . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been lighting up the NFL since returning from his early-season suspension, emerging as a top MVP candidate despite missing four games.The 39-year-old Brady ranks first overall in Total QBR, and has helped cast the Patriots in the role of most likely Super Bowl champion, at 32 percent according to ESPNs Football Power Index. That said, the data says New England should be thinking very long and hard about looking elsewhere to fill the starting QB role next season.The Patriots, more than any other team, have made a habit of paying for likely future production and not past success. And though Bradys contract would make it difficult for them to merely part ways (more on that in a minute), at 39 years old they undoubtedly know whats coming for Brady.Two of the most dominant quarterbacks of the past 20 years -- Brett Favre and Peyton Manning -- are, in fact, useful examples to project Bradys performance in the next few seasons. Favre, Manning and Kurt Warner join Brady in a rare group of players that even make it to this stage. Average quarterbacks rarely get a chance to continue to play past their mid-30s; once they show signs of decline, theyre replaced. What remains are the Favres, Peytons and Warners (and even Warner stepped away at the age of 38) of the NFL, great quarterbacks who can continue to rely on their ability to run an offense and take advantage of defenses, even as their deep throws lose a little of their zip. But even the greats will eventually fall, as the numbers demonstrate.Bradys performance at age 38 and up to his current age of 39.5 mirrors that of Manning at the same age. Brady has posted an average QBR of 70 during those years -- Mannings was 69. After age 39.5, however, Mannings performance declined sharply. For all of his games after the age of 39.5, he posted an average QBR of 49. The decline was part of a broader, ominous trend for Brady and older QBs.ESPN senior analytics specialist Brian Burke detailed this drop-off in a study for Advanced Football Analytics.All QBs who played when tthey were 38 years old had QBRs above 70 in between 50 and 70 percent of their games.ddddddddddddBy age 40, their chance of posting a QBR above 70 drops to below 5 percent. This is the range Brady will be in at the start of the 2017 season.Availability becomes a major issue as well.Again, looking at the group of QBs who were playing at the ages of 39 and 39.5, this group has a 71 percent chance of playing at least 10 more games. Once they get past 40 (where Brady will be when the 2017 season starts), that percentage drops by half. Only 35 percent who are playing past the age of 39.5 will play 10 or more games.Given the Patriots history of shedding iconic players (Lawyer Milloy, Logan Mankins, Randy Moss and Richard Seymour, to name a few), it shouldnt be a surprise if Brady is next on the chopping block, though his contract could give New England some pause. The Patriots tend to release or trade players at or near the end of their contracts so there is minimal, if any, dead money on the salary cap. But remember that Brady signed a new contract during this past offseason that included a $28 million bonus. By NFL cap rules, if the Patriots cut Brady after this season, they would carry a cap charge of $27 million -- nearly twice the price tag for keeping him ($14 million).That reality means, should Bradys performance decline as the data nearly guarantees it will, Patriots coach Bill Belichick could find himself in the difficult position of benching Brady for a younger arm. While Belichick has never been accused of being overly emotional about his roster decisions, there should be little doubt that the notion of benching Brady would be an especially delicate situation for the organization and its fan base.Whatever they decide, there is no reason to believe that Brady has the ability to beat the overwhelming trend of aging QBs. Father Time, as they say, is undefeated.For more from ESPN Analytics, visit the ESPN Analytics Index.? ' ' '