MINNEAPOLIS -- The labor dispute that threatened the season is behind them and the Minnesota Lynx are ready for something new -- like making the playoffs.

	Five-time Olympian Teresa Edwards, 38, is expected to start for the Lynx.

Suzie McConnell Serio is the new coach, having left Oakland Catholic in Pittsburgh for the Twin Cities and her first coaching job above high school.

Five-time Olympian Teresa Edwards, 38, is the new point guard, having been drafted by the Lynx in the second round last week and ending her four-year hiatus from pro basketball.

The uniforms have a slightly new look, too.

Throw in the new collective bargaining agreement that was switched together late last week to save the WNBA season, and the proverbial slate is nearly sparkling clean.

"We're just excited to get things started,'' said McConnell Serio, a teammate of Edwards' on the 1988 and 1992 U.S. Olympic squads who also made the All-WNBA first team as a rookie with Cleveland in 1998.

The players are just as eager to start interacting with their new boss, who's not that far removed from her days on the court. She retired as a player after the 2000 season.

"I'm happy the thing's getting going,'' said All-Star shooting guard Katie Smith, who signed her 2003 contract Thursday to bring the attendance total on the first day of training camp to 14.

The Lynx, who signed free agent center Carolyn Moos on Friday, have only five days to prepare for their preseason opener, a matinee at Target Center on Tuesday against the Detroit Shock. The first regular-season game is May 24 against the Sacramento Monarchs.

Two players -- forwards Sheri Sam (selected in the dispersal draft from the defunct Miami Sol) and Svetlana Abrosimova -- are still unsigned, and three others -- centers Janell Burse and Michele VanGorp and guard Kristi Harrower -- are playing out commitments overseas. Also, little-used guard Shanele Stires has retired.

With Edwards and Sam likely set to join Smith, Abrosimova and second-year forward Tamika Williams in the starting lineup, the Lynx look primed to improve on last year's 10-22 record.

They missed the playoffs in each of their first four seasons.

"There are a lot of familiar faces, but I think there will be a lot more competition at this camp,'' Smith said. "It's going to be a little different. We're going to push people. Training camp is going to be really exciting.''

Especially for Edwards, who has only been playing pick-up games and a little bit internationally since the American Basketball League folded in 1999.

She'll make the rookie minimum salary of $30,000, not even close to her age.

Why come back? Why now?

"The boring answer is it felt right,'' Edwards said. "I think Suzie called me at the right time.''

McConnell Serio's persistence in pursuing her ex-teammate gives the Lynx something they needed badly last year -- a veteran point guard.

"It's huge,'' McConnell Serio said. "She brings a great deal. She makes the players around her better.''