While Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tamika Catchings, Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles, Cappie Pondexter, Seimone Augustus and Kara Lawson are guaranteed a spot on the team, the fourteen other players are not. They will have to earn a spot even though they were invited to camp. Coach Geno Auriemma is probably thrilled to have a variety of former UCONN players at his disposal. In addition to Bird and Taurasi, he will always have the pleasure of coaching Swin Cash, Ashja Jones, Maya Moore, and Tina Charles as well (at least for the duration of camp).

Geno Auriemma is probably thrilled to have so many former UCONN players in the U.S. women's basketball pool.

Rounding out the chosen fourteen are Jayne Appel, Alana Beard, Shameka Christon, Candice Dupree, Lindsey Harding, Ebony Hoffman, Crystal Langhorne, Angel McCoughtry, Lindsay Whalen, and Candice Wiggins.

Regardless of who makes the final roster, it looks as though the U.S. women’s basketball team is going to be an amazing one. Would we expect any less?

According to ESPN, The U.S. team will train in Washington for a week before heading to Russia to play in a tournament.

Image: Zuma Press

Post from: EveryJoe

14 More Players Invited To US Camp

UCONN standouts, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, will reunite with their former head coach at USA basketball camp. Tamika Catchings, Candace Parker, Cappie Pondexter, Kara Lawson, Sylvia Fowles and Seimone Augustus round out the rest of the eight.

“Naming these eight players was not that difficult of a decision to make, I’m sure, because those eight were truly instrumental in winning the Olympics in Beijing,” Auriemma said, according to Yahoo! Sports.

The U.S. women’s basketball team will start training and practicing together at the end of September. Additional athletes and coaches will also be selected to participate.

Considering how many WNBA standouts there are, filling up the rest of the roster shouldn’t be too hard. You can expect Team USA to bring home a gold medal in 2012. (That’s right. I’m guaranteeing a win … two years ahead of schedule!)

Enjoy some behind-the-scenes- footage of 2008’s Gold Medal Winning Team:

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8 Players Picked For Team USA

According to ESPN.com, moments after Monday’s event in front of the South Portico, Obama hustled the team over to the outdoor half-court, away from reporters and cameras.

He challenged a few of the players to a spontaneous game of P-I-G.

“He was pretty good from 17 feet,” said coach Geno Auriemma. “His shot’s a little unorthodox, but it goes in … He’s got a little bit of that swagger.”

Obama is a big fan of college basketball, and appreciates all that the UCONN women have accomplished this past season. “My girls look at the TV when I’m watching ‘SportsCenter‘ and they see women staring back,” he said. “That shows them that they can be champions, too.”

Video courtesy of YouTube

Post from: EveryJoe

Obama Plays Ball With UCONN

Auriemma has a reason to smile again.

The UConn women finished 30-0 this season, beating most teams by 10 or more points in all of their games. But even with that amazing statistic, Auriemma won’t be smiling for long.

“Being 30-0 is fantastic if you’re able to finish it off down the road,” Auriemma said according to Rivals.com. “For better or worse, I’ve created an environment no matter how great we are or how wonderful we are that the real story is if we don’t win the national championship.”

It looks at though the UConn women are already focused on the Big East Tournament and an NCAA Tournament Championship. If the Huskies don’t win it all this year, I’m afraid Auriemma’s smile just might disappear altogether … forever.

Post from: EveryJoe

UConn Women Finish 30-0