Tina Charles, Maya Moore and Tiffany Hayes, who comprised 60 percent of the starting lineup for UConn's national championship team, are among 29 players who have accepted invitations to try out for the World University Games.

The trials will be held from May 14-17 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The list will be cut down at the end of the trials with the finalists being invited back to Colorado Springs on June 18 for training camp. The 12-player roster will be announced before the team leaves for Serbia on June 25.

The list of invitees for the Under-19 team is expected to be released later this week and as previously reported will include UConn incoming freshman Kelly Faris as well as former Trinity Catholic star Da'Shena Stevens, who edged out Hayes to win the Big East Freshman of the Year. Hayes missed out on the U-19 age cutoff by less than 3 1/2 months since you have to be born no earlier than Jan. 1, 1990 to be eligible for that team and she was born on Sept. 20, 1989.

Here's the list of candidates for the World University Games team

USA WOMENS WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES TEAM TRIALS ROSTER
NAME POS HGT WGT DOB YOG SCHOOOL HOMETOWN
Danielle Adams G 6-1 215 02/19/89 2009 Jefferson College Kansas City, MO
Jayne Appel F 6-4 210 05/14/88 2010 Stanford Pleasant Hill, CA
Jessica Breland F 6-3 164 02/23/88 2010 North Carolina Kelford, NC
Doreena Campbell G 5-9 142 07/03/89 2011 UCLA Alexandria, VA
Tina Charles C 6-3 193 12/05/88 2010 Connecticut Jamaica, NY
Alysha Clark F 5-10 162 07/07/87 2010 Middle Tennessee State Mt. Juliet, TN
Cetera DeGraffenreid G 5-5 140 12/05/88 2011 North Carolina Cullowhee, NC
Dawn Evans G 5-7 135 06/30/89 2011 James Madison Clarksville, TN
Tyra Grant G 5-11 166 08/27/88 2010 Penn State Youngstown, OH
Alexis Gray-Lawson G 5-8 160 04/21/87 2010 California Oakland, CA
Whitney Hand G 6-1 165 08/16/89 2012 Oklahoma Fort Worth, TX
Tiffany Hayes G 5-11 140 09/20/89 2012 Connecticut Lakeland, FL
Allison Hightower G/F 5-11 144 04/06/88 2010 LSU Arlington, TX
Ashley Houts G 5-6 144 12/31/87 2010 Georgia Trenton, GA
Ify Ibekwe F 6-2 158 10/05/89 2011 Arizona Carson, CA
Amy Jaeschke F 6-5 225 04/26/89 2011 Northwestern Wilmette, IL
Jantel Lavender C 6-4 210 11/11/88 2011 Ohio State Cleveland, OH
Danielle McCray G/F 5-11 169 10/08/87 2010 Kansas Olathe, KS
Jacinta Monroe F/C 6-5 166 09/04/88 2010 Florida State Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Maya Moore F 6-0 170 06/11/89 2011 Connecticut Lawrenceville, GA
Kayla Pedersen G/F 6-4 195 04/14/89 2011 Stanford Fountain Hills, AZ
Ta'Shia Phillips C 6-6 225 01/24/89 2011 Xavier Indianapolis, IN
Jeanette Pohlen G 5-11 168 05/02/89 2011 Stanford Brea, CA
Epiphanny Prince G 5-9 160 01/11/88 2011 Rutgers Brooklyn, NY
Alex Rack G 5-4 140 09/15/88 2010 Mississippi State Franklin, LA
Danielle Robinson G 5-8 130 05/10/89 2011 Oklahoma San Jose, CA
Carolyn Swords C 6-6 220 07/19/89 2011 Boston College Sudbury, MA
Courtney Vandersloot G 5-8 135 02/08/89 2011 Gonzaga Kent, WA
Natasha Vital G 5-8 145 06/09/88 2010 California Stockton, CA
Head Coach: Charli Turner Thorne, Arizona State
Assistant Coach: Suzy Merchant, Michigan State
Assistant Coach: Julie Rousseau, Pepperdine


MORE COACHING VACANCY THOUGHTS
One item that I found fascinating but was unable to get into my story on the hiring of Jamelle Elliott as the new women's basketball coach at Cincinnati is that she often spoke with fellow long-time UConn assistant coach Tonya Cardoza about the time when they would leave UConn to take over their own programs. They often dreamed of leaving at the same time but Cardoza said they never wanted to do that or anything that would hurt the UConn program. It's probably not a coincidence that Elliott was in the running for at least three jobs (Fairfield, Penn State and George Washington) between the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons but with Cardoza landing the gig at Temple in the last offseason, Elliott was not actively pursuing any job openings during that time. That little tid bit speaks to the quality of character possessed by both Cardoza and Elliott and I expect Elliott's replacement will be of similar ilk.

There has been speculation (including right here on this blog) that the next UConn assistant will be an African-American since UConn has no black coaches on its staff. While that it not a certainty as UConn will look to hire the best candidate, I got to wondering how many other top programs have all-white coaching staffs. I checked on the staffs of the 25 teams in the final Associated Press poll of the season and found that only Oklahoma, South Dakota State and Kansas State had a staff with no black coaches.

AURIEMMA HONORED
Auriemma will receive the Winged Foot Award on Thursday evening at the New York Athletic Club for leading the Huskies to the 2009 national championship. North Carolina men's basketball coach Roy Williams will also be honored after coaching the Tar Heels to the men's Division I title.
It will be the fifth time Auriemma will receive the Winged Foot Award which first began honoring the coach of the women's Division I national championship team in 1999.