Since I will be spending the good share of Saturday making my way home, consider this a jack of all trade entry to tide people over for a couple of days.

Finally caught up with UConn commit Samarie Walker and her seemingly never-ending trials and tribulations to make it from Dayton, Ohio to Colorado Springs. Walker, the only high school junior at the trials, was supposed to land in Colorado Springs around noon time on Thursday. Instead, she touched down close to noon on Friday. In her words, this is what happened.

"I am on my way to the airport with my parents and my brother and they were going to drop me off but there were two accidents. First there was a truck that ran off the road and then a three-car pileup so we had to take the detour and that took 20 extra minutes. I was too late to board the (7 a.m.) flight so they put me on standby for the 1 p.m. flight and that got canceled. They put me on the 7 (p.m.) flight but that got delayed to 7:45. Made it to Dallas/Ft. Worth at around 9:30 and the Colorado Springs flight had just left when I arrived so I had to get a hotel and stay there all night. My flight this morning got delayed about 30-40 minutes and I finally got here."

It was my first time watching Walker play and the first thing I was struck by is her hands. She catches everything and I do mean everything. You simply can not throw a pass that she can not corral. She credits that with days playing football with her dad.

Walker had a sweet 360 move before hitting a one-handed runner as time was running down in one of the Friday afternoon scrimmages.

She was reluctant to talk about the recent arrest of her high school coach Marc Greenberg who was arrested on May 4 for allegedly transmitting obscene images of minors via the internet.

"I'm not supposed to comment on that," Walker said. "All I will say is I am handling it well, I am getting better and so is the rest of my team."

My last of the nine people I interviewed in the last two days was Carol Callan, USA Basketball Assistant Executive Director, Women's Programs. I didn't get too much into the appointment of Geno Auriemma as the Senior Women's national team coach since I addressed most of those pertinent topics during the press conference in Storrs annuouncing Auriemma's appointment.

A few things I did address with her was the potential site of the FIBA Americas U16 Championship. It was supposed to be held in Mexico until the recent Swine Flu issues forced a change of plans. Callan said she thinks a site will be announcing by later this month when the 27 players are at the U.S. Olympic Training Center for the U-16 team trials. While it is possible that a U.S. site could be used for the FIBA American U16 event, it is more likely that a South American site will be utilized.

I asked Callan about the role the U-19 and World University Games teams play in developing Olympians and her take on the level of talent in Colorado Springs this week.

"This is what we live for," Callan said. "We do a lot of planning and when it actually happens, you have anxiousness but when you see the caliber of players here this week, it is amazing. The World University Games group, that is the premier event for college-aged kids and you have kids from the top 10 programs in the country and they are the ones that (play USA Basketball) every year here and we can't win gold medals without them. The post players are phenomenal, it's amazing how many big kids are here that can play (multiple positions) and are mobile, you have your perimeter players with Maya being here, it's a very strong team and trying to get to 12 is going to be a very difficult task.

"When I first started when Teresa Edwards and Katrina McClain were the two veterans and we went all the way down as far as Rebecca Lobo and Nikki McCray. We had players at every age on that team. This last year we had five first-time Olympians on the team. Number one, from a chemistry standpoint they understand taking their turn and what I noticed in Beijing that as soon as the subs were made, we didn't get worse, we kind of took off and put the hammer down. Obviously get the young players come in, get the experience at this age and be ready to step into the Olympic team, they played so many years at a younger age it is an easier transition for them."

Callan said the hope is to have a national team training camp in the fall, somewhere between the end of the 2009 WNBA season and the start of college practice in mid-October. She also said they would like to have the national team play against the best college teams as they have done in the past.

It is too late for next season and Callan said it wouldn't be fair to have the core players go on a tour against college teams so soon after the FIBA World Championships so they are looking at 2011 as the likely target date.

"It's good for the game, I think it is great for the universities to kind of match up, it is a great training opportunity for us," Callan said. "Part of our challenge is finding players to be available at that time. With some of our players like a break from the end of the WNBA season and going overseas."

Don't expect Auriemma's U.S. Senior National team assistant coaches to be named any time soon. USA Basketball is fine with having court coaches help Auriemma if there is a training camp in the fall.

Speaking of coaches, I did some poking around about Minnesota assistant coach Marisa Moseley since rumors have been circulating about her being hired to replace Jamelle Elliott on the UConn staff. The UConn players, I am confident, were not aware of any imminent hiring and unfortunately there were no University of Minnesota players at the trials. Sources indicate that this is one of those "where there is smoke, there is fire" deals and I am inclined to agree. Moseley fits the profile of what Auriemma is looking for, a young, energetic minority candidate with experience coaching post players. Moseley is a former Boston University star who has worked at Auriemma's camps at UConn in the past. It's kind of ironic that this came out today since my story in Saturday's paper off the trials is the reaction of Tina Charles and Maya Moore of Jamelle Elliott's decision to accept the head coaching job at Cincinnati.

Somebody asked me how UConn incoming freshman Kelly Faris looked to me at the trials. The answer is - a lot better on Friday than on Thursday. A year ago, Faris' rebounding prowess opened a few eyes (mine included) at the U-18 trials. She hasn't been as active at these trials although she did almost cause serious injury to North Carolina incoming freshman Tierra Ruffin-Pratt and South Carolina signee Kelsey Bone. Late in one of Friday's scrimmages, they attemped to trap Faris when Faris slithered by forcing a nasty collision between Ruffin-Pratt and Bone.

Since it's about 7 1/2 hours before I board my first flight tomorrow, I will leave with one last item. I laughed as court coach Russ Davis referred to Moore as "the Microwave" as she hit back to back 3-pointers about 10 seconds apart during one of the scrimmages Friday night. I wonder if sharpshooting former Detroit Pistons reserve Vinnie Johnson, the original basketball player dubbed "The Microwave" would have nodded his approval.