When the letter from USA Basketball first arrived at Samarie Walker's house telling her she was being invited to try out for the Under-19 national team, she was a little surprised. When she saw the list of people who accepted the invitation, she was nearly speechless.

She kept looking for the names of other players in her class and looking and looking and was stunned to find out she was the only high school junior who would be in Colorado Springs for the trials. I asked Walker what her reaction would be if she makes the team.

"I think I might cry," Walker said. "When I was going, I told my dad 'I'm not going to make the team because there are 14 girls there who already play in college and why would they pick me?' He said you have to be confident and go out and play hard, there's a reason why they invited you and a reason you are going to UConn so be confident.

"At first I was really nervous because I knew all the girls were 2-3 years older than I am. 'Why were they inviting me? I am 16 and a junior, everybody else is 18/19 either going to college or already having completed their freshman year.' But after a while I realized this was a great honor. Since I am 16, they must have a lot of confidence in me that I can go out and make the team. Really I am trying to catch up with the other girls and told myself that even if I don't make the team, this is still a great experience."

The candidates for the Under-19 and World University Games teams will be cut down tomorrow. Usually they bring back 15-16 kids before picking the team of 12. The announcement is set for tomorrow morning.

The third of four stories I wrote at the trials will run tomorrow and the focus will be on how the veteran UConn players will be looking to fill the leadership void left by the graduation of Renee Montgomery. I have some pretty good stuff from Tiffany Hayes about how she thinks the backcourt partnership with Caroline Doty will work but space constraints kept me from including it in the paper so I may have to weave it into a blog entry. I found it interesting that when Maya Moore spoke about next year's UConn backcourt, she kept talking about Lorin Dixon. It is easy to overlook Dixon but in Maya's opinion, Lorin will have a bigger role than many people (myself included) are giving her credit for. The final story from the trials will run in Monday's paper. I don't want to give away the subject and spoil the surprise but at the risk of too much self promotion, I don't think you will regret reading Maya Moore's take on the subject matter.

There's so much stuff that won't ever make the paper so expect there to be more information on this blog from the interviews I conducted. I will likely include much of my interview with Russ Davis, the AAU coach of UConn commit Lauren Engeln as well as Nneka Ogwumike's take on her sister Chiney's game and recruiting status since a source indicated to me that Chiney has been receptive to UConn's recruiting pitch.

As much as I enjoy going to Colorado Springs (it is the third year in a row I made it out there), I am relieved to be home especially after I made my connection in Minneapolis with about five minutes to spare. Somehow my flight took off 3 1/2 hours late but I managed to touch down in Bradley only about 75 minutes late since I was able to nix the Minneapolis to Detroit portion of my return trip and go straight from Minneapolis to Hartford.

I have to say the communications staff at USA Basketball makes things pretty easy for me. Of course it helps that I was the only reporter there in the two days I was there but still Caroline Williams and Jenny Maag always come through for me and I do appreciate that. Getting to talk to nine people in two days (not including interviewing Maya Moore twice) would be a nightmare without the assistance of Caroline and Jenny. I even remembered to buy a souvenir this time, getting a hooded sweatshirt for about $20. Tough to beat that price. I regret that I didn't have the time to either revisit the Garden of the Gods or take a walk up Pike's Peak like I did in my first year there. But there simply just was not enough time. My last thought of the evening is to thank the readers who click on the stories. My story on the UConn players' reaction to Jamelle Elliott leaving after 12 years as an assistant coach to become the head coach at Cincinnati is the fourth most read story on the Register's website today and most popular sports story. When I pitch these trips in the future, that little piece of info could go a long way into me getting a chance to head back to Colorado Springs.

High up on the list of things I do not wish first thing in the morning is the announcement that my flight is being delayed by two hours especially since I had 45 minutes to make my first connection. The only thing worse was the reasoning, a flight attendant failed to show up. Not sure is she (OK, I guess it could be a he) will make it when the flight actual takes off but I would not admit to be the human rain delay in question. The good news is despite the two hour delay, I only land about an hour later than previously scheduled and only need to change planes once. The original itinerary had me going to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Detroit and Detroit to Hartford. I bypassed the Detroit portion of the trip so I guess there is a silver lining.

The extra time gives me a chance to give my opinion of who I would pick to make the Under-19 and World University Games although I have no say in the process (thank God for small miracles in that case).

If recent history counts for anything, there will be about 15 players selected on Sunday before the teams are cut down to the maximum 12-player rosters. I will pick my 12.

Under-19
Sarah Boothe, Stanford: Was sort of streaky as she didn't miss in Thursday's scrimmages and 3 on 3 drills but was off target on a few bunnies on Friday.
Layshia Clarendon, California incoming freshman: Not as highly-touted as the other point guards in camp but more solid and fast, fast, fast.
Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame incoming freshman: Perhaps we should save the formality and hand her the Big East Freshman of the Year award now.
Keisha Hampton, DePaul: Outside of some ballhandling gaffes, she was one of the most impressive players at the U-19 trials.
Shenice Johnson, Miami: Athletic combo guard can play three positions and was a disruptive force on defense, especially in Friday's scrimmages
Lindsey Moore, Nebraska incoming freshman: Last year Joslyn Tinkle, then not very highly-touted, blew me away at the trials as she rightfully earned a spot on the U-18 team. This year it was future Nebraska point guard who caught my eye.
Nneka Ogwumike, Stanford: The best player in the U-19 trials in my opinion
Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, North Carolina incoming freshman: I love the way she plays, 100 percent every second she steps on the court.
Taber Spani, Tennessee incoming freshman: One of the few consistent 3-point options in camp.
Da'Shena Stevens, St. John's: This has nothing to do with her being the only Connecticut player at the trials, she was a force at every scrimmage I saw.
Destiny Williams, Illinois incoming freshman: Nobody was more aggressive going after rebounds among the U-19 candidates, also struck me as a team-first kid with tons of leadership skills.
Shawntice "Pepper" Wilson, Pittsburgh: I was more impressed with her at the trials than when I saw her during her freshman season at Pitt.

There are some obvious omissions that might surprise some people led by:
Kelsey Bone who did have stretches where she showed her offensive skill but seemed more affected by the altitude than any other player and just could not catch the ball at the scrimmages I saw.
Kelly Faris made more of an impact when I saw her at the U-18 trials last year. Was not nearly aggressive enough although is the type of low maintainence kid any team would love to have.
Samantha Prahalis actually played better (in my opinion) than she did last year I thought but she is still too turnover prone and to me Clarendon, Moore and Diggins were simply more effective during the trials.
The player who impressed me the most who is not on my list of 12 is guard Sydney Carter of Texas A&M.

WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES
Dawn Evans, James Madison: Nation's second-leading scorer showed she is far from a one-dimensional player.
Alexis Gray-Lawson, California: Just love the way this kid plays the game on both ends of the court.
Whitney Hand, Oklahoma: A stone-cold shooter and scorer.
Allison Hightower, LSU: Really played with intensity on defense
Jantel Lavender, Ohio State: A terrific finisher around the basket
Maya Moore, UConn: Simply the best player there.
Natasha Vital, California: Wasn't blown away by the player of the point guards among the World University Games competitors but she is very solid.
Jayne Appel, Stanford: Could be the No. 1 overall pick in next year's WNBA draft and looked every bit the part for most of the scrimmages.
Tina Charles, UConn: Would team with Lavender and Appel to give the U.S. an unstoppable post trio.
Tyra Grant, Penn State: A little too shot-happy at times but brings an athletic presence to the wing position.
Kayla Pedersen, Stanford: Looked more like the she did as a freshman than as a sophomore as she was hitting shots from everywhere and grabbing tough rebounds in traffic.

After that it gets pretty hard. I would lean to Gonzaga's Courtney Vandersloot and Doreena Campbell of UCLA over fellow guards Cetera DeGraffenreid (North Carolina), Ashley Houts (Georgia) and Alexis Rack of Mississippi State. Jacinta Monroe of Florida State was also impressive but not sure the team needs another post player. Alysha Clark, the nation's leading scorer as a junior at Middle Tennessee State, did not blow me away and in the time I was there, UConn's Tiffany Hayes was not overly noticeable although her versatility would serve the team well if she make it. I would have included Arizona's Ify Ibekwe but was uncertain about her status after she hurt her right ankle. I never got a definitive report but the fact that she was rolled to the team photo in a wheelchair did not seem like an encouraging sign.

If I was in charge, I would give serious consideration to putting either a Skylar Diggins or Lindsey Moore on the WUG team as well since they impressed me more than many of the point guards among the older competitors.

I will say that a starting five of Evans, Gray-Lawson, Moore, Pedersen and either Appel or Charles is downright frightening from an offensive standpoint.

As I said, it is just one person's take off seeing a few scrimmages. The committee will get the final say.

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.

All three UConn players trying out for the World University Games mentioned the altitude as a major issue to contend with. It certainly looked as if Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes and Tina Charles were looking for their shooting legs.

Moore missed all four of her shots including an air-balled 3-pointer. Charles also had an air ball of a foul-line jumper although she was the only one of the Huskies to score in the three scrimmages.

The big news from the first scrimmage, won by the White squad 12-5, was the injury suffered by Arizona's Ify Ibekwe. Ibekwe ran the court and collided with Stanford's Kayla Pedersen. Pedersen hit the fast break layup and both she and Ibekwe fell to the ground. Pedersen jumped up quickly but did not. She was in visible pain and trainers looked at her right ankle. There was no report on her condition yet but she did not play in the other scrimmages.

Pedersen was impressive in the scrimmages with five points and six rebounds. Penn State's Tyra Grant also had five points. James Madison's Dawn Evans, who had a strong effort, and Ohio State's Jantel Lavender added four points each with Lavender hauling down five rebounds. Florida State's Jacinta Monroe added five rebounds. Moore led the way with two steals to go with her three rebounds.

Moore mentioned that she did see Samarie Walker on site so that is good news that she finally made it to the facility after two long days of traveling issues.

The World University Games team just took the floor for the first of two sessions. The U-19 opening session today ended with three spirited scrimmages.

The Blue team (including UConn incoming freshman Kelly Faris and former Trinity Catholic star Da'Shena Stevens) won the first scrimmage 14-11 as Tennessee incoming freshman Taber Spani, a former UConn recruiting target, missed an open 3-pointer at the buzzer. Ohio State rising sophomore Samantha Prahalis led the Blue squad back from an 11-4 deficit with six points on a scrimmage-ending 10-0 run. The Blue team won the second scrimmage 8-4 behind four points from former UConn recruiting target Kelsey Bone. The White won the last scrimmage 11-4 as incoming Nebraska freshman Lindsay Moore had four points.

Here are my unofficial (with emphasis on unofficial) stats.

Layshia Clarendon (a speedy point guard headed to California), Moore, Prahalis and Stanford rising sophomore Sarah Boothe had six points each while Spani had five points (including the only 3-pointer in the three scrimmages). UCLA rising sophomore Atonye Nyingifa, Texas A&M sophomore to be Sydney Carter and DePaul sophomore to be Keshia Hampton had three rebounds each while Moore, Bone, Prahalis and Pittsburgh rising sophomore Pepper Wilson had two rebounds each. Hampton also had two blocks while LSU rising sophomore LaSondra Barrett had a steal and block. The only players I had with no stats (points, rebounds, assists, steals or blocks) were Ohio State signee Tayler Hill and Penn State incoming freshman Nikki Greene.

In the last two years there's probably not a question I am asked more or a request made with more regularity from people I meet than "tell me about Maya Moore?" My response should be "how much time do you have?"

For all of Moore's skills on the basketball court and there certainly are a significant number of those, it is the almost regal-like way Moore carries herself off the court that has always struck me.

Samarie Walker, Moore's future UConn teammate, was asked to list the "most impressive person I've ever met" in a questionaire used to put together the trial media guide. Walker's answer was "(Maya) Moore who is the nicest person ever."

Those who know Moore should not be surprised that she was chosen among the UConn players to write her thoughts on the recent trip to the White House to meet the President.

This is what she wrote:
"Wow what an experience! I am still in shock that my teammates and I were able to be in the same atmosphere as some of the greatest leaders in history. As we were taking a tour of the rooms of the White House, like the famous Red Room, I felt a deeper appreciation for the founders of this nation. We truly do live in an amazing country and actually walking where some of our great leaders have walked gave me chills! Meeting President Obama was as enjoyable as advertised, and he left an inspiring impression on us all. The way he took the time to shake hands, take pictures, and talk to everyone showed his humility and genuine personality. The way he sacrificed some extra time out of his day to shoot a few shots with us made me remember what life is all about. It is about investing in people and having faith that the love you impart on them will somehow make the world better than it was. Thank you to President Obama and everyone who made this event possible!"

Last night I asked Moore about writing that note.

"I felt honored that they picked me to write that," Moore said. "I really thought about it and tried to represent the best I could, I am proud of it and hopefully it represented the team well."

So the people who want to know what Maya Moore is like, I think you have you answer.

The latest update on Samarie Walker's odyssey is that she is expected to touch down in Colorado Springs a little after 10 (noon Eastern time) meaning she will miss the morning session which has just started but will be here for the second session today.

Maybe it's something to do with her name because the only other Under-19 participant yet to arrive is UCLA commit Markel Walker, who is expected later on today.

Epiphanny Prince of Rutgers and Jessica Breland of North Carolina, who both accepted invites to try out for the World University Games team, will not be trying out after all. There is a possibility that they can be granted a waiver and get named to the team even though they were not there. Just my opinion, but considering all the talent here (and it is quite impressive) I don't think the committee would need to consider people who didn't make it here.

One ramification of all of this is I can cross one of my story ideas off my list. I was planning to do a feature on the close friendship between Prince and UConn's Tina Charles. That story will have to wait until the winter I guess.

UConn, as you can imagine, is well represented with Charles, Moore and Hayes trying out for the World University Games team, incoming freshman Kelly Faris and Samarie Walker, one of four high school junior to have committed to UConn, looking to make the U-19 squad. Also, Matt Gade, a student manager with the women's basketball team the last four years, is a member of the support staff for the trials.

The only other piece of news to report (even if it is not UConn related) was that Penn State coach Coquese Washington is pregnant. Washington is a part of the committee which selects the teams and during the introductions Thursday night, it was mentioned that Washington is "with child." Not sure if that is news or not but it was the first I heard of it.

The story on Kelly Faris anxiously looking ahead to her freshman season at UConn is the first of four straight days of stories coming out of the trials.

Fortunately, I had more success making it to Colorado Springs than UConn recruit Samarie Walker did.

The only high school junior to accept an invitation to the Under-19 national team trials, Walker had all sorts of issues traveling. Assuming there were no further issues with connecting flights, Walker should be on site for both practice sessions tomorrow.

The scrimmages at the end of the U-19 and World University Games practices were relatively uneventful. That is normally the case as the players are still dealing with jet lag. Stanford rising sophomore Sarah Boothe had eight points in the U-19 scrimmage and clearly was the most aggressive offensive player. The player who caught my eye the most was DePaul's Keisha Hampton, who I had with five rebounds.

UConn incoming freshman Kelly Faris was pretty quiet while ex-Trinity Catholic star and reigning Big East Freshman of the Year Da'Shena Stevens had her moments. Faris lost an assist when her perfectly-delivered pass on a 2-on-1 was mishandled by Arkansas' Ceira Ricketts. Faris also displayed her spunk as she hustled back to force a turnover after she just threw the ball away. Stevens had a pair of rebounds and a sweet assist.

Faris, one of seven members of the 2008 Under-18 team to come back to try out for the U-19 team, had nothing but positive memories of her USA Basketball experiences last year.

"It is hard to pick out one thing," Faris said. "The whole experience, you hear people talk about it and although it is not the highest level like the Olympics, it is still a great experience that not many get to have. It is fun to play with the best players and get to know them off the court, going overseas and the whole environment is different.

"Having the experience helps but because I made the team last year doesn't mean I'm going to make the team this year. I know I still have to go out there and do everything I can. If I don't make it, I don't want it to be because I didn't hustle."

Faris will graduate from Heritage Christian a week from tomorrow and is hoping to be at UConn in time to enroll in the second summer session. She has already requested and been granted the No. 34 which she has worn for as long as she can remember.

Faris will be the focus of my report from day one of the trials which will run in Friday's edition of the Register especially her looking ahead to her freshman season at UConn.

Regretfully, I wasn't able to get as much as I would have liked to about Stevens in the story because of space constraints.

She did say she is not trying to get caught up in being the only Connecticut native at the trials and one of the few Connecticut kids invited to try out for a national team.

"I just want to play my game, not overdo anything and get to know all these players and put the work in so even if I don't make I can bring something back (to St. John's)," Stevens said. "When you play this game, you want to be at the top of the game and I think opportunity is great. Looking back and seeing how much I have grown as a player and see all the things I have worked on to get to this level, you get to see how far you have come."

I was still writing when the scrimmage for the World University Games began. I caught the tail end of the one where Maya Moore was on the White team and Tiffany Hayes was on the Blue squad. Tina Charles' group came up next and she had four points and two rebounds while playing alongside Stanford's Jayne Appel.

Unlike in past years, the nucleus of the Connecticut Sun will be good to go when training camp starts on Monday.

The only players not on hand will be Sandrine Gruda and Anete Jekabsone-Zogota, who will be playing for France and Latvia respectively at the EuroBasket Women Championships which begin on June 7.

Here's the list of players who will be in camp

Amber Holt, Kerri Gardin, Kristi Cirone, Carrem Gay, Ashley Hayes, Chante Black, Lauren Ervin, Asjha Jones, Lyndra Littles, Danielle Page, Erin Phillps, Lindsay Whalen, Ketia Swanier, Barbara Turner and Tamika Whitmore.

The Sun have enough salary cap space to begin the season with an 11-player roster but will have to make cuts when Gruda and Jekabsone-Zogota report to the Sun, something that is supposed to happen in late June.

USA Basketball just released the 27 players headed to Colorado Springs later this month for the Under-16 national team trials.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who made an unofficial visit to UConn in January, is one of the talented high school freshmen and sophomores who have accepted the invitation to try out for the national team.

Mosqueda-Lewis is a highly-touted 6-foot sophomore who plays for Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Calif. When her team was in New England to play in the HoopHall Classic in Springfield, Mass., she took in part of a UConn practice.

Another invitee Betnijah Laney out of Smyrna High in Clayton, Del., was at the XL Center when UConn played Seton Hall in the final home game of UConn's 2008-09 season. Laney, who broke former UConn signee Elena Delle Donne's Delaware single-game scoring record, has attended more than her share of Rutgers games since her mother Yolanda Laney played for Rutgers' coach C. Vivian Stringer at Cheney State in the early 1980s. Yolanda Laney is still extremely close to Stringer. My understanding is that she made the trip to Tennessee to offer her support and congratulation for Stringer's induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001. Something tells me she will also be on hand in September when Stringer is inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Among the others on the list, UConn has seen Kayla Brewer out of Ribault High in Jacksonville, Fla. play. As for the Huskies' interest in the other 24 players headed to Colorado Springs, it's a little early to speak too much in terms of UConn recruiting targets. However, since UConn already has four commitments from the current group of juniors, expect the coaching staff to zone in on gifted sophomores by the end of the summer if not sooner.

There are no Connecticut players on the list. As a matter of fact, there are no New Englanders either.

Here is the complete list:

USA WOMEN'S U16 NATIONAL TEAM TRIALS ROSTER
NAME POS HGT WGT DOB YOG HIGH SCHOOL HOMETOWN
Jordan Adams G 6-0 150 02/20/94 2012 Mater Dei H.S. Irvine, CA
Kayla Brewer F 6-2 175 03/12/93 2011 Jean Ribault H.S. Jacksonville, FL
Loliya Briggs F 5-10 159 01/28/93 2011 Potter House Christian Academy Gainesville, FL
Cierra Burdick G 6-2 160 09/30/93 2011 South Mecklenburg H.S. Mathews, NC
Jasmine Camp G 5-7 130 04/20/93 2011 Chamblee H.S. Ellenwood, GA
Briyona Canty G 5-8 --- 01/23/93 2011 Trenton Catholic Academy Willingboro, NJ
Andraya Carter G 5-8 140 11/21/93 2012 Buford H.S. Flowery Branch, GA
Bashaara Graves F 6-2 185 03/17/94 2012 Clarksville H.S. Clarksville, TN
Justine Hartman F 6-2 --- 01/30/93 2011 Brea Olinda H.S. Brea, CA
Rachel Hollivay F 6-4 180 10/24/93 2012 New Hope H.S. Columbus, MS
Malina Howard F 6-4 205 11/20/93 2012 Twinsburg H.S. Twinsburg, OH
Moriah Jefferson G 5-7 118 03/08/94 2012 Texas Home Educators Sports Assoc. Glenn Heights, TX
Alexis Jones G 5-9 145 05/08/94 2012 Irving MacArthur H.S. Midland, TX
Whitney Knight F 6-2 140 01/09/93 2011 Bishop McGuinness H.S. Winston-Salem, NC
Betnijah Laney F 6-0 160 10/29/93 2011 Smyrna H.S. Clayton, DE
Jewell Loyd G 5-9 132 10/05/93 2012 Niles West H.S. Lincolnwood, IL
Ariel Massengale G 5-6 152 06/10/93 2011 Bolingbrook H.S. Bolingbrook, IL
Breanna McDonald F 6-0 160 11/26/93 2012 Chamblee H.S. Lithonia, GA
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis F 6-0 165 11/03/93 2012 Mater Dei H.S. Anaheim, CA
Alexis Prince F 5-11 173 02/05/93 2012 Edgewater H.S. Maitland, FL
Bria Smith G 5-10 160 02/16/93 2011 Christ the King H.S. Massapequa, NY
Alexia Standish G 5-8 120 02/15/93 2011 Heritage H.S. Colleyville, TX
Kiah Stokes F/C 6-3 185 03/30/93 2011 Linn Mar H.S. Marion, IA
Morgan Tuck F 6-2 175 04/30/94 2012 Bolingbrook H.S. Bolingbrook, IL
Alexyz Vaioletama F 6-1 176 06/12/93 2011 Mater Dei H.S. Fountain Valley, CA
Courtney Williams G 6-1 158 03/21/94 2012 North Shore H.S. Houston, TX
Elizabeth Williams F 6-3 185 06/23/93 2011 Princess Anne H.S. Virginia Beach, VA

By the way, the Under-19 and World University Games trials begin later today at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

The WNBA just announced that tickets for the July 25 All-Star game at Mohegan Sun Arena are now on sale.

Here is the release:

TICKETS ON SALE FOR 2009 WNBA ALL-STAR GAME

-- Limited Tickets Now Available to the General Public --


NEW YORK, May 13, 2009 – The WNBA is releasing a limited number of tickets for the 2009 WNBA All-Star Game taking place Saturday, July 25 at 3:30 p.m. ET at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., the league announced today. The game will be televised live on ABC.

The sale follows a presale conducted for season-ticket holders of the host Connecticut Sun and the WNBA's 12 other teams.

Tickets are available by going online to ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-877-WNBA-TIX.

With tickets ranging from $10 to $55, fans can enjoy the unique experience of seeing the greatest female basketball players in the world take part in the WNBA's showcase event at one of the league's most exciting venues. Special pricing will apply for groups of 20 or more.

"To be selected to host the All-Star game for the second time in our short history is a credit to our fans and their passion for the WNBA," said Sun General Manager Chris Sienko. "We also look forward to hosting fans from around the WNBA and across the country when the best-of-the-best showcase their skills here at Mohegan Sun for what is sure to be an extremely entertaining event."

In other news, former Connecticut Sun guard Jamie Carey has been named to the USA Basketball Women's Development National Team Committee which will select the Under-16 national team next month.