Six current or former UConn stars are among the 11 players selected to play on the U.S. squad in "WNBA vs. USA Basketball: The Stars at the Sun" all-star game on July 10 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Tina Charles, Renee Montgomery and Maya Moore, teammates on UConn's 2008-09 national championship were named to the squad on Thursday while Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Diana Taurasi, teammates on UConn's 2001-02 national championship team, earned spots on the U.S. squad along with Tamika Catchings by being members of the U.S. national team pool who finished in the top 10 in the fan balloting.

Candice Dupree, Sylvia Fowles, Angel McCoughtry and Cappie Pondexter complete the 11-player squad which will be coached by UConn's Geno Auriemma. Candace Parker would have been on the squad because she was one of the leading vote getters but she is out for the season with a shoulder injury.

Here's a look at the resumes of the five former Huskies and one current UConn player on the squad.
Sue Bird: The top vote-getter in the fan balloting, the 2004 and 2008 Olympic gold medalist was leading the WNBA in assists (5.7 per game) heading into Thursday night's action.
Swin Cash: One of the feel-good stories of the 2009 season, Cash has shown that her return to WNBA prominence was not a fluke as her 15.2 scoring average is her highest since averaging 16.4 points with Detroit in 2004 as she has helped Seattle to the league's best record.
Tina Charles: Rookie center Tina Charles had already tied Taj McWilliams-Franklin's Connecticut Sun franchise record with 12 double-doubles and is emerging into a candidate for league MVP honors.
Renee Montgomery: The first-round pick by Minnesota in the 2009 WNBA draft, Montgomery was averaging 12.7 points and 3.9 assists heading into Thursday's game against Chicago.
Maya Moore: The only active college player on the squad, the two-time national player of the year is talented enough that Minnesota was willing to trade the rights to this year's No. 3 overall pick Kelsey Griffin in the hopes of improving the chances of drafting the dynamic Moore with the top pick in the 2011 draft. At the U.S. team's spring training camp, she put on daily offensive performances that could only be described as "Michael Jordanesque."
Diana Taurasi: The league's leading scorer (22.9 points per game) is adding 4.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per game for good measure for the defending WNBA champions. However, she left the June 27 game against Washington early with back issues so her status for the game bears watching.

The 11-member WNBA squad will be announced on Tuesday although San Antonio's Becky Hammon, Sophia Young, Michelle Snow and Jayne Appel (yes, San Antonio fans got into the spirit of this fan balloting thing just a little bit), and Seattle's Lauren Jackson are guaranteed spots on the team by finishing among the top 10 in the fan balloting while not being in the U.S. senior national team player pool.

The league coaches will vote for the other six players although using the WNBA efficiency rankings as a guide, I would think the leading candidates for spots would start with Washington's Crystal Langhorne, Atlanta's Sancho Lyttle and Penny Taylor of Phoenix. With Hammon the only point guard on the WNBA team to date, a second point guard figures to be added with former Connecticut Sun star Lindsay Whalen of Minnesota and Phoenix's Temeka Johnson the most likely choices.

If Whalen is named to the WNBA team, it will be an almost surreal situation for her since her joins Seimione Augustus, Shameka Christon, Lindsey Harding, Asjha Jones and Kara Lawson are other players in the national team pool expected to take part in a training camp at Mohegan Sun Arena from July 7-11. There will be a practice open to the public on July 9 at Mohegan Sun Arena beginning at 2:45 p.m. Jayne Appel, Ebony Hoffman and Kia Vaughn will also take part in the camp with the hope of playing their way into the national team player pool. There will be a scrimmage between the U.S. and Australia national teams on July 11 at Mohegan Sun Arena but it will not be open to the public.