Obviously seeing a need to add some size to its roster for next month's world championships, USA Basketball added Ebony Hoffman, Rebekkah Brunson, Kia Vaughn and Jayne Appel to its player pool. USA Basketball also announced that its training camp will be held in the Washington, D.C. area beginning on Sept. 4.

"Certainly one of the positions that we are trying to shore up is in the post," said U.S. national team and UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma. "With Candace Parker not being available because of her (shoulder) operation, these four additions give us a lot of options to choose from. I'm anxious to see how they fit in. And depending on who's available because of the playoffs, I think it's important to have as many options as possible.

"I'm really looking forward to that first week in September in D.C., and even more so the following few weeks as the playoffs wind down and we're able to add more and more players. Speaking for all the coaches, we're anxious to get our whole team together. And even then it might not happen until the start of competition, but at least we're getting close."

The team will train at the Flint Hill School in Oakton, Va. (where they held a few days of the practices for the U-17 national team) on Sept. 4-5 before moving for two days of training at American University's Bender Arena on Sept. 6-7. Training camp will move to Hartford on Sept. 9 leading into exhibition games at the XL Center against Australia (Aug. 10, 7:30 p.m.) and Spain (Sept. 12, 1 p.m.). In between will be a training session at 10 a.m. on Sept. 11 at the XL Center. Unless you hear otherwise, the training sessions are not open to the public.

Tickets for the exhibition games are on sale now online at www.ticketmaster.com, through Ticketmaster charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000 and in person at the XL Center box office. Ticket prices range from $75, $50, $30, $20 and $10 respectively.

In addition to the USA exhibition games, the University of Hartford will play host to an exhibition between Australia and Spain on Sept. 11 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can also be purchased through Ticketmaster.