UConn commit Katie Lou Samuelson was the leading scorer for the gold-medal
winning United States team at the FIBA U17 World Championship tournament

With UConn commit Katie Lou Samuelson dealing with foul trouble throughout the game and Spain's Angela Salvadores torching whichever United.States player attempted to guard her, the U.S. needed others to deliver to lead the two-time defending championship to a third straight gold medal to a 77-75 victory.

It was UConn recruiting targets Lauren Cox, Asia Durr and Arike Ogunbowale who stepped to the forefront. Cox had 20 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks while Durr finished with 17 points and four assists and Ogunbowale had 15 points and eight rebounds. The trio combined to score the final 10 points for the U.S.

Cox grabbed an offensive rebound in transition and scored to snap a 71-71 tie and blocked a shot at the other end while Durr had a crucial jumper to help the U.S. survive a fierce challenge from Spain.

Salvadores had 40 points, hitting 16 of 29 shots from the field including 5 of 7 from 3-point range in a truly sensational performance. She was named the tournament's MVP while Samuelson was joined on the all-tournament team by her U.S. teammate Joyner Holmes. Salvadores had 13 points in the fourth quarter as Spain led for nearly 4 1/2 minutes in the final period. She ended up as the tournament's leading scorer (19.9 points per game), was first in steals (3.7), second in assists (3.6), third in 3-point percentage (50.0), fourth in field-goal percentage (49.6), sixth in assist/turnover ratio (0.8) and 10th in rebounding (7.4).

Samuelson finished with seven points and three rebounds while fellow UConn commit De'Janae Boykin had five points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Asia Durr finishes FIBA U17 tournament
ranked second in assist/turnover ratio

Lauren Cox nearly had a triple-double in title
game at FIBA U17 World Championships

Samuelson finished with a team-leading 97 points and 19 3-pointers in the seven games. She finished tied for seventh in scoring which finished tied for seventh among all tournament scorers and was second in 3-pointers made. Durr (13.4 points per game), Ogunbowale (10.7) and all-tournament selection Joyner Holmes (10.6) were the other double-digit scorers for the U.S. in the tournament. Durr also finished second in the tournament in assist/turnover ratio.

Cox finished as the team leader in rebounding (8.4) and blocked shots (19), finishing fifth and second in those categories in the tournament. Cox set the single game and tournament U.S. records in blocked shots while Samuelson's 19 3-pointers matched the U.S. mark set by Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis in 2010. UConn commit De’Janae Boykin, one of three U.S. players to start all seven games, averaged 5.1 points. She was the team’s second-leading rebounder (6.1) and tied for second on the team with 16 assists.

Here are quotes from Boykin, Cox, Durr, Sabrina Ionescu, Ogunbowale and Samuelson courtesy of USA Basketball.

De'Janae Boykin
What does it mean to get a second gold medal?
This means a lot to be world champions, it’s great, it’s a great feeling.

What did you think about the game against Spain?
It was a very intense game; very hard, they worked very hard. They’re a great team and so were we, we came out and worked hard and we got the W.

What does this experience mean to you?
This experience means a lot. Just to come out here, we’ve been out here for almost a month, just to come together as a team and come out here and work and it just means a lot that we got the win today.

What do you think is going to stay with you from this experience? 
Just this experience, knowing I’m part of the USA Basketball family and stuff like that.

Lauren Cox
On winning the gold medal:
It’s awesome. It’s a great experience. I’m really blessed to be here to play with this amazing team and these awesome coaches.

On her game against Spain:
I just came into the game wanting to work hard and play hard inside. I knew it was going to be tough. They have big girls inside, so I just had to work hard.

Was there ever any doubt that you might not win?
Spain’s a good team, so we just had to get out there, play good defense and convert on offense.

What’s been the best part of this experience for you? 
Spending time with this awesome team. These coaches are awesome, too. It’s just been a great experience.

Asia Durr
On the gold medal game against Spain:
It was definitely a fight. They have some great shooters on their team. One girl put up 40 or so. It was a hard-fought game for 40 minutes.

Were you ever nervous, were there ever any doubts? 
It wasn't doubt. It was pressure, of course, because they were making every single shot. So, there was definitely pressure.

Do you feel like you executed the game plan or was it all heart?
It was both. We came out there, fought hard and played like there was no other game out there.

Was it the USA’s depth that helped in the end?
Definitely. We have a group of girls who are 12 deep and they all went out there and played their hearts out.

What does it feel like to win your second gold medal?
It’s definitely a blessing. I thank God for all of this.

What will you take away from this experience? 
Meeting a new group of girls, playing with a great group of girls and winning another gold.

Sabrina Ionescu
What does it feel like to win a gold medal?
It feels great. We’ve been practicing for the last, I don’t even know how long, and to finally come here and achieve what we’ve been reaching for this whole time feels great.

What do you think is going to stick with you? 
Definitely the whole learning experience. I’ve learned a lot from Coach Sue and the coaching staff and these girls. It’s a blessing playing with all of these great players so I think playing with all of them gets you better individually and as a team player.

Is there an area in your game you feel like you got specifically better at?
I think the fact that it takes all 12 players to win a gold medal; it’s not just one or two individuals. So the fact that everybody came together through these last couple of weeks; not knowing each other and just coming in and playing and working hard and winning a gold medal.

Arike Ogunbowale
On the game:
I love close games. It was nerve-wracking and crazy, but we kept our composure and played hard.

What do you think was the difference?
They’re a great team, a well-coached team. They’re physical and they have skill like us, so we just had to try to play greater than them. We played really good. They played great, too. But we had to execute at the end of the game and we hit our free throws, which were crucial.

Were you nervous at all?
There’s always nervousness going into big games, but we knew what we had to do. So, we were okay.

What’s it like to win your third gold medal? 
It’s crazy. I’m super excited. I’m super blessed to be able to do this before my senior year and everything that USA Basketball has helped me with, so I’m super blessed.

What have you learned from this experience?
Never give up. We were down in the fourth quarter and we just kept going. Really, just never give up and work with your teammates.

Katie Lou Samuelson
On being named to the all-tournament team:
It’s amazing. I’m just in shock that it all happened that way. I thought I played solid, but I didn’t expect anything like that. I wasn’t trying to go for anything like that, but it’s amazing just to be able to get that and to win the gold medal. It’s amazing.

How does it feel to win your third gold medal?
It’s amazing. It never gets old. It’s the same feeling every time. But, this one was really special. It was such a close game and we played well all the way through to the end. So, it was amazing.

What did you learn from this tournament?
I learned that I have to trust my teammates and just rely on them, because they’re going to come through. I thought everyone played great today. Everyone stepped up when they needed to.

MILESTONES FOR FORMER HUSKIES
A pair of former UConn stars reached scoring landmarks in the WNBA.

Diana Taurasi moved by Katie Smith to become the second all-time leading scorer in the WNBA. Taurasi headed into today's game against Los Angeles with 6,457 points in 316 career regular-season games. Smith scored 6,452 points in 482 career games. After the 87-69 win over Chicago on Wednesday Taurasi said she considered Tina Thompson's WNBA record 7,488 points to be unreachable for her. I'm not so sure as if she continues to score at the 20 point per game rate she has maintained since arriving in the league, she would need 52 more games to get there.

Speaking of impressive stats, five of the WNBA top scorers played at UConn including four on the 2002 national championship team. Swin Cash and Sue Bird rank 14th and 16th on the career scoring charts with 4,731 and 4.678 points respectively. Nykesha Sales is 24th with 3,955 points and Asjha Jones checks in at No. 27 with 3,834 points.

As for the other milestone, Renee Montgomery scored her 2,000th career point in Saturday's win at Tulsa.

Former UConn star Asjha Jones' status with the Connecticut Sun for the 2014 WNBA was up in the air when she headed overseas to play in Russia.

Well, the situation is suddenly cleared up but with the worst possible outcome as the team confirmed that Jones tore her left Achilles' tendon and is headed back to the U.S. to have surgery. She will not be able to play during the 2014 season as she rehabilitates the injury.

News of Jones' injury while playing for Spartak was first reported by the FIBA Europe site.

Jones is quoted in the report saying "unfortunately because of this setback I will now not be able to be here for the rest of the season.

"However, I feel I have become a member of the Spartak tradition and I wish everybody and especially my teammates all the best."

Jones averaged 11.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2 steals and 0.8 blocked shots in five games with Spartak.

Jones ranks second all-time in Connecticut Sun history in the following categories
Games Played 271
Points 3,336
Made Field Goals 1,398
Field Goal Attempts 3,063
Rebounds 1,447
Offensive Rebounds 506
Defensive Rebounds 941

Even before the season began the injury bug was proving to have quite the appetite in the camp of the Connecticut Sun as veteran forward Asjha Jones made the decision to take the entire 2013 season off to recover from a variety of ailments and underrated wing Danielle McCray would also be sidelined for the entire season due to an injury she suffered playing overseas. However, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

If there was one image from last night's Sun/Washington Mystics game it was seeing Renee Montgomery, Kara Lawson and Tan White all in street clothes unable to play. Predictably, down the stretch the Sun struggled offensively without three of its best perimeter offensive players.

If you include Jones, McCray and Jessica Moore (who was not re-signed and promptly was picked up by Washington) the Sun played without players who accounted for 52 percent of the team's offense during the 2012 season and made 172 of the team's 199 3-pointers.

The good news is that Lawson's injury is considered to be day by day and there is a chance she will be back when the Sun return to action on Wednesday with a game at Indiana. However, Montgomery and White likely won't be back until next month.

Montgomery suffered a high ankle sprain during a gruesome-looking tumble to court late in a loss to Chicago while White broke the middle finger on her right hand during practice earlier this week. Both are expected to miss at least three weeks.

Montgomery has not watched replays of the injury nor is she planning to.

"I got hit on the screen and I went down and it was bad," Montgomery said before Friday's loss to the Mystics. "When he (Sun trainer Jeremy Norman) came out, I didn't know what was hurt and I just said 'my leg' but it was a bad fall. I never missed a game in junior high, high school, college or pros.. This is the first time I had to miss a game before." 

Montgomery realizes that the way that her leg bent backwards on the fall that she could have easily found herself on the sidelines for a much longer period than just three or four weeks.

"I feel blessed," Montgomery said. "I didn't go back and look at it but when it happened I knew it was bad. I could have been out the whole season the way the fall happened so I know I am blessed."

Right now Montgomery needs to stay off the injured ankle as much as possible. During games she will wear a walking boot but the rest of the time she will get around with the help of crutches.

White will be able to start doing cardio workouts in a couple of days. She is wearing a splint to protect her entire hand.

White said she was defending rookie Kelly Faris in practice and when Faris drove by, she swiped at the ball as she had done countless times during practices and games in her professional career. She missed the ball and made contact with Faris' arm. At first White thought she might have just jammed the finger but further examination the following day revealed that she had broken the finger. With her injury coming so soon after Montgomery went down left the Sun rather thin in perimeter options coming off the bench.

"It can happen on any team," White said. "It is not something that we planned to do intentionally but if you are playing the game these kinds of injuries come all the time. It is a bad situation to have both of us being out at the same time. It is what it is, mine is a short injury and hopefully I will recover and be back quickly.

"This is opportunity for everybody to step up because we need everybody to do a little extra and from here on until we get back and it is a great opportunity for these young players."

Faris is one of the young players who has impressed White especially with the way she played defensively against another former UConn star (Maya Moore) in the Sun's recent loss to Minnesota.

"She has responded well," White said. "At training camp she didn't get to play that much because she was injured but just to play such a tough team in Minnesota, she came out and showed defensively that she can be a stopper. I am excited to continue see her grow and have her put in a position where she can find a role here."

OPENING NIGHT FUNDRAISER A SUCCESS

The Connecticut Sun donated ticket sales from the season-opening win against New York to the American Red Cross to aid those impacted by the deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma.

The Sun doesn't want to make it look like they were engaging in a publicity stunt so there will be no ceremony with a check being presented to officials from the Red Cross but I was told last night that approximately $16,000 was raised.

MONTGOMERY THRILLED FOR FORMER HUSKY

Montgomery didn't cross paths with fellow former UConn point guard Jen Rizzotti that much during her time with the Huskies but she still admitted to feeling a sense of pride that Rizzotti is becoming the second former UConn player to be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame later today.

"I don't know if it is the culture that UConn has created but even if you haven't had much contact with somebody who is a UConn alum you still have this mutual understanding of friendship and camaraderie so I am happy for her and proud she is going into the Hall of Fame." 

                                                                        (Associated Press photo)
Former UConn star Asjha Jones will sit out the 2013 WNBA season
due to nagging injuries. She has been one of the team's most productive
players since being traded from Washington in 2004.

Asjha Jones, one of the cornerstones of the Connecticut Sun franchise in the last decade, announced that she will be sitting out the 2013 season due to some nagging injuries.

“I am sorry to announce that I will miss the 2013 WNBA season due to injuries,” Jones said in a statement. “I do not feel like I would be fit and ready to play this summer, and I did not think that would be fair to coach (Anne) Donovan or to the Connecticut Sun organization, which has treated me so well over the past nine seasons. I wish the team a great season in 2013 and look forward to returning in 2014.”


Jones missed 14 regular-season games during the 2012 season with a strained Achilles tendon and has been dealing a series of minor injuries in recent seasons. Jones only missed seven regular-season games in her first five seasons, including playing her first two seasons in Washington but she has missed 29 in the last four seasons.


“It’s disappointing to hear that Asjha will not be back with the team this season,” Donovan said in a statement. “But I am confident in the ability of the players we do have returning, and I am looking forward to a great year.”

Since being acquired by the Sun in 2004, Jones has played 271 games and she is second all time in Sun history with 3,336 points and 1,447 rebounds.

Jones allowed UConn to make history by having Huskies selected with four of the top six picks in the 2002 WNBA draft. However, she joins Sue Bird as members of that historic group to announce that she will not be playing this season due to injuries.

In recent weeks there have been no lack of updates on where Kelly Faris ranks on UConn's career charts.

However, when I think of what Faris contributes to the team it does not come down to the number of points, rebounds, assists or even steals that she gets on a nightly basis but the way that everything she does is about trying to win games. Faris, who will move into a tie with Ann Strother for the number of games played, is currently 10th all-time at UConn in the number of victories she has been on the court for..

Faris could finish as high as No. 5 on this list if UConn were to win the remainder of its games.

Here is the list
1. Maya Moore 150-4
2. Kalana Greene 148-9
3. Tiffany Hayes 147-7
4. Tina Charles 146-6
5. Renee Montgomery 139-11
6. Lorin Dixon 136-4
    Diana Taurasi 136-8
   Ashley Battle 136-13
9. Asjha Jones 135-9
10. Kelly Faris 133-9 (heading into tonight).

CURTIS EKMARK HONORED
Curtis Ekmark, the head coach and father of UConn commit Courtney Ekmark, was named the WBCA National High School Coach of the Year after leading St. Mary's to a 29-1 record and Arizona Division I state title.


Ekmark has a 154-21 record in six seasons at St. Mary's
.
Ekmark will also coach the Purple team in the WBCA High School All-American Game and one of the players he will be coaching is UConn signee Saniya Chong out of Ossining (N.Y.) High School. The roster of the Purple team has some familiar names as former UConn recruiting targets Taya Reimer, Diamond DeShields (who was named the WBCA National Player of the Year), Erica McCall, Stephanie Mavunga and Karlie Samuelson are all on that squad.

The game will be played on Apr. 6 at the New Orleans Arena. Courtney Ekmark, a junior guard, is planning to join Curtis at the Final Four.

Former UConn star Swin Cash will be the honorary co-captain of the Black team while Tamika Catchings will be the honorary co-captain for the Purple squad.

I found it almost comical that both Connecticut Sun CEO Mitch Etess and general manager Chris Sienko said the decision not to bring back Mike Thibault as the WNBA franchise's head coach was not simply a reaction to the listless ending to the season. Then Etess said later in a conference call with the media that if the Sun reached the WNBA final that Thibault would probably be back for an 11th season as the Sun's head coach.

This much is clear, after leading the Sun to eight playoff appearances and four Eastern Conference regular season titles, Thibault is no longer the head coach.

His final game, an 87-71 loss to Indiana in the third and deciding game in the Eastern Conference final was one of the worst during his tenure.

The Sun, for all their regular-season success since relocating from Orlando, had developed a reputation as a team unable to win the big one. Playing at home in the winner take all game in the Eastern Conference final, Connecticut seemed primed to return to the WNBA championship series for the third time and have a realistic shot at their first title.

But seeing an Indiana team, which was playing without injured All-Star Katie Douglas for most of the game, holding a 24-point lead over a listless Sun squad midway through the third quarter seemed to the last straw and the only coach in Connecticut Sun history is suddenly unemployed.

“I don't know that I would attribute it to just that game,” Etess said. “I felt like there was something we needed to do to get us to the expectation level of wanting that championship. We've won a lot of games, we have been to the playoffs quite a bit, put a lot of people in the building but we just felt that at the end of the day we needed to get the championship. There was some intangible missing that had us not at that ceiling and we looked at what we could do to bring that change about and we felt like this is what we could do.”

Both Etess and general manager Chris Sienko said that there were no requests for Thibault’s dismissal from the players.
“The players did not call for this,” Etess said. “This is a business decision we are making in an effort to do what we think we need to do to get the championship.”
Assistant coaches Scott Hawk and Bernadette Mattox, who have been with Thibault since the Sun's first game in 2003, were also let go.

Thibault was hired in March of 2003 shortly after it was announced that the Orlando Miracle franchise was relocating to Connecticut. Thibault posted a 206-134 regular-season record and is just five wins of Van Chancellor’s record for most WNBA regular-season coaching victories. Thibault, a veteran NBA scout and assistant coach, led the Sun to eight playoff appearances including two runs to the WNBA finals but the franchise is still looking for its first WNBA title.

The Sun finished 25-9 during the 2012 season, three games better than eventual WNBA champion Indiana but the Sun lost the last two games to Indiana and had to watch as the Fever won their first WNBA title.

“Nobody liked how the last game turned out and nobody could see it coming at least not on my end, and I don’t think our key players could see it coming,” Thibault said. “There wasn’t a lot of conversation before I went on vacation last week I didn’t know really what to say.

“Nobody wants to win a championship more than me, I don’t care who you are talking about: fans, owner, coaches, players. I came here with a passion to do that, and I am disappointed that we didn’t. But there are a lot of good coaches and players out there in all walks of sport that don’t win championships. It is not a birth right.”

Whoever is hired by the Sun will inherit one of the league's most talented teams led by reigning MVP Tina Charles, former Olympic gold medalists Asjha Jones and Kara Lawson and WNBA Sixth Man of the Year Renee Montgomery.

Connecticut Sun general manager Chris Sienko said that he’d like to have a new coach in place before the WNBA free-agent period starts on Feb. 1.

“Our expectations are to really go hard after the holidays and hopefully we have a decision if we can make it happen within the next month or so,” Sienko said.

Before taking the court in search of their first WNBA playoff victory former UConn stars Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery were summoned to the interview stage inside Mohegan Sun Arena along with Connecticut Sun teammate Kara Lawson.

Charles and Montgomery have known for two days that they were named the winners of the MVP and Sixth  Woman of the Year award but it did not become official until the press conference before last year's playoff opener.

WNBA president Laurel Richie captured the essence of both former UConn stars when she recalled the conversations she had with the two of them when she called to inform them that they were winning the prestigious awards.


"When I called Renee two days ago to let her know about this award and said you have to keep this quiet for 48 hours  she said 'oh my God, I think keeping it quiet for 48 hours is going to be harder than everything I ad to do to win the award in the first place.' So Renee I am congratulating twice both for winning the award and for the incredible fortitude it took to keep it quiet."

That was followed by the highlight of the evening's festivities. Montgomery and Richie were posing for photos when the trophy came apart and crashed onto the stage. Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault, sitting in the front row, deadpanned "I'm glad it didn't land on your foot."

Then came the time for Richie to announce that Charles joins 2009 MVP Diana Taurasi as the only UConn product to win the WNBA's top individual award.

"I had to ask her if she was OK because she was crying with such, I don't know if it was relief or excitement but I literally had to say Tina are you still there, are you OK?"

Richie, imitating Charles' blubbering, brought a huge smile to Charles face when she recalled that an emotional Charles said "I am still here."

Charles found out to Tuesday's practice and according to Mike DiMauro of The Day of New London, she threw her arms around Thibault and thanked him countless times.

"Ever since I got drafted by the Connecticut Sun he definitely gave me the confidence to go out and play my best and definitely helped me in that area," Charles said. "I think he makes it comfortable for everybody to come out ad explore your game. He allows us to make mistakes and then correct it. He is a great coach, he communicates with us, he is there for us, he does his best to discipline us. He tells us what he wants for us individually and that is one of the main things you want from coaches is communication. During my career with the Connecticut Sun that is the kind of relationship I want with him and he allows that."

Montgomery, who started 57 of the 68 games she played for the Sun in her first two seasons, was told by Thibault before the season that Lawson would be starting and Montgomery would be coming off the bench. For a player accustomed to starting it was not a move that thrilled her but she finished the regular season averaging 11.6 points per game despite not starting a game.

"I just wanted to do whatever role was given to me," Montgomery said. "At the end of the day this is your job so if your boss tells you to do something you should do it. I wasn't going to help my team or myself just sitting around sulking about not starting. As long as this is helping the team then I am fine with it."

Lawson was recognized as the winner of the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award while Richie also announced that Mohegan Sun Arena would host the 2013 WNBA All-Star Game.

Then came the most important matter for the Sun, securing the franchise's first playoff win since 2008. Connecticut beat New York 65-60 to take the 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal. Ironically, the last Sun playoff victory also came against the Liberty on Sep. 20, 2008. The only holdovers from the teams are Connecticut's Asjha Jones and New York's Essence Carson and Leilani Mitchell.

Updating my entry from yesterday regarding the game times on UConn schedule, UConn has posted all of its start times. The only changes/additions are that the Jan. 9 Georgetown game will start at 7:30 p.m. and Jan. 26 game at Cincinnati starts at 8 p.m. and not 7 p.m. Look for SNY to announce the games it will be televising soon.

Here is a link to the schedule


Also, last night the Connecticut Sun announced its all-time team as part of the celebration of the 10th season of the franchise being in Connecticut.

Four former UConn players (Tina Charles, Asjha Jones, Renee Montgomery and Nykesha Sales) made the list along with the late Margo Dydek, current WNBA stars on other teams (Katie Douglas, Taj McWilliams-Franklin and Lindsay Whalen) as well as current Sun players Kara Lawson and Tan White.

It's hard to argue with the selections although if I were voting I would have given serious consideration to putting Sandrine Gruda on the team.

UConn's all-time leading scorer Maya Moore (right) has a chuckle as fellow
former Husky Sue Bird bites into her Olympic gold medal after the UConn
dominated U.S. team won its fifth straight Olympic championship.
(photo courtesy of USA Basketball and NBE/Getty Images)

Six former UConn stars and UConn head coach Geno Auriemma will be returning from London with gold medals after the United States women's basketball team won its fifth straight Olympic gold medal with a 86-50 win over previously undefeated France on Saturday.

Former Tennessee star Candace Parker led the U.S. with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Former UConn stars Sue Bird (11 points, three assists) and Diana Taurasi (nine points, six assists) also played starring roles as they won their third consecutive gold medal. Former Huskies Maya Moore (six points, seven rebounds), Asjha Jones (four points), Tina Charles (four points) and Swin Cash (three points) were also members of the U.S. squad.

It is the second gold medal for Cash while Moore, Charles and Jones were first time Olympians. It is also the second gold medal for Auriemma, who was an assistant coach on the 2000 squad (even if he doesn't actually receive medals).

The overall tournament scoring champions were former Cheshire Academy star Johannah Leedham of Great Britain as well as Brazil's Erika de Souza who each averaged 16.2 points per game. Taurasi finished as the top scorer for the United States as she averaged 12.4 points a contest.

Here are the stats for the six former UConn stars

Bird: 6.1 points, team-leading 4.5 assists
Charles: 10.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists
Cash: 3.3 points, 1.4 rebounds
Jones: 3.1 points, 1.7 rebounds
Moore: 9.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.5 steals
Taurasi: 12.4 points, 3 rebounds, 2.9 assists (had 15 of the U.S. 32 3-pointers)

Proving it was a team-first approach, there were no U.S. among the tournament's top 10 scorers however here is where the U.S. players ranked in other categories

Rebounds: Candace Parker 4th; Charles 5th
Assists: Bird 2nd
Steals: Angel McCoughtry 2nd; Tamika Catchings 6th; Moore 8th
Blocks: Parker 7th
FG percentage: Parker 6th
3-point percentage: Taurasi 9th
Double-doubles: Charles and Parker tied for 1st

Here are quotes from Auriemma and the six former Huskies courtesy of USA Basketball.
GENO AURIEMMA
You know, you go into every game thinking that there’s going to be some things that you have to do, and if you do those things you’re going to have a chance you can win it. You know, France was probably playing as well as anytime I’ve ever seen them, since I’ve been the coach anyway. And when you’re going into it the way they’re playing, they got a lot of confidence. And we tried to really disrupt them and get them into the kind of game they weren’t comfortable playing, and I think we did that right from the beginning. When Candace Parker came in the game, the game changed completely. You know, I thought she was the biggest difference in the game tonight. We all just kind of took that and ran with it. We beat a really good team, but we’re a great team.
On why Candace Parker shined tonight:
You know, as coaches we know a lot about a lot of things, but that’s a question I can’t answer. I think that Candace (Parker) would be better able to answer that question. Candace has a lot of skills, and some nights she really tries to use them and other nights she forgets the kind of skills that she has. Luckily for us, tonight she remembered.
On if this is the best U.S. Women’s team to-date:
You know, I hate to say it was the best; it’s like comparing your children because I didn’t coach those other teams. If I did, I would probably say yeah, this was the best because you always get attached to the one you’re coaching. I’m sure every other coach thought that the team they coached was a great team, but you know, the United States has had unbelievably great teams since 1996 and I think we’re just another one on the list. Down the road if people want to make those comparisons, you know, it’s okay, but right now we accomplished the same thing they did, so I don’t know that that separates us from them. I think it just makes us equal with them.
On the French team:
Sometimes a team just finds itself during a tournament, and I thought the French team was the team of the tournament. I think if you take us out of the tournament, honestly I’m partial to our team; I thought France was the team of the tournament. The way they played consistently from day one all the way to the end, and I thought Celine (Dumerc) was the most important player and the most impactful player in the tournament, and I just want to say congratulations.
On the competitiveness of women’s basketball to U.S. fans versus sports like soccer and gymnastics:
Yeah, I mean, you can’t apologize for being really good. The reason they don’t think there’s any competition is because they don’t have to be here playing. We know what the competition is, we know how good these other teams are, and we know how hard we have to work to make it look easy, because it’s not as easy as it looks. We do what we do in the United States and we take great pride in our basketball program. It doesn’t matter who the coach is, it doesn’t matter who the players are, there’s a certain level of expectation when you coach and play for USA Basketball. That expectation is to win, and we take it very seriously. Maybe in those other sports, there isn’t that same expectation in the United States that you’re going to win all the time, but we’re not going to start losing just to make them feel better back home.
On what he appreciated about this experience:
You know, I appreciate how smart some of these coaches are over here. Everybody has this impression that because we invented the game, that we’re the only ones who know how to coach it. I’ve been unbelievably impressed with how much you have to prepare to beat these guys because, because like Celine (Dumerc) said, they spent every summer together for five years. We’ve been together 10 days, 12 days of practice, so they know exactly what they’re doing and they know how to do it, and they capitalized on their mistakes. They have great strategies; they have great schemes on offense; they know how to use their players. I’ve been really, really impressed. And again, if you took our team out of the tournament – if you took our team out of the tournament and took Angola out, the top team in the tournament and the team that lost probably by the biggest margins – if you took those two teams out, you’d have a hard time separating the other 10. So, that’s a heck of a tournament – it really, really was. I’ve been impressed with the level of play every single night out.
On what he learned from this team:
You know what the funny thing is about professional basketball players? They think they’re smarter than you are. That just boggles my mind, because, if they were, why would USA Basketball have coaches? So, I’m constantly amazed by some of them, how much they think they know. It’s a warning for me, as a college coach, to see that no matter how good some of these players are that play professionally, they need coaching. They need direction, and you know what, the great ones want direction. They want to be kind of guided and driven to another place. I always thought that, but this kind of proved it to me – that idea that pros have you go step on each others toes, don’t like to be told what to do, don’t like to be coached. I’ve found just the opposite – they think they don’t want it, they think they’re really smart, they think what they’re saying makes sense. I wish I could tape them and play it back to them, so hopefully they learned something, and I know for a fact that I learned something – no question.
On the relationship between the men’s and women’s USA Basketball teams:
You know, the players probably have the most respect for each other of anybody else. They know exactly what each other has to do to be prepared and what it took to get here. So, the players on the men’s team, they probably appreciate the women’s team more than anybody back in America. I know that our players appreciate and interact with the guy’s players like they’re peers. Part of that is because we’re all Team USA and the other part is because I think they respect each other’s talents. So, that’s been great. It’s really been a lot of fun for me to watch. I know Coach (Jim) Boeheim really well – he and his wife Juli – so that’s been really easy for me and my staff. I got to know Coach (Mike) D’Antoni a few years back, so getting reconnected with him is great, and I’ve known Coach (Mike) Krzyzewski for a long time. For me, we’re just one team – Team USA. We’re not men’s basketball and women’s basketball, we’re Team USA.

SUE BIRD
On what this gold medal means:This team was so talented and so deep and it really felt like we had the shortest training camp of any other Olympics that I’ve been in. They are all short, but this one seemed extra short. So for us to kind of put it together the way we did it’s very, very gratifying and for me it is my third and in a sense nothing really beats your first, but at the same time my role has really changed and I’ve had to become one of the older players, a veteran, a leader, and to have that evolution occur and to be where I am now, it feels good to win this one as well.
On whether it was important to create her own shot:
As a point guard you’ve got to take what the defense gives, especially on this team where there is so much talent … it’s the easiest job in the world, let’s be honest. I basically have to pass to the best shooters and the best post players that there are and let them go to work. But occasionally openings do happen for me too and I have to be ready to knock them down because as a point guard I can score as well, as well as Lindsay can.
On what the key was to handling adversity:
I think our depth is by far the biggest key for us. We are able to wear teams down. Not very many teams go 12 deep and with that over a two-week tournament, these teams they have to play a lot of minutes ... seven, eight players play a lot of minutes and I think none of us have to. So we are just able to wear teams down and by the end for the most part you can see, teams get tired and that’s where we really capitalize.

SWIN CASH
On how tonight was different from other games in the tournament:I think it was business as usual. I think we all understood what the task was at hand, and the expectation. I think Coach (Auriemma) just really summed it up. He was saying that people come and play in these games for a reason, you know, and there wasn’t much needed to be said up to this point.
On what Coach Auriemma said to the players after the game:
Just that he was really thankful that all of the coaching staff and everybody who don’t usually get to experience this big moment were able to be a part of it.
On the performance of Candace Parker:
I thought it was great. I thought she was just being Candace and playing at a high level and I was really proud of her.

TINA CHARLES
On what the gold medal means for the country and for women’s basketball:It means everything. It means they put a great group of 12 girls together to go out there and get the job done and we did.
On what it means for her:
It’s awesome. It’s everything. I don’t even think it hit me yet.
On the game vs. France:
We just came out with a determination to get the gold tonight. I think just every game that we played, every practice that we had all put it together in this game and we dominated France.
Did you ever think a gold medal game would go like this?
I never even envisioned winning a gold medal. I never envisioned being on an Olympic team but with hard work and perseverance, just me having my faith, I was able to get it done.
Has it hit you yet what you accomplished?
It still hasn’t. Maybe tonight when I sleep and wake up with it on my neck, I’ll feel it.
How was the gold medal ceremony for you?It was really cool. That moment was really epic. When I was watching Lisa Leslie and them, when they stepped up all together, have their hands up and wave. That was really nice.

ASJHA JONES
On winning the gold with some of her college teammates and college coach:It’s amazing; it’s an amazing feeling. I’m just really proud to be here, proud to be a part of all it. And just excited to watch how well we played all together.
On her thoughts when she received the gold medal:
I don’t know. It was surreal for me. It was my first time, and I just can’t believe I was here. You dream about this stuff when you were a little kid and I to live it is a dream.
On what she is going to do with her gold medal:
I’m going to sleep in it. I’m going to take it off to shower … probably. But I am going to live in it.

MAYA MOORE
On the hard work it took to reach this goal:I think you have to look at our overall schedule in order to appreciate this month of what we just put together. We go from … overseas for us, European League or Asia and you plat for six to eight months, and then you hop right in to the WNBA season and you play for five straight months in the most intense basketball in the world, and in between that you’ve got some USA Basketball training camps when you are supposed to be vacationing. So we choose to come in and train and work hard and compete against each other and then squeeze in some Olympic games in between our WNBA games when we could have been relaxing for a little while. But we came together and put it on the line for our country because we re are so blessed to have the opportunity to play in the United States of America and around such great talent and such great coaches a place that actually develops us as people and as basketball players. I think of all that and to have this moment to kind of put the icing on the cake, it’s very sweet.
On how important it is to put individual goals aside:
It’s hard. That’s why team sports are so much fun to watch because it’s really an artwork of and a game of how can you fit these pieces together knowing that anyone of us could score 30 if we had to, but we don’t have to. So it’s kind of hard to do what you are usually not called on to do. But we made it work and it was beautiful.
On Candace Parker’s performance:
When she’s aggressive she is going to get anything she wants. I think one of her best abilities is to start the break. She’ll get a rebound, start it in transition, give it up and get it right back. Or come off of a screen-and-roll, Diana or someone will draw someone’s attention and find her and she’ll finish inside. She really has so many ways to score in her game. When she brings it like that it is almost impossible to beat our team.

DIANA TAURASI
On the impact of Candace Parker tonight:
She had a really good game. I know she was really disappointed after her game the other night. I think today she came out with a little bit more energy and a lot more force, and it showed throughout the game.
On the versatility of Candace Parker:
She’s one of those players that can really do anything on the court, and that’s what separates her from a lot of players. I think that’s just another example of how great this team is that any given night, someone can step up and kind of take charge of it. You can probably go back to the game logs and (look at) the leading scorer in each game … I think that’s what coach has preached and, the team, that’s the way we wanted to play. Tonight, looking up and down, we had a lot of people contributed and that feels good at the end of the day.
On winning an Olympic gold for the third time with Tamika Catchings and Sue Bird and on if Tamika will play in Rio in 2016:
I mean, we shook on it, so she’s in. You know, I usually don’t get very emotional when you win something, but for some reason when we walked into the arena afterwards, it kind of hit me that this might be my last, it might not be, but after three golds, they’re really hard. Even if you win a game by 30, if you win by 10, the whole process is really difficult to try to get 12 really good players to kind of just buy into one thing. It takes awhile; it takes a lot of effort. By the end of it, I think we succeeded in what we wanted to do, we were lucky enough to win a gold medal doing it.
On if it ever gets old winning championships:
No, I mean this tournament was a lot different than the other ones. I think mainly just the way we set up, because we did play Australia in the semis and I think coming in, probably against France, I don’t think they were playing the best basketball in the tournament. So, I think coming into this game we were, not scared, but we knew that this team was going to be playing really well. I think for those first 20 minutes, they probably matched our intensity, and, you know, over the course of the game, we kind of wore them down. I don’t think it gets old. To see how happy Maya was, to do it with Coach (Auriemma) this time, you know, everyone has had a different element to it. To see Sue (Bird) and (Tamika) Catchings – this is our third one. It’s different and it feels really good.
On winning again with Coach Auriemma and their special bond:
I mean, there’s really no better feeling. I wouldn’t want to be up here with anyone else. Coach (Auriemma) knows me more than any person on this earth, including my family, so it means a lot.
On the dynamic of her and Sue Bird:
You know, we just work really well on the court. We just find a way to really control the game in a lot of ways. When you get on these teams, you have so many great players and so many great scorers, we’ve really taken the role of more facilitators, getting people in the right spots. We’ve been lucky enough to play for Coach (Auriemma), and he’s really taught us how to manage a game in more ways than just scoring. I think we just understand each other really well on the court. We’re best friends and that all has helped us in our careers, here with USA Basketball, in Connecticut, overseas, just having a great feeling of synergy on the court.
On the flow of the game with so many contributors:
Well, we knew it was going to be a difficult game. We all knew the French team really well. We know how hard they play on every possession, how physical they are, how they pride themselves on defense, starting with Celine (Dumerc) over here. We know how difficult it is, and they don’t let you get anything easy. I think we just try to really share the ball and make that our strength and I think that throughout the 40 minutes we did that.
On whether Diana will play in Rio in 2016:
Oh yeah. If it was up to me, I would be on the team, but four years is a long time. It’s a long time and you don’t know what can happen in four years, but would I love to be on the team again? Sure. There’s no better feeling to putting on the jersey and representing your country. It’s one thing I always look forward to.

Candace Parker had 14 points and 121 rebounds, Seimone Augustus had 13 points while former UConn star Maya Moore added 11 points, was 5 for 6 from inside the 3-point line to go with five rebounds and four assists to lift the four-time defending U.S. squad to a 90-38 win over Angola in the second of five pool-play games.

Angel McCoughtry added 10 points , Lindsay Whalen had nine points and four assists while former Huskies Swin Cash (eight points), Diana Taurasi (six points and four assists) and Tina Charles (6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks) also had solid games.

Sylvia Fowles did not play as she rested a tender foot but the other 11 U.S. players scored including Asjha Jones, who had two points in her Olympic debut after being held out of the opener.

Here are some quotes courtesy to the people at USA Basketball

Geno Auriemma (head coach, USA and University of Connecticut) Thoughts on the game:I agree with what our opponents have said because it’s obvious that there is a level of talent that’s … the gap is really, really wide. And it’s important that in a game where you know that there is that disparity that you just do the things you need to do to be a better team; to work hard; to make sure we get the kind of ball movement we want; make sure we get the shots we want. The fact that we had 25 assists on 36 baskets, that’s an incredible number. I think that’s the kind of team we have. I wanted us to get better from Saturday’s game, and I thought we did.
On Candace Parker’s performance:
I thought it was a tremendous performance by Candace. We saw a little bit of everything that she’s capable of doing. There are things that Candace can do that no other player can do. Tonight was a perfect example of that. And it started right from the beginning of the game.
The one thing that we’ve been really, really, really harping on Candace is to really sprint the floor and get herself in situations to score before the defense gets set, and to be a factor in every possession and I thought tonight she was . 
On whether the team is gelling:
Yeah. It’s been a little bit challenging. We played one game and one scrimmage in Seattle, and then we played one game in Washington D.C.; we played one in Manchester and we played two in Istanbul. And that’s the extent of this team’s preparation. You watch China play, and see how well they are playing. They played 30 games before they even finished these games. We would love to have had that preparation but it just doesn’t allow for it.  So, every practice the day before a game, every shoot around the day of the game, every game, we have to use it as another training session to get better and better. Where other countries have been able to do it other ways we have to be able to do it while we are here. Fortunately, we’ve got the kind of players who are able to adapt and adjust very very quickly. But it’s not going to look pretty all the time. Sometimes it’s going to look great and sometimes not so great. Today, there were stretches where we looked really really good.  
On subbing for the starting five in the first quarter … was there something you were upset about?
No, no. I had planned on doing that. We did it in the first game, in the second half. I like that second group as a unit. They change the tempo of the game. When they come in it’s a lot different. There were things that were frustrating but that wasn’t the cause of the substitutions; that was planned.
On whether late start times allow morning shoot around to function as a practice:
This morning we did. This morning we had a workout for about an hour, so that helps. Tomorrow we’ll have practice. We’re staying … it’s a 45-50 minute ride to where we are staying in the city, so it’s not easy to get here and back on game days, but the players want to get together. Again, it’s an opportunity for us to get better. No matter how much they know each other from playing against each other and playing together, just putting players together doesn’t make a good team. We’ll work out tomorrow morning, I think like 11:30 or so, and we’ll get better; we’ll improve on what we did today and hopefully that will be evident against Turkey. Because we’ve got a really, really tough game coming up. They are a very, very good team. As a matter of fact, the next three games are going to be very difficult.
On whether he saw Turkey play earlier in the day, and areas that still need improvement:
France is one of the best teams in the world, so whenever you’re playing one of the best teams in the world, I don’t know that … I guess it was a mild upset, but you can understand teams winning here at the Olympics. Everyone thought the China win over the Czech Republic was an upset. Then you see China play again and realize, maybe it wasn’t such an upset. They are really good. Turkey is very good and they proved it at the European Championships. I saw them play a lot. And then when we went down there to play … yeah, they cause a lot of problems for you. They are big and they are smart and physical. They are really, really well coached. And for us, every game is a practice for us. So it may take us 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes … I don’t know how long for us to figure out what we are trying to do. We played Croatia in Istanbul and beat them by 50 and it was a great game when we played them here, so I’m sure that the same team we played in Istanbul when we played Turkey probably won’t be the same team we play on Wednesday. But they are not going to be playing against the same team either, so it all evens out.  



Sue Bird (Seattle Storm)How much did Coach Auriemma get on all of you after the Croatia game?
He’s actually been, in terms of getting on us, very laid back. I think it’s because he knows that we know what we need to do. Right now we’re just feeling each other out, getting comfortable. In that Croatia game there was a moment in the first and second quarter where we probably could have put them away. Because we didn’t, we gave them life. And it became a little bit of a problem for the rest of the game. But, we know that we have to kind of play within ourselves. We’re so talented that we don’t have to make spectacular plays or crazy plays or try to go for the touchdown play every time. If we just play within ourselves, we’ll be fine. And that’s what he’s been telling us.
Tonight you’re up by a lot and yet you’re still pressing and double-teaming. What kind of message are you sending out?
If somebody got a message, great. For us, it’s really about how we play. We’re not really worried about the competition. Obviously we talk about them and prepare, but it’s more about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, no matter what the score is. We can really use games like this to get to know each other better and to learn because the training time has been limited. So, whether it’s practice or a game, we still have to work on things.
On the play of Candace Parker:
Early in the Croatia game she missed a couple easy ones that she normally makes and I think she kind of had that in the back of her head and she really wanted to come and was focused. Coach Auriemmma told her in the beginning of the game anytime we get a rebound on the defensive end she should just get out and sprint, and she did that. She was able to score easy, we were able to get her looks and she obviously did the rest from there.
Are you where you want to be?
No. I think we can get a lot better, I really, really do. It’s good to have a test early against Croatia, maybe a game like this and now we’re going to have another test with Turkey. That’s all going to help prepare us for hopefully what will end up being the gold medal game.


Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
Turkey’s a good team.  They’ve played together for a long time.  They’re well-coached.  They’ve had a great tournament so far and we just hope we play really well.
On the game tonight?
We played well.  We did some good things.  We improved from the Croatia game so I thought it was overall a good 40 minutes for us.
Thoughts on Angola:
They’re African champions.  We have a lot of respect for them.  They went out there and played hard no matter what the score was.   That was good for them.
What was the difference in the game tonight?
Sometimes there is a fine line … I mean we held that team to zero points in the first eight minutes.   Offense part of it, it always take a little bit of time.  I think today we found a little bit better organization within ourselves and you can tell on the court.
On the improved play of protecting the ball in the second half:
We probably turned the ball over a little bit too much in the first half.  In the second half, we only had three so I think that was good for us to know against better teams you can’t give away possessions so that was really good for us.



Speaking of the Olympics, here is a link to a nice story on how UConn and U.S. coach Geno Auriemma invited former UConn men's coach Dee Rowe, who was an assistant coach on the 1980 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team which did not get to compete because of a boycott ordered by President Jimmy Carter, to take in the Olympics first hand.

There must have been times when former UConn stars Tina Charles and Maya Moore wondered if the Olympics would ever get here.

It seems like a lifetime again when they were among the first 11 players named to the U.S. Olympic basketball team back in late March.

Now they are just a couple of weeks away from their Olympic debut.

“It is kind of like torture at this point. I just want to get over there and play. I obviously do enjoy every minute that I have with USA group but I definitely am ready to play,” said Moore, who had 11 points, six rebounds and three steals in Monday's exhibition win over Brazil. “We have been talking about it for so long now. I just want to get out there.

“I am going to come out with as much energy as I can to make sure we can cause some chaos for the other team, being aggressive on the offensive end and doing anything I can to help my team.”

Charles teams with Sylvia Fowles and Candace Parker to give the United States an embarrassment of riches in the post. They are also three of the five U.S. players 26 of younger.

“I am really excited to be around these group of girls,” said Charles, who had nine of her 11 points in the third quarter and added 10 rebounds. “I am definitely learning every day. I am just trying to follow their lead. Me and Maya are the youngest ones here so we are looking up to everybody.”

Charles and Moore were headliners on back to back UConn national championship teams and they became an unstoppable tandem later in their careers. There was some of that magic and on-court chemistry between the two during the final U.S-based training camp before the team heads overseas.

 “We had a little connection in practice,” Charles said. “I pointed up and she threw an alley up and it is good to see we still have it. “It is always great to be (playing) with Maya. Maya is a big reason for my success. I looked up to her even though I am older than her when I was at school; just her approach to the game definitely helped me along the way.

Moore, who was a year behind Charles as UConn, is looking forward to sharing the experience of going after an Olympic gold medal with her college teammate.

“We haven't really had a chance to have a good time together since she graduated so it is going to be fun to hang out with her, the off the court moments,” Moore said. But it’s not only the two youngest former Huskies who are loving life as an Olympian. Asjha Jones is also a first-time Olympian, Swin Cash is going for her second Olympic gold medal while Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are three-time Olympians. “There is definitely a sisterhood with some of the veterans, Asjha, Swin, Sue and Dee it is really spectacular how that generation of players from UConn are still being so dominant, it is really cool,” Moore said. “I am really proud of them and happy to be associated with them that way. It is something we don't necessarily think about when we are out here. We are just kind of playing at a level we don't even realize it.”

JONES SITS OUT GAME
U.S. coach Geno Auriemma said that Asjha Jones could have played in Monday's game against Brazil but he wants to give the former UConn star a chance to get as close to 100 percent as she can.

Jones injured her left foot and ankle when she stepped on Michelle Snow's foot late in last week's WNBA game between the Connecticut Sun and Washington Mystics. She missed Friday's game against Chicago and Saturday's U.S. national team practice. She did some stuff in Sunday's practice and warmed up before Monday's game before sitting out.

The best tribute I could give the six former UConn stars who comprise half of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team is that if somebody not familiar with the Olympic team members were to wander into the training camp held over the weekend in Washington, they would not be able to tell which players were UConn grads and which ones attended other schools.

 There seems to be a tremendous amount of camaraderie on the U.S. team and I think the former Huskies should be commended for not allowing UConn and non UConn factions for forming.

 "People say it is a UConn clique but I joke around and I love Catch (Tamika Catchings), Angel (McCoughtry), Candace (Parker) and everyone," former UConn star Swin Cash said. "It doesn't mean that you have to g to UConn to have the love that we have here. We just try to embrace everybody. Obviously we have a special bond. We don't x anybody out of that at all."

Carol Callan, USA Basketball's Women's National Team Director, admires and is appreciative of how the former UConn stars have maintained close friendships with their college teammates while not making any of the other six players feeling like they are left out.

"What's interesting is you see the camaraderie (between former UConn teammates) but not as much as I thought I would see it," Callan said. "They have a very easy way with each other and it is very comfortable but they are also very cognizant of this being a different team and it is not like it becomes them (being part of) a bigger group in the inner circle which I think is maybe even more impressive."

Tamika Catchings, one of two former Tennessee stars on the team, gets a kick out of it when she is asked how former UConn and Tennessee stars coexist on the same team.

"At some point in time you put that to the side and you grow up and move onto the next level. People are like 'oh my God, Connecticut and Tennessee on the same team.' You know what, it is not only classified as a Lady Vol or a Husky now we are USA and we are representing something even bigger. "

U.S. head coach Geno Auriemma played against each of the six non Huskies when they were in college so he had a sense of what they were all about before he began his duties as national team coach. He probably knows former Louisville star Angel McCoughtry the best since she is the youngest of the non UConn products on the Olympic team and McCoughtry is the only one of the six to have played in the Big East. It should be noted that Catchings and fellow Tennessee alum Parker and former LSU star Sylvia Fowles own wins over Auriemma-coached UConn teams. It is pretty interesting that UConn was not involved in recruiting any of the six non-UConn Olympians.

"I didn't even know who Lindsay Whalen was in high school and she went to Minnesota and almost kicked out butts in the (2004) NCAA Final Four so I have always been a big fan of hers since college," Auriemma said. "Tamika Catchings we never had a chance to really get involved with but I've always loved her and she is my favorite player ever that played at Tennessee. She just plays so hard and plays with an intensity level and passion that you just have to love. Seimone, having coached against her all those years when she played at LSU ad Sylvia the same thing."

His relationship with Parker is the most interesting to watch. While the UConn/Tennessee games during Catchings time with the Lady Vols were something to behold, the relationship between Auriemma and Tennessee's Pat Summitt had yet to completely deteriorate. That couldn't be said during the Candace Parker era at Tennessee. I still remember after Tennessee beat UConn in Hartford and at the postgame press conference Parker and her fellow teammates would not only not touch the bottles of UConn water placed in front of them, they had looks on their face as if to say 'you don't think I'm going to drink that, do you?'

Auriemma and Parker seem to be on the same page and Auriemma has tremendous respect for the potential Parker has as a basketball player and Parker has a strong enough of a personality to dish it out as well as she can take it.

"Candace, we didn't recruit and I let her know that all the time," Auriemma said with a laugh. "She said 'well, I wouldn't have come there anyway.' "I am always trying to get her to believe that she is the best player in the world and she should act like it every moment of every day. That has been fun for me to watch her try to prove that there is nothing on the court that she can't do and which basically there isn't. I know what they are thinking, what bothers them, I know a little bit of how to tweak them a little bit so it has been fun. I have really really enjoyed it."

Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Asjha Jones made some history a decade ago as UConn became the first team to have three of the top four picks in the WNBA draft. As we fast forward to 2012 and they are on the verge of another groundbreaking achievement.

 There have been college teammates on previous Olympic basketball teams. North Carolina men's stars Phil Ford and Walter Davis were a dynamic duo in the 1976 Olympics while on the women's side the duos that immediately come to mind are former USC teammates Cheryl Miller and Pam McGee helped the U.S. to the 1984, in 2004 Bird and Cash were on the U.S. gold medal winning team while four years later former Tennessee teammates Tamika Catchings and Kara Lawson played key roles in the United States winning the gold medal for the fourth straight time. However, to have three players who not only went to the same school but were part of the same recruiting class in simply hard to believe.

 "To give you a good perspective in '95-96 when we had that year long program and it was remarkable to me how those 11 players on that national team spanned almost 11 different years," USA Basketball Women's National Team Director Carol Callan said. "There were maybe two from the same class but certainly not in the same school and now you are talking about three from the same recruiting class is speaks volumes about their abilities but also the ability of Geno to recruit them all and get them to where they are and the ability of the coaching staff to make them better than they were."

When you add in Diana Taurasi, four members of the starting lineup during UConn's 2001-02 national championship team are on the Olympic squad. It seems highly unlikely that feat will ever be matched again. "It is pretty impressive and if you think about it, if Tamika (Williams) would have perhaps stayed with it maybe she would have been on the team too - high school player of the year. When she was at UConn she was probably the most talented.

 "A lot of time you get three players who are talented and take each other's space on the court and really don't really play together but all three kind of fit on their own space on the court, Sue on the perimeter, Asjha can go in or out, Swin likes more of the middle of the court so they kind of complement each other perfectly." The friendships which started in the late 1990s when they enrolled at UConn has withstood the test of time.

 "We can appreciate it but not that much right now until we get older and have a chance to look back and see," Cash said. "When you in it you really don't think about it as much. When I think of the things I have experienced with Tamika, Sue, Asjha, now we have three of us on this team and four of us (including Taurasi) from my senior year stating in the (2002) national championship game, that is pretty amazing and I think that is one for the history books. We've all remained friends, we've all gone in our different directions in regards to not only playing basketball overseas but also in business and different ventures we have gotten into. The one thing that makes it special is our friendship and the bond we had at UConn. That is something that when people talk about us they always say 'you guys are together, it is like a clique. It is a great experience for me."

UConn's incoming freshman class of Moriah Jefferson, Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck could be the most talented group since the group led by current U.S. Olympians Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Asjha Jones so I spoke with the three stars from UConn's Class of 2002 to give them a chance to offer advice to the newest Huskies. “Trust yourself,” Cash said. “We came in and we believed in each other and knew what we wanted to do. A lot of people took that as we were being young and cocky, actually we just wanted to help. Just trust your instincts and listen to the coaches, they definitely know what they are talking about. The biggest thing is to enjoy the moment, trust yourself and play as hard as you possibly can. Coach (Geno Auriemma) and everyone will love that.” Bird’s thoughts are pretty similar to those of her former college roommate. “Just take it all in stride, don't get caught up in the highs, don't get caught up in the lows there are going to be highs and lows, that is inevitable,” Bird said. “If it doesn't come from media and the outside people, it will probably happen in practice. Take it one day at a time and enjoy it.” Jones stressed the importance of focusing on the process and not the results in being able to make it in a pressure cooker like the one at Connecticut. “We never thought about not losing,” Jones said. “I think Coach Auriemma does a great job of making you play and live day to day. That is probably the biggest lesson I have learned coming out of that program is to put your work in, you have to be prepared. The best and most talented (team) doesn’t always win, he would always say did you win because you outworked them, you played harder or you are more talented and he challenged us like that every day.”

Back in the late 1990s UConn was a very strong program but still yet to establish itself as the super power it is the current time.

Eager to prove that the Huskies run to the 1995 national title was not a one-time only experience, UConn coach Geno Auriemma and his staff felt it was imperative to get more athletic.

It started with the recruitment of Shea Ralph. The following year Svetlana Abrosimova came in and then came the coupe de grace with the signing of perhaps the best recruiting class in women's basketball history.

Sue Bird and Keirsten Walters added speed at the guard position but it was the signing of forwards Swin Cash, Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams which changed the way the Huskies played the game.


"We were going through a lot of changes from our first Final Four in 91, the kind of team we had - small and not the most athletic bunch in the world," Auriemma said after Sunday's U.S. senior national team practice at Armerican University. "The '95 team that won a national championship was unbelievably good but other than Nykesha (Sales) we weren't the most athletic bunch. Little by little, adding Shea, adding Svetlana we started looking more like teams around the country that we had to beat. Asjha, Tamika and Swin made is possible for us to really expand all the things that we wanted to do our on the court. We became a much more aggressive team in terms of  how we wanted to play defense and how we could influence other teams. I remember their freshman year it seemed like we averaged 100 every night. It was fun to watch because I hadn't experienced anything like that. They did have a huge impact on not just UConn but how people viewed our program."

I was on the verge of coming onto the UConn women's basketball beat for the first time when the recruitment of that class was in full swing. I remember the naysayers saying it made no sense to bring in Cash, Jones and Williams since they were pretty much the same player. Some people would go as far as predict that there was no way the three of them would play together for four years.

Well, they not only stayed but they thrived. They led UConn to a pair of national titles and if Abrosimova and Ralph had stayed healthy during the 2000-01 season, it's not out of the question that UConn could have won three straight national titles.

Considering that Cash and Jones join Bird as members of that recruiting class to be named to the U.S. Olympic team I asked Auriemma about the reaction now to those who questioned his basketball sanity for bringing in Cash, Jones and Williams in the same class.

"People have always misunderstood my kids go to a certain school or why kids want to play with other players," Auriemma said. "Asjha, Tamika and Swin are not at all alike and that is what people on the outside fail to see. Their games are not alike, they are not alike in personality, they are just three different people who came to our school and played three distinct roles. The three of them were able to create something that had they gone to school individually, it would never have been able to happen for them.The outside world doesn't understand that part of recruiting."

Securing that class was not an easy chore.

"Tamika Williams was the national high school player of the year but the player I wanted was Asjha," Auriemma said. "We knew we were going to get Tamika because I think I was the first coach to see her when she was in ninth grade or something like that so I knew we were going to get Tamika. We had to work our butt off to get Asjha but that was who I wanted. I said 'she is the best offensive player out of all three. Swin, we just gave up on. I said the hell with it, she is not interested in Connecticut, I don't want her anyway and then she called us and said 'why aren't you recruiting me?' I said 'I didn't think you wanted to come.' She said 'I want to come to Connecticut.' I said 'you know where we are so let's go.' Between the three of them, they all came for different reasons at different times but what has happened to them since they left Connecticut, in some ways I am not surprised. They were great people then, they are great people now. They were great players then and are even better players now."

Later today I will be doing a story on the remarkable achievement Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Asjha Jones (all part of the same recruiting class at UConn) making the 2012 U.S. Olympic team.

I did a bunch of interviews after last night's practice and those quotes will be prominently displayed in the story running in tomorrow's edition of the Register.

However, I want to take a different view of things. I spoke with fellow Olympian Tamika Catchings who can offer a unique perspective because she helped her Tennessee teams beat the Bird-Cash-Jones powered UConn teams twice. During the 1999-2000 season, UConn's only loss came to Catchings and Tennessee. The following year Catchings and the Lady Vols defeated the Huskies in the regular season again so who would be better to put the accomplishments of what figures to go down as the best recruiting class in women's basketball history than one of the few players to have gotten the better of them?

"I think when you look at the makeup of that team and you look at the makeup of our team, it is about
getting the best of your players," Catchings said. "You see the impact of that is you see people that now are on the Olympic team, just how they were able to fit in his system and be successful not only in college but even in the pros."

Catchings always has a nice chuckle when people ask her about co-existing with her fiercest college rivals.

"At some point in time you put that to the side and you grow up and move onto the next level," Catchings said. "People are like 'oh my God, Connecticut and Tennessee on the same team?' You know what, it is not only classified as being a Lady Vol or a Husky now we are USA and we are representing something even bigger."

Finally, I asked her about the impressive first half that Kara Lawson, her former college teammate, put together with the Connecticut Sun.

"I am excited for her," Catchings said. "In this offseason she worked really hard and did a lot of things differently than she has in the past. I know talking to her, she was talking about the things that she did and how excited  she was coming into the season. To hear the excitement and see her doing well has been great."

Playing without Asjha Jones and down by 12 points with 6:18 left in the fourth quarter, it appeared as if the Connecticut Sun would head into the Olympic break on a losing note. But keyed by eight points from Renee Montgomery, the Sun rallied to force overtime and then emerged with an improbable 80-78 win. The victory extended Connecticut's winning streak to a season-high five games and gives the Sun a 4 game lead over second-place Indiana in the Eastern Conference standings. Connecticut's 15-4 record ties defending WNBA champion Minnesota for the best record in the league.

Tina Charles led the Sun with 25 points and 13 points while Mistie Mims, who is proving to be one of the best free agent signings in the league this year, started in place of Jones and had 19 points, 10 rebounds and two steals. Montgomery, who had 26 points in her previous five games, had 15 points.

All Sue Bird could do was shrug her shoulders when the subject of the limited preparation time that the U.S. squad gets before the Olympic games came up in a pre-game interview session at Mohegan Sun Arena earlier this month.

While gold medal candidate Australia continues its preparation by playing in the four-team tournament this weekend, look at the U.S. squad. Tonight was the final day of the WNBA season before the league breaks for more than a month for the Olympics. Tina Charles, Asjha Jones (although she did not play), Swin Cash and Sylvia Fowles were in Chicago for the Connecticut Sun/Chicago Sky game while Bird and Diana Taurasi were in Phoenix for the Seattle Storm/Phoenix Mercury although Taurasi was held out of action once again.

Barring any traveling issues, the 12 members of the U.S. squad will take the court at American University's Bender Arena on Saturday night for the first of two practices before scrimmaging Brazil's Olympic team at the Verizon Center on Monday at 5:3p p.m. in a game that can be seen on ESPN2.

In a perfect world the U.S. team would have been practicing together the last several weeks like pretty much every other team competing in the Olympics but that simply is not the way things are done in the U.S. Even if U.S. and UConn coach Geno Auriemma asked the U.S. players to skip the first part of the WNBA season as key Australian players Lauren Jackson and Liz Cambage have done, he would not get his wish. So beginning tomorrow Auriemma and his staff will get down to business and make the best of the cards dealt them. The good news is the situation is no different than it was in 2004 and 2008 and the U.S. managed to win the gold medal both times.

"In '08 we all dealt with it, it was how it is was in '04 and we all dealt with it," Bird said. "It really is just the way it is. I don't really know any Olympic experience other than that."

The U.S. training camp will begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday but Auriemma, assistant coach Doug Bruno and Olympians Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen and Candace Parker are scheduled to hold a clinic at the DC Armory tomorrow morning.

Former UConn guard Tiffany Hayes had a career-high 23 points (shooting 8 of 13 from the field), six rebounds, four assists and one steal as the Atlanta Dream defeated Phoenix 100-93 in overtime on Sunday. Former Husky Ketia Swanier had six points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals as Atlanta won without Olympian Angel McCoughtry. Speaking of stars missing the game, ex UConn star Diana Taurasi missed her 14th game of the season with a hip flexor for Phoenix. UConn grad Charde Houston had 16 points, eight rebounds and two steals for the Mercury.

The Connecticut Sun's impressive success on the road continued with an 86-80 win over defending WNBA champion Minnesota.

Kara Lawson's 22 points and 10 rebounds led the way for the Sun to improve to 12-4 while former Huskies Tina Charles (19 points, 15 rebounds) and Asjha Jones (16 points and 11 rebounds) also had double doubles.

The Sun led by 17 points with 6:54 before Minnesota can roaring back. UConn grad Maya Moore had nine of her team-high 19 points down the stretch as Minnesota pulled within three points. The Sun scored its last eight points from the free-throw line to hold on for the win.

The WNBA's nationally-televised game between Los Angeles and Seattle lost some of its luster when Seattle held out UConn product and Olympian Sue Bird with a hip injury. Los Angeles rolled to an 83-59 win,

After the game Bird talked about missing the game.

Every once in a while you get banged up and timing doesn't work in your favor," Bird said. "Coming into this weekend we had a back-to-back. It was recommended to get as much rest as possible, so it didn't become a long-term issue. If I wake up (Sunday) and feel good, I expect to play."

Former UConn guard Tiffany Hayes has agreed to terms to play in Israel with Hapoel Rishon when the WNBA season is over. Below is a link to the official release from the team. The translation to English is not perfect but it gets the job done.

http://www.ibba.one.co.il/General/Article.aspx?id=202191&siteId=6


Here's an unofficial list of where the former UConn players are planning to play this winter
Svetlana Abrosimova, Dynamo Moscow (Russia)
Sue Bird, UMMC Ekaterinburg (Russia)
Tina Charles, Wisla Can-Pack (Poland)
Tiffany Hayes Hapoel Rishon (Israel)
Charde Houston, Maccabi Ashdod (Israel)
Asjha Jones Kayseri Kaski (Turkey)
Kaili McLaren, Ramat Hasharon (Israel)
Renee Montgomery, Nadezhda Orenburg (Russia)
Maya Moore, Shangxu Xing Rui  Flame(China)
Diana Taurasi, UMMC Ekaterinburg (Russia)