Lauren Cox, considered to be the top player in the Class of 2016, committed to Baylor after making her official visit there over the weekend.

Cox had visited UConn during First Night and was UConn freshman Napheesa Collier and UConn commit Crystal Dangerfield on the U.S. team which won the FIBA U19 World Championship.

I went to one of Cox's games at Flower Mound High School last year when I was in Texas for the UConn/SMU game and while she didn't come out and say it, I had a sense that her close family ties would result in her not going too far away for school.

Cox announced her commitment via her Twitter account

LC

@lauren_cox15

After 5 great visits to 5 amazing programs, I'm blessed to say that I have committed to Baylor University pic.twitter.com/g7lRWQ4s84

This should wrap things up for UConn's next incoming freshman class with Dangerfield being joined by Molly Bent and Kyla Irwin,.

UConn All-Americans Moriah Jefferson and Breanna Stewart were among the 12 players selected to represent the U.S. at the Pan Am Games.

It is the third national team Jefferson will be a member of as she played on the U-18 squad in 2012 and team which won the FIBA U19 World Championship in 2013. This is the seventh summer in a row that Stewart will represent the U.S. in an international competition and the second time she will play in the Pan Am Games.

The last time Stewart was a member of the U.S. team playing in the Pan Am Games she made history by becoming the second high school player to play for the United States. Playing alongside a team featuring four players who would be drafted by WNBA teams Stewart led the team in scoring and rebounding while leading all players in the tournament in blocked shots and free-throw percentage.

UConn incoming freshmen Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson as well as Class of 2016 commit Crystal Dangerfield were among the players selected to the U.S. team playing in the FIBA U19 World Championships from July 18-26 in Chekhov, Russia.

UConn Class of 2016 recruiting target Lauren Cox was also selected to the team after three days of trials at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Rising college sophomores Azura Stevens of Duke, Gabrielle Ortiz of Oklahoma, Shakayla Thomas of Florida State, Chatrice White of Illinois, Mariya Moore of Louisville and A'ja Wilson of South Carolina are joined by Samuelson, Collier, Cox, Dangerfield, Louisville incoming freshman Asia Durr and California commit Kristine Anigwe. Notre Dame freshmen to be Ali Patberg was selected as the alternate as Cox and Dangerfield, the two youngest players in the trials, are the only players with remaining high school eligibility to make any of the three U.S. teams that were named today.

UConn rising sophomore Gabby Williams and incoming freshman De'Janae Boykin are among the 21 players who did not make the cut.

Joining Jefferson and Stewart on the Pan Am Games team are Arizona State's Sophie Brunner, South Carolina's Alaina Coates, Villanova's Caroline Coyer, Kentucky's Linnae Harper, North Carolina's Stephanie Mavunga, South Carolina's Tiffany Mitchell, Washington's Kelsey Plum,  Notre Dame's Taya Reimer, Maryland's Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Texas A&M's Courtney Williams. The Pan Am Games will be held from July 16-20 in Toronto. UConn's Kia Nurse is expected to be a key member for host Canada while her brother Darnell, one of the top prospects for the NHL's Edmonton Oilers, will be one of the torchbearers.

The U.S. is in Group A while Canada is in Group B.

On day one of basketball at the Pan Am Games on July 16 Canada plays Venezuela while the U.S. meets Brazil. Canada also plays Argentina and Cuba in pool play while the U.S. meets the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in the preliminary portion. The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals on July 19 with the bronze and gold medal games set for July 20.

UCLA"s Jordin Canada, Baylor's Nina Davis, Tennessee's Diamond DeShields and Mercedes Russell, Duke's Rebecca Greenwell, DePaul's Chanise Jenkins, Maryland's Brionna Jones, Stanford's Erica McCall, Michigan State's Ariel Powers, California's Courtney Range, Oregon State's Sydney Wiese and South Florida's Courtney Williams were selected to play in the World University Games which will be played from July 3-12 in South Korea.

Former Hillhouse star Bria Holmes did not make either the Pan Am Games or World University Games teams. She would have been the first Connecticut native to represent the U.S. in the World University Games since Nykesha Sales in 1997 and first state native to play for the U.S. in the Pan Am Games since Mary Ann O'Connor in 1975.

Joyner Holmes, the fourth-leading scorer on the
U.S. U-17 World Championship team is among
top Class of 2016 players on UConn's radar

As I've mentioned earlier, it looks as if UConn is done recruiting for the current cycle and while the UConn coaches aren't able to comment on specific recruits until they receive signed letters of intent everything I've been hearing is that the UConn brain trust couldn't be happier or more excited about the potential of commits (and multiple USA Basketball gold medalists) De'Janae Boykin, Naphessa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson.

What's interesting about the Class of 2016 is that due to Geno Auriemma's duties as the U.S. senior women's national team head coach he is unavailable to recruit during key periods so UConn has sped up the process a little bit. What I've been hearing is that there are about 15 players on UConn's recruiting radar which is way up from the normal number.

Certainly talented Texan Lauren Cox is at the top of UConn and everybody else's wish list but there is a new name I've been able to confirm that the Huskies are extremely high on and that is Newark (N.J.) Academy guard Jocelyn Willoughby who averaged 23.7 points and 4.4 steals as a sophomore and has already surpassed the 1,000-point plateau heading into her final two seasons.

Crystal Dangerfield is another guard UConn is very high on and she made it clear when I spoke to her during the U-17 national team trials in Colorado Springs, the feeling in definitely mutual. By the sounds of things UConn coaches will be spending quite a large amount of time in the states of Texas and California during the recruiting process because sources indicate that UConn has interest in the Texas duo of Natalie Chou and Joyner Holmes, members of the gold-medal winning U.S. U-17 squad, as well as Sabrina Ionescu and Jaelyn Brown, both out of California.  There have been reports that Kysre Gondrezick has been drawing recruiting interest from UConn as well. Illinois star Tori McCoy is one of the top posts available in the class and adding some size to the roster is a priority for UConn in the next recruiting cycle.

It's going to be an interesting process and I think it won't come together quite as quickly as it did a year ago when Boykin, Collier and Samuelson committed pretty early on in the process.

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.

UConn commit Katie Lou Samuelson was the leading scorer for the U.S. in the second time in as many games in the FIBA U17 World Championship for Women as she had 17 points, four rebounds and two steals in an 88-40 win over France as the U.S. improves to 2-0 in Group D play.

UConn recruiting target Asia Durr added 14 points and four rebounds, UConn recruiting targets Arike Ogunbowale and Sabrina Ionescu had nine points each while UConn commit De'Janae Boykin had six points, three rebounds and three assists. Kristine Anigwe scored in double figures for the second game in a row as she finished with 10 points and UConn recruiting target Lauren Cox had seven points, a team-leading eight rebounds and two blocks as the U.S. rolled past a France team which beat then in an exhibition game exactly a week earlier. The U.S. was in command throughout but made a statement by outscoring France 26-1 in the fourth quarter. The U.S. wraps up pool play on Tuesday against Mali.

After missing the three tune-up exhibitions due to illness, UConn commit Katie Lou Samuelson returned to the court in a major way for the U.S. U-17 team.

Samuelson had a game-high 22 points aided by four 3-pointers and six rebounds as the U.S. defeated China 69-41  in the opening game of Group D play at the FIBA U17 World Championship for Women.

Fellow UConn commit De'Janae Boykin started and finished with two points and three rebounds while UConn recruiting targets Lauren Cox and Sabrina Ionescu led the U.S. with 12 rebounds and five assists respectively. The U.S. will face France, the team which beat the Samuelson-less U.S. in an international friendly, tomorrow before wrapping up pool play against Mali on Tuesday.

Here are quotes from Samuelson and Cox courtesy of USA Basketball

Katie Lou Samuelson
On getting back in the lineup after missing the USA's three exhibition games due to illness:
It felt awesome. It's been such a long time because I had to sit out our exhibition games. It's just a great feeling to finally get out on the floor.

On the game:
I think the first half, we could have played a lot better defensively. But coming out in the second half, we definitely stepped it up and put pressure on them and played just overall a lot better.

On her 22 points:
I just was trying to score within the flow of the game without forcing anything. My teammates got me the ball. I was hitting in the second half, and they really found me. I think I can give the credit to them for finding me and coach leaving me in the game.

On the USA's poor first-half shooting:
At halftime we all knew we weren't shooting well, so we didn't want to force it. Coach's emphasis was on going inside-out, and we tried to get the ball in the paint so we could get our game going. I think we did that, and the shots started falling.

Lauren Cox
On her 12 rebounds:
I think that is part of my role on this team is to get in there and get offensive and defensive rebounds, so I really try to do that every game.

On leading by just seven points at halftime:
I don't think we were worried, we just needed to fix a few things. And we did that. We came out strong in the third quarter. We picked up our defensive intensity, which really helped. We were able to control the tempo.

It almost seems preposterous to think that some opposing coaches have attempted to use Geno Auriemma's appointment as the U.S. coach at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics against him. However, that is exactly what has happened as there are rival coaches telling top recruits that Auriemma is too busy coaching the national team when he should be pursuing them.

Since first being named to coach the U.S. Senior Women's National Team all Auriemma has done is led UConn to a record of 183-11, the last five Final Fours and the Huskies have won three national titles during that span.

"I have read it before," Auriemma said, "USA Basketball is going to be the demise of our recruiting. I just hope it doesn't keep hurting us like it has been hurting us these past four years."

Auriemma didn't become a Hall of Famer by not being able to adjust on the fly. He knew that there were times when he should have been on the recruiting trail when his U.S. national team duties prevented that. This time around he was a little more proactive when it came to identifying top prospects in the Classes of 2015 and 2016 (the new NCAA regulations allowing earlier contact with recruits aided in this task).

"We did a lot during the spring and it paid off. We did a lot last winter and it paid off. I think the kids know that I m not going to be around in September so when I get back that first week in October, we will pick up right from there."

UConn, coming off signing an outstanding class with the additions of Sadie Edwards, Courtney Ekmark, Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams, has already secured commitments from top 10 Class of 2015 players De'Janae Boykin, Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson. UConn would love to add either Asia Durr or Arike Ogunbowale to the class signing with UConn in November. The Huskies are also ahead of the game when it comes to the Class of 2016 as six of the top eight players in ESPN HoopGurlz rankings (Lauren Cox, Jaelyn Brown, Sabrina Ionescu, Tori McCoy, Crystal Dangerfield and Erin Boley) are on UConn's recruiting radar. Add in  Kelly Jekot, another player UConn is very high on, and the Huskies have set themselves up to have another top-flight recruiting class.

 "Some people took advantage of it (the new rules allowing unlimited contact by way of text message, phone call and social media at the end of their sophomore year) and some people didn't," Auriemma said. "Some people thought it was a great idea and some people didn't think it was a great idea. To me the biggest advantage of the rule change is you can have contact with the kids early so you can find out at an earlier age whether there is an interest level and you are wasting all this time recruiting somebody and finding out at the last minute it was for nothing. At least now you find out right away, I want this kid or I don't want them. This kid wants us or doesn't want us. Identifying who we think we can get and working really hard to get them up to school, get them involved. For us, once we get them on campus and once they've spend enough time with our players, the rest is not that difficult."

NURSE, CANADA HOSTS BRAZIL
Three of UConn's four current freshmen are on campus. The only one missing is Nurse but she has a pretty good reason as she is training with the Canadian national team.

Today, Friday and Saturday she will be in action when Canada hosts Brazil in three international friendlies. I haven't seen any links for a live stream or live stats but you can try to get updates using the #canvsbrayeg hashtag on Twitter.

While Geno Auriemma didn't make it to the Travelers Championship this week, he does have some time set aside for golf-related activities in the coming weeks.

On Monday will be the annual Geno Auriemma's Fore The Kids charity golf tournament at Hartford Golf Club with returning starters Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Moriah Jefferson as well as freshmen Sadie Edwards, Courtney Ekmark and Gabby Williams expected to be volunteering at the event. Then, from July 18-20 he will be playing in the prestigious American Century Championships. Auriemma will be joined by former UConn men's basketball star Ray Allen and former NFL quarterback Steve Young, a star QB at Greenwich High before he headed to BYU. There is expected to be around 80 celebrities playing in the event in Lake Tahoe.

BOYKIN STARTS IN U-17 FRIENDLY

UConn recruiting target Arike Ogunbowale goes in for two of her team-high
16 points as UConn commit De'Janae Boykin look on in victory over China

UConn commit De'Janae Boykin started and finished with 10 points, four rebounds and two steals as the U.S. U-17 team prepared for the upcoming FIBA U-18 World Championships by beating China 89-49 in an international friendly.

UConn recruiting target Arike Ogunbowale led six U.S. players in double figures with 16 points. UConn recruiting targets Asia Durr and Lauren Cox added 13 and 10 points respectively. UConn commit Katie Lou Samuelson did not play in the game due to illness and she is considered day to day. The U.S. will play exhibitions against Canada on Saturday and host France on Sunday before heading to the Czech Republic, the site of the World Championships.

Here are quotes from Ogunbowale and fellow UConn recruiting target Sabrina Ionescu courtesy of USA Basketball.

Sabrina Ionescu
On tonight's game:
I think we played really well for our first game. We ran a lot of plays, and I think we executed like we were supposed to. I think we came out and played really well.

How can this team improve?
I think it is about keeping up the intensity throughout the whole game, even when we get tired. We need to play with a lot of effort, like we should play.

On the team's chemistry:
We are getting to know each other better and what everyone's strengths and weaknesses are, so I think throughout these next couple of days, I think we are just going to get better and better.

On playing in the team's first game:
It felt great finally playing against another team beside ourselves or our scrimmage opponent. Finally, we are executing our plays and playing in a real game, and it is just going to make us better.

Arike Ogunbowale
On tonight's game:
I was just really excited to play against another team, besides our teammates and the boy's team we scrimmaged, so it was really fun to get out there.

Did you think the team had played well?
I think we played well. We kept the intensity up the whole game, even through substitutions, so I think we did really good.

On the second quarter run:
Coach told us to keep the intensity up and not let down, and we did that.

UConn commits De'Janae Boykin and Katie Lou Samuelson were selected to the 12-member United States squad which will compete in the FIBA U-17 World Championships.

UConn recruiting targets Lauren Cox (2016), Asia Durr (2015) and Arike Ogunbowale also were selected to the squad while Class of 2016 recruiting target Sabrina Ionescu would be added to the team in the event that Samuelson's ankle, which she injured in a scrimmage on Sunday, doesn't heal in time to allow her to play in the event.

The FIBA World Championships begin on June 28 with the U.S. opening up against China. There will also be preliminary games against France on June 29 and Mali on July 1.

An interesting story line to the selections is that only half of the members of last year's U-16 team made the cut as Durr, Samuelson, Cox, Ogunbowale and Boykin were the top five scorers on the team which won the FIBA Americas U16 Championship by an average of of 63.8 points in the five games. The other returnee is 6-foot-9 Nancy Mulkey.

The new additions are rising seniors Kristine Anigwe, Kennedy Burke and Te'a Cooper and Class of 2016 prospects Natalie Chou, Joyner Holmes and Anna Wilson.

Meriden native and Capital Prep rising senior Kiah Gillespie, the 2014 Gatorade Connecticut Player of the Year, was among 34 players cut on Monday morning.

UConn recruiting target Crystal Dangerfield did not make the team but she joined the player pool for the U-18 team. The 12-member roster for that time will be announced tonight.