All UConn Players @ Team USA Trials Make Teams

[EricLA]

Have never heard/read anything about the Calhoun's demanding anything from coaches and making assumptions like that is wildly irresponsible.

Wildly irresponsible? LOL good one. I don't post stuff like that on here unless I know it and know where it came from. I'll leave it at that.

 

[doggydaddy]

Wildly irresponsible? LOL good one. I don't post stuff like that on here unless I know it and know where it came from. I'll leave it at that.

Know it? Leave it at that?

Based on your say so?

Why should that be good enough for the posters here?

I don't mean that in an insulting way. Without some kind of clue or insight to your source, I have no idea how true it is. And to me, that makes it speculation.

 

[Phil]

Phil - thanks for the research - it was a little bit of hyperbole in my posting. Sometime in the last decade I looked at a WUG roster and didn't recognize any of the names - they were mostly from non-top ten college programs and it just seemed a strange collection. It might have been for an 'Americas' competition and not for the actual world games. And I don't think they won the gold so that probably dates it back more than a few years..

Both the 2003 and 2007 teams came in 6th, so I'm thinking it was one of those. My guess it is the 2007 team. The 2003 team had Erin Grant and Heather Schreiber, two players whose names you probably recognize.

In contrast, Charlotte's best players include Sabrina Gregory, Danielle Burgin and Wendy Stywalt, none of whom I recognize.

I don't want this to come across as badgering, but I'm trying to make sure the Wikipedia page is accurate, so if there was another team, I want to know about it.

I'm guessing there wasn't because according to Charlotte:

The Charlotte 49ers will be the first collegiate women's basketball program that will represent the United States in the World University Games. Previous teams representing the United States have been USA Basketball (the national governing body) teams comprised of collegiate players or conference all-star teams.

 

[jplotinus]

The international competition at the WUGs is not very strong. Most of the age-eligible international talent is playing professionally. At the 2011 games, Team USA played 6 games and won 5 of those games by at least 40 points. The one tough game Team USA played was against Australia (of course) which it won by 12 points.

Now, this year's team does not appear to be as strong as the 2011 team which included Diggins, the O sisters and EDD to name a few. (BTW, the 2011 team had one true center: Lynetta Kizer.) Still, I think the talent assembled should be good enough to bring home the gold. Dolson would have made the team had she been healthy, but we're seeing the lack of talent at the center position in WCBB. Are you paying attention Kiah Stokes?

Ah, concerning Kiah Stokes, no worries. I helped identify what was holding her back a little bit in a prior thread. There, it was determined that Kiah is "Too Cute". Now that that has been straightened out and acknowledged, she will undoubtedly play more minutes and contribute a lot next season and it'll be "lights out" the season after that as the starting center.

You heard it here first ;-p

 

[UcMiami]

Both the 2003 and 2007 teams came in 6th, so I'm thinking it was one of those. My guess it is the 2007 team. The 2003 team had Erin Grant and Heather Schreiber, two players whose names you probably recognize.

In contrast, Charlotte's best players include Sabrina Gregory, Danielle Burgin and Wendy Stywalt, none of whom I recognize.

I don't want this to come across as badgering, but I'm trying to make sure the Wikipedia page is accurate, so if there was another team, I want to know about it.

I'm guessing there wasn't because according to Charlotte:

Not badgering at all, but appreciate understanding your concern with the wiki pages. So I went and looked and it could well have been the 2007 team (interesting that USA basketball lists that year and 2003 as 'non-participation'), but think it may have been the 2011 Pan Am Games that had stuck in my memory as that team (not specific to university - not sure if there is a specific criteria for eligibility) was such a strange collection of players from 'odd' college programs (and one HS student)

 

[Phil]

Yeah, I agree, I remember looking at that list of invitees and wondering what was going on. It almost seems like we are either downplaying the Pan Am games, or someone didn't get their act together in time. Of course, the HS student was Stewart, but there's something odd when your "headliner" is still in high school. I recognized Sykes and Standish, but after that? Not exactly an all-star cast. They ended up finishing 7th, the worst finish ever, and the only time the USA didn't earn a medal at that event.

Pan Am results including write up of 2011 games (Stewart was the star)

 

[UConnCat]

Yeah, I agree, I remember looking at that list of invitees and wondering what was going on. It almost seems like we are either downplaying the Pan Am games, or someone didn't get their act together in time. Of course, the HS student was Stewart, but there's something odd when your "headliner" is still in high school. I recognized Sykes and Standish, but after that? Not exactly an all-star cast. They ended up finishing 7th, the worst finish ever, and the only time the USA didn't earn a medal at that event.

The issue with the 2011 Pan Am games, as opposed to earlier years, was timing. The women's basketball competition at the 2011 Pan Am games was played on October 21-25, after the start of collegiate practices. Previous Pan Am games (e.g., 2003, 2007) were played during the summer months. In contrast, the 2011 WUGs were held in mid-August. Thus, not surprisingly, the top collegiate players (EDD, Diggins, Nneka, Chiney, etc.) were invited to play at the WUGs as they likely would have declined invitations to play in the Pan Am games and miss collegiate practice time. USAB has historically struggled in the Pan Am games as the other participating countries typically send older, professional players, including some from senior national teams, while USAB has always sent collegiate players. The competition at the WUGs is much weaker by comparison.

 

[UcMiami]

UconnCat - thanks for the info. I had forgotten the conflict with the college practices.

 

[Phil]

Same here, I hadn't paid attention to the timing. The 2015 games will be in July, but this will conflict with WNBA, so we may be using collegiate, or maybe some of the players who just missed WNBA contracts. (The USA site dates are wrong, I'll see if I can get them to correct it.)