Las Vegas – It was less than 36 hours after the end of the biggest boxing title fight in recent memory between Manny Pacquaio and Floyd Mayweather at the nearby MGM arena when UConn women’s head basketball coach Geno Auriemma glazed around the UNLV Mendenhall Center. Towards the end of the first day of the USA Basketball National women’s team “mini – camp” he laughed when asked about the notion of being “undefeated” too.
“I don’t consider myself the “Mayweather” of women’s basketball,” said Auriemma who just a month earlier captured his record breaking 10th NCAA Women’s Division 1 championship in Tampa. “But, I can tell you. I wish I had his money.”
Auriemma, who is returning for his record second tour as the USA Olympic coach (’10 & ‘14 FIBA Worlds, ’12 London Olympics) after an 38-1 season with UConn, could look around the gym and see virtually all the nation’s “money” players assembled before him. While there were a slew of invitees and recent graduates, the “core” of veterans like Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Candace Parker, Nneka Oqwumike, Maya Moore, Seymone Augustus, Angel McCoughtry, Odyssey Sims and Brianna Stewart from the 2014 Istanbul FIBA Worlds Gold Medal effort were on hand for this first step towards next year’s title defense in South America.
“It was important that we did this camp so we could get everyone back on the same page, to make sure we are focused for next year in Rio,” said Auriemma. “Since we don’t have to qualify or play for an Olympic spot by being the defending champions, we really don’t have that many opportunities to get together between now and next year. We may have another mini-camp in the fall, but we really don’t have that much of an opportunity to work with these players. The best part is that most of them are veterans, professionals and understand what we need them to do.”
“Right now, we are looking for consistency of play, looking at how some of the newer players fit in, how they adjust to this style.” continued Auriemma. “This is a different situation especially for a number of the newcomers and college players (Stewart, Mitchell) going with the likes of Sue, Diana and Candace. At this point it’s important to find chemistry, see who can adjust to the styles and tempo of this game, something they’ve never had to do.”
Auriemma can count on his exceptional staff of Doug Bruno (DePaul), Cheryl Reeve (Minnesota Lynx) and three-time former Olympian Dawn Staley (South Carolina) to help look over those with potential for 2016 and even on to 2020 in Tokyo.
“I look at this as whatever the team needs, said Bruno (’10 & ’14 Worlds, ’12 Olympics) who also offered a perspective of generational star talent from a Chicago perspective on video. (INSERT DOUG-5) “A good assistant serves two constituencies, whatever Geno needs, whatever the players need. You never think about a specific task, it could be talking to each player, even being in the middle of the floor bringing energy.”
The mini-camp consisted of blocks of team play and group breakdowns with a lot of head coach and assistant coach interactions over the course of three long workouts each day. At one point former UConn star and veteran Diana Taurasi, who attended despite an injured wrist and currently sitting out professionally, jumped onto the floor to discuss a point of emphasis on defense with her former coach.
“Are you kidding me?” laughed Auriemma “Diana is the last person to talk defense. This is coming from the girl who wouldn’t play defense.” Joking aside, Taurasi is heralded for her style of play, intensity, and basketball IQ and the only person referred to as indispensable for this next run by her former college mentor. “We can win with you or win without you, no one is indispensable, except D (Diana Taurasi).”
Missing in action were invitees Brittany Griner (Phoenix Mercury), Candice Dupree (Mercury), Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx) and Tina Charles (New York Liberty) who all were on the 2014 FIBA World Championship team in Istanbul. Newly WNBA drafted players Jewell Lloyd (Notre Dame, Seattle Storm), Jen Hamson (BYU, LA Sparks) and Tiffany Mitchell (South Carolina) were added to the invitee list. Stewart and Tiffany were the only college players at the camp.
The most interesting matchup of the camp was the few up-and-down scrimmage runs between current Chicago Sky star Elena DellaDonne (Chicago Sky) who initially committed to UConn but left before her freshman season for Delaware and reigning three-time NCAA Final Four MVP Brianna Stewart. It was something that the UConn message board viewers would have loved to have watched.
And it wasn’t just those two UConn “signees” but a camp peppered with other former Huskie stars such Bird (Storm), Taurasi (Mercury), Moore (Lynx), Bria Harley (Washington Mystics), Stefanie Dolson (Mystics), Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (Storm), Stewart and even Jen Rozatti (Hartford) as the floor coach – all on a UConn NCAA Championship roster.
Towards the end of day one it was Candace Parker, who missed the ’14 Worlds, turned it out on a side court, having fun throwing down a few right hand dunks from near the foul line.While Parker may theoretically be a “given” on final roster, the depth of talent on hand illustrated just how difficult the final selection process is going to be for the final 12 players.
Look for some additional USAB Women’s National Team “mini-camps” after the WNBA summer season and prior to the tip off of professional play in Europe, Russia and China. The USA team, as reigning Olympic champions, do not have to compete in the FIBA Americas Championship for Women’s event in Edmonton, Canada this coming August 9-16. While the professional players prepare for WNBA season, Stewart will head to Colorado Spring May 14-16 for PanAm, World University and u19 combined trials.
And, for those wondering if Coach Auriemma and Coach Bruno attended the Mayweater fight,
