A total of 27 players — 10 of them previous Olympic gold medal winners — have been invited to the USA Basketball senior women’s national team training camp that begins next month, ahead of the FIBA Women’s World Championships in Turkey Sept. 27-Oct. 5.
All but one player currently plays in the WNBA. Two WNBA rookies, guard Bria Hartley (Washington Mystics/UConn) and forward Chiney Ogwumike (Connecticut Sun/Stanford), have been added to the roster.
Breanna Stewart of UConn, the reigning national player of the year, is the only college player to be chosen. Here’s the rest of the training camp roster. A final group of 12 players will be chosen before the team heads to Europe:
- Seimone Augustus, C/F, Minnesota Lynx/LSU
- Sue Bird, G, Seattle Storm/UConn
- DeWanna Bonner, G/F, Phoenix Mercury/Auburn
- Tamika Catchings, F, Indiana Fever/Tennessee
- Tina Charles, C, New York Liberty/UConn
- Elena Delle Donne, G/F, Chicago Sky/Delaware
- Skylar Diggins, G, Tulsa Shock/Notre Dame
- Stefanie Dolson, C, Washington Mystics/UConn
- Candice Dupree, F, Phoenix Mercury/Temple
- Sylvia Fowles, C, Chicago Sky/LSU
- Brittney Griner, C, Phoenix Mercury/Baylor
- Briann January, G, Indiana Fever/Arizona State
- Jantel Lavender, C, Los Angeles Sparks/Ohio State
- Kayla McBride, G, San Antonio Stars/Notre Dame
- Angel McCoughtry, G/F, Atlanta Dream/Louisville
- Maya Moore, F, Minnesota Lynx/UConn
- Nneka Ogwumike, F, Los Angeles Sparks/Stanford
- Candace Parker, F/C, Los Angeles Sparks/Tennessee
- Danielle Robinson, G, San Antonio Stars/Oklahoma
- Odyssey Sims, G, Tulsa Shock/Baylor
- Diana Taurasi, G, Phoenix Mercury/UConn
- Courtney Vandersloot, G, Chicago Sky/Gonzaga
- Lindsay Whalen, G, Minnesota Lynx/Minnesota
- Monica Wright, G/F, Minnesotal Lynx/Virginia
“The 27 who have been invited represent a cross section of what the USA National Team is ultimately all about,” said USA coach Geno Auriemma of UConn. “I think we’re going to be able to pick a 12-player roster that’s going to be as good as any team we’ve ever had.”
Bird, Catchings and Taurasi have each won three Olympic gold medals; Augustus, Fowles and Parker each have two; and Charles, Moore, McCoughtry and Whalen joined them as Olympic champions in London in 2012, a team also coached by Auriemma.
The training camp begins Sept. 8 at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. for players not involved in the ongoing WNBA playoffs. The USA team will have an intrasquad scrimmage on Sept. 11 at the University of Delaware, then plays Canada in an exhibition match in Bridgeport, Conn., on Sept. 15.
Auriemma’s assistants are Cheryl Reeve of the Minnesota Lynx, Dawn Staley of South Carolina and Doug Bruno of DePaul.
After arriving in Europe, the USA team will compete in the 2014 France International Tournament in the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris, then plays the Czech Republic in Prague before heading to Turkey.
The Americans will be seeking their ninth world championship title.
