WNBA rookie sensations Brittney Griner (left) and Elena Delle Donne (right) are part of USA Basketball’s bright future.
“(It was) great competi-
tion,” Lavender said. “Being able to play with great guards, people who can shoot the ball. You kick it out and nine times out of 10,
it’s going in the basket. It’s just fun playing with the best play- ers, being able to do everything, having the right cutters. It’s just great basketball, and it’s fun to play like that.”
She also soaked up everything
Auriemma said and learned a great deal from the Hall of Fame mentor.
“He’s intense in kind of a One of the younger players who
stood out was 2013 WNBA Rookie of the Year Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky, who savored her first USA National Team experience. “I think it was an incredible
experience,” said Delle Donne after the final practice. “It’s great to see all these great players in the gym together. When it’s time to be a team, we were a team, and when it was time to compete we did that too. It was really a great three days. I learned a lot about myself and what I need to improve upon. I think we all did a phenomenal job, and now it’s going to be a very tough decision for the panel to make.
“I really enjoyed playing with
Tamika (Catchings),” she added. “She’s someone you learn on the court from. She teaches you while she’s playing with you. She’s an amazing player to be on the same court with.”
For Jantel Lavender of the Los
Angeles Sparks, who played on three gold-medal winning USA Basketball junior teams and was on the 2010 USA Select Team that trained with the 2010 National Team, the weekend was an enjoyable opportunity to work on her game against some of the best in the country.
34
quiet way,” stated Lavender. “You respect everything he says. He says it one time, and you just take it and do it. I like coaches who expect the best out of you. That’s
how you want to play for those types of coaches – you don’t want to slack off or
the weekend was on the six collegiate athletes trying to make their mark.
“I think we’re at the point now with USA Basketball where present Olympians and present All-WNBA players, the gap
between them and the next level of players is probably narrower than it’s been in a long, long time.”
Geno Auriemma
do anything less than the best because you know his expectations are really high. He makes everybody want to play at the highest level they can play at.”
Tulsa Shock guard Glory Johnson
echoed Lavender’s sentiments. “He demands a lot, just like Pat (Summitt) demanded a lot. It’s good to have coach- es like that who are on you all the time. It’s a learning experience. Everyday you learn something new. Those are the best kind of coaches.”
While there was a strong blend of WNBA players, a lot of the focus over
“I think in their own way everybody had an impact and stood out at different times in various ways,” remarked Auriemma when asked about the collegians. “The thing that impressed me about all of them was their competitiveness and their almost complete lack of that feeling of, ‘I don’t belong here.’ I never saw that. They came in and acted like, ‘I have every right to be here because I was invited to be here, and so they must think I’m pretty good.’ And they acted like it. Somebody like (Notre Dame’s) Kayla McBride, who I’m sure a lot of
the players here and a lot of the commit- tee maybe didn’t know, they certainly know who she is today.”
University of Connecticut sopho-
more Breanna Stewart, who has benefit- ted from FIBA’s new calendar of events, started on the USA’s U16 team in 2009, won five gold medals and played in 47 international games for the red, white and blue, was the youngest on the roster. So young in fact, that she was just two years old when Catchings suited up for her first USA Basketball team in 1996. That didn’t stop Stewart from playing
USA Basketball News
Caroline Williams/USA Basketball
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images
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