Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Tamika Catchings were named to their third U.S. Olympic team Friday with one spot still open. Fans may get a preview of that last spot Sunday night at the Pepsi Center.
Baylor’s 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner, widely speculated to be the only collegian on the Olympic team, was not yet named to the team during a news conference/pep rally at Final Four’s Tourney Town in the Colorado Convention Center.
The junior has enough on her mind with her top-ranked Bears facing Stanford at 7 p.m. Sunday in the women’s Final Four semifinals. But USA Basketball has often left one position open leading to a major international competition.
“With a difficult decision, with an opportunity to have a little bit more time to evaluate players and our needs,” said Carol Callan, USA Basketball’s women’s team director, “we decided to go ahead and go with 11, which allows us the flexibility to do whatever we need to do as we get closer to the Olympics.”
Griner is no lock. Also named to the team were 6-foot-6 Sylvia Fowles of the Chicago Sky and 6-4 Tina Charles of the Connecticut Sun, whom U.S. coach Geno Auriemma called “two of the best centers in the world.”
He said Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury and Bird of the Seattle Storm are “maybe the two best guards in the world.” Auriemma, who led the U.S. to the world championship in the Czech Republic in 2010, may look at another area.
“We’ve got the big guys covered. We’ve got the backcourt covered,” Auriemma said. “The middle area, there’s been a real influx of young guys.”
Griner’s drawback is her only international competition was a European tour with USA basketball last summer. The USA Basketball committee has until June 18 to fill out the roster.
The team has a long legacy to uphold. It has won 33 consecutive Olympic games on its way to four consecutive gold medals.
“So we’ve got to get better than that,” Auriemma said with a laugh.
Other returnees from the 2008 gold medal team are Seimone Augustus of the Minnesota Lynx, Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks and Swin Cash of the Chicago Sky. Newcomers, besides Charles, are Lindsay Whalen and Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx and Angel McCoughtry of the Atlanta Dream.
Bird, Moore, Cash, Taurasi and Charles all played at Connecticut under Auriemma who leads his Huskies into the Final Four Sunday against Notre Dame.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, or jhenderson@denverpost.com
