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UConn's Sue Bird To Train With USA National Team. |
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USA Spring Training
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 8, 2002) -- University of Connecticut's
Sue Bird (Syosset, N.Y.), who recently capped her senior year as
a Husky with a perfect 39-0 record and the NCAA national championship,
will join the 2002 USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team for
the final two days of its spring training in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The USA National Team has been conducting spring training since
March 19 in preparation for the 2002 FIBA World Basketball Championship
for Women that is being held Sept. 14-25 in China. Bird will train
in Colorado Springs April 9-10 in a trio of practices and scrimmages
with the USA squad, which is hosting the Japan National Team and
a WNBA Veteran Team at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (OSOTC).
Home to USA Basketball, the Colorado Springs training camp will
include a scrimmage between the three teams, which is free and open
to the public, on April 9 at 6:00 p.m. (all times local) at the
USOTC Sports Center I. Bird has twice donned a USA Basketball uniform, first as a member of the gold medal winning 2002 USA R. William Jones Cup Team that posted a perfect 4-0 record in Taipei, Taiwan. Starting all four games, Bird passed off for a team high 4.3 assists per game, while adding 2.0 points and 2.5 rebounds a game. The 5-9 guard returned less than two months later as a member of the 2000 USA Basketball Select Team that fell 97-31 to the eventual gold medal winning 2000 U.S. Olympic Team in an exhibition contest on Sept. 3, 2000. Going up against the best in the world, Bird passed off for three assists and collected two rebounds. In addition to closing her senior year at UConn with her second national title, Bird finished her collegiate career as the 2002 Naismith Player of the Year and 2002 Wade Trophy recipient, and was named 2002 Player of the Year by the 2002 Associated Press and U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Bird also was presented with the first annual Senior CLASS award in 2002, which is bestowed upon the nation's top senior basketball player. During the 2002 Final Four, Bird averaged 16.0 points and 4.5 assists a game to earn 2002 All-Final Four honors, and also was named in 2002 the NCAA Mideast Region Most Outstanding Player, Big East Conference Player of the Year and to the Big East All-Tournament Team. Additionally, Bird is a two-time (2001, 2002) Conseco/Nancy Lieberman-Cline National Point Guard of the Year honoree. During her four years (1998-2002), Connecticut posted a 136-9 record (93.8 winning percentage), won a pair of NCAA crowns (2000, 2002) while advancing to four NCAA Tournaments, including the 2001 Final Four, and earned four Big East regular season and tournament titles. She currently ranks 18th among all-time UConn career leaders in points (1,378), is tied for second in 3-point field goals made (207), owns the records for 3-point field goal percentage (45.9%) and free throw percentage (89.2%), and lists second in assists (585) and seventh in steals (243). Both the U.S. and Japanese teams are preparing for the 14th FIBA World Basketball Championship for Women, which will feature national teams from 16 nations competing in nine cities in the People's Republic of China Sept. 14-25. The U.S., which earned its 2002 World Championship berth by virtue of it's 2000 Olympic gold medal finish, and Japan, which advanced into 2002 World Championship play by claiming the silver medal at the 2001 Asia Championship, last faced each other in major international play in the first round of the ‘98 Worlds. After taking a slim 44-43 halftime lead, the United States edged the Japanese 95-89 with the help of 19 points and eight rebounds from Chamique Holdsclaw (Washington Mystics), while Japan was led by Takako Kato and Mikiko Hagiwara, who scored 24 and 22 points, respectively. The USA went on to capture the gold medal and Japan, which advanced out of pool play in second place behind the U.S., finished in ninth place. Colorado Springs is the final stop in the USA's March 19 - April 10 Spring Training schedule. The USA squad opened its training March 18-24 in Houston, trained March 25-31 during the NCAA Women's Final Four in San Antonio, Texas, and won an exhibition game on March 30 against the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) College All-Star squad 100-59. The U.S. trained in the New York area April 2-4, before traveling to Colorado Springs on April 5. The WNBA Veteran squad that is participating in the Colorado springs training is comprised of players from teams around the league and includes: 1999 USA Pan American Games Team bronze medalist Edwina Brown (Detroit Shock); Marla Brumfield (Miami Sol); Janell Burse (Minnesota Lynx); 1999 USA World University Games Team silver medalist Camille Cooper (New York Liberty); Tracy Henderson (Cleveland Rockers); 1995 U.S. Olympic Festival South Team member LaTonya Johnson (Utah Starzz); 1998 USA Basketball Women's Select Team member Tynesha Lewis (Houston Comets); 1999 USA Pan American Games Team bronze medalist Michelle Marciniak (Seattle Storm); Tiffany McCain (Orlando Miracle); Nicky McCrimmon (Los Angeles Sparks); twins and 1999 USA World University Games Team silver medalists Coco Miller (Washington Mystics) and Kelly Miller (Charlotte Sting); Georgia Schweitzer (Minnesota Lynx); 1998 and 1999 USA Basketball Development Camp participant Stacy Thomas (Portland Fire) and 1995 U.S. Olympic Festival West Team silver medalist Adrain Williams (Phoenix Mercury). The WNBA sent its players to Colorado Springs to aid the U.S. in its 2002 gold medal quest. USA head coach Van Chancellor, head coach of the four-time WNBA champion Houston Comets, is being assisted on the USA bench by three-time Olympian and current WNBA Charlotte Sting head coach Anne Donovan. His remaining assistant coaches will be announced by USA Basketball at a later date. The 14th International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Basketball Championship for Women will feature national teams from 16 nations competing in nine cities in the People's Republic of China Sept. 14-25. The U.S. is slated to face in preliminary round play Russia on Sept. 14, Chinese Taipei on Sept. 15 and Lithuania on Sept. 16. The United States, which captured the gold medal at the inaugural
World Championship in 1953, earned its sixth gold medal with an
unblemished 9-0 record in the 1998 World Championship in Germany.
All told, the USA owns a 71-20 overall record (.780 winning percentage)
in World Championship play and has won six golds, one silver and
one bronze medal in the 12 previous FIBA World Championships in
which the U.S. competed. 2002 USA Basketball Women's National Team Colorado Springs Training Camp Roster
Head Coach: Van Chancellor, Houston Comets
Japan in the |
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