(Guru's note: The closest the Guru will get to Asian flavor and the Beijing Olympics over the next several weeks will be at local restaurants in Chinatown near the home office here in Philadelphia as well as some other places on the seaboard.
Several Inquirer sports staffers will be at the games. But in the interim, the reporting most of you will see on a daily basis will come from our good friend and Associated Press national women's writer Doug Feinberg, who is on the scene in training camp at Stanford. Here's his first report.)
-- Mel
By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Sports Writer
SAN FRANCISCO — Without much time to prepare for the upcoming
Olympics, the entire U.S. women’s basketball team was finally on the court
together.
The team began a four-day training camp Monday night at Stanford
University to start its quest for an unprecedented fourth straight gold
medal.
“It’s awesome to see this team from 1 through 12,” U.S. coach Anne
Donovan said. “I’m like a kid in a candy store with all this talent.”
Unlike past U.S. teams, this group has not had any time together on
the court as a whole team due to injuries, overseas commitments, and the
WNBA season. The U.S. has been forced to go with a piecemeal training
philosophy, holding different training camps and tours over the last two
years to help the selection committee choose from a pool of 29 players.
Developing chemistry on the court will play a huge part in the next
few days of training.
“It’s very good to have everyone here. It’s time to go to work,”
two-time gold medalist Katie Smith said. “We haven’t been on the court
together until now and we don’t have a lot of time to prepare. But
honestly, we’ve all played with each other and played against each other.
So it’s more of a refresher course.”
Led by three-time gold medalist Lisa Leslie, who will be playing in
her final Olympics, the team is a mixture of veterans and talented
newcomers. The U.S. finds itself in a different position than it’s
accustomed to coming off a third-place finish at the 2006 world
championships. The U.S. lost to Russia in the semifinals, its first defeat
in major international competition since 1994. Australia won the gold.
“We’re definitely the underdogs,” said guard Diana Taurasi, the WNBA
scoring leader at 23.9 points per game this season. “We’re hungry to win a
gold in the Olympics.”
Leslie didn’t totally agree with the underdog theory.
“I have three gold medals at home and know what it takes to win,” she
said.
Joining Leslie on the team are Smith, and 2004 gold medalists Sue
Bird, Taurasi, Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever and Tina Thompson.
DeLisha Milton-Jones earned a gold medal in 2000 but missed the Athens
Olympics four years later due to an injury. The Americans also have many
newcomers in Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus, Cappie
Pondexter and Kara Lawson.
“I had a hard time sleeping last night knowing I was coming down here
today,” Lawson said. “These are the best players. You’re just anxious to
get on the practice court and mesh as quickly as possible. Everyone is so
talented, it’s like basketball utopia.”
After breaking camp on Thursday, the team will head to China to play
in the FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament featuring the other three top teams in
the world — Australia, Russia, and host China.
“Learning to play with each other is a big part of the next 10 days,
not just the Xs and Os,” Donovan said. “It will be a great test in our
preparation. The tournament has all the perceived favorites to medal in
Beijing and I’m sure it will be extremely competitive.”
One intriguing matchup in the Diamond Ball will be against Russia on
Aug. 4. The Russians feature guard Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Silver
Stars.
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