UCONN = EXCELLENCE

There's really no other way to describe it especially since today USA Basketball named the first 11 members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team and five of them (not to mention the team's head coach Geno Auriemma) are UConn Huskies alumni at a press conference live from the 2012 Women's Final 4 in Denver, CO. The five former Huskies named to the final roster are Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, and Diana Taurasi.

The well-balanced and talented core of the U.S. squad features a trio of two-time Olympic gold medalists, four athletes who have each earned one Olympic gold medal and four newcomers to the Olympic stage. They along with the final athlete to be named at a later date will compete for the USA’s fifth-consecutive Olympic gold medal in London this summer. The athletes were selected by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee, approved by the USA Basketball Board of Directors and are pending final approval by the U.S. Olympic Committee. Named to their third Olympic team were Bird (Seattle Storm), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), and Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), all of whom won gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. Competing in her second Olympics after winning gold in Athens in 2004 is Cash (Chicago Sky); while Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky) and Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks) captured their Olympic gold medal in Beijing in 2008. Playing on the Olympic stage for the first time will be Charles (Connecticut Sun), Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream), Moore (Minnesota Lynx) and Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx). Those still in the running for the 12th and final Olympic roster spot include former Huskies Renee Montgomery (Connecticut Sun) and Asjha Jones (Connecticut Sun).