USA Basketball

[swok34]

Duke's Goestenkors tapped to coach USA team

April 28, 2005
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Duke coach Gail Goestenkors will lead the USA Basketball under-19 world championship team.

Felisha Legette-Jack of Hofstra University and Carol Ross of the University of Mississippi will be assistant coaches, USA Basketball announced Thursday.

Last summer, Goestenkors was an assistant coach on the U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in Athens. She held the same position on the gold-medal winning 2002 world championship team.

In 2003, Goestenkors earned the Naismith coach of the year award along with the Women's Basketball Coaches Association honor.

Trials for the 12-member under-19 team will be May 19-22 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Posting this for those who teams have incoming recruits trying out for this team......
wonder if their are any Big XII Freshmen in the mix?

[YCN]

I doubt that any players that weren't at last year's developmental camp and tournament will be invited, unless it's a young player who only emerged into the public consciousness in the last year.

Without a doubt we know who some of the players will be: Candace Parker (if healthy), Candice Wiggins, Erlana Larkins, Abby Waner, Laura Harper, Erika Arriaran, Courtney Paris, Marissa Coleman. I think those players are probably safe on the team, unless any of them has an absolutely horrible selection tournament. The others from last year: Charde' Houston, Essence Carson, Tina Wirth, Angel Robinson; those players probably still need some good performances to remain on the team.

It will be interesting to see which new players make an impact this year...

[LadyBuff]

We know all too much about Abby Waner. She is why I refused to go to the Colorado high school tournament this year and will not be watching Duke on television as long as there is a Waner on the roster.

[Jennifer]

We know all too much about Abby Waner. She is why I refused to go to the Colorado high school tournament this year and will not be watching Duke on television as long as there is a Waner on the roster.

Why? Could you enlighten us that aren't in Colorado and don't know why you feel this way?

[YCN]

Apparently Abby Waner owes her allegiance to CU basketball, presumably because Emily came to CU last year. This is one of the things that has prevented me from being more enthusiastic about the Colorado program - fans who expect and demand allegiance from players within this state.

CU has done absolutely nothing to date to indicate that a player would be in a better place here than at Duke. I'm sorry, but that's a fact. If any CU fan is so deluded about the current climate of Colorado athletics that this is not clearly obvious, then I'm sorry that you lack that understanding.

[CUBuffsFan]

I don't know if I would have been as direct as YCN, but I agree on the Waner issue about 1000%. Abby Waner didn't owe anything or make any promises to Colorado basketball, and while Emily leaving was disappointing, family comes first. You can't really argue with that.

Abby has stated multiple times that it was about the style of play at Colorado. She didn't want to play in the triangle offense. She's a run and gun player and CU did not play that way, and never really played that way under Ceal Barry since maybe the Bridget Turner era. I'm not sure I see what's wrong with her making a decision to go and play a *game* in the way that would be most fun for her?

Nobody liked it when they left because it was a huge blow to the program, leaving CU without a point guard and the double whammy of losing Abby. But they did what was best for them, and I for one wish them the best of luck. If Tanya Haave ends up there, good for her. I think they win it all next year and I'll be happy for them if they do.

And I'll cheer for the Buffs as much as I have for the last 20 years no matter who they put on the floor, and if they are from Colorado, Texas or Serbia.

[buffgal]

The word on the street is that Emily never intended to stay at CU, but went there just to stay close to home until Abby decided where she wanted to go. Stanford, UConn, Duke - doesn't matter. Emily would have followed Abby wherever she went.

To me it was Emily who acted with a lack of integrity, not Abby. And none of it has to do with Coach G.

Blame Rick Lopez, if you have to blame anyone.

[CUBuffs13]

I think that's what a lot of people around Boulder heard. That Emily never intended on staying at CU, and realized she could use the program for a year and then sit out a year transferring. Then she would have three years to play with Abby instead of the two they would have by attending whatever school Emily initially chose, because of sitting out the transfer season. If it's true that it was the plan, I can understand why CU fans would be upset with the Waners. The story just doesn't sit well if its your program being used.

[BeBe]

That matches what I have heard as well. I very much doubt that the Waners would ever admit that this is what they planned to do. But a number of things they did say re-enforce the idea that that was their plan. Emily says she wants to play with her sister. Abby says she doesn't want to play in the triangle offense, which CU has played for years.

But then,on the other side, Abby had announced that she had narrowed down her possible college choices to 4 and CU is still one of the four. Go figure!

We will never know for sure because we can't get inside their heads.

[Waylontheman]

The only thing I would never understand is how Emily talked about how she wanted to get CU to another level be she grad and hated hearing about UConn(this came up because they could have been a 3rd round matchup). I really think Abby calls the shots in that family(I know I'll get ripped again for a "degrading" comment to them....). I don't see the point of a player coming in learning a system just so they could sit out a year and learn another one!

[buffgal]

I may just be cynical about this, but I think CU was just Abby's "safety" school. I imagine her conversations with recruiters from other schools included a sentence along the lines of, "If you want me you have to take Emily too". If all the other schools had said no, she would have gone to CU.

And I still point back to the poison that Rick Lopez spread. Without Rick Lopez, maybe more of Colorado's star prep players of the past decade would have stayed in-state to play college ball. The strongest opinions in a sixteen-year-old's head are usually put there by someone else.

[CUBuffsFan]

Okay there is no way that's what the Waners were planning. I think people just made that story up because their feelings were hurt that Emily left/Abby rejected CU and to make their family look bad. I'm sorry, I just don't see it. That's evil and deceitful and I can't imagine that Emily was planning on that at any time. Come on people, we're talking about an 18 year old kid. Let's get a grip on reality.

[LadyBuff]

I heard at last year's girls' state tournament that Emily would go wherever Abby went and it didn't sound like it would be CU. That is when I lost total respect for them. Abby may be the best player to ever play high school ball in Colorado, but I don't care to ever watch her again.

I do think Emily used CU, but no one will ever admit that.

I also heard at that state tournament (2004), that the game had passed Ceal by and that was why CU wasn't getting recruits--because kids today want to play up tempo, not the triangle. What kind of coach did CU just hire?

As a fan, I'd rather watch an up tempo game than a defensive battle. I will be cheering against Duke, just as I cheer against Tennessee and Tennessee has never gotten a recruit from CU that I know of.