USA basketball [olympics]
Friday, May 28
USA Basketball eyes Griffith, Riley for final spot
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By Nancy Lieberman
Special to ESPN.com
The final spot on the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team will be offered to Yolanda Griffith within the next week, sources close to the team have said.
Griffith, a 6-foot-4 forward who has started 145 career games with the Sacramento Monarchs, is no stranger to the national team. She was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. squad at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. But Griffith turned down USA Basketball when asked to be part of the program's initial core group earlier this year, instead opting to play professionally in Russia, where salaries for the world's best players can reach six-figure salaries.
Griffith has trained with the U.S. national team since 1998. She started all eight games in the 2000 Olympics, averaging a team-high 8.8 rebounds and ranking third in scoring at 11.5 points per game. In the U.S. women's 76-54 victory in the gold-medal game against Australia, Griffith netted 13 points and 12 rebounds, her third double-double of the Games.
For her WNBA career, Griffith is averaging 16.3 points and 9.8 rebounds, was the league's MVP in 1999 and is a four-time All-Star.
Sources indicated that if Griffith again turns down USA Basketball, the U.S Olympic Selection Committee would invite Ruth Riley of the Detroit Shock to join the team. Riley, a 6-4 center who was named the WNBA Finals MVP last season in helping lead the Shock to the league crown, averaged 5.0 points and 4.3 rebounds as the 2004 USA Senior National Team went 3-0 on a trip to Cuba in February. Riley has sporadically trained with the national team since 1998.
Eleven players already had been named to the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team that will compete in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens in August: Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Tamika Catchings, Shannon Johnson, Lisa Leslie, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Katie Smith, Dawn Staley, Sheryl Swoopes, Diana Taurasi and Tina Thompson.
When the most recent additions, Cash and Taurasi, were announced earlier this month, Renee Brown, who chairs the USA Basketball selection committee, said the final roster spot would be filled by a post player.
Approximately 35 WNBA players are expected to participate in the Athens Games. The WNBA season will break from Aug. 2-31 for the Olympics.
Nancy Lieberman, an ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com's women's basketball coverage. Contact her at www.nancylieberman.com.
http://espn.go.com/wnba/columns/lieberman/1811317.html
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