SAITAMA, Japan (AP) — There is definitely a UConn flavor to the women’s basketball being played in the Tokyo Games. The school that has dominated women’
SAITAMA, Japan (AP) — There is definitely a UConn flavor to the women’s basketball being played in the Tokyo Games. The school that has dominated women’s college hoops for the past two decades has branched out internationally with former players not only representing the U.S., but France and Canada as well. It’s not a coincidence. UConn coach Geno Auriemma has been recruiting more internationally. “There’s a culture of basketball in some of these other countries, their style of play is more the style I like to coach,” he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “There’s a discipline about them that I like.” There are 10 current or former Huskies at the Tokyo Games as either players or coaches in both 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 basketball. No other college has come close to having that many players in Olympic basketball history. There would have been an 11th, but Katie Lou Samuelson came down with COVID right before the teams left for the Olympics from Las Vegas. “It’s gratifying in a lot of ways and humbling in a lot of ways to see them,” said Auriemma, who coached the U.S. Olympic team in 2012 and 2016. “We’ve had someone on Olympic teams in every year since 1996. I like to think that’s not an accident that just happens because of circumstance.
