MINNEAPOLIS — Five-time Olympic gold medalist Diana Taurasi is one of 15 of the nation's best women's basketball players converging on the Twin Cities this week for the U.S. women's national basketball team training camp, providing an evaluation for the group of athletes hoping to represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
"I got to the lunch room yesterday, and everyone was like, what the hell are you doing here?" said Taurasi.
"It's really nice, and we're in our facility," said Minnesota Lynx guard Napheesa Collier. "Just feels like a practice with the best players in the league."
Collier is the lone player representing the team at the camp, but Lynx head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve is the U.S. team's head coach through 2024. She will now be tasked with leading the red, white and blue to what they hope will be an eighth straight gold in Paris.
"I always want a team that when you see them, you see the joy that they're playing with," said Reeve. "I don't ever want the feeling of players just not having fun, and that's especially true with USA basketball."
One of the biggest priorities of this training camp happens away from the court, with an emphasis on building chemistry.
"And building chemistry quickly, that's the name of the game for the USA, because we don't get a lot of time together," said Reeve.
"Talent is already there, so just trying to build that team bond is our main goal right now," said Collier.
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