Stewart Excited About US Team Opportunity

Breanna Stewart's junior season at UConn is still a few weeks off but in the meantime, college basketball's best players is working to make the U.S. squad that will compete in the 2014 FIBA world championships in Turkey later this month.

“I’m really excited about it," Stewart told the media Wednesday. "It’s an amazing opportunity just like (the training camp) was last fall in Las Vegas. The world championships are at the end of this month and it’s something that I want to be a part of.”

Stewart, whose national team coach just so happens to be Geno Auriemma, is the the only college player among the 27 competing for 12 spots on the national team roster.

“Judging how she performed at the Las Vegas camp last fall, I would say that Stewie has as good a chance to make that team as anybody else not named ‘Previous Olympic Gold Medalist,’ ” Auriemma said. “It’s still going to come down to going there and earning a spot and a lot of things go into that. But is she talented enough and mentally able to handle all that? Absolutely. We talked this morning and she feels comfortable and ready and excited.”

Stewart's not new to international competition, but this time is different.

This will be the first time where she’s competing against the absolute best players in the world," Auriemma explained. "I think without being biased or anything there isn’t anything they can do that Stewie can’t do. They’re just at another level in terms of knowing the game. There’s nothing she can do about that. They’ve done things with their lives that Stewie hasn’t had a chance to do -- yet.”

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