USA Basketball newcomer Taber Spani is fitting in quickly.
The Tennessee Lady Vols freshman-to-be made the cut of 14 finalists after participating in three days of trials in Colorado Springs, Colo., for the U19 World Championship U.S. women's team.
Spani and the other finalists will reconvene on July 9 for training and the eventual 12-player squad will be finalist prior to the team's departure for the tournament, July 23-Aug. 2 in Bangkok, Thailand.
"I said this when I came in, I just feel so blessed and honored,'' Spani said, "even more so now that there is an opportunity to put on those colors and listen to your anthem and hopefully win a gold medal for the United States. I'm just so excited. I can't even put it into words."
Spani, a 6-foot-1 wing player from Lee's Summit, Mo., was one of 27 players taking part in the weekend trials. The finalists include U.S. gold medalists Kelsey Bone, Sarah Boothe, Skylar Diggins, Kelly Faris, Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Samantha Prahalis, who won gold last summer at that FIBA Americas U18 Championship.
"I thought the trials went really well, each session got better and better,'' said U.S. coach Carol Owens, the coach at Northern Illinois. "I'm excited about our team. I think our strength will be our transition game. In particular our posts I think will be very good. We have some scorers obviously. I'm excited to get them in training camp to work on our defenses and get our offenses going."
Spani's obvious strength is her outside shooting. But she doesn't think that skill alone enabled her to make the cut.
"People look for little things,'' she said. 'The scoring and rebounds stand out, but it's the little things that matter. And if I can be that encourager and communicator and that constant go-getter and lay it out on the line for all these girls, that's what I'm going to try to do."
© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Comments » 29
rclarkfork#639958 writes:
I saw her play in an all star game and she is the real deal. As always, great job of recruiting by Pat.
Rick4UT writes:
I have seen clips of her...She will put the Vols back in the top 5 in the country. If last years freshman class will mature then we will compete with any team!!! Go Vols !
pammyvol1000 writes:
Can't wait to see her in the Orange!!
CTOWNICON writes:
Go Taber Spani!
richvol writes:
Does UCONN have any of their recruits in consideration?
rockytopron writes:
As I said before...help is on the way. She will be the difference in our Lady Vols making the final four again.
mississippi writes:
I totally agree that Pat has a future All-American coming this year. This girl can not be left alone or she will drill 3's all day long. She also loves to penetrate in the lane among the BIGS.
mississippi writes:
This is a Lady Vols website and we really dont care if ucant has any players in the FINALS.TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION THOUGH ucant recruit kelli faris MADE THE CUT
volfan2002 writes:
Kelly Faris is a UConn recruit. One of their other recruits has already been cut.
98reax writes:
I wish we never had to be reminded of uconn. I'm just saying, I wish. Why are you (you know who you are) always thinking of that team? You may log in to their forum, whatever, wherever, to get all the news you can stand, I suppose. I would be content to never, ever hear the name, if you know what I mean. Until the day I read the headline: ----- Women's Basketball Coach, ---- ------- Receives NCAA Sanctions For Violating Rules Of Recruiting, Fined and Permanently Banned From Coaching, I don't want to know anything about them.
Maya Moore Tells ESPN She Wants To Transfer To Tennessee. Now, that's a headline I would get excited about.
jeff1vol writes:
From what I saw of Spani in the McD's AA game she has a decent shot, but big and slow. Not very athletic. Until PHS decides to start recruiting some athletes who can move we'll see other teams leave us in the dust.
She reminds me a lot of Sidney Spencer. Again...not a bash on Spani. She is what she is. But UT needs some SPEED and ATHLETISM.
Bloodrunzorange writes:
Welcome to Tennessee Taber Spani! Go Vols and good luck the summer! I look foward to seeing you play this season!
kazoo writes:
Isn't Spani a lot like Bjorklund--meaning a very good shooter but not terribly athletic? Bjorklund was the no. 2 recruit in the country. It's nice that Spani can drain threes when left alone--but you are NOT left alone in college; you have to create off the dribble, create and make your shot when guarded, and that's precisely the type of player that PS seldom gets. Parker, of course, was the exception. Look at Bjorklund: she's got a lot going for her, but she struggles to get open shots. Zolman was the same way--a shooting guard who could never get open.
98reax writes:
Another dream: Milky Mouse_from_wherever vows to stay off Lady Vols forum. That would be the ultimate dream. Please don't wake me.
mississippi writes:
Truth be told we dont want Maya nor gino so go and play footsie with that clown of a coach of yours. you are a SCUMBAG
mississippi writes:
spani game is somewhat similar to spencer in the fact that she is a great 3 pt shooter. spani has a good handle both left and right. spani also has the ability to play pt in certain situations.
reachkim00 writes:
Ya know Mike_loves_Geno, I just thought of something...
We Lady Vol fans LOVE your OBSESSION with our Lady Vols.. and you probably wear Tebow panties too.
GO LADY VOLS!!!!!!!!!!
reachkim00 writes:
Football is irrelevant on this site.
It has been noted tho that there is a village in Connecticut that's missing an idiot.
GO LADY VOLS!!
mikevol1961 writes:
Stay on Connecticut websites
bung hole. Does Connecticut
have a football team? If they
do, who cares this is a basketball forum.
mississippi writes:
I bet you cant hang in my Basketball Camp. I will make your phat a** lose that extra 300 pounds you are caring. By the way everyonre in America is laughing their a** off at your stupidity. Mike you are definitely gino number one Bu**ho** supporter
mississippi writes:
Well at least they treat people with respect unlike gumbo auriemma. by the way mike, i hear gino has a great recruiting class of hoodlums coming in next year. that 2 ft pt guard named mike from connecticut, that 2 ft center who weighs 600 pd post player named butchisback & the star of the group that 1 ft 9 in guard named margolees is definitely a heralded group of thugs
CTOWNICON writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
CTOWNICON writes:
What about that student manager from Uconn that was Rick Hamilton's agent and just in case you don't know who he is he played for Uconn mens team and now the Detroit Pistons and that agent from Uconn stole 1 million dollars from him. Uconn ain't squeaky clean especially with trashy tramps like you hanging around.
queens2183#661836 writes:
"rockytopron writes:
As I said before...help is on the way. She will be the difference in our Lady Vols making the final four again."
Taber is a great player but I wouldn't get ahead of yourself as far as putting all your eggs in her or any of the other freshmen's baskets to "resurrect" LV greatness. Remember these will be FRESHMEN and they will have to learn the system and how to play at the collegiate level much in the same way last year's freshmen had to. The ideal would be to hope that the team improves in the offseason so the freshmen won't be relied upon as heavily as last year's freshmen were.
queens2183#661836 writes:
"jeff1vol writes:
Until PHS decides to start recruiting some athletes who can move we'll see other teams leave us in the dust.
But UT needs some SPEED and ATHLETISM."
"kazoo writes:
Isn't Spani a lot like Bjorklund--meaning a very good shooter but not terribly athletic? Bjorklund was the no. 2 recruit in the country. It's nice that Spani can drain threes when left alone--but you are NOT left alone in college; you have to create off the dribble, create and make your shot when guarded, and that's precisely the type of player that PS seldom gets. Parker, of course, was the exception. Look at Bjorklund: she's got a lot going for her, but she struggles to get open shots. Zolman was the same way--a shooting guard who could never get open."
I guess you slept through 2007 and 2008 when TN was winning back to back NCs. TN not recruiting athletes? Please. Lex, Glory, Kinna, Vicki, all 3 Miques, Candace to name a few. Also, Lex was able to create her own shot as was Kinna. Angie's not the best at it but she has gotten significantly better using screens to create or creating on her own. Taber's not the quickest but she does have the ability to take it to the hole and is a smart player that won't try to beat a quick player with quickness. She'll improve in her time at TN and learn how to be a better player. Let's at least be real about things at TN before going off the handle making laughable statements.
kazoo writes:
The three Miques? That was 11 years ago. I'm WAITING for Summitt to put together another team like the '98 squad--but she can't do it, frankly. She did win back-to-back national titles, thanks to one player. Pat signs some of the top players in the country every year, but you'd never know it when you watch her teams play offense: that's my frustration with the Vols, their team offense is never very good--PS needs a superstar to have a decent offense--and her overall recruiting is spotty. She keeps signing shooters who aren't athletic and can't create or athletes who can't shoot. We're not talking Ball State here; PS can get just about any players in the country she wants.
queens2183#661836 writes:
Obviously we watched two different teams. Lex and Vick are both very athletic as are Kinna and Glory. If you really looked at this team before injuries and the dreaded "wall" hit them, they were playing very well. Before SECs, the team was on an uptick but when you added Vicki Baugh to the season-ending injury list and have a hobbled Kelly Cain and Alex Fuller, the only thing left is freshmen. The problems aren't that Coach can't recruit or doesn't recruit well. Does she miss on some players? Absolutely; there isn't a great coach in the nation who doesn't. And the argument about she doesn't win without a superstar, tell me how many NC had UConn won after DT and until Maya came on the scene. 0 which is the same as TN won between Candace and Chamique. Meanwhile, how many Final 4s and NC games was TN in during their drought? 5 Final 4s and 3 NC games. Both superpowers are the exact same when it comes to winning with a superstar and great role players. Just like any offense, when it's clicking it's a thing of beauty but when it's not, it's not. IMO, a win is a win no matter how it happens and a championship is a championship.
Talent and recruiting is not a problem. Maturity was a problem for this team. Most expected this team to run before they could even crawl based on past teams but not realizing that this team was the 1st of its kind make-up wise with only 1 vet to lead 11 underclassmen. That ratio is never a good one. It doesn't matter how talented a team is or what ranking their classes are, they are all at level 1 as far as collegiate ball goes and have to learn the nuances of the system and collegiate ball in general before they're completely ready. This team didn't have that luxury and that inexperience showed in their performance. For all we know, this could be another 98'esque team but you have to WAIT and see what they'll become as they MATURE. That's my point.
rdwilliams22#337856 writes:
Mike from UConn,
You are right about everything last year. UT didn't do much. UCONN won the NC for 2009. All Pat has is 8 championships. You know, that's 8. She is two championships from 10. That's four fingers down and one finger up, on both hands. That picture alone is all the motivation Gino needs to catch up. Good luck with 40, and remember the 2 fingers.
sameolvolalum writes:
Here's a bit of advice to my lovely Lady Vol fans: Those internet trolls who infest our GVX sites feed off your responses to them. If you resist the urge and simply don't respond to them they'll go away----or at least be posted only when they type their trash. Each and every time you respond, their ignorant words are reposted. Don't let the flies in by responding to the trolls. GO VOLS!
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