Though WNBA training camps have opened and much of the focus is centered on the upcoming 2004 season, don't forget that the Olympics also are quickly approaching. And that means USA Basketball's decision on which three players will fill the final roster spots for the U.S. Senior National Team that will compete in Athens is also imminent.

	Sacramento's Yolanda Griffith was part of the USA's gold-medal winning team in Sydney.

Nine players already have been named to the "core group" that is expected to participate in the Olympics from Aug. 13-29: Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings, Shannon Johnson, Lisa Leslie, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Katie Smith, Dawn Staley, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson.

Three spots remain open, and at various 10 players have joined the national team at various stages of its pre-Olympic training camp: Swin Cash, Cheryl Ford, Deanna Nolan, Tari Phillips, Ruth Riley, Tangela Smith, Michelle Snow, Diana Taurasi, Nikki Teasley and Natalie Williams.

The final roster additions are expected to be announced over the next week, and sources close to the decision-making process have indicated that Cash and Taurasi are among the favorites to be added to the Olympic roster.

But the third spot might go to someone who hasn't been in camp at all this year: Yolanda Griffith.

Griffith has plenty of prior national team experience. She was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. National Team 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. Instead, she opted to continue playing professionally in Russia, where she had already led UMMC Ekaterinburg to the EuroLeague Championship during the 2002-03 offseason.

As Lauren Jackson's recent $220,000 contract with the same club for just a handful of games indicated, a season in Russian league can result in a very good financial deal, and it was probably tough for Griffith, 34, to turn down that extraordinary money.

So even though Griffith hasn't been in camp with USA Basketball on a consistent basis, there's still a good possibility she might end up in Greece in August.

DeLisha Milton-Jones' injury status also will determine USA Basketball's final decision. Though Milton-Jones was recently cleared to play just two months after suffering a torn ACL in her right knee, there has been some speculation that her name might not be on the final roster.

The Penn State senior, who is the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer in men's and women's basketball, is said to be playing very well in camp and also creating her own shot.

Mazzante is also benefiting from playing against Andrea Stinson -- the best player to never make an Olympic team -- every day in practice. The Sting needs more production off their bench than a year ago, and Mazzante is going to surprise a lot of people.