Citing her health and her family, Yolanda Griffith has withdrawn from the 2006 USA Basketball Women's World Championship team. "I have played in two Olympic Games and would love to play for USA Basketball again in the future," said Griffith, "but at this time I just don't think it would be fair to my teammates."

With two spot left to fill, USABasketball announced that Cappie Pondexter, Michelle Snow and collegian Candace Parker have accepted invitations to train with the team in Raleigh. This does shut out, say, Cheryl Ford or Deanna Nolan, as the release notes that "several players who will compete in the WNBA Finals are also under consideration for one of the final roster spots."

The USA Basketball Women's Competition Committee tends to pick players who have a long history with USA Basketball (Ford and Nolan do not), so it will be interesting to see who they select to defend the gold in Brazil.