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Allow me to veer for a moment today to expand upon a story presented this morning in the Courant about the choice USA Basketball will soon need to make regarding who will coach its women's basketball team in the 2012 Olympics in London.

It is a decision that will be preceded by the naming of the Women's National Team Committee, which over the last four years was comprised by 10 members representing a cross-section of the women's game; Renee Brown, Jennifer Azzi, Teresa Edwards, Carol Blazejowski, Kelly Krauskopf, Roger Griffin, Pat Summitt, Penny Toler and for a short time, Van Chancellor and Seth Sulka.

USA Basketball is the process of putting a new group together that will serve it during the build-up to the London Games and there is no great rush prior to the autumn since the senior national team, the defending gold medalist, does not need to qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championships in the Czech Republic from Sept. 23-Oct. 3.

But once this new group is in place, it will eventually need to decide whether to keep the current rules in place concerning the job description for the Olympic coach.

According to the selection criteria, obtained from USA Basketball, the job is available only to coaches with at least five years experience as either a head coach or assistant at any level at the time of their hiring.

But the candidate must have three years of experience as a WNBA coach or any pro league at the time of their hiring. They must also have coached two of the last three seasons in the WNBA and have no conflicts of interests, as determined by USA Basketball.

"The advantage to WNBA coaches is in the scheduling [for training and international tournaments], just like it is for players," said Carol Callan, USA Basketball's national team director.

Also, one of the three assistants must be an active pro coach. The other two must be from the collegiate ranks, and those assistants must have a minimum of five years experience at the Division I and/or pro level and have previous international experience.

Still, it's expected the new committee will at least debate whether that criteria continues to remain relevant moving forward.

And that is a decision that could have great impact on both UConn coach Geno Auriemma and Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault, who like and respect each other, but who both would like the job and are considered extraordinarily strong candidates to get it.

"It would be an honor for me," Thibault told me last week. "I don't know how many other coaches they would consider, but it would be an honor to be selected."

Thibault was an assistant to Anne Donovan in the last Olympic cycle, which culminated in Beijing, and is one of the WNBA's most respected coaches, both in terms of his technical acumen and interpersonal skills with players.

Auriemma, the vice president of the WBCA, was an assistant to Nell Fortner at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney after leading the USA to a gold in the 2000 COPABA Junior World Cup qualifier in Argentina and then winning bronze at the world championships the next summer.

With five national championship in his pocket and the nation's lone unbeaten team now chasing a sixth, his selection would add a special dynamic to the visibility of the Olympic team. His press conferences would become must-attend events

"I've always loved my USA Basketball experiences," said Auriemma. "Anyone who loves the game would like that job."

So what does USA Basketball do here?

Well, the question is complicated and may depend on the viewpoint of those who eventually chair the committee.

The reason USA Basketball has opted for pro coaches is it eliminates many of the conflicts that potentially vex a college coach trying to handle two jobs. WNBA coaches basically work from April to October, a down time for international tournaments and national team practices because its players are all busy in the WNBA.

A college coach would have to make big compromises to take the job, but a few months ago Auriemma told me he didn't think it would be a problem - if the opportunity presented itself to coach the Olympic team. But first they would have to convince USA Basketball - and this doesn't seem likely - that they can juggle jobs.

Last summer, Donovan's two college assistants, South Carolina's Dawn Staley and Gail Goestenkors of Texas, missed many team functions, including some of its tryout camps, because of obligations to their other jobs.

USA Basketball, while understanding and tolerant of that, has taken the position lately that they want the head coach to pay full attention to their team.

The last four Olympic teams have been coached by Tara VanDeveer (1996), Fortner (2000), Chancellor (2004) and Donovan.

Only VanDeveer, the Hall of Fame coach of Stanford, was coaching collegiately at the time, but she took the year off from Stanford to run the Olympic program.

Fortner, the former Purdue and current Auburn coach, was hired on April 1, 1997, leaving the Boilermakers to take the position, and was named coach of the WNBA's Indiana Fever shortly before the Sydney Games began. But Donovan assumed the role of the Fever's acting coach until Fortner was done.

Chancellor, the former Mississippi coach and current LSU coach, was in the midst of his successful run with the WNBA's Houston Comets.

Donovan was hired on Jan. 12, 2006 and stayed with the WNBA's Seattle Storm for the first two years of her time. She then left the team to more fully devote her time to USA Basketball before the 2008 WNBA season.

On the men's side, prior to Mike Krzyzewski's selection as coach of the 2008 men's team, the last four Olympic coaches came from the pro ranks - Chuck Daly (1992), Lenny Wilkens (1996), Rudy Tomjanovich (2000) and Larry Brown (2004).

So rules are made to be altered and re-thought.

A couple of things seem clear here.

If USA Basketball decides they like the rules the way they are, Auriemma's chances of taking on the one big challenge still remaining - other than coaching the Knicks or Celtics - are over.

"There is no throwing your hat in the ring," Auriemma said.

If USA Basketball decides it wants to expand the applicant field, it will change the rule and invite college coaches to express their interest.

"But we won't know until the committee gets together [about the eligibility requirement]," Carol Callan, USA Basketball's national team director said. "It's a hard question to answer; we have great coaches in the WNBA and in college, too."

Leaving the eligibility rule in tact doesn't automatically mean Thibault would be the guy. USA Basketball is likely to at least explore the interest of Michael Cooper of the Los Angeles Sparks, Bill Laimbeer of the Detroit Shock or Dan Hughes of the San Antonio Silver Stars.

But among that group, only Thibault has extensive international experience.

And changing the rule does not automatically mean Auriemma would be USA Basketball's choice.

Critiical for his candidacy might very well be the composition of the committee; if there are too many butts sitting in those chairs that have a problem with him, for whatever reason, he could be hurt by it, despite the unmatched credentials he would bring to a job he would do exceptionally well.

And here is something else to consider: Staley, the Olympian, the former WNBA all-star, the former Temple coach now in her rookie season at USC, seems to be wildly popular and her candidacy would be formidable.

So we will wait and see, won't we. Donovan wasn't hired until early in 2008, so there's time for all of these things to work out.

But if you thought Connecticut was the center of the women's basketball world now, just give it a few months.