CHRIS BACKLEY Bruin junior guard Michelle
Greco received honorable mention All-Pac-10 honors last
year.
By Scott Schultz
Daily Bruin Contributor
Over the past two decades, basketball has become the American
sport with the most worldwide appeal. The success of the original
Dream Team in the 1992 Olympic Games helped make basketball even
more international then ever.
Today, foreign teams are commonplace in the world of college
basketball, as most schools invite one international team per year
to compete in a preseason exhibition game.
In the summer of 1998, prior to her freshman year at UCLA,
current junior guard Michelle Greco led an American high school
dream team to a gold medal at the under-19 World Championships,
held in Shreveport, La.
Greco, the only Californian on the team, was invited to
participate because of the numerous accolades she received during
her high school career at Crescenta Valley High in La Crescenta,
including being selected as a Parade Magazine All-American and USA
Today’s State Player of the Year.
Greco was named co-captain of the national team, along with
Swintayla Cash, who currently plays for Connecticut.
 EDWARD LIN Junior guard Michelle Greco
is the leading scorer in the Pac-10 right now. She has a lot of
experience playing international teams.
Other teammates included Michelle Snow and Shalon Pillow, who
now play for Tennessee, Jillian Danker from Vanderbilt, Shondra
Johnson from Alabama and Selena Scott from Kansas.
“One of the things that was immediately obvious about
Michelle was her leadership and her approach to the game,”
USA team coach Dennis Bravick said.
Teams traveled to the tournament from Canada, Estonia and Haiti,
among other countries. Many of the teams were not at the same
ability level as the Americans but were thrilled to improve their
game by playing against the best players in the world.
“Some of the teams like Haiti were just happy to be
there,” Greco said. “Canada and Estonia were there to
win. They’d been together quite a while so they meant
business.”
Bravick, who coaches high school girl’s basketball in
Poynette, Wis., said that the sportsmanship and international
goodwill demonstrated at the games was inspiring.
“Michelle demonstrated great leadership and discussed game
strategies with players from the other countries who were not as
privileged with their basketball backgrounds,” Bravic
said.
The difference in playing styles of the foreign teams from the
American players left a lasting impression on Greco.
“Their style of defense wasn’t like it is in the
U.S.,” Greco said. “The Estonian team likes to get off
you and make you mess up. They just stand very lax on defense.
“On offense, they were more into ball screens and outside
shots. They didn’t like to pound the ball inside.
“They didn’t like to mix it up like we do. They are
more deliberate. There’s definitely a difference,”
Greco said. “They would shout their floor directions and
plays in their language. Sometimes they would be yelling things and
we had no idea what they would be talking about.”
The language barrier sometimes resulted in humorous exchanges
between the players and officials.
Greco recalled an instance where the referees were unable to
communicate their instructions to one of the teams, “so they
would speak in a slower, louder voice to the confusion of the
visiting players.”
“It was really funny,” Greco said, laughing.
“It’s good to play people who play a different style
of basketball than you’re used to,” UCLA head coach
Kathy Olivier said. “It helped make Greco a more well-rounded
player entering college.”
“We enjoy playing the foreign teams,” Greco said.
“We always have a ceremony before the game where we swap
things and we play their national anthem. We get to experience
playing against a team with a different style of play then
we’re used to.”
Greco appreciated the opportunity to meet players from other
countries in her role as a basketball ambassador, talking the
international language of hoops with her new friends and exchanging
gifts with the visiting players.
“It was a neat tournament because we all interacted, and
it was a lot of fun. We ended up swapping gear. I traded my USA
shorts to this Canadian girl for her Canada shorts,” Greco
said.
“The Haitian girls were just so happy to be there. They
were giving us Haitian money and their jewelry and we gave them
Quicksilver shirts. It was really cool.”
UCLA has had a long tradition of inviting foreign teams for
exhibitions, dating back to 1978 when the women’s basketball
team hosted a team from The People’s Republic of China. UCLA
has also hosted teams from the USSR and Cuba, among others. This
year, the Bruins played the Slovakian national team and won
69-68.
Greco had the opportunity to gain even more international
experience when she was also invited last summer to try out for the
Jones Cup. But she was debilitated by a case of pneumonia and
unable to fully participate.
She hopes, however, to make the team this summer. If all goes
well, someday Greco would like to represent America in the Olympic
Games.
“If I continue to play after college in the WNBA,
I’d like to try to play for the Olympic team. That would be
the ultimate goal to represent my country and UCLA.”