Five of the 12 women on this United States Women’s National Team roster have ties to the University of Connecticut.

Maya Moore, Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird and Tina Charles are all decorated alums of UConn, complete with National Championships and more accolades than anyone could ever dream of. It’s fitting that the most revered and successful program in the history of women’s basketball would churn out legends and Olympians, but this is still at an incredible pace.

2014 WNBA MVP Maya Moore said there’s a sense of pride knowing so many of her Olympic teammates come from the UConn program and there’s undoubtedly a reason that it keeps churning out top-level WNBA and USAB talent.

“Having the preparation, the training and the environment that we have is definitely a huge reason why so many of us are here,” Moore explained. “To have that time for those four years to be able to just sharpen those skills, that work ethic and preparation under Coach [Geno] Auriemma and our assistant coaches is definitely one of the reasons we’ve been able to be successful at the next level.”

Auriemma, the legendary Huskies’ head coach and head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team, talked about what it means to have coached players of this caliber at UConn and now have them competing on the grandest stage of the sport. He said he was proud of the consistency of the program and the continued excellent results in turning out top talent.

“Think back to the last 20 years of college basketball and you think about the absolute biggest names who have had the biggest impact in all of college basketball, and most of them came through Connecticut,” Auriemma said.

“That’s something for us as a basketball program to be proud of that we’ve been able to maintain that the same things that helped Diana [Taurasi] and Sue [Bird] get to where they are were the same things that got Stewie on this team. Times have changed and circumstances have changed, I’m sure, but what we do and what our expectation level is, what kind of people we bring into our program hasn’t changed and I’m really proud of that.”

Though they all went to the same college and have the same pedigree, the most interesting thing about these five is how little they’ve actually played together. Breanna Stewart, being a rookie in the WNBA, hasn’t been removed from the program for very long. She touched upon the notion of assimilating with the decorated women she followed through the halls and gym in Storrs, Connecticut.

“We have a lot of UConn connections, but it’s funny, because I have never played with any them at UConn,” Stewart noted. “I play with Sue with the Storm and that kind of thing. It’s cool to learn from them, and just to see what they’ve done at UConn and now what they are continuing to do.”

Auriemma mentioned that Stewart is really the only former UConn alum who hasn’t evolved since he first coached her, and that’s only due to time. The years and experiences of the other women have taken them to other countries and seen them win championships, gold medals and personal accolades. Although having five former players helps with assimilation and building chemistry in a short period of time. Auriemma feels that having nine players from the 2012 Olympic gold medal winning squad is equally important.

“We don’t have the luxury of time, like the other teams have had. So, we are cramming everything in, and both things – having five of my former players helps,” Auriemma explained. “Even though, other than Stewie, they are kind of removed from UConn, and they’ve added a lot of layers to who they are. So, they are not the same. Stewie is the same, to a certain extent. But having nine players from the [2012] Olympic Team, that’s a source of confidence for our coaching staff that at crunch time, they will have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done, because they have done it.”

With all the players with Connecticut ties on the roster, Sue Bird is expecting Friday night’s game against Canada in Bridgeport to feel like a home game, similar to Elena Delle Donne’s celebrated return to Delaware on Wednesday night.

“I think any time we’re with this team and we’re in the northeast, it’s going to feel like that, and rightfully so,” Bird said. “It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s great to see familiar faces. It’s great to be around familiar faces every day, and it just makes it more fun and more enjoyable.”

Diana Taurasi, who won three consecutive National Championships with the Huskies, echoed Bird’s statement and is expecting a raucous, supportive crowd in Bridgeport.

“We don’t do a lot of home games as a National Team,” Taurasi said. “Being in Delaware last night felt like a home game. I’m sure tomorrow and at the Garden, it’s going to be pro-American, which is kind of nice, because we’re usually on the other end of that.”

The women from UConn will probably be serenaded as rock stars, and rightfully so after all of their success in college. They’ll look to treat their fans and send them home happy after defeating Canada in Bridgeport on Friday night.