Durham, N.C. - According to Sue Bird, the expectations for the U.S. Women’s basketball team at this month’s FIBA World Championships in Brazil are simple:

“All we talk about is the gold medal,” said the talented point guard after a team practice at Duke University’s Cameron Indoor Stadium. “That’s what we’re here for.”

The U.S. Women will take the floor hoping to accomplish what their male counterparts couldn’t do in winning a World Championship. To do so, they’ll have to overcome many of the same challenges that faced the U.S. men’s team; The rapidly shrinking talent gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world. Teams with more experience playing both together and under (FIBA) rules. And teams that have scouted the strengths and weaknesses of each American player for months, if not years, in preparation for this event.

“I think that we have the most talent,“ notes Bird. “But for us to win, we’ll have to play together. We don’t have any unselfish players. For us, it’s all about winning.

 Bird has already learned to play nice with her fellow backcourtmate Diana Taurasi. In two seasons at Connecticut, the pair forged an on-court bond that was evident as UConn went 71-3, with two trips to the Final Four, an undefeated season and a national title during that span. Two years later, “Dee” and “Sue” joined forces again on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team that captured the gold medal in Athens. Now, it seems that the future of USA women’s basketball has gone from the likes of Dawn Staley and Lisa Leslie to two Huskies with a passion for winning.

“When you have a certain chemistry on the court, you can’t really describe it,” said Taurasi. “It’s almost like a sixth sense. She knows what I’m going to do before I do. I kind of know where she’s looking to pass. It’s a very good vibe.”

For both Bird and Taurasi, high expectations are nothing new. It’s exactly what happens when you spend four years playing in college basketball’s Camelot under Geno Auriemma. The program has not only won five national titles, but every game is televised, many of those coming nationally on ESPN. Capacity crowds not only pack the Hartford Civic Center and Gampel Pavilion on game day, but the road games sell out as well. They’re loved. They’re hated. They have their own local television contract with Connecticut Public Television. And only in Connecticut can a star player like Svetlana Ambrosimova ditch her pixie haircut and end up on the front page of every paper from Mystic to Greenwich.

With all of that success and attention comes the immense pressure to succeed, UConn had been to the Final Four five straight seasons, with four national titles, before Taurasi’s illustrious collegiate career ended in 2004. In the two years since, they haven’t been back, prompting some, almost unfairly, to wonder what’s wrong with the program.

“The last two years, we made it to the Elite Eight,” states Taurasi. “For most programs that would have been a dream.”

Just like at Connecticut, the same “winning is everything” expectations exist for Team USA, both now and in Beijing two years from now.