COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. ? Fewer than 48 hours after kicking a ball to the rafters to celebrate Connecticut’s 2004 NCAA women’s basketball title, star guard Diana Taurasi found herself in a different kind of stratosphere.

On Thursday, Taurasi was in Denver for a three-day crash course in Olympic basketball, with players like Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes to help out.

That’s when the 2004 USA Basketball women’s senior national team spent two intense hours working out, with at least an hour of hard scrimmaging and game-situation drills in the Denver Nuggets practice area at the Pepsi Center.

Taurasi, who capped her collegiate career Tuesday night in New Orleans by leading Connecticut to a 70-61 win over Tennessee and a third-straight national title, is not a star in this camp — not yet anyway. She’s officially an “Olympic hopeful” for the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece, Aug.13-29.

Taurasi, 21, was the only collegiate player invited to the camp, part of Olympic team tryouts. Despite getting only about six hours sleep on Tuesday and Wednesday nights after winning the title, Taurasi was wide-eyed at practice Thursday afternoon. This was not college.

“The game was totally different,” Taurasi said. “People don’t miss open shots, the break pass. It’s just a different level of play. Right now, I’m just trying to match it.”

The 6-foot, 170-pound Taurasi made an impression on her newest teammates — which included some old ones in Swin Cash and Sue Bird.

“I’m a team player, she’s a team player. That’s kind of obvious,” Lisa Leslie said. “The little things, giving each other five or clapping it up, or (saying) good job, the pats in and out. Those things mean a lot to me and obviously they mean a lot to her.”

Taurasi, bound to be the top pick in the WNBA draft on April 17, is enjoying the whirlwind. The two days would be a blur to most people, but Taurasi lives life like she talks — in run-on sentences. She was asked to describe the 48 hours after winning the title:

“Oh yeah, the whole night we celebrated, which was a lot of fun with our parents and our families which was awesome, then (I) flew out to Connecticut that morning (Wednesday). That night I didn’t sleep — I slept on the plane a little bit. Got to Connecticut Wednesday at 6p.m. … Went out to eat with my teammates for probably the last time, that was special, back to campus around 11, got up around 4:30 this morning, drove to Boston and flew out here.”

Then it’s back to school to finish out the year, then she will play in the WNBA this summer.

Taurasi has played on three USA Basketball teams, including the 2001 Junior World Championship team that won bronze. Still, she said, playing in Athens would be secondary to making the Olympic team.

“Even just to be on the team, with the caliber of players on this team, that would be the highest achievement besides my college career,” she said. “Whether I make it or not, I’ve appreciated it.”