2018 USA Basketball Women’s World Cup Team
2018 USA Basketball Women’s World Cup team nearly finalized. Following a three-game tournament in Antibes, France, that featured 11 of the 16 finalists for the 2018 USA Basketball Women’s World Cup Team, the roster has been pared to 13 athletes for the eventual 12-member team.
The athletes were selected by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee, which is chaired by USA Women’s National Team director Carol Callan.
Two-time defending World Cup gold medalists, the USA will compete in the 2018 FIBA World Cup, Sept. 22-30 in Tenerife, Spain.
Headlined by four-time Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), who have claimed five World Cup gold medals between them, and two-time Olympic and two-time World Cup gold medalist Tina Charles (New York Liberty); the list of finalists also includes 2016 Olympic gold medalists Elena Delle Donne(Washington Mystics), Brittney Griner(Phoenix Mercury) and Breanna Stewart(Seattle Storm); as well as 2014 World Cup gold medalist Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles Sparks).
The remaining finalists include Layshia Clarendon (Connecticut Sun), Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm), Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces), Morgan Tuck (Connecticut Sun), Elizabeth Williams (Atlanta Dream) and A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces).
“It’s a really hard process,” said USA and University of South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley. “Because, we’ve got great players and great people. So, they don’t eliminate themselves because of that. What it’s coming down to is, what is our most pressing need? And it changes from day to day, especially because we don’t have our entire team together yet. We’ll get a good birds-eye view of what that team looks like in the next few days, and I would say within 48 hours we should know, and we should have our roster locked in.
“All the players, from when we started out in Columbia, South Carolina, to going all the way to D.C., and then taking 11 players from D.C. to here, they’ve all sacrificed. They all have given up their time. Some of the ones who are not here right now, some of the ones who are going home may not feel like they helped, but they did. They helped us, they helped their cause and gave the committee someone that they can look at and count on when training camps come up again.”
The USA squad will travel from France to Tenerife, where it will be joined by 2018 WNBA champions Bird, Loyd and Stewart, as well as WNBA runner-up Delle Donne.
The final 12-member 2018 USA World Cup Team will be selected by the USA Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee prior to the start of the World Cup.
The USA began training on Sept. 3 in Columbia, South Carolina, with 18 athletes, and Williams joined the team in New York after the Dream was eliminated from the playoffs. After an intrasquad game on Sept. 5 in Columbia, the team earned two exhibition victories over Canada (74-68) on Sept. 8 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Japan (102-87) on Sept. 10 in Washington, D.C. From there, the team captured a round-robin tournament title in France, earning victories over Canada (84-68) on Sept. 15, Senegal (109-58) on Sept. 16 and France (77-60) on Sept. 17.
Griner and Taurasi joined the USA squad in time for the French tournament.
Assisting Staley through the World Cup are Dan Hughes (Seattle Storm), who will join the team upon the conclusion of the WNBA Finals, Cheryl Reeve (Minnesota Lynx) and Jennifer Rizzotti (George Washington).
In addition to Callan, the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee includes three-time Olympic and two-time World Cup gold medalist Katie Smith as the athlete representative; representing the WNBA is Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Millerand Los Angeles Sparks general manager Penny Toler; and University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma, who coached USA teams to gold medals at the past two Olympics and FIBA World Cups, serves as a special advisor.
