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Team USA Women's Basketball Preview

Date: July 25, 2021

By: Kahlei Smith

The USA women's basketball team poses for a photo after qualifying for the 2021 Olympic Games.

FIBA.basketball

The USA women's basketball team is headed to Tokyo this year to continue its remarkable streak in the Olympic Games. They look to continue their dominance by winning gold for the seventh consecutive time. They automatically qualified for the tournament by virtue of winning the 2018 FIBA World Cup but selected to compete in the qualifying stage to prepare and train. 

Team USA has an extensive resume amassing 15 Olympic gold medals and 19 FIBA World Cup gold medals, with this year’s players collectively owning 60 gold medals. They have a combined record of 749-37, achieving an astonishing .953 winning percentage. 

While this Olympic team has players who have played previously on the world stage, it also features newcomers that will pursue their first Olympic gold medal.

Two USA women's basketball players stand on the practice court in preparation for the 2021 Olympic Games.

Getty Images

Headlining the team are veterans Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), who seek to make history by claiming their fifth straight gold medals. Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota Lynx) is also a decorated veteran who has earned three consecutive Olympic gold medals, as well as a gold medal at the 2010 FIBA World Cup.

Team USA’s roster also includes Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury), Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm) and Tina Charles (Washington Mystics), all of whom are FIBA World Cup gold medalists. Competing for the first time in five-on-five competition are Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx), Skylar Diggins-Smith (Phoenix Mercury) and Ariel Atkins (Washington Mystics). 

Rounding out the roster are some first-timers, including reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces) and Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm), who both are also FIBA World Cup gold medalists.

Team USA is led by University of South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley, who is no stranger to the Olympics. Staley was named head coach for the USA national team in 2017 after UConn women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma stepped down after the 2016 Olympics. 

Dawn Staley coaches while sitting on the sideline during a women's basketball game.

USA Basketball

Staley previously served as an assistant coach under Auriemma, and she ended up winning two Olympic gold medals during her tenure. She also competed in the Olympics as a player, capturing gold three consecutive times (1996, 2000, 2004). 

Among the assistant coaches for this year’s national team are Jennifer Rizzotti (Connecticut Sun), Dan Hughes and Cheryl Reeve (Minnesota Lynx), who served as an assistant coach for the 2014 USA World Cup team that won the gold. 

It is not surprising that Team USA is favored to win at this year’s Olympics, given its dynamic players and successful track record. This year’s team has so much talent across the board that other notable players such as Chicago Sky’s Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike and Washington Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne were not named to the roster, although Donne is out for the season after suffering a back injury.

Parker shared her reaction to the media about her former teammate Ogwumike getting snubbed. “I was like, ‘Listen it sucks, it’s unfair,’ all that blah, blah, blah,” Parker said. “You’re one of the greatest. You’re the only MVP not to make an Olympic team, which is bull****. But that’s what it is, right? That’s why I’m commentating in Tokyo.”

Ogwumike’s younger sister and teammate, Chiney Ogwumike, went on social media to react to the snub by citing a litany of her accomplishments.

While stacked with talent, Team USA went winless in their first two exhibition games, losing narrowly to the WNBA All-Star squad and Australia. It was the first time Team USA lost to Australia in a women’s basketball game since 2010. 

However, they found their stride again by defeating Nigeria handedly, 93-62, largely predicated by Wilson, who scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Stewart put up 14 points and four rebounds while Griner had 12 points and six rebounds. Both Loyd and Fowles added 10 points.

Team USA will finally begin its journey in Tokyo and face Nigeria again in the preliminary round starting tomorrow, July 27, at 12:40 a.m. (EDT).

Kahlei Smith can be reached at kahlei.smith@student.shu.edu.

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