2017 USA Women’s U23 National Team announced
Introducing the 2017 USA Women's U23 National Team… ?? #USABWU23 pic.twitter.com/bxOHOM79j3
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 4, 2017
The 2017 USA Basketball Women’s U23 National Team was announced after five days of training camp at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The squad includes eight USA Basketball gold medalists. The USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee selected the final roster.
- Ariel Atkins (Texas/Duncanville, Texas)
- Monique Billings (UCLA/Corona, Calif.)
- Kalani Brown (Baylor/Slidell, La.)
- Jordin Canada (UCLA/Los Angeles, Calif.)
- Asia Durr (Louisville/ Douglasville, Ga.)
- Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon/Walnut Creek, Calif.)
- Brittany McPhee (Stanford/Normandy Park, Wash.)
- Kelsey Mitchell (Ohio State/Cincinnati, Ohio)
- Jamie Nared (Tennessee/Portland, Ore.)
- Arike Ogunbowale (Notre Dame/Milwaukee, Wis.)
- Mercedes Russell (Tennessee/Springfield, Ore.)
- A’ja Wilson (South Carolina/Hopkins, S.C.).
The squad will play in the inaugural U23 Four Nations Tournament Aug. 12-15 at Katayanagi Arena in Tokyo, Japan. Participants in the round-robin tournament include include the USA, Australia, Canada and Japan. The USA team will continue training until Aug. 7 before flying for Tokyo. Student-athletes eligible for the team must be U.S. citizens, 23 years old or younger and currently freshmen, sophomores or juniors in college.
Jeff Walz (Louisville) is the head coach. Courtney Banghart (Princeton) and Michelle Clark-Heard (Western Kentucky) are the assistant coaches.
“We are very excited to get working,” said Walz. “There is a lot of individual talent that now as a coaching staff we are going to have to put together and figure out different combinations of how we play to their strengths.”
The USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee, chaired by Rizzotti, also includes 2008 Olympic gold medalist Kara Lawson Barling as the athlete representative, and NCAA representatives Karen Aston of University of Texas, Tonya Cardoza of Temple University and Wes Moore of North Carolina State.
