The 2017-20 USA Basketball Women’s National Team pool announced
USA Basketball revealed the 29 athletes that makeup the 2017-20 USA Basketball Women’s National Team pool. The 2018 USA World Cup Team is expected to be selected from the group. The USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee chose the athletes that are included in the pool.
The 2017-20 USA National Team Pool
- Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx)
- Sue Bird (Seattle Storm)
- Tina Charles (New York Liberty)
- Layshia Clarendon (Atlanta Dream)
- Napheesa Collier (Connecticut)
- Elena Delle Donne (Washington Mystics)
- Skylar Diggins-Smith (Dallas Wings)
- Stefanie Dolson (Chicago Sky)
- Asia Durr (Louisville)
- Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota Lynx)
- Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury)
- Tiffany Hayes (Atlanta Dream)
- Jantel Lavender(Los Angeles Sparks)
- Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm)
- Kayla McBride (Las Vegas Aces)
- Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream)
- Kelsey Mitchell (Ohio State)
- Maya Moore (Minnesota Lynx)
- Chiney Ogwumike (Connecticut Sun)
- Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles Sparks)
- Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces)
- Katie Lou Samuelson (Connecticut)
- Odyssey Sims (Los Angeles Sparks)
- Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm)
- Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
- Morgan Tuck (Connecticut Sun)
- Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx)
- Courtney Williams (Connecticut Sun)
- A’ja Wilson (South Carolina)
Available members of the USA pool will participate in a minicamp Feb. 9-11, 2018, at the University of South Carolina. It will mark the second camp under the direction of Dawn Staley, the 2017-20 USA Basketball Women’s National Team and South Carolina head coach. The USA will train at 10 a.m. (EST) daily Feb. 9-11 at the Carolina Coliseum, and the final roster of minicamp participants will be announced at a later date.
Collegiate members of the 2017-20 USA squad, Collier, Durr, Kelsey Mitchell, Samuelson and Wilson, as well as those competing professionally in Asia, which currently includes Fowles, Loyd and Stewart, will be unavailable to participate in the camp.
“I’m incredibly pleased with the pool of players that make up the 29 and the different experiences that they bring to the team,” said Staley. “I’m looking forward to putting my stamp on this training camp, because it’s new, it’s different. Yet, you can give the 29 members of the pool anything to run, and they’re going to make you look good. We just have to get together to form some chemistry. Many of us have been together and worked together, just not in this capacity. So, anytime we can get the USA National Team together and work for a few days, it’s only going to benefit us in the long run.”
“This is a very talented group, from four-time Olympians Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, to the younger players who are hoping to compete in their first USA National Team competition,” said Carol Callan, USA Basketball Women’s National Team director and chair of the USA Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee. “As we looked toward the future, the committee first had to look at the past. We acknowledged that what has made the USA National Team program such a resounding success over the past two decades was the way our teams have seamlessly blended youth with veteran leadership. And because of that, we wanted to make sure we continued with that recipe in building a team. We can’t say enough about the veterans. We win simply because our best players want to play over and over again.”
