SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico) – For the first time since 2007, the USA’s senior national women’s team is attending a regional FIBA event to dispute the Women’s AmeriCup. The team from North America will face nine of the best squads in the Americas as a preamble to the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments before Tokyo 2020.

As the current world champions after their title win in 2018, and as gold medalists of the 2016 Olympic Games, the objectives of the national team are focused on beginning their Olympic preparation process, seeking to filter talents and using the opportunity to have 12 of their best players together before next year, according to Program Director, Dawn Staley.

“I believe that the most important thing for us is to have a little more time to prepare for the Olympics,” said Staley to FIBA.basketball before the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup jumpstarted. “Any opportunity where we can get together (is good), because we’ve been together for a short amount of time to prepare for the World Cup, and this tournament helps us to continue creating a certain chemistry. Although this is probably not our final roster for 2020, we’ll be choosing players from this group, depending on who’s ready to participate – because you never know.”

USA Basketball brought to San Juan a first-class roster that includes several-times Olympic medalists and world champions – and WNBA stars – Sylvia Fowles and Tina Charles. The group also features Jordin Canada in her first international appearance with the team. Other young players like Naphesa Collier, the WNBA’s 2019 Rookie of the Year, and Arike Ogunbowale, of the Dallas Wings, offer a great opportunity to this team.

“All the players here are young,” Staley explained. “We have players with a great deal of experience and others that have none at this level, so it’s good to see how they manage the situation and that they learn the culture of what we’re doing here in USA Basketball, which is an experience like no other.”

The US coach, who also had an outstanding athletic career and achieved three gold medals and three world championships with the US national team, acknowledged the evolution of international basketball and said she’s prepared to face the challenges that any rivals may present throughout the tournament.

“This is such a better basketball, more talented. The coaches are incredible. When I coach against FIBA teams I take their plays and use them in my university and they work well. I think they’re the best basketball players in the world. When you play against the best in the world, it’s like a basketball utopia,” assured Staley, who has been leading the national team since 2017.

The 49-year-old coach trusts her team’s preparation process is the key to their success in the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup. As part of this process, the team held a three-day camp in Miami last week that included other players like Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, who couldn’t travel to Puerto Rico because of other commitments with the WNBA.

“For us the challenge is to be capable of playing from our abilities. Do we explore other teams? Absolutely. The challenge for us is to play our best basketball. We know that we’re going to receive the best game from everyone else each time we step on the court. What we have to do is replace pressure with preparation,” Staley concluded.

Emmanuel Márquez
FIBA