USA Basketball boosts its 3x3 program
COLORADO SPRINGS - With the incorporation of 3x3 in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, there are many national federations that have increased their emphasis on promoting and developing this discipline, with
COLORADO SPRINGS - With the incorporation of 3x3 in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, there are many national federations that have increased their emphasis on promoting and developing this discipline, with the objective of achieving medals.
This is the case of USA Basketball, who announced this month a new locality for their 3x3 National Championship as they were successfully celebrating their U18 Championship.
The eighth edition of the open category National Championship will take place on May 3 and 4 in the entertainment capital of the world — Las Vegas, Nevada. This is a considerable change from the 2018 edition, which took place in the National Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Twenty teams will fight for the women's title, and sixteen for the men’s, and will be trying to qualify to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Participants will also be considered for the teams that will represent the United States in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in Amsterdam (June 18-23) and the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru (July 26 - August 11).
Already in 2016, the USA's men’s team won the silver in the world championship. The women's national team won gold in 2012 and 2014, as well as the bronze in 2016.
“This is a giant step for the USA Basketball 3x3 program,” said Jim Tooley, CEO of USA Basketball. “The level of competition at the USA Basketball Men’s and Women’s 3x3 National Championships has grown each year since we first launched in ¬2012, and we felt it was time to bring the tournament to a larger stage. USA Basketball’s successful hosting of various events in Las Vegas helped make the decision to hold the 2019 USA 3x3 Nationals in the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center an easy one. Fans of basketball will enjoy watching what we think will be an incredibly exciting weekend of competition.”
Meanwhile, last week the best two U18 teams of the nation were defined in the seventh edition of their National Championship. 12 women’s and 12 men's teams battled for the medals at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center.
The Attack team, featuring Dawson García (MVP), Nimari Burnett, Ethan Morton and Devin Askew were the undefeated champions in the men's category with 8 wins, including 5 on the first day of competition. As for the women, TGB had a very similar record, thanks to Olivia Cochran (MVP), Treasure Hunt and Madison Hayes, who were outstanding by winning seven of their eight games and taking home the gold medal.
The players will be considered for the team that will participate in the seventh edition of the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in Mongolia, which will take place from June 3 to 7.
FIBA