Despite Caitlin Clark’s undeniable success to this point, it’s not a given that she will make the US Olympic team this year. Find out why.
Would Caitlin Clark break the NCAA scoring record? Would she declare for the WNBA draft? Would he lead the Iowa Hawkeyes back to the Final Four?
Clark has faced a number of burning questions since last fall. And “yes” was the answer to all of them.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever open the season on Tuesday visiting the Connecticut Sun (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN Deportes). Cooper Neill/NBAE via Getty Images
But another question remains about the escort of the Indiana Fever who was picked No. 1 in the WNBA draft: Will she make the 2024 US Olympic team?
As we approach the start of the WNBA season (the first few weeks of which will serve as Clark’s proving ground for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games), we look at the process and how USA Basketball’s history might give an indication of Clark’s chances of earning a spot on the team.
What are the basic concepts?
Twelve teams will compete in the women’s 5-on-5 Olympic tournament: the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Serbia and Spain. The roster size for each is 12. The Americans are going for their eighth consecutive gold medal and 10th gold medal overall in the Olympics, which launched women’s basketball competition in 1976.
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As of 2021, 3×3 basketball also became an Olympic sport, but Clark is not in the talent pool for the team, but he is for 5-on-5. However, he was unable to participate in the latest basketball camp. training camp, which was held at the same time as the Final Four in Cleveland, where Clark and Iowa were competing. There will be no other camp before the American team is chosen.
USA Basketball has not set a specific date to announce the team’s players, other than to say it won’t be before June 1. The 2021 team was named on June 21, just over a month before the United States’ first Olympic game in Japan on July 27.
Because Clark was not at the April camp or any previous camp for the senior national team (she has played on USA Basketball youth teams), she has to make her case with her play in the WNBA. The Fever opens the season Tuesday in Connecticut.
Who chooses the players for the US team?
The coach of Minnesota Lynx, Cheryl Reeve, who has extensive experience in USA Basketball, coaches the US women’s national team. She will provide commentary on the team’s composition, but does not select the players. This is done by a committee chaired by the team president. Connecticut Sun, Jennifer Rizzottia former UConn and WNBA player who also coached for many years.
Joining Rizzotti on the committee are: South Carolina coach, Dawn Staleythe former US Olympic coach who also played in three Olympic Games; Dan Padovergeneral manager of Atlanta Dream; Bethany DonaphinWNBA chief league operations officer; Simone Augustus y Delisha Milton-Jonesboth retired WNBA champions and Olympic athletes.
Have there been any controversial decisions regarding the American women’s roster?
In women’s basketball, the Olympics are very important and virtually all of the top American players are competing to be on the team. The size and composition of the selection committee has varied over the years. But can members completely divorce themselves from possible loyalties to any past or present player/partner?
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The hope is that they will be as objective as possible and that the group will balance favoritism/grudges. But controversial omissions still occur. Ask Nneka Ogwumike, who placed at the bottom end of three Olympic cycles.
Ogwumike, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft and the 2016 MVP and league champion, played extensively for USA Basketball (including in the FIBA World Cup), but was left off the Olympic team in 2012, 2016 and 2021. snubs in the history of USA Basketball on the women’s side (there have been some big ones), what happened to Ogwumike was the worst.
Will the selection be controversial this year? Clark’s overwhelming popularity has also made her unpopular with some fans, which often happens in sports when a particular young athlete receives a lot of attention. The committee can’t make everyone happy and has a lot to consider.
If Clark plays well to begin her WNBA career, can USA Basketball really not include a player who has been one of the biggest stars in all of sports in 2024 and who could benefit from learning more about the international game later in life? 22 years? Or will the committee strongly favor previous Olympic experience?
Caitlin Clark has competed for USA Basketball since 2017, winning gold medals at the 2019 and 2021 FIBA Under-19 World Cups and the 2017 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship, but has never played for the senior women’s team. Marc Piscotty/Icon Sportswire
How difficult will it be for Clark to make the US team?
Very hard. Let’s look at the escorts, the group Clark is trying to get into.
Diana Taurasi del Phoenix Mercury, who is trying to make her sixth Olympic team, is entering her 20th season in the WNBA and will turn 42 in June. She has battled injuries in recent years and played in 26 of the Mercury’s 40 games last season.
Taurasi’s two decades of experience on the national team can benefit an American group that doesn’t have much preparation time. But the Americans won the 2022 FIBA World Cup without Taurasi or Sue Bird, the five-time Olympian who retired that year. Still, Taurasi seems like a strong bet to be in the Olympics again.
Other guards who have already won Olympic gold, whether in 5-on-5 or 3-on-3, are Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum of Las Vegas Aces; Jewell Loyd del Seattle StormAriel Atkins of the Washington Mystics and Allisha Gray of the Dallas Wings.
Sabrina Ionescu and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton del New York Libertyand Kahleah Copper of Phoenix, were on the team that won the FIBA World Cup 2022 gold medal. Laney-Hamilton and Copper are shooting guards who can play the 3 position, as can the Atlanta Dream shooting guard, Rhyne Howard, and Young of the Aces.
Clark spent most of his time as a point guard at Iowa and can also play shooting guard. But to make it to these Olympics, she will have to be chosen from players who have been in the professional game longer than she has.
Does Team USA ever prioritize youth and the future on the Olympic team?
Yes, but consider this: For the last seven Olympic Games, from 1996 to 2021, the youngest player on the US women’s basketball team was from UConn or Tennessee. Clark, who turned 22 in January, would be the youngest player on this Olympic team if she makes it. She would go against that long-standing trend, as she graduated from Iowa.
UConn and Tennessee have combined to win 19 national championships, so it’s understandable why they have had so many Olympians of all ages. But with talent spreading across the country (UConn’s last NCAA title was in 2016 and Tennessee’s in 2008), more future “younger Olympians” may come from other schools as well.
In fact, that seems likely this year, even if Clark doesn’t make it. Her Fever teammate, Aliyah Boston, is 22 years old and in her second season in the WNBA after being the No. 1 pick and the WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2023. The South Carolina graduate, just 42 days older than Clark is considered a strong bet to make the Olympic team.
Who is the youngest to play on the US women’s Olympic team?
The Old Dominion Scout, Nancy Liebermanwho turned 18 about two weeks before the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Her ODU teammate, Anna Donovan (1980), he was also 18 years old, but was unable to play at Moscow 1980 due to the US boycott.
Until the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, when the International Olympic Committee finally stopped requiring amateur status for competitors, the United States men’s and women’s basketball teams were composed mostly of college students or players who had just completed their studies. university students. The NBA Dream Team changed everything in 1992. The American women also fielded a much older team that year (all the players had finished college and were competing professionally overseas), but that was the last American team that didn’t win the Olympic Games. They took the bronze.
Staley, fresh out of Virginia in 1992 as a two-time national player of the year, did not make the 1992 Olympic team at age 22. Her first Olympic team was in 1996. And the WNBA was launched in 1997.
Since then, three players taken No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft in an Olympic year have been named to the USA team: Diana Taurasi de UConn (2004), Candace Parker of Tennessee (2008) and Breanna Stewart of UConn (2016). But not Strong (2012) from Stanford. All four won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award. (Sylvia Fowles (LSU also made the 2008 Olympic team as a WNBA rookie, but is six months older than Parker).
The other youngest players on the Olympic team since 1996: Rebecca Lobo de UConn (1996), Chamique Holdsclaw from Tennessee (2000), Maya Moore from UConn (2012) and Napheesa Collier from UConn (2021). The WNBA had not yet started when Lobo ended up at UConn in 1995; Holdsclaw and Moore were in their second WNBA seasons and Collier was in his third.
Now, we wait to see if Clark will be the fourth WNBA No. 1 pick in an Olympic year to make Team USA.