COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—After four days, nine on-floor sessions, three roster cuts and some ultra-competitive basketball, 46 remaining candidates for the USA Basketball U17 World Championship team anxiously wait for the bell to toll at 10:00 a.m. MST Monday. While it’s not exactly midnight, 12 athletes will get their ticket to the ball punched and join Head Coach Sue Phillips and her staff in representing the red, white and blue in the Czech Republic June 28 through July 6.
The athletes still in contention are what’s left of a beginning group of 155 that took the floor Thursday night at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Of that initial line-up 37 were here at the invitation of USA Basketball. The other 118 were participating as applicants in the third “open trials” scenario offered to hopeful players across the country. Of the remaining 46, nine applicants join the entire list of invitees in waiting for the final roster announcement.
Also within that group is the complete roster of the Gold Medal 2013 USA Basketball U16 team that claimed top honors in the FIBA America’s U16 Championship for Women. Top performers like Katie Lou Samuelson (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Arike Ogunbowale (Milwaukee, Wisc.) and Asia Durr (Douglasville, Ga.) have been pretty convincing in laying claim to a spot on this year’s roster. Several others have positioned themselves for another tour of duty for Uncle Sam but it’s a safe bet that there will be quite a few changes as well.
It’s challenging to “pick” a roster even after taking in every moment of the trials because of the unique nature of international basketball. Women’s National Team Director Carol Callan and the USA Basketball Women’s Developmental National Team Committee have a difficult job interpreting how our best athletes and their games will translate into a successful combination in both FIBA America’s competition as well as World Championships in multiple age groups. In the U17 group that effort has led to Gold in the first two World Championships held for the age group as well as a combined 16 – 0 record over the course of both events. If you’re looking for more information on dates, pools and bracket schedules of this year’s U17 World Championship in the Czech Republic follow the link below
http://www.usab.com/womens/u17/schedule.html
Trials are also being held for this year’s U18 team that will represent the USA in the FIBA America’s Championship for Women to be held right here in Colorado Springs later this summer. For coverage on those players named in Monday’s U17 announcement as well as the U18 roster set to be named Monday evening, check back with Blue Star Media.
