(This article was written prior to the last afternoon session and posted prior to play. This has now been updated to reflect changes from differences in play up the the end of the Trials.)
Colorado Springs, CO – This is the last day of the 2017 USA Basketball u16 trials and it’s time for the traditional – Let’s Pick A Team – debate.
After the Friday evening cuts (posted on Saturday morning) deleted 47 players with a few surprises, the remaining 37 are fighting to make tomorrow morning’s final 18 roster. The eventual team will be selected after a series of practices prior to the team leaving for Buenos Aires, Argentina for the u16 FIBA Americas from June 7-12.
The “process” now is for the USAB u16 Selection Committee to put together a roster that will win gold at the u16 level and the u17 World Championships in 2018 from the 37 remaining names. They have to work in those players that have played well with the “expected” people to intigrate those unanticipated showings. Regardless of what parents and self-anointed evaluators want to say, this is about performance. You either step up or step out.
The composition of the possible u16 roster is still in flux as there are a lot of possible combinations of players who could make the team. Unlike the 2015 u16 team and selection pool this one is deep and more talented. I noted to one person that most of the USA bronze team wouldn’t have made it to today’s cut if they were here. The difference is that stark – which is a good thing for this Committee.
If there are any “locks” for this team – it’s easy to observe three players have stood out from the pack. The first is 2021 5-10 multi-guard Azzi Fudd (Falls Church, VA) who is the most skilled and position ready player here. The second is 2020 Treasure Hunt (Chattanooga, TN) who a bigger version of Fudd with the ability to play four of five spots on the floor. These two are also offensive machines. The third is 6-2 2020 Fran Belibi (Centennial, CO) who made a name at the USAB u18 3X3 event and here with her intense athletic play. This is the core of what the team will probably built around.
What that leaves is an issue of who else is in the backcourt, who are the shooters, what is to be expected from the inside play and what kind of temperament will this team have?
The point guard position is going to be a choice between size, speed and ability. With the remaining names to select from there are options for guards who can pass the ball like: 5-7 2020 Sarah Andrews (Irving, TX), 6-0 2020 Caitlin Clark (West Des Moines, IA) and 5-10 2020 Paige Bueckers (Eden Prairie, MN). All three can move the ball but did not impress with shooting during the past three days. There are other options like: 5-9 2019 Cailyn Crocker (Cypress, CA), 5-9 2020 Rylee Langerman (Norman, OK), 5-8 2019 Charisma Osborne (Inglewood, CA), 5-7 2019 Kaylah Rainey (Bellevue, WA), 5-8 2020 Jewel Spear (The Colony, TX) and 5-9 2020 Te-Hina Paopao (Oceanside, CA) who’s playing strong after coming back from a knee injury. If Paopao was 100% she’s another Fudd-level player.
The two most impressive big guard scorers have been 5-9 2019 Zia Cooke (Toledo, OH) and 5-10 2019 Celeste Taylor (Valley Stream, NY) who have shown the ability to go get a shot and basket despite being defended by bigger players. Both are explosive to the basket to go with an outside threat. If these two make it there is still a need for a big shooter. Right now the two most consistent are 6-0 2020 Maddie Burke (Doylestown, PA) and 6-2 2019 Diamond Miller. The other two know shooters 6-2 2019 Samatha Brunelle (Ruckersville, VA) and 6-1 2020 Sydney Parrish (Fishers, IN) are not hitting shots and leaving space to lose this spot.
The stretch three position (players who can float from wing to small forward) ii led by 2019 61- Nyah Green (Allen, TX). She is big enough to be the shooter and also play D and rebound. The other choice for this position is wide open with 6-1 2019 Rickea Jackson (Detroit, MI), 6-1 2019 Haley Jones (Santa Cruz, CA) and 6-0 2019 Jordan Horston (Columbus, OH) who can all run the floor with the ball in high motor.
The inside game is a toss-up with a choice between size, speed or strength. The most dominant post here is the nation’s top center, 6-3 2019 Allyah Boston (Worcester, MA). Who gets selected next to her is also open. The most athletic stretch 4-5 here is 6-3 2020 Kylee Waston (Linwood, NJ) who runs the floor and rebounds. Joining her is 6-3 2019 Ramani Parker (Fresno, CA) a monster-quick rebounder. The “big” battle is between 6-5 2019 Ashten Prechtel (Colorado Springs, CO) and 6-5 2020 Cameron Brink (Beaverton, OR) and 6-5 2019 River Baldwin (Andalusia, AL). The Committee has to decide what their “inside” plan is to make the right choice.
Before the competition started I expect as least half the team to be easily to select. As the days and altitude wore on different players stepped up which could force the Committee to look other ways. The biggest issues that need to be addressed is Leadership and Style both lacking in the last cycle.
For the USA to be successful now and in two years how this group leads itself will be key. This was a missing ingredient in Pubelo, Mexico (Bronze) and in Zaragoza, Spain (Silver). You didn’t know who was going to take the necessary shots and make them from one game to the next. Great individual players did not lead up to a great team.
The style is also a concern as there is sometimes an over-coaching reliance on plays dominating offensive play for the USA. I watched the USA Women’s Olympic team destroy teams with a relentless break that finished in points, not misses or turnover and which ran effective sets when slowed into half-court. This did not happen at the youth level last cycle as the talent to run this was overshadowed by our ingrained dribble-drive summer mentality.
You can call sets but you need to have multiple scoring threat talent on the floor. You can go in transition as long as the teams motors and finishes. It looks like the array of talent left for the USA Youth Selection Committee can get this done.
THE LAST SESSION: I thought things would finish out easier – it didn’t. Just when you have a “roster” set in your mind, the players just go out and change it. The last session turned into a turn-your-head experience as many players who were either not playing well (or up to their “name”) or just did not have a dominate stretch turned it on.
Right out of the gate Caitlin Clark who glided through the trials just passing the ball started hitting shots. Hmmm, is she a shooting big guard now? Then River Baldwin came next hitting powerful baskets. Maybe she’s the other post after Boston? Up stepped Ramini Parker rebounds and making baskets inside and out. Is she the other rebounder, forward or post? Does she push out Prechtel, Brink or even Watson out of the inside position? How does this team look inside now? Who did they just push off the roster? Then the two big name shooters Brunelle and Parrish who did not have a bad tryout just didn’t get buckets in expected droves. In the last half of the final session these two turned it out. Both made their trademark shots and got to the rim. Diamond Miller didn’t back off by hitting outside shots and getting to the boards could mean a quicker lineup with either Horston, Jones or Jackson or all of them?
The battle at point guard and off guard got complicated as Cooke and Crocker just went at each other up and down the floor. It didn’t help things when all-around consistent guard Azzi Fudd started to feel the fatigue halfway through the session. So, who do you take now? What’s the team composition at the guard line? Who are the team shooters? What’s the inside play going to be?
When the last cycle ended I said out out to the Committee as I was walking out: “Good luck picking this team.” This time I said: “They didn’t make it easy on you.”
NEXT CUTS: The 37 players today will meet tomorrow at 10:00am for the final selection to be posted of 18 players. It is expected to have a last cut down to 12 in a few days. This may be the time to sort out some of the dilemma from the above. After the team meeting the group will practice here at the U.S. Olympic Training Center until they leave next Sunday for Buenos Aires competition.
MY FINAL ROSTER: I sat with Chris Mennig and we decided to see who got the closest to the Committee. In the past, many quasi-media types would pick their favorite team based on their visual preference. I would lean towards thinking what the Committee at that time was looking for. With the rise of more foreign competition closing the youth gap I started looking at team construction based on what it will take to win in two years time against the world powers at u17 and then at u19. It’s suddenly who’s the best high school or college player but eventually a pro.
As I keep tweeting and saying; Regardless of what I say or select – these girls will get the D1 scholarship offers they want. Making or not making the team will not impede this parental objective. With this in mind (and not knowing the depth of this new Committee’s view point on Team Construction for now or later) here’s what I would select as my final 22. Sadly, four won’t make this if it turns out correct and then 6 more to cut down to the final 12.
GUARDS: Fudd, Cooke, Taylor, Crocker, Paopao (pick 3 or 4)
BIG SHOOTERS: Green, Burke, Parrish, Bunelle, Clark (pick 2 or 3)
BIG WINGS: Hunt, Miller, Horston, Jackson, Jones (pick 3)
COMBO-FORWARDS: Belini, Watson, Parker (pick 2 or 3)
POSTS: Boston, Prechtel, Baldwin, Brink (pick 1 or 2)
MY 12: Fudd, Cooke Taylor Green / Hunt Miller Burke / Belini Watson Parker / Boston Prechtel (and this was not my original selections on Thursday night and the above story with this addition reflects how I got here).
This is a big, tougher team that can run the break and also go half court against the competition just like our USA Olympic teams.
And, before people go crazy with my “selection” it is my selection, not what others may think or want or what comes from the Committee. But, after watching for four days and thinking of the endless combinations, these 22 players stepped up. They all deserve to be on this team.
BLUESTAR30: The Class of 2016 and 2017 where represented here with 17 players in attendance out of 133. As of the last cut to 37, eight remained: Maddie Burke, Azzi Fudd, Treasure Hunt, Jayla Kelly, Katelyn Leavings, Jordyn Merritt, Sydney Parish and Kylee Watson.
2021s: Making their mark by playing into the second cut (88) besides Fudd were: 5-10 Viane Cumber, NM; 6-2 Brooke Demetre, CA; 5-11 Aubryanna Hall, OH; 6-0 Greta Kampschroeder, IL; 6-2 Aleah Sorrentino, FL; 6-2 Ally VanTimmermen, MI and 5-7 Arianna Wiggins, IN.
SURPRISES: If there was any surprise it was the cut of 6-4 2020 Natalija Marshall, NY and 6-3 2019 Taylor Jones, TX who both impressed but did not make it into the final 37. The only rationale was that they might not be physical enough. In listening to an interview with USA Basketball u16 head coach Carla Berbue (Tufts University) she mentioned that the Committee was looking for hard play, defense and physicality.
NOT HERE: Two other players of note in the 2020 and 2021 classes where not here due to knee injuries, both of whom are also Blue Star 30 players. Top guard 5-11 2020 Elauna Eaton, AR is just on the back end of a fall knee injury and is expected back late in the summer. The other top player in the 2021 class after Azzi Fudd is 6-1 shooter Caroline Ducharme who got banged up at the GEYBL Boo Williams April tournament. She is not expected to play this summer but will still be at the 2017 Blue Star 30 camp in DC this late July.
SCREEN SHOTS: The 2017 FIBA Americas site has a web site with the preliminary USA u16 roster to be replaced. What is interesting is the list of names that were posted. You can look at the page at:
http://www.fiba.com/americas/u16women/2017/USA#tab=overview,average_statistics
FINAL KUDOS: No one except Blue Star Media covers the gamut of USAB youth boys and girls FIBA international level events. This is one of the reasons the NCAA needs to address the divide between pure scouting services and real media. If you’re not an USBWA, NSSA and AIPS member you should not be there.
HEADING SOUTH: I will be attending the 2017 u16 FIBA Americas event in two week in Buenos Aires. Later in June I will be headed to Cairo, Egypt for the FIBA u19 Men’s Workd Championships with fellow Blue Star Media maven Dick Weiss who will be back in Colorado Springs next week for the Men’s tryouts.
