Canadian women sticking with what works
12-member Olympic squad the same group that went unbeaten in summer of 2015
There is no reason to tinker too much with something that works so well, a team with a foundation of chemistry and true caring for each other needs to be nurtured and not broken up. The 12 women named to Canada’s Olympic basketball team Friday, under head coach Lisa Thomaidis, is precisely the same group that rolled unbeaten through the summer of 2015 because that was the only sensible thing to do.
“Lisa made it very clear at the very beginning of the summer, our first day of our first training camp in May, this is not a tryout for the Olympic team, the tryout for the Olympic team started in 2013,” veteran forward Lizanne Murphy said at the Canadian Olympic Committee announcement.
“This team is made so . . . we’ve known this is the team that is going.
“You can’t necessarily build a team in a tryout environment because you’re all fighting. I think that was a huge, huge thing that the coaching staff did.”
The team, including seven returnees from the 2012 London Games team, is its usual mix of veterans and youth that relies on depth as much as anything. Murphy, Kim Gaucher, Shona Thorburn, Tamara Tatham, Natalie Achonwa, Michelle Plouffe and Miranda Ayim are now two-time Olympians. They are joined on the Rio-bound team by Kia Nurse, Miah-Marie Langlois, Nirra Fields, Katherine Plouffe, Nayo Raincock-Akunwe.
“Our success has really been built on the fact we have tremendous cohesion, the players spend a lot of time playing together and being able to be very, very comfortable within our system and style of play,” Thomaidis said.
Canada does harbour legitimate medal hopes in the 12-country tournament that kicks off Aug. 6. Coming off a fifth-place finish in the 2014 world championships, Canada is in a preliminary round-robin group with the United States, Serbia, China, Senegal and Spain; the top four teams advance to knockout quarterfinals.
“If anything, I’d say our team is deeper and through our exhibition
“Our success has really been built on the fact we have tremendous cohesion.”
LISA THOMAIDIS COACH
play we rolled everybody through. I’m not sure anyone played more than about 23 minutes a game,” Thomaidis said. “It speaks to the level of talent and how deep our talent base is right now.
“You look at our boxscores and a different player is the top scorer every night, there’s no one player that our team needs to produce 20 points a game for us to succeed.
“That’s a real comforting factor, when you know that anyone can potentially go off for 20 points a night.”
THE SEASON SO FAR
Using a roster that has yet to completely match the one going to the Rio Olympics, the women’s team completed a 4-1 exhibition tour of Europe in May and then beat China in three straight tune-up games in Edmonton earlier this month.
TOUGH CHALLENGE AHEAD
For their final preparation, the wom- en will face the United States, France and Australia next week in the USA Basketball Showcase in the New York City area. It will be a stern test against three stacked opponents who are all Rio medal threats.
THREE WHO ARE KEY
Kia Nurse: Ultratalented collegiate point guard from Hamilton has yet to play due to injury, but will have this weekend’s camp and three exhibition games to get up to speed.
Miranda Ayim: Veteran forward is one of the steadiest performers on the squad. The six-foot-three native of London, Ont., is coming off a good season in the highly-regarded French league.
Kim Gaucher: The most veteran player on the team, closing in on 200 appearances for Canada, the sixfoot-one guard-forward from Mission, B.C., provides leadership and much-needed outside shooting.
WHO AWAITS?
Canada’s preliminary round group is stacked with the defending Olympic champion United States, European champion France, African champion Senegal, Asian champion China and Spain, which won the final FIBA qualification tournament.