Staley-led women won’t be caught napping
TOKYO – The most mind-blowing statistic about the U.S. women’s basketball team is not necessarily its 63 consecutive wins in FIBA competition, its 49-game winning streak at the Olympics or its 37.3-point average margin of victory five years ago in Rio.
Instead, it’s a number that speaks to the unrivaled stability and continuity of its program: 26. That’s how many players have donned the red, white and blue at the last four Olympics, a span that now covers 17 years and at least a couple of basketball generations. Just 26 – nearly a full roster fewer than their male counterparts, who’ve brought 37 players to the Games over the same span.
But with such tremendous continuity eventually comes transition, which Team USA will try to pull off both gracefully and effectively in Tokyo.
“This is a different team than we’ve had in a long time,” said Diana Taurasi, who will be in her fifth Olympics when the U.S. opens group play Tuesday against Nigeria. “We have a couple newcomers. We don’t necessarily have the same roster from the (2018) world championship team. We’re learning and navigating the things we need to improve on, so it’s exciting and we’re all anxious to play.”
Beyond the massive talent advantage the U.S. has had over the rest of the world, continuity has been a huge part of the formula. After a mini-transition in 2008 following the departure of current Team USA coach Dawn Staley, Sheryl Swoopes, Ruth Riley and Yolanda Griffith, there was a lot of carryover from 2008 to 2012 and even more from 2012 to 2016, which had just three newcomers.
This time there are six first-time Olympians on the roster, a youth movement that is much-needed as Taurasi (age 39), Sue Bird (40), Sylvia Fowles (35) and Tina Charles (32) get closer to the end of their storied runs as the engine of so much success.
“We’ve been fortunate to have a number of really good basketball players put on the United States uniform, but when they put it on they’ve done a great job of saying, ‘What do you need me to do on this team?’ ” said assistant coach Dan Hughes. “When you’ve got talented players that are willing to sacrifice and do what’s needed to just win, that’s a place where a coach feels pretty good and I’ve seen that repeated and repeated and repeated.”
At this point, it’s practically taken for granted that they can repeat it again.
But this isn’t the same team, which showed in the lead-up to the Olympics when they lost exhibitions to the WNBA All-Stars and Australia. Though there’s no cause for alarm yet – the Americans’ track record is just too overwhelming – it certainly showed that Staley didn’t inherit a finished product.
“When the games start, I think everybody will see the hard work we’ve put in in each practice,” said Brittney Griner, who made her debut in Rio. “Rome wasn’t built in a day. Everybody just expected we would all come together and roll over teams, but it’s a process. We definitely didn’t want to lose those games and we took it as a learning experience and that’s what’s been driving us each and every day to be better. We weren’t happy with that. It might look fine, but internally we took that to pride, and this next game I think you’ll be able to see everything we’ve put in.”
In some ways, the most fascinating subplot of the early games for the U.S. will be how Staley apportions the minutes and the responsibilities, with newcomers A’ja Wilson (who played for Staley at South Carolina), point guard Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd already wellestablished WNBA stars who will lead the next wave for Team USA.
Part of what veterans like Taurasi and Bird have imparted on the newcomers is to find that balance of playing team basketball with other stars while not straying from the skills that got them onto this team.
“You’re here for a reason, be confident, everybody’s going to the same goal to have that gold around your neck,” Gray said. “You don’t know if there’s another opportunity to be at another Olympics. Injuries, career paths, you just never know; so just taking full advantage of it, be in the moment but play like it’s your last and have fun doing it. A lot of people wish they could be in your shoes, so you have to do it right and play with confidence.”
All caveats aside, the U.S. still came to Tokyo as arguably the biggest gold medal favorite in any sport. The gap has been so huge for so long, it’s almost unfathomable to envision anyone else coming close to this team. Australia has been the most competitive opponent on the international stage of late, and the exhibition win over the Americans certainly gave the Aussies some credibility.
At the same time, it might have killed any hopes of catching Team USA napping should they meet in the gold medal game.
“Nothing in the Olympics is going to surprise anybody,” Staley said. “Anybody thinks they’re going to just run through this Olympics unscathed is setting themselves up for a big-time failure. Fortunately for us we always carry that target on our backs so we can’t take anybody lightly, nor will we.”