September 18, 2010 - 7:29pm
With less than a week to go before the FIBA Women's World Championships tip off in Brno and Ostrava, Czech Republic, on September 24, the American roster has yet to be finalized. USA Basketball's Selection Committee has managed to whittle the list of "final" contenders down to 18, and then to 14, but today (September 21) the U.S. must announce its final 12-member roster at the FIBA technical meeting.
Carol Callan, director of women's basketball programs for USA Basketball, told the media last April, when she introduced Geno Auriemma as the new head coach of the U.S. Women's Senior National Team through the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics, that the Selection Committee would take full advantage of the generous timeline FIBA allows before finalization of rosters, and she has certainly held true to her promise. While the roster uncertainty may keep players and their fans on pins and needles about their prospects (some players, obviously, experiencing more apprehension more than others), and deprives the Americans of the familiarity and improved teamwork that might come from an earlier decision on, at least, the core team, it also gives the Selection Committee an expanded opportunity to adjust for unknowns such as late-season injuries and to assess players who might be having a better (or worse)-than-expected season, as well as keeping athletes who might reject a designation as "practice players" on their toes and in the mix.
Still, it's difficult to assess the strengths and vulnerabilities of the American squad without knowing exactly who's on it (and it's got to be tough as well for a coach to formulate strategy without knowing exactly what he or she has to work with), leading to a quadrennial game of tea-leaf reading as pundits try to 'suss out who will ultimately make the squad.
For some, the question is purely academic. With the U.S. Women's Team already ranked No. 1 in the world and heavily favored to recapture the world title, there are those who will tell you it just doesn't matter -- no team in the world can upset the Americans in a "meaningful" game. Then again, that's what most observers thought in the run-up to the 2006 World Championships, only to see the U.S. fall to Russia in the semifinals and Australia walk away with the gold medal. The Aussies, currently ranked No. 3 in the world, are determined to defend their world title, and even without their star, Lauren Jackson (who, like Bird, just wrapped up her WNBA season with a national championship Thursday) have proved themselves capable of doing so in exhibition play. Australia soundly thrashed the Americans in a scrimmage held in conjunction with Team USA's July training camp, and though they dropped both games in the exhibition tournament held in Hartford, Connecticut last weekend -- losing to the U.S., 56-89, and to Spain, 74-87, the Opals avenged themselves Friday, defeating Team USA, 83-77, in an exhibition tournament held in Salamanca, Spain.
The basketball world, like the world at large, is full of confusing facts and incomplete information, and in basketball, as in life, more often than not, we must rely on logical and good-faith interpretations of such facts, rather than on certainties, in order to make predictions. Happily, though three of the American final roster contenders -- Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Angel McCoughtry -- were still engaged in the WNBA playoffs until Thursday, and have yet to join the team in its final training camp and warm-up play -- the exhibition games held over the past week in Connecticut and Spain offer plenty of material from which to predict who will make the team -- and what each will bring to the table -- when the roster is announced later this week in the Czech Republic.
Let's take a look.
