United States ladies’s basketball has a case as probably the most dominant crew on the Olympics in any sport. Crew USA has received seven straight gold medals in ladies’s basketball. It hasn’t misplaced a sport within the Olympics since 1992. The U.S. has received its gold medal sport by a median of twenty-two factors during the last seven Olympics, and none of these video games has been determined by single-digits.
With the WNBA nonetheless comparatively in its infancy in its twenty eighth season, making the Olympic crew is usually thought-about the best honor within the profession of a ladies’s basketball participant. Lots of the best gamers within the historical past of the sport have received gold with Crew USA, from Cheryl Miller to Lisa Leslie to Tamika Catchings to Maya Moore to Diana Taurasi to Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson.
Caitlin Clark goes to affix that checklist at some point. She’s simply not deserving of that honor but.
Crew USA introduced the 12-player roster for 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday, and it has a case to be probably the most proficient group this system has ever put collectively. Stewart and Wilson are the headliners as the 2 finest gamers on this planet. Napheesa Collier and Alyssa Thomas make the roster after being named First-Crew All-WNBA final season. Jewell Loyd, Sabrina Ionescu, Chelsea Grey, and Jackie Younger every made Second-Crew All-WNBA final season. Add in Kelsey Plum (First-Crew All-WNBA in 2022) and the legend Taurasi, and Crew USA has the makings of an all-time nice roster.
In fact, the headline information from the roster announcement was who didn’t make the crew. That may be Clark, who was left off throughout her rookie 12 months simply months after after being drafted into the league.
Clark is probably the most well-known ladies’s basketball participant on the planet — and some of the well-known athletes on this planet, full cease. She earned that distinction based mostly on her electrical faculty profession, the place she broke the all-time NCAA scoring file (for males or ladies) whereas main Iowa to the 2 Closing 4 appearances. Clark has introduced a brand new stage of consideration to the WNBA since being drafted, however not the entire discourse surrounding her younger profession has been in good religion.
It is smart that individuals wish to watch Clark on the largest stage in ladies’s basketball, however giving her a spot on this crew with out advantage wouldn’t have been honest to the opposite gamers who waited their flip and earned a spot via their play. Right here’s why Clark didn’t deserve a spot on Crew USA simply but.
Caitlin Clark shouldn’t be one of many 12 finest American gamers but
For those who’re including Clark to the crew, who’re you taking off?
- A’ja Wilson
- Breanna Stewart
- Diana Taurasi
- Brittney Griner
- Alyssa Thomas
- Napheesa Collier
- Jewell Loyd
- Kelsey Plum
- Jackie Younger
- Sabrina Ionescu
- Chelsea Grey
- Kahleah Copper
Taurasi is the one participant who doesn’t have a case to be on the crew based mostly on advantage. She’s additionally arguably the best American participant of all-time, has 5 gold medals to her identify, and is one thing of the religious chief of the crew at age-41.
Everybody else on the roster fills a crew want: Griner for measurement and protection, Thomas for her all-around sport on the ahead spot, Copper for her rim strain and wing scoring, Grey for her playmaking, Ionescu her taking pictures, and so on.
There are not any gamers as younger as Clark on the crew
The youngest gamers on the roster are Ionescu and Younger, who’re every 26 years outdated. Younger was the No. 1 decide within the 2019 WNBA Draft out of Notre Dame, whereas Ionescu was the primary decide within the 2020 draft out of Oregon.
Clark is just 22 years outdated. Because the No. 1 decide within the 2024 draft, she has to attend her flip for a spot to open up on the roster. That may occur by the following Olympic video games in 2028, and even then she’s going to nonetheless be among the many youngest gamers on the crew in all probability.
FIBA play is often extra bodily than the NBA/WNBA, and if there’s one space of the sport Clark struggles with proper now, it’s physicality. That’s to be anticipated for a 22-year-old who nonetheless wants so as to add muscle to her body. It’ll occur over time, nevertheless it hasn’t occurred but.
Crew USA already has too many guards
The backcourt for Crew USA is stacked: Plum brings velocity and taking pictures, Loyd brings two-way toughness and three-level scoring, Ionescu is a jumbo playmaker and knockdown shooter, and Grey is a Level God stage facilitator. That’s 5 guards on the 12-woman roster with out together with Kahleah Copper, who can play the 2 or the three.
There are greater snubs than Clark
Arike Ogunbowale has a case for the largest snub on Crew USA. The 27-year-old is at the moment No. 2 within the WNBA in scoring at 26.6 factors per sport. Ogunbowale has been a stud for years within the league, and nonetheless couldn’t crack the 12-person roster.
Rhyne Howard, a proficient wing scorer who was the No. 1 decide within the 2022 draft, additionally didn’t make the roster. Making Crew USA is difficult!
Crew USA is aware of what it’s doing
As soon as once more, the USA hasn’t misplaced a ladies’s basketball sport on the Olympics since 1992! The leaders of this system know find out how to put collectively a profitable crew, and their judgement shouldn’t be questioned.
It’s superior that extra individuals are watching ladies’s basketball due to Clark. She’s an exciting participant, and is already an excellent WNBA guard. However she’s not one of many 12-best American gamers simply but at 22 years outdated.
If you already know something about Clark, you already know that getting minimize from Crew USA in highschool was the beginning of her celebrity explosion within the basketball world. We will’t wait to see how she makes use of this “snub” to gasoline her over the following 4 years.
