| | WASHINGTON -- Adding five more players to the U.S. women's
national basketball team was simple enough. Now if USA Basketball
could only find a way to add another month to the calendar before
next year's Olympic Games.
1999-2000
NATIONAL TEAM |
|
POS. |
NAME |
AGE |
| G |
Ruthie Bolton-Holifield |
32 |
| G |
Cynthia Cooper |
36 |
| F |
Yolanda Griffith |
29 |
| F |
Chamique Holdsclaw |
22 |
| C |
Lisa Leslie |
27 |
| G |
Nikki McCray |
27 |
| F |
DeLisha Milton |
24 |
| F |
Katie Smith |
25 |
| G |
Dawn Staley |
29 |
| F |
Natalie Williams |
28 |
Unlike the run-up to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, when the U.S.
women went undefeated in a 52-game tour, there is now a
professional league that takes up the summer months. The success of
the 1996 team spawned the WNBA; now the WNBA is both a blessing and
an inconvenience in the preparations for Sydney.
"This time around, we don't have the luxury of time," said
Carol Callan, assistant executive director of USA Basketball. "We
have players whose schedules are filled, and they're very busy
people."
Callan formally announced the addition of the Cynthia Cooper,
Chamique Holdsclaw, Yolanda Griffith, Natalie Williams and DeLisha
Milton to the U.S. team at a news conference Saturday at the MCI
Center. Officials had confirmed their selections earlier this week.
They join five "core" national team players named last year:
Lisa Leslie, Nikki McCray, Katie Smith, Dawn Staley and Ruthie
Bolton-Holifield. Two more players will be added next year to
complete the 12-player Olympic roster.
The team is coached by Nell Fortner, who guided the United
States to a gold medal at last year's World Championships.
Since all 10 members of the team play in the WNBA, they now face
a year of nonstop basketball. Following the WNBA season, they will
gather in San Diego for the U.S. Olympic Cup tournament, which runs
Sept. 9-12 and includes the national teams from Australia, Poland
and Brazil. The same four teams then travel north for the USA
Basketball International Tournament, Sept. 13-18 in Palo Atlo,
Calif.
The U.S. team will stay together through most of the fall and
winter, playing a 12-game college exhibition tour -- including games against perennial powerhouse Tennessee, defending NCAA champion Purdue and NCAA runner-up Duke -- and perhaps
another dozen or so games against various international teams
before the WNBA training camps open in May.
The WNBA season usually
runs through early September, although Callan said she has received
indications that the WNBA may wrap up a couple of weeks earlier so
the Olympic team can reassemble Aug. 14 and perhaps travel to
Hawaii to break up time zone differential on the way to Sydney.
The Olympics begin Sept. 16, 2000.
"I think it's tough," McCray, a member of the 1996 Olympic
team, said of the schedule. "But when you've played in the
Olympics and you know what it feels like to win a gold medal,
you're willing to make a sacrifice and do whatever it takes to get
to that level again.
"We don't have much time to train, but we have
to take advantage of the time that we do have."
Although USA Basketball is having to schedule around the WNBA,
Callan said the presence of the league has made the U.S. players
more team-oriented.
"Before 1995, they were able to play, but they played in Europe
and there was always this thing where the American players were
paid to score," Callan said. "So we spent a year teaching defense
to that '95-'96 team. Now when you look at them here in these
domestic leagues, the development of the player is more
well-rounded." | |
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