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USA Basketball announces first leg of college tour

By Christine M. Hopkins

CORCAL GABLES, FL - SEPTEMBER 19: Team USA huddles up during the Women's National Team Camp on September 19, 2019 at Watsco Center at University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
CORCAL GABLES, FL - SEPTEMBER 19: Team USA huddles up during the Women's National Team Camp on September 19, 2019 at Watsco Center at University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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USA Basketball announced Wednesday that the women’s national team will play Stanford, Oregon State, Texas A&M and Oregon to open its college tour, which constitutes the first major part of its expanded training program for Tokyo 2020.

The roster for these four games consists of the eight core players identified by USA Basketball in July — Sue Bird, Elena Delle Donne, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Sylvia Fowles, Chelsea Gray, Nneka Ogwumike, Diana Taurasi and A’ja Wilson — as well as Seimone Augustus, Layshia Clarendon, Napheesa Collier and Kelsey Plum.

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Gray will miss the Nov. 2 game at Stanford, while Plum will be absent for the Stanford game and the Nov. 4 game at Oregon State.

Rounding out the schedule is the Texas A&M game on Nov. 7 and the Oregon game on Nov. 9.

“Historically speaking, it has been great for our program to have a college tour,” said Team USA head coach Dawn Staley. “All our past USA teams that had a college tour went on to win Olympic gold medals. So, if we can pull back into some historical times in which we had the opportunity to showcase our national team in this light, women’s college basketball is at an all-time high as far as exposure.”

Staley and assistant coach Jennifer Rizzotti will miss the next two training camps as they focus on their own college teams, leaving assistant coaches Dan Hughes and Cheryl Reeve at the helm.

A second stage of the college tour will take place in early 2020, with opponents to be announced.

The United States last participated in college tours in preparation for the 1996, 2000 and 2008 Olympics, going a combined 39-1 against 30 top NCAA Division I programs.

This training segment leads into the next phase of the new Olympic qualification process, the FIBA Women’s Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament for the Americas, which will take place from Nov. 14-17. Although the United States has already qualified for the Olympics by virtue of winning the 2018 FIBA World Cup, participation in the complete qualification process is an integral part of USA Basketball’s new training program.

“[The college tour] is more prep time,” Staley said. “The more time we have, the better we will perform in Tokyo.”

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