Four WNBA players will try for history in India
Napheesa Collier, Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray and Kelsey Plum were named to the United States 3×3 team for the upcoming Olympic Qualifying Tournament, USA Basketball announced Monday.
“It means so much to me that they chose me to be a part of this 3×3 team,” Dolson said. “It’s always an honor to wear the USA jersey, but to be able to do it in a sport that is just now starting to grow and will be in the Olympics for the first time is amazing.”
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The United States is aiming to earn one of three qualifying spots to this summer’s inaugural Olympic 3×3 tournament. The 20-team OQT will take place from March 18-22 in Bengaluru, India, where Team USA will compete in Pool A against France, Germany, Uruguay and Indonesia.
Per FIBA rules, each four-person team must include at least two of a country’s top 10 ranked 3×3 players, as determined by the number of points they have accrued. Plum, Gray and Dolson are all in the United States’ top 10, but Collier competed for USA 3×3 most recently at the World Beach Games in October.
Collier also competed in 3×3 at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, where she, Katie Lou Samuelson, Arike Ogunbowale and De’Janae Boykin won gold.
Over the last few months, USA Basketball has entered a handful of WNBA players into 3×3 tournaments to improve their FIBA ranking and make them eligible for the OQT. Dolson, Plum and Gray all competed in the Pittsburgh Winter Series last month.
Still, by points, Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu is the United States’ top-ranked 3×3 player — but she won’t be available for the OQT due to it overlapping with the NCAA Tournament.
The United States earned their spot in the OQT as a result of their FIBA 3×3 ranking. Russia (2017 3×3 World Cup winner), China (2019 3×3 World Cup winner), Mongolia and Romania have already qualified for the Olympics as the top four ranked teams.
Per FIBA’s universality clause, the eighth and final bid will go to a country that did not have a basketball team at the 2012 or 2016 Olympics.
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