STORY BY CLAY KALLAM; PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON
Nneka Ogwumike battles contact at last year's USA Basketball Youth Development Festival.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - I've been coaching a long time -- this year, an incoming freshman on my high=school team is the daughter of a player I coached against back in the day -- so I have some set ideas about the kind of team I want.
First, I want talent. Winning is fun, and talent creates wins. It's a simple equation, and though there are times that talent is a lot of trouble, it's the coach's job, I believe, to adjust to his or her most talented athletes as much as he or she reasonably can.
Kallam's USA U18 Picks
| PG Nikki Speed |
| PG Casey Morris |
| G Tierra Ruffin-Pratt |
| G Skylar Diggins |
| W Jasmine Dixon |
| W April Sykes |
| W Amber Gray |
| F Nneka Ogwumike |
| F Chiney Ogwumike |
| F Alyssia Brewer |
| P Kelsey Bone |
| P Cokie Reed |
Then, of course, I want attitude. I want girls who work hard, play hard, have fun and understand the team concept. As the old saying goes, keep the best eight players and the four nicest kids and you'll have a good season.
But when you start thinking about picking a USA Basketball U18 team, there are other factors to account for. First, the international game is different than the one we a?re used to, and one of the biggest differences is that post players aren't chained to the block. They'll step out and shoot, or put the ball on the floor, which means that a solid, stodgy American post might suddenly find herself trying to defend on the perimeter come July 23 in Argentina, and that requires more athleticism and quickness than usual in a tall girl.
Second, the U18 roster also has to be designed with the future in mind. Sure, you want to keep the best players, but you also might want to keep a girl who has the potential to get better down the road over another who's already closer to a finished product. This would only come into play if all else was equal, but one thing about the 2008 trials was that there was not nearly as much separation between the best and the worst as there has been in the past.
Finally, the dearth of shooters in Colorado Springs, Colo., this year put a premium on those who showed they could make outside shots, and the plethora of turnovers gave an edge to those who made better decisions, regardless of athleticism or flash.
So with all that said, here's the team I'd take to Buenos Aires for the FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Women July 23-27.
Nikki Speed
Point guard: Nikki Speed (Pasadena, Calif./Marlborough HS/Rutgers) was by far the steadiest point in the five tryout sessions, making some shots, running the show and defending well. She called for the ball, took charge of the game, and seems unlikely to be fazed by representing her country south of the equator. Backing her up, for me at least, would be Casey Morris (Fairfield, Calif./Piedmont HS/California), who was under control, made plays and also tried to be a leader.
Tierra Ruffin-Pratt
Shooting guard: Hopefully, Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (Class of 2009 -- Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams HS) will be able to overcome a troublesome left shoulder that she dislocated in the Virginia playoffs, and then again at the U.S. Olympic Training Center Tuesday. But before she got hurt, she showed her trademark tenacious defense, her high basketball IQ and her ability to get where she wanted on the court. Skylar Diggins (Class of 2009 -- South Bend, Ind./Washington HS) was by far the most consistent shooter during the tryout camp, and also showed plenty of game in other areas as well. Though small and somewhat slight, Diggins never backed down, and her silky touch gives me complete confidence the selection committee will call her name when the team is announced.
Jasmine Dixon
Wing: This was one of the most difficult spots to pick, and eventually Jasmine Dixon (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly/Rutgers) overcame the handicap of having played the post most of her career to show that she deserved the position. She still has trouble defending on the perimeter, and is neither an ace ballhandler or shooter, but she makes plays -- and unlike some at the tryouts, she makes almost all of them for her team. She is strong inside, anticipates well, is quick for her size (5-11, not the 6-1 listed) and strong. She won't make threes, but she will find a way to score. Picking her backup was not easy, as the two most heralded candidates -- April Sykes (Crawford, Miss/East Okhtibbeha HS/Rutgers) and Alicia Manning (Woodstock, Ga./Etowah HS/Tennessee) -- showed strengths and weaknesses. In the end, I went with Sykes because of her size, her ability to make things happen and her potential for improvement. Manning doesn't make as many mistakes, but she's closer to her ceiling, it appears, than Sykes, and Sykes has the size to conceivably play in the WNBA and beyond. An easier choice, though paradoxically not necessarily a better player, was Amber Gray (Cincinnati/Lakota West HS/Tennessee), who is the kind of player I love to have. She's energetic, always smiling, plays hard, plays smart and stays aggressive. She might not have the perfect basketball body, but if I had to choose among her, Sykes and Manning, I'll take the girl from Cincinnati. There's always a spot on my teams for a player like Amber Gray.
Amber Gray
Forward: It's a sister act, as Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike (Cypress, Texas/Cy-Fair HS; Nneka to Stanford, Chiney to her junior year at Cy-Fair) are fearless in the paint, long, athletic and never quit. Nneka has a little more range, though she didn't shoot all that well (who did?), but Chiney may be better down the road. So what if Chiney's the youngest player here? She's definitely one of the best 12. I'd also throw Alyssia Brewer (Tulsa, Okla./Sapulpa HS/Tennessee) into the mix, though she could play center, too. Brewer is long, a fine shot- blocker and very athletic -- and even tossed a nice little behind-the-back pass to Shekinna Stricklen (Morrilton, Ark./Morrilton HS/Tennessee) on a fast break. She didn't really like to mix it up in the paint that much, but she would definitely have no trouble defending South American posts on the perimeter.
Kelsey Bone
Post: Kelsey Bone (Class of 2009 -- Stafford, Texas/Dulles HS) was relentless, and being relentless and a solid 6-4 counts for a lot. She's also surprisingly quick and, not surprisingly, very strong. Bone is well schooled on the block, and her size and strength will be a difficult combination for any of the opposing posts in Argentina to deal with. Cokie Reed (Class of 2009 -- Waco, Texas/Midland HS) doesn't have Bone's offensive arsenal, but she's just as tall, just as strong and might be even quicker, which makes her an outstanding defender and presence in the paint. And if coach Carol Owens (Northern Illinois) wants to get more offense up front, she can just slide Brewer to the five.
So that's my dozen: eight graduating seniors, three rising seniors and one rising junior, with the usual American combination of size, speed and athleticism. Shooting, not so much, but that won't matter, it says here, as the U.S. pursues its fifth straight gold medal. The last time the Americans didn?t come in first was 1996, and they are heavy favorites to keep their decade-long winning streak going. And if the selection committee -- Carla McGhee (athlete representative), Beth Cunningham (athlete representative), Sherri Coale (NCAA), Jim Foster (NCAA), Trina Patterson (NCAA), Tara VanDerveer (NCAA), Mary ?Roonie? Scovel (NJCAA) and Wendy Larry (WBCA) -- follows my suggestions, I have complete confidence in yet another gold medal. Of course, if they pick just about any 12 from this group, the gold medal still is highly likely, so there?s' really little to worry about in Buenos Aires, no matter who makes the team. Still, I feel these 12 would best representatives for the U.S.
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Clay Kallam is a columnist and contributor to HoopGurlz.com. He is the founder of Full Court Press, an online magazine devoted to women's basketball and the author of “Girls Basketball: Building a Winning Program" (Wish Publishing, 2002). Kallam has written about the women"s game for several national publications and is a voter for the McDonald"s All-American team, the Parade All-American team, the All-WNBA team and the Wooden Award, and formerly wrote for the Contra Costa Times newspaper chain. Clay can be contacted via our Contact [0] form (click "Ask Clay Kallam").
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