A’ja Wilson moves closer to U.S. National Team, but won’t get to practice just yet
South Carolina senior forward A’ja Wilson was one of 29 athletes named to the 2017-20 U.S. Women’s National Team pool, USA Basketball announced Thursday.
The 29-player pool, from which the 2018 USA World Cup Team is expected to be selected, includes 13 Olympic and/or FIBA World Cup gold medalists and just five current collegiate players, including Wilson. Most of the group will gather for a minicamp in Columbia from Feb. 9-11 under the direction of head coach Dawn Staley to prepare for the 2018 FIBA World Cup.
“I’m incredibly pleased with the pool of players that make up the 29 and the different experiences that they bring to the team,” Staley said in a press release. “I’m looking forward to putting my stamp on this training camp, because it’s new, it’s different.”
This is the second camp Staley has hosted as head coach since taking over in March, and it is also the second camp for Wilson, widely considered a National Player of the Year favorite and expected to be a top WNBA draft pick. Both coach and player participated in the first camp at the end of September and beginning of October in Santa Barbara, California.
Ironically though, while this February’s camp will be in the same practice facility where Wilson trains for the Gamecocks, the Carolina Coliseum, she will not be able to participate as the NCAA is in middle of its regular season. Still, she could still benefit from it, Staley said Thursday.
“The (national team) practice times will more than likely be during the times that she has class,” Staley said during a teleconference. “But if she doesn’t have class, then I would want her to sit front and center and see how the Olympians, the two-, three-, four-time Olympians, how they operate and how they practice and how they approach things. It might not be a bad thing for our entire team to witness what it’s like, to see our country’s best athletes come together and practice and gear up to play.”
Wilson and the Gamecocks are currently 9-1 and rank fourth in the country.
It’s hardly a secret, however, that Wilson has the talent necessary to compete alongside the pros, an assessment Staley made after the first training camp and that has been backed up by coaches of teams South Carolina has played this year.
“Both (Ohio State senior Kelsey Mitchell) and A’ja were in our training camp at the end of September. And although it was made up of younger players, I thought they fared well,” Staley said. “To play with Sue Bird and to play with Breanna Stewart, I think it helped their cause. They saw the way they operated out there on the court, how they communicated, how they were extremely helpful to help those young players acclimate to playing on that level. ... They looked like they belonged during the training camp.”
In mid-November, decorated Maryland coach Brenda Frese said many of the same things, calling Wilson a “woman among girls.”
“She should be in the pros. She’s just that talented,” Frese said.
USA Basketball Women's National Team director Carol Callan said Thursday that the team’s coaching staff hoped to organize another training camp at the end of April, after the college season ends but before the WNBA season begins, allowing for every chosen player to participate. By the time the 2018 FIBA World Cup rolls around in September, Wilson will likely be finishing her first season in the WNBA.
The U.S. women’s national team will train at 10 a.m. daily from Feb. 9-11 at the Carolina Coliseum. Wilson and the Gamecocks, meanwhile, return to the court this Sunday to face Savannah State at 3 p.m.
This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 11:23 AM with the headline "A’ja Wilson moves closer to U.S. National Team, but won’t get to practice just yet."