2025 USA Women's AmeriCup Team | Page 4 | The Boneyard

2025 USA Women's AmeriCup Team

cancontent said:
Appreciate the insight. Definitely need to be cautious and hope it isn't one. Travel could be a challenge if it is.
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The Dominican team was very physical from the beginning and seemed to get a bit reckless as the margin grew. A lot of US players took elbows to the head and neck with a few going as no calls.
 
Well it will be Canada vs USA in the semis. Will be interesting to see how things go at the forward/post position tomorrow. Canada has been relying heavily on Kayla Alexander, but will it be enough?

Guard play will also be interesting. Day-Wilson has been the primary PG but her shooting woes, with the exception of one game continues. Had to deal with foul trouble in the first half today. It will be fun to see how the likes of Miles, Blakes, Hildago and Johnson fare against veterans like Shay Colley and Sami Hill, along with the youth movement in Swords and Gibb.
 
Well, I just finished watching the DR game. This team is so hard to predict. Edwards and Miles were the consistent players up until this game, and they both had off nights. On the other hand, Booker and Johnson were not playing well at all up until this game...and then both were lights out today. :confused:
 
GamecockFam said:
Well, I just finished watching the DR game. This team is so hard to predict. Edwards and Miles were the consistent players up until this game, and they both had off nights. On the other hand, Booker and Johnson were not playing well at all up until this game...and then both were lights out today. :confused:
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I think anyone on the roster is good enough to carry and get hot in a hurry tbh. The luxury of depth and not depending on the same players
 
Baller29 said:
I think anyone on the roster is good enough to carry and get hot in a hurry tbh. The luxury of depth and not depending on the same players
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That continued with their win against Canada today. In this case it was the Hildago show and she made Canada's veterans look silly. She made great plays against everyone, and had an insane steal off of Swords when it looked like Swords had her beat.

The guard play of the US was the key in this game as the forwards and posts didn't have much impact offensively. This was a tad surprising as I thought Canada's lack of depth would have been an issue, however Kayla Alexander was able to get a double double in 27 minutes of play.

The big takeaway for me from this game is that Canada's guard play is still an issue, even when you factor Carleton and Nurse into the equation. Day-Wilson isn't the answer at this point. Her stats this tournament do not justify her being a starter. Colley lost her composure and fouled out on a tech after how she reacted on a non-call when trying to make a lay up. Swords and Gibb may be the future, but they're still young and they're not true point guards. It will be interesting to see what the next squad looks like during the next part of the qualification phase.
 
Will be interesting to see how the USA plays Kamilla Cardoso and the Fever's Damiris Dantas on Sunday in the champ game. Been a lot of small ball, or so it seems, for both USA and opponents in games leading to Sunday. Can Edwards and Stuekle manage Cardoso/Dantas without pulling Beers into the game for more minutes?
 
ISUnorth said:
Will be interesting to see how the USA plays Kamilla Cardoso and the Fever's Damiris Dantas on Sunday in the champ game. Been a lot of small ball, or so it seems, for both USA and opponents in games leading to Sunday. Can Edwards and Stuekle manage Cardoso/Dantas without pulling Beers into the game for more minutes?
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I think it's going to be a platoon tonight. While Beers didn't have much impact yesterday, it could be different against Brazil.
 
Honestly the USA bigs have just been ho-hum for the majority of this tournament. I think the game is going to come down to the Brazil frontcourt scoring vs. the USA backcourt scoring. I don't think the USA has a pair of players who can stop both Dantas and Cardoso when they're on the court at the same time. I also expect to see more Crooks in this game to try and neutralize Cardoso. I doubt it works since Cardoso is really good in transition and transition defense is a weakness of Crooks.
 
GamecockFam said:
Honestly the USA bigs have just been ho-hum for the majority of this tournament. I think the game is going to come down to the Brazil frontcourt scoring vs. the USA backcourt scoring. I don't think the USA has a pair of players who can stop both Dantas and Cardoso when they're on the court at the same time. I also expect to see more Crooks in this game to try and neutralize Cardoso. I doubt it works since Cardoso is really good in transition and transition defense is a weakness of Crooks.
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Do you really see Crooks getting minutes? The most she has seen was 15 versus the Dominican Republic and she didn't play yesterday which surprised me.
 
GamecockFam said:
I can see us putting her out there for a few minutes to see what happens.
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Had expected to see more of her this tournament. To your point about transition defence, maybe that was why (rhetorical)?
 
Well, Canada won by the skin of their teeth in double OT over Argentina 76-75. Personally, I was resigned to a loss until Fortner drew up a crafty last second play where Swords scored the winning basket.

Overall observations:

1) Day-Wilson is not the answer for PG at this time, especially with her issues with shooting and decision making right now.

2) Gibb and Swords held their own at this level, but can get picked on defensively, especially Gibb. At the same time, it was very telling to see them both play double overtime and Day-Wilson remained on the bench.

3) The forward/post position depth for Canada could be a problem when they can't rely on WNBA players. Kayla Alexander handled majority of the playing time with Kyei and Potter used sparingly.

4) If the youth movement is really here, Canada Basketball needs to prove it during U19 and return with another medal. Hopefully Swords and Gibb won't be too gassed for the tournament.
 
Well, the USA better be thankful that Cardoso has 3 fouls going into halftime. Brazil was dominating with both Dantas and Cardoso on the court.

I think it's pretty clear that Dantas will be named tournament MVP if Brazil wins. It's a bit of a question mark for the USA, if they win. It might just be the MVP of this game, which is looking like Blakes. If not her, then probably Miles, since she has had the most consistent performance across the whole tournament.
 
Hannah Hidalgo, they will never make me hate you. Jk. She's just a lot of fun. I get the poor shots selection at times, but the energy and guts is infectious. Really good win y team USA. Brazil didn't play bad, I just thought Team USA got so many contributions.
 
jdote33 said:
Hannah Hidalgo, they will never make me hate you. Jk. She's just a lot of fun. I get the poor shots selection at times, but the energy and guts is infectious. Really good win y team USA. Brazil didn't play bad, I just thought Team USA got so many contributions.
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I thought it was a good team win. Standout performances tonight from Blakes, Hidalgo, Stuelke, and Edwards. VanSlooten and Miles probably deserve a shout-out too.

Brazil needs some guards who can compliment Cardoso and Dantas... the USA's depth and guard play was the separator in this game.
 
What a great, gutsy win by team USA over a veteran/ professional Brazilian team. BTW, Brazil is a fouling machine. :rolleyes: They got away with a lot of non calls. The referees must love “chicken wings” because Dantas and Cardoso were serving them by the family pack. :D Cardoso should have fouled out of this game long before it was over. Dantas is a savy vet although 10 years older than most of team USA. Loved her fade aways after she got separation. However, Team USA was a little too much and overwhelmed them with their speed at all positions. Blakes is a hooper. I was surprised by her defense. Hidalgo was Hidalgo..causing mass chaos as usual and Miles was dropping dimes, again. Shout out to team USA!!
 
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Decent chance this AmeriCup team makes up half or more of the U.S. Olympic squad in the future.

Curious how folks think Hidalgo’s game will translate to the W. Juju is the better pro prospect and will go #1 in 2027 if healthy, but I thought Hidalgo was the better player for 2/3rds of this past season.
 
There’s been a lot chatter (mostly LSU fans) regarding Flaujae’s lack of minutes. To the point in her Instagram post, she calls out the game on December 4th vs Duke and Kara.

I think a lot of people have forgotten that these USA games arent all star games where mins are evenly distributed. How you perform in group play, highly dictates your mins bc it shows the coaches who is ready to go and who isn’t. Flaujae wasn’t impressive the first two games. I would assume maybe nerves with a combination of this being her first time competing with USA basketball and not being used to the pace and physicality of international play. But she didn’t stand out as someone who should be getting significant minutes. We saw similar situations in the Olympics last summer on the women’s side with Copper and Loyd and on the men’s side with Tatum and Halliburton. Theres 12 people on the team, your consistent performers are the ones that are going to get the minutes. Just seems to me it’s been blown out of proportion.
 
CAbballfan2 said:
There’s been a lot chatter (mostly LSU fans) regarding Flaujae’s lack of minutes. To the point in her Instagram post, she calls out the game on December 4th vs Duke and Kara.

I think a lot of people have forgotten that these USA games arent all star games where mins are evenly distributed. How you perform in group play, highly dictates your mins bc it shows the coaches who is ready to go and who isn’t. Flaujae wasn’t impressive the first two games. I would assume maybe nerves with a combination of this being her first time competing with USA basketball and not being used to the pace and physicality of international play. But she didn’t stand out as someone who should be getting significant minutes. We saw similar situations in the Olympics last summer on the women’s side with Copper and Loyd and on the men’s side with Tatum and Halliburton. Theres 12 people on the team, your consistent performers are the ones that are going to get the minutes. Just seems to me it’s been blown out of proportion.
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This. The coach's goal is to win. That is assignment and they have ~ two weeks to put a winning team together- no time to let players ease into things when others are ready to go and understand their role. These kids are young though, so I don't think they understand that part when they are used to being the star. Emotional maturity is just as big a part of this as basketball skills.
Fan is short for fanatic, so they aren't the most objective bunch!
 
CAbballfan2 said:
There’s been a lot chatter (mostly LSU fans) regarding Flaujae’s lack of minutes. To the point in her Instagram post, she calls out the game on December 4th vs Duke and Kara.

I think a lot of people have forgotten that these USA games arent all star games where mins are evenly distributed. How you perform in group play, highly dictates your mins bc it shows the coaches who is ready to go and who isn’t. Flaujae wasn’t impressive the first two games. I would assume maybe nerves with a combination of this being her first time competing with USA basketball and not being used to the pace and physicality of international play. But she didn’t stand out as someone who should be getting significant minutes. We saw similar situations in the Olympics last summer on the women’s side with Copper and Loyd and on the men’s side with Tatum and Halliburton. Theres 12 people on the team, your consistent performers are the ones that are going to get the minutes. Just seems to me it’s been blown out of proportion.
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L$U fans online and on social media are mostly a bunch of dopes. What the hell is #4 gonna do vs Duke anyway? If you watch that game and see a somewhat portly Duke fan holding up a sign that reads #4 is just a Dollar Tree version of Glorilla, then you know that I showed up in a bad mood.
 
CAbballfan2 said:
There’s been a lot chatter (mostly LSU fans) regarding Flaujae’s lack of minutes. To the point in her Instagram post, she calls out the game on December 4th vs Duke and Kara.

I think a lot of people have forgotten that these USA games arent all star games where mins are evenly distributed. How you perform in group play, highly dictates your mins bc it shows the coaches who is ready to go and who isn’t. Flaujae wasn’t impressive the first two games. I would assume maybe nerves with a combination of this being her first time competing with USA basketball and not being used to the pace and physicality of international play. But she didn’t stand out as someone who should be getting significant minutes. We saw similar situations in the Olympics last summer on the women’s side with Copper and Loyd and on the men’s side with Tatum and Halliburton. Theres 12 people on the team, your consistent performers are the ones that are going to get the minutes. Just seems to me it’s been blown out of proportion.
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Flaujae looked out of shape and ill prepared. She isn’t gonna make it at the next level.

This is a testament to how poorly LsU prepared her. Their players are always ill prepared

She is in my opinion highly over rated. Very streaky scorer who plays minimal defense and is a ball hog mostly
 
Baller29 said:
Flaujae looked out of shape and ill prepared. She isn’t gonna make it at the next level.

This is a testament to how poorly LsU prepared her. Their players are always ill prepared

She is in my opinion highly over rated. Very streaky scorer who plays minimal defense and is a ball hog mostly
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This is interesting. I thought she looked as if she was injured or still like pacing herself, respectfully. I know she's talked about wanting to be poise and admiring that aspect of Paige game. But Paige is always running, sprinting hard. I just feel like she was playing in burst. Idk if that's an out of shape thing, an injury thing, a playing with so much talent and idk how to adjust thing. The thing I like about FlauJae similar to Hannah Hidalgo is that they have been relatively efficient throughout there career. 47 from 2 and 38 from 3 last year and I feel like she started much better than that. And she does take tough 1 on 1 shots. But I do like her at the next level.
 
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