3X3 Olympic Women's Basketball, who is MVP?

[Zarathustra]

My vote is for Stephanie Dolson. They all were terrific, but
the combination of deflections, rebounds, scoring, and being
the biggest " hustler" on the court ... she gets my vote and
my thanks. Congrats to Kelsey, Alisha, Jackie, Steph
and Coach Kara Larson and the trainer ( hot humid conditions!)

 

[eebmg]

Close but I give it to Alisha Gray. Some of her hustle plays including the dirty work of blocks and rebounds for a fairly small frame while being an elite driver to the basket broke the tie for me. This would be a very interesting poll question.

 

[Kaizen]

 

[Kaizen]

 

[bluedevil]

Stef was the badass.

 

[EricSD]

It goes to show how much each player was needed. Stef's size was a tremendous advantage, but as a "big" girl, she has shed some pounds over the years and gotten herself into great shape. Alisha was great as a mid-sized do everything player, and while PG skills aren't necessarily at a premium in the 3x3, Plum is a scoring PG and very capable. Jackie did the best she could. Congrats to all 4 gold medalists!

My heart still breaks a little for Lou. I think the games would have been easier for Team USA had she been able to participate. I know she's thrilled for her teammates but probably still heartbroken at her situation...

 

[JDuro]

Allisha Gray was the MVP in my opinio.. She’s all over the charts in points, rebounds, blocks, assists, etc. Stef and Kelsey were great and deserving of being in the debate, but Gray was just extra in bringing home the gold.

 

[ochoopsfan]

I don't know who you would have used to replace Stef, had she got sick and not been able to go to Tokyo.
Stef for me, although Gray is a close second.

 

[clbabson]

I think maybe Stef served a more important role, but I'd give the slight edge to Gray for all the reasons mentioned. She flat out HUSTLED and was just a scrappy player on defense, rebounding, scoring, and blocks. Stef I think set the tone a lot - she often scored early in games, which forced the defenses to adjust, and man, dealing with a ton of physicality.

 

[oldude]

IMO biggest challenge for any 3x3 team is to field a Big with that unique combination of skills required to be successful at 3x3: physical, ability to finish in the paint with either hand, good passer, ability to defend smaller players on switches, rebound, defend the paint, set screens, high basketball IQ with the ability to effectively go from offense to defense and back again in a matter of seconds.

Steph checks all the boxes.

 

[UcMiami]

The USA missed Lou's size - with her on the team they still had a 6'4" player on the court when Stef was sitting. And they had four players with strong mid/long range shooting skills.

I thought Young improved her game as the tournament progressed and she did enough to get the team over the hump. USA shooting slacked off as they went through the games.

Great win four all 4 players.

 

[AmeriConn]

Gray all the way! Congrats to all 4 members.

 

[Carnac]

View attachment 68785

Two thoughts. 1. The MVP should go to the player that was the hardest for their opponents to deal with and contain. I think if a poll was taken of their opponents, Stefanie Dolson would get a lion share of the votes, but then so would Gray.

She was like a relentless gnat that kept buzzing around your ear and wouldn’t leave you alone. I like those kind of gnats, and hope we develop a few on our team.

I wonder if these 4 players will be allowed to defend their status of reigning 3X3 “world” champions in 2024? I sure would like to see that opportunity offered to them by the selection committee.

2. Per her WNBA player profile and Wikipedia page, Alisha Gray is listed at 6'0". That shows us how BIG her teammates are. Plum is listed at 5'8" and looks like it here. Jackie Young is also listed at 6'0". Neither one of them look that BIG on TV. Of course Stef at 6'5" towers over all of them, and was a pure "nightmare" to all of their opponents.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

Even after beating world no. 1 France in the qualifying tournament the US was
seeded 8th even behind Mongolia.

Who did the seeding for this tournament?

 

[Urshurak]

I think they were both pretty much 50/50 on the badass as well as the MVP. If on the UConn board, let's say it was BigMAMMASTEF, on the NC boards and SC boards they'll say it was AG.

 

[UcMiami]

Even after beating world no. 1 France in the qualifying tournament the US was
seeded 8th even behind Mongolia.

Who did the seeding for this tournament?

It is based on the last year or two of Fiba sponsored tournaments and USA doesn't play in many tournaments. They also rank all players world wide and no USA player is anywhere near the top rankings which are somewhere around 50,000 points - USA's best players are somewhere around 12,000 points.

 

[Aluminny69]

I don't know who you would have used to replace Stef, had she got sick and not been able to go to Tokyo.
Stef for me, although Gray is a close second.

I can imagine that Jonquel Jones would be pretty good at 3x3, although she probably isn't eligible. Can she get American citizenship? Would that make her eligible?

 

[CL82]

My heart still breaks a little for Lou. I think the games would have been easier for Team USA had she been able to participate. I know she's thrilled for her teammates but probably still heartbroken at her situation...

Same. It is what it is, but having Lou as the 11th Husky Olympic gold winner would have been sweet.

It just seems that Lou is ill-starred. From her ankle break before the finals freshman year forward. Don't get me wrong, she's had a great career, but it seems like something gets in the way just when she's about to reap the rewards. My heart goes out to her.

Still I won't let that get in the way of my enjoying the fact that Steph is an Olympic champion. Outstanding!

 

[UConnFanMSM]

Congrats to the 3x3 team!!!!

...Hope Lou is feeling 100% soon.

 

[Bald Husky]

Two thoughts. 1. The MVP should go to the player that was the hardest for their opponents to deal with and contain. I think if a poll was taken of their opponents, Stefanie Dolson would get a lion share of the votes, but then so would Gray.

She was like a relentless gnat that kept buzzing around your ear and wouldn’t leave you alone. I like those kind of gnats, and hope we develop a few on our team.

I wonder if these 4 players will be allowed to defend their status of reigning 3X3 “world” champions in 2024? I sure would like to see that opportunity offered to them by the selection committee.

View attachment 68794

2. Per her WNBA player profile and Wikipedia page, Alisha Gray is listed at 6'0". That shows us how BIG her teammates are. Plum is listed at 5'8" and looks like it here. Jackie Young is also listed at 6'0". Neither one of them look that BIG on TV. Of course Stef at 6'5" towers over all of them, and was a pure "nightmare" to all of their opponents.

With Lou of course

 

[Plebe]

Even after beating world no. 1 France in the qualifying tournament the US was
seeded 8th even behind Mongolia.

Who did the seeding for this tournament?

The seeding was based strictly on points accumulated through FIBA 3x3 tournaments. The US had barely played, so ...

I can imagine that Jonquel Jones would be pretty good at 3x3, although she probably isn't eligible. Can she get American citizenship? Would that make her eligible?

She would be eligible ... to compete for Bosnia and Herzogovina, the country she competes for internationally.

Jones sets single-game FIBA Women's EuroBasket rebounding record

STRASBOURG/ VALENCIA (France / Spain) - Bosnia and Herzegovina standout Jonquel Jones has raised the rebounding bar at the FIBA Women's EuroBasket after the center set a new record in the category.

www.fiba.basketball

 

[Zarathustra]

Even after beating world no. 1 France in the qualifying tournament the US was
seeded 8th even behind Mongolia.

Who did the seeding for this tournament?

My understanding is that the " seeding" was based on, literally, years
of 3X3 competitions around the world ( e.g. one was in Mongolia!). For
a player to eligible for the team he/she would have to participate in a
minimum number of these earlier tournaments. In the same fashion
the cumulative "results" of these tournament was the "analytic " factor
in the "seeding" of the eight teams. So.... based on the record of
MANY , MANY, MANY different team " mixes " of players the result was
that France was seeded # 1 and the USA was ranked #8. That ranking
had nothing to do with the quality of the final team at the Olympics. It
also limited who could be a replacement for Katie Lou!. It had to be a
player who had previously participated in sufficient number of those
earlier tournaments. There is probably a more complex answer
but that is the general idea. Thus Spoke Zarathustra

 

[ochoopsfan]

If you like the 3 x 3 games there is a new tournament this weekend in Klaipeda Lithuania.
The link is below.
Only the USA has a team entered, for countries that were in the Olympics.
The USA team is made up of Cierra Burdick, Linnae Harper, Alexis Peterson and Breanna Richardson.

Overview | FIBA 3x3 Women's Series Klaipeda Stop 2021

womensseries.fiba3x3.com

By the way, most of the qualifying points the USA Olympic players had amassed came from a tournament in December 2019 thru January 2020. The tournament was in Pittsburgh, PA. Besides the 4 USA Olympic players that played in Pittsburgh, I saw Clarendon and Kelly Farris playing on some teams. I am sure there were others, just didnt see other names.

I would think the Fiba 3x3 site on You Tube might show this event.

 

[Plebe]

PSA: Replay of gold medal game showing now on NBC Sports Network.

The color commentator is fun.

 

[BBallF]

Definitely Stef. Just the best player in that format. Her height, girth, power, quickness, and savvy, just too much for anyone. I also thought Plum and Gray made excellent cases for themselves for the 2024 5x5 team. Gray is a true lock down defender which is always a weapon in international play and Plum is such a talented offensive player who guarded well.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I think it really depended on which game/s you watched. At various times Dolson, Gray and Plum were all clearly the best player on their team. But ya'll know I'm biased so no doubt about who I'd vote for if I had a vote.

 

[Orangutan]

I think it really depended on which game/s you watched. At various times Dolson, Gray and Plum were all clearly the best player on their team.

This.

But if forced I would say Stef because she was the centerpiece of the offensive strategy.

Other countries had better offensive sets, especially Russia who really hurt us with the screen game. But the US had the trump card of dumping it down low to Stef which covered up for having less team chemistry.

But certainly much praise is due to Plum's shot creation and Gray's incredible hustle, rebounding and defense (those chasedown blocks!)

Jackie gets the award for "best performance by a player who interrupted her Florida vacation to play a game she hadn't played in two years"

 

[Plebe]

Well, I made the grave mistake of peeking at McGraws Bench to see what was being said about the big win. I guess in my moment of giddiness I temporarily forgot why I have zero respect for most domers, present company excepted. What a cesspool.

A hearty "hear hear" to @Orangutan's recognition of each player for their massive contributions to the success of this team. Losing a player to Covid at the very last minute would've been a devastating blow to almost any team, but this team showed, above all, tremendous grit and perseverance.

Stef Dolson at age 29 has gotten herself in the best shape of her life. Her presence in the paint was crucial, and she was the player whose absence was most acutely felt whenever she rotated out. She's also apparently the only one of the four who knows how to set a screen

I'm already on record raving about Gray's tremendous play in this tournament. Her rebounding and blocks were highlight-worthy and she seemed to always come up big in the clutch.

Plum was hot and cold with her outside shot, but she really impressed with her shifty change-of-pace drives, and her defense has improved tremendously. I again want to acknowledge her amazing mental and physical feat of returning from a torn achilles sustained just 13 months ago to win a gold medal in this very physically demanding format.

Nothing but respect and appreciation for Young, who was on vacation in Florida 11 days ago when she "got the call". Here's what Stef had to say:

"Katie Lou was a huge part of our team," Dolson said. "She’s a shooter, she’s a defender, she’s long. There were some scary moments when we heard about it, but when we found out Jackie was coming – she’s an amazing defender, she can pass the ball, she has great composure, and she (showed) all that."​

​

'My life changed like that': From vacation to Tokyo Olympics, Jackie Young wins 3-on-3 gold

WNBA player Jackie Young had her vacation cut short after a late call to join U.S. 3-on-3 basketball team at the Olympics. Now she has a gold medal.

www.usatoday.com

 

[nwhoopfan]

She's also apparently the only one of the four who knows how to set a screen

She must've been loving the difference between 3X3 and WNBA. It's gotten really hard to set a screen without getting a foul called on you anymore. Not in 3X3. She set a pick on somebody in the Gold Medal game, probably would've been an illegal block in the NFL, but it was all good in this game.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I think you can make a case for Stef, Alisha, or Kelsey as the MVP. Kelsey was the leading scorer. She hit some from the arc and had some nice takes to the hoop. Alisha hit some from the arc, defended, and blocked shots. Stef seemed to be the key player based on her size. She rebounded and defended well and was tough to stop inside. Jackie was put in a tough spot and did ok replacing Lou. I was looking for the player who beat us in the Final Four but didn't see her.