Thinking about previous FIBA U17 teams

[Bone Dog]

A 2018 U17 game against China popped up on my Youtube feed. Watching it led me to reflect on the most recent U17 team that got so much attention on the BY. I'm not thinking about comparing them. I'm merely struck by who was on the team:

Paige and Azzi [of course]
Haley Jones and Jordan Horston [who really dazzled]
Boston, Belibi, and Brink [who owned the boards]
Zia Cooke, Charisma Osborne, and Haley van Lith [wonderful energy all over the court]
Celeste Taylor and Sam Brunelle saw limited minutes [injuries?]

Carla Berube was the coach, and she seemed to want to have Azzi on the floor as much as possible. It's not hard to see why. She shot .563 from 3, and 1.000 in FTs. And she was like 14 years old [I'm kidding]

Looking at this list, it's the cream of WCBB right now. I hope we can look back at this year's team and say the same in 4 years.

USA U17 Women Shatter China 107-50

The USA Women’s U17 World Cup Team opened with a 14-0 run and never looked back in taking down China 107-50 at the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup on July 24 in Minsk, Belarus.

www.usab.com

 

[Bone Dog]

 

[CocoHusky]

I think it may have been a post in another thread by @SCGamecock that pretty much pointed how unfair it was to compare this 2018 U17 team to the 2022 version. Celeste Taylor and Sam Brunelle were not injured. Sam fell into an extended shooting slump and her confidence spiraled downwards as a result. This was completed unexpected because Sam had played on the U17 team two years prior (2016) and was expected to be an anchor for the 2018 U17 team. Things got so bad for Sam that by the middle of the tournament both Belibi, and Brink were getting minutes at the forward position and Sam was the last player getting only mop up minutes. Honestly I don't think Sam ever recovered.
Celeste who is now a Duke (probably the best player on that team) is one of my favorite non- UCONN players. Although she did not have big minutes at U16 or U17 she was the ultimate role/glue player for both of those teams. Her biggest attribute was it didn't matter who else was on the floor Celeste just made plays and did what ever the team needed to do to win. Celeste Taylor in 2018 was what Sonia Citron was for the U19 team in 2021 and often those types of players easily get overlooked.

 

[Bone Dog]

I completely agree about Taylor. The injury is a shame, such a promising player. I think she didn’t exactly fit in with Vic’s vision at Texas, though on paper she looks like she was made for the game he coaches for. I hope she finds some better success at Duke, though I’m not sure they will know how to make the best use of her. To tell the truth, she looks like a Huskie to me.