Sky Players Prepare for FIBA Olympic Qualifying Finale
More on the format, teams and players for the four-day tournament which begins February 8th.
Aside from a couple of exhibition matches last fall, international basketball hasn’t been a huge part of Sky fans’ vernacular since Kah and her United States teammates lifted the World Cup at the tail end of the 2022 season. Besides Sika Koné’s brief absence to participate in AfroBasket and Kristine Anigwe leaving the Sky to represent the UK at EuroBasket, the main interaction between the Sky and last summer’s slew of international tournaments was actually the players (Li Yueru and Emma Meesseman most notably) who ended up not with the team in 2023, at least in part, to allow focus on national team commitments.
A similar desire to represent their nation at the 2024 Paris Olympics will likely impact plenty of foreign players’ decisions to suit up in the W next season, but qualifying is the first barrier that must be cleared before that decision can be made. With WNBA Free Agency opening February 1st and Olympic qualifying set to conclude on the 11th, don’t be surprised if more than a few teams find themselves holding onto a roster spot for the opening two weeks of free agency with hopes that a particular player’s status for the season becomes clearer when the international dust settles.
With that in mind, let’s preview the four tournaments that will decide the final ten qualifiers for the women’s basketball tournament in Paris—plus hone in on which current and former Sky players might feature.
How were the participating teams chosen and what is the format?
The best place to start because, admittedly, it’s all a little confusing. Let’s start with how the 16 teams who will participate were chosen. In essence, six events—held over the last 18 months—determined who will take part.
The FIBA World Cup held in 2022 and the four continental championships held last summer (Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas) were responsible for 14 of the 16 berths at the qualification tournament. Then, the final 2 berths were determined by a post-AmeriCup tournament held in November for a select set of teams in North and South America (to account for the bevy of player absences at AmeriCup—held while the 2023 WNBA season was still ongoing).
The 16 teams have since been split into four separate groups by a weighted draw with each team set to play the other three teams in their group once during the four-day event. At the end of four days, the top three teams in each group (with some exceptions—more on that later) will qualify for the Olympics. In essence, FIBA is holding these events to marginally whittle down the field ahead of the games—instead of hosting an extra four teams in the group stages in Paris. Whether or not that’s a necessary or worthwhile process, I’ll leave up to you to decide. What it does do—however—is offer national team coaches a chance to gather something close to their best squad ahead of the Olympics and build a little bit of cohesion.
Which teams are participating?
Below are the groups—with each set to take place in a different city:
Xi'an, China: China, France, Puerto Rico, New Zealand
Antwerp, Belgium: Belgium, United States, Senegal, Nigeria
Belém, Brazil: Brazil, Australia, Germany, Serbia
Sopron, Hungary: Hungary, Spain, Canada, Japan
What about the exceptions you mentioned above?
Despite the fact the United States (as World Cup champions) and France (as hosts), have already qualified for the tournament, they’ll be participating in the tournaments in Xi’an and Antwerp next week. Thus, if the United States or France were to finish fourth in their group—only the top two teams would qualify. However, given the composition of their respective groups and the strength of the squads in question, that’s not a likely outcome.
That said, I do find it bizarre that FIBA chose to have them scored as actual competitors in these tournaments. In European football, governing bodies have long included host nations as part of qualifying groups—but with the games involving the already qualified nation considered exhibitions that don’t count towards the standings. In that respect, the qualified nation still gets the chance to compete and build team chemistry, but there is no effect on anyone else trying to qualify. With this format, France and the US will likely finish in the top three, but there are plenty of scenarios where how they play (and maybe—when they take their foot off the gas) has a quantifiable impact on who qualifies for the final tournament in Paris. Thankfully, if China and Belgium perform at the level they appear to be capable of, those scenarios become more remote.
Who from the Sky will be involved?
Copper—unsurprisingly—is expected to feature heavily for the United States team. Given her exploits in Chicago over the last several years, I find it hard to believe that she won’t be on the plane to Paris (remember the US has already qualified), but the wider media seems to think she’s still competing for her spot in Cheryl Reeve’s squad for the Olympics. I can agree that, given the incredible caliber of players available to the US, no one’s spot is ever guaranteed. Beyond the obvious candidates from the W, current college players (most notably, Caitlin Clark) will also be in the mix when late July rolls around. In any case, expect Reeve to lean pretty heavily on Copper in this tournament as she did in the college exhibition matches last fall. If nothing else, this tournament may serve as a proof of concept for Copper’s USA role moving forward.
China, who are hosting a very manageable group, have included center Li Yueru in their roster for the tournament. They should breeze through this group, but the high level of competition for places in the final squad—especially amongst the bigs—means this tournament is of critical importance for Yueru. She wasn’t in the squad when China won the FIBA Asian Cup last summer, but she did start the European season late after starring in her country’s second success of the year at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Looking back, Li was named second team all-tournament at the World Cup in 2022; so, she’ll likely make the squad when China inevitably qualifies. Given how things ended in 2022, the new front office will want promises from both player and federation about what her pre-Olympic schedule will look like in the event Li decides to play in the W in 2024.
Elsewhere, an assortment of former Sky players will feature in the tournaments. Gabby Williams, who plans to skip the ‘24 season to focus on the Olympics, will again represent France—having featured in the bronze-medal team three years ago. Emma Meesseman and Julie Allemand will also reprise their roles with the Belgian Cats—in an aim to back up last summer’s EuroBasket title. In Hungary, Kayla Alexander, who played five games with the Sky in 2019, is the lone player with Sky ties as she represents Canada while Tina Krajišnik should suit up for Serbia in the Brazilian section. Of course, the US’ preliminary roster also features Liberty guard Betnijah Laney.
Alanna Smith, reportedly having agreed to sign with Minnesota, will be representing Australia. Their draw has not been kind as a pair of underrated European sides join them alongside Brazil—who will likely have strong home support. That said, there’s still a strong expectation that the Opals go through to the Paris Olympics after a disappointing quarterfinal exit in Tokyo. For Smith, this summer’s Games would be the latest stop on her road to personal redemption. After a so-so Tokyo, Smith was excluded from the 2022 World Cup squad—meaning this tournament and the opening months of the WNBA season are critical for her to secure her place in Paris. It’s sometimes lost on the US audience—where winning a medal in basketball is seen as something of a birthright in recent years—but winning an Olympic medal of any color in any sport is massive to international sports men and women.
One player who won’t feature is Elizabeth Williams—who was denied eligibility to represent Nigeria ahead of the Tokyo games. Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that Sika Koné—the Sky’s most successful player on the international stage in 2023—is not involved as Mali finished third at AfroBasket where only two qualifying spots were on offer.
Where can I watch?
The tournament will be broadcast on FIBA’s streaming service: Courtside 1891. You can buy an annual pass for $29.99 or a $7.99 pass that will give you access just for the qualifying tournaments. More details here.
A condensed schedule of only games involving players currently on the Sky roster is here. The full schedule of games for all four tournaments is available here. FIBA’s website also has details; however, tournament specifics are split onto a separate page for each of the four tournaments.