Thursday, February 27, 2014

Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Walz named assistant on USA WBB U18 National Team



THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Staley, KBA and Walz to lead in FIBA Americas U18


Jeff Walz has the end of May planned for him already. It's when the trials for the 2014 USA Women's FIBA U18 National Team will be held (May 23-27) at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He'll be an assistant coach for the team...Dawn Staley (South Carolina) assuming the head coaching duties and Kim Barnes Arico..."KBA" as we refer to her here at CARDINAL COUPLE...also being selected as an assistant.

Here's what the Louisville WBB head coach had to say about the honor:

" I am honored to have been selected to represent USA Basketball as an assistant coach for the U18 Women's National Team. Since beginning in this profession, the realization of this endeavor has been a life-long ambition. I am thrilled to be amongst some of the greatest collegiate coaches and hope to contribute both on and off the court. I appreciate USA Basketball for recognizing my passion and will work diligently to help mentor and coach some of the most talented women in the game."

To participate in the trials, players must have been born on or after Jan 1, 1996. They receive invites to try out.

An interesting sidebar to the selection process is that a committee, and not the coaches, make the selection on who makes the squad. All the coaches do is coach who is selected.

This, of course, eliminates any potential favoritism situations that could possibly arise. A scan of the 2010 and 2012 rosters shows them heavily laden with UConn and Tennessee players...but no coaches from either school were coaches on these teams.

Sometimes, talent does win out.

Where the actual games will be played has not been officially decided yet or released. Eight national teams from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean will participate in the games, which are held every two years.

Whether any of the future Cards will have a shot at the squad remains to be seen. We'll keep you updated.

paulie
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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2/27/2014 6:19 PM

    Brittaney Griner has a book coming out in a month, Sports Illustrated got to see an advance copy. She makes some interesting comments about Baylor, and the game with Louisville. She said there were crack below the surface on that team, and the pressure of the Louisville game brought them to the surface. She also says she underperformed in the game and Kim got out coached in the game. reference: http://tracking.si.com/2014/02/27/mercury-brittney-griner-baylor-caused-pain/?xid=nl_siextra Gary Witherspoon

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