Cheryl Reeve, the coach of Team USA Women’s Basketball for the Tokyo Olympics, believes that their most significant advantage is the team’s size and depth. The team’s roster includes three players taller than 6-4 and numerous guards in the 6-foot range, providing them with a considerable height and length advantage against nearly all their opponents. Despite other countries building up their talented teams, none can match the pace of Reeve’s backups and rotational players. The team includes Alyssa Thomas, Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, and A’ja Wilson, creating a formidable lineup for any opposing team.
Team USA’s historical dominance in international women’s basketball further adds to their advantages. The team has won gold in the last seven consecutive Olympics, and hasn’t lost a single Olympic game since the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain. The majority of the current roster has never experienced an Olympic loss. This dominance has created a weighty legacy which the team carries into every Olympic event, adding an element of psychological advantage against their opponents.
However, Reeve is aware of the potential drawbacks of having such a diverse pool of talent, as this can lead to a lack of chemistry between team members. Because of the depth in Team USA’s talent, its members tend to rotate more significantly throughout the four-year cycles between Olympics compared to other countries. As a coach, Reeve has focused on the importance of team chemistry and maintaining unity as a key factor for their success.
Reeve noted that although other countries might have players who have had more practice together, Team USA cannot use this as an excuse for not playing well together. Building the team’s synergy has been one of her primary challenges and focus areas. It’s not just talent that will determine their victory in the Olympics, but how well they can work together as a team.
Defensive play and accelerating the gelling of the team have been the focus in the run-up to the Games. The team, fully aware of the continuity of their opposing teams, hopes to use every minute together on the court to overcome the disadvantage of having less time together. With the team’s talent and depth, they aim to override any potential issues stemming from a lack of team cohesion.
In spite of the daunting legacy of Team USA’s previous Olympic successes, Reeve is determined that gold is the only acceptable outcome for this group of players over the next two weeks at the Tokyo Olympics. She has instilled in the team that big wins are part of the Team USA way: nothing less than gold. Her philosophy embodies the spirit and expectation of the USA Women’s Basketball tradition: a legacy of consistent victory.
