NEW YORK (AP) — Seattle’ Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi headline the 29 players chosen for the U.S. women’s basketball team pool.
Bird and Taurasi have each won four Olympic gold medals and helped the U.S. to the past two world championships.
Eleven members of the 2016 Olympic team that won a sixth consecutive gold medal for the Americans are in the pool that was announced Thursday. The only player missing from that team is Tamika Catchings, who retired after the 2016 WNBA season.
The U.S. already has qualified for next year’s FIBA World Cup, which will be held in Spain.
There are five college players in the pool: UConn’s Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson, South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson, Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell and Louisville’s Asia Durr. They won’t participate in a training camp that will be held in South Carolina from Feb. 9-11.
All 29 players in the pool have previous international experience with USA Basketball. They’ve combined to win 100 gold, two silver and four bronze medals.
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