United States women's national basketball team

Now, expanding the league, obviously, is one way to grow the game.

I think fans are also loving the Team USA content.

You guys just won gold at the FIBA World Cup.

Does that get you even more excited for LA 2028? Oh,

And I did just want to just let y'all know about this update.

The game was last night, and ultimately Team USA ended up losing.

This is 3x3 that we're talking about, FIBA 3x3 AmeriCup.

And in the championship game, we saw Team USA go against Team Canada.

And at the end of the day, Team USA ended up losing.

Valiant effort, but ultimately lost.

They had to go down against Team Canada.

As a reminder, for who was on Team USA's team, we had Isaiah James, we had Flau'jae Johnson, Ariel Powers, and Sydney Taylor.

So the predicted champion for the ACC is the Duke Blue Devils.

And truly, I could absolutely see it because Kara Lawson, you know, is actually just coming off that Team USA campaign on top of it.

I'm sure she picked up some uh you know tricks of the trade with all the brilliant minds that they had uh within that coaching staff and then you have the player of the year who is predicted to be which again would be no surprise whatsoever uh just very curious again to see of what Notre Dame can do with the pieces that they have and if you have to fall into another season where it's kind of the Hannah Hidalgo show.

Some people show up when they can, but basically her team and she's just kind of running the action as much as possible.

As a coach, she is a two-time ACC tournament champion and made franchise history as the Boston Celtics' first female coach.

Back in September, we all watched her passionately lead USA, Team USA, to a World Cup victory.

Joining me on the pod today is Kara Lawson, head coach of Duke University Women's Basketball.

I'm super excited to talk to Kara about winning gold at the 2026 FIBA World Cup, experiences that shaped her voice as a coach, what excites her most about how far the women's game has come.

A- as a USA shirt owner, I don't wanna use the word fan, that seems like a loose term these days regarding the general country, but in regards to USA Basketball, you best believe I own a few shirts.

Wait, wait, when you say, when you say USA shirt, is that USA Women's Basketball, or is that your old-

Oh, yeah

...

Mm-hmm.

Like, that's the managing director's responsibility now to choose that Team USA roster.

That is a massive responsibility.

That is the most coveted position in women's basketball in the world.

Team USA just went 3-0 in group play at the FIBA Women's World Cup.

And if you think this was just business as usual, think again.

I got five receipts for you.

I'm about to break something down.

And near the end of this video, and near the end of this video, I'm gonna explain why this hype that Clark and Reese are gonna fall apart is much hyped, so stick to the end of the video.

Receipt number one, Team USA opened this World Cup against China, and it was Caitlin Clark's turn to make history.

She dropped 14 points and 10 assists, the most assists ever recorded by a debutant in FIBA Women's World Cup history, while sharing top scorer honors and taking home player of the match in a 94-61 win.

Paige Bueckers matched her with 14 points of her own, and it was veterans Ryan Howard and Jackie Young, who also had 14 and 12, who actually set the tone early.

I, you know, I, I think, I think Rhyne Howard is, is a superstar.

The stuff that she has done for Team USA, she is one of their defensive stoppers on the perimeter.

I- i- if she has a great series, it's gonna be, there's gonna be a lot of attention on her cards.

Alicia Grace cards are going to stay affordable and, um, and reasonably priced no matter what happens.

She shot about 47% from the field.

Also, she played for Team USA in their under 18 FIBA Women's AmeriCup, which Team USA won the gold medal with that, and, um, during that tournament she averaged 14 points, um, six assists, and two steals.

All right? Um, and also, also, my introduction to GG- Uh, and the, and what put her on my radar was how she performed at the WNBA All-Star Weekend that was, uh, previously here in Chicago.

Uh, she won the 3D Stars competition, uh, with Team Washington.