NCAAW
Mechelle Voepel 9y

Bench, youth shine for Team USA

WNBA

There wasn't much to look forward to about the USA-Angola women's basketball game, except its conclusion. The Americans' last result of group play at this FIBA World Championship was exactly as expected: a 119-44 blowout against a vastly overmatched team.

However, if there's any coach who has significant experience in being able to keep his team's level of play very good even in extreme routs, it's Geno Auriemma. He has done that for a long time at UConn, which has more than its share of wake-us-up-when-it's-over snoozers every college season.

The Huskies sometimes play games they couldn't possibly lose unless they literally didn't show up. That's what Tuesday's matchup was like for Team USA, which set a record for the program's largest margin of victory -- 75 points -- in a world championship contest.

This isn't to denigrate Angola, a country that is still trying to rebuild a decade after the end of a nearly 30-year civil war. The challenges that Angolan society contends with -- desperate poverty, the destruction of its agricultural economy because of the war, the landmines that still pose such danger, etc. -- are things that the American players have not had to deal with.

However, basketball is important to Angola, both on the men's and women's side. So performing as well as possible meant something to the Angolans on Tuesday, and you really could see their commitment to executing as best they could and following a game plan.

But Angola didn't have the personnel to present any challenge defensively to the Americans, who shot 61.4 percent from the field. It was the same on the other end, as the United States held the Angolans -- whose primary "threat" was behind the arc, where they took 26 of their 37 shots -- to 25.4 percent from the field.

The USA couldn't have a bench anywhere near deep enough to make it more of an equal competition, but the Americans did spread out the playing time among all 12 on the roster.

So that was, perhaps, the thing that was interesting about this game for the Americans. How well would the reserves play, including the youngest of them, WNBA rookie Odyssey Sims and UConn junior Breanna Stewart?

The answer was: They did all right. Sims, the Baylor graduate and No. 2 pick in the 2014 WNBA draft by the Tulsa Shock, had nine points, five rebounds and four assists. Stewart, the favorite to be national college player of the year this coming season, also had nine points, earning seven at the foul line. She added six rebounds. Both Sims and Stewart played 16 minutes, 27 seconds.

Another player in her first world championship, Nneka Ogwumike, led the United States with 18 points and 10 rebounds, as she went 7-of-8 from the field.

Ogwumike, the Los Angeles Sparks forward, continues to build off her 2012 WNBA Rookie of the Year season. The Sparks underachieved this season to the extent that their coach, Carol Ross, was fired in July. And now the Sparks await another new leader, and whatever identity that person will try to bring to the team.

But despite the irritating inconsistencies that plagued the Sparks as a unit this year, Ogwumike individually has been very reliable for Los Angeles. She averaged a career-best 15.8 points in the 2014 regular season, along with 7.1 rebounds. She has improved her free throw percentage from 73.4 her rookie season to 87.3 this year, which is very important as she strives to get to the foul line more.

Ogwumike is also a fantastic teammate -- someone who will accept any role she's given on the USA squad with her usual ebullient personality. She should have a long future ahead of her with the national team.

The same is true for Stewart, although she still has a learning curve ahead of her -- of course -- as a collegian. But Stewart's natural gifts are abundant, and she has the desire to be great. Stewart will try to win her third NCAA title in 2015 and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, already seems a lock as the No. 1 WNBA draft pick in 2016.

For Sims, though, this world championship is probably more of a proving ground, simply because there's so much competition for the "young guard" spot(s) on the national team. Sims' place on this squad could have gone to the likes of Skylar Diggins, Danielle Robinson, Kayla McBride or other contenders.

But being in this competition gives Sims a chance to soak up all she can from not just veteran guards Lindsay Whalen, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Seimone Augustus, but also Team USA legend Dawn Staley, now one of Auriemma's assistants.

For Sims, this is just an invaluable time. The best of the best can be her guard mentors, building on what she learned in college from another former U.S. national team standout, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey.

The Americans have some time to rest and prepare for their Friday quarterfinal matchup, which will be against the winner of Wednesday's France-Brazil game. The U.S. team knew it had depth for this tournament, because that's something the Americans always have. But getting all the players involved -- even in a game Tuesday that wasn't quite challenging -- should give the U.S. squad even more of a sense that it is 12 strong.

"We have a really good group," Auriemma said. "They communicate well with each other, they play hard, they're very respectful of each other's abilities. We don't have anybody out there trying to prove that they're better than anybody else."

Actually, though, they have proven they're superior to their competition. But we know what he means. Tuesday could have been a "show-off" game for a team with a different mentality. Instead, it was the kind of efficient and business-like game that a team with a gold standard wanted to play.

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