MIAMI — When Sky star Angel Reese was a child, she remembers watching FIBA World Cup video games along with her grandmother, who someway discovered a strategy to get them on TV. That was her introduction to USA Basketball.
Reese nonetheless isn’t certain how her grandma tracked these video games down, however the days of looking for random livestreams are over. For the primary time, TNT will broadcast the FIBA World Cup qualifying event, which begins this week in Puerto Rico, in addition to the World Cup in September in Berlin.
The highlight is on a brand new period for USA Basketball. Longtime mainstays Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird have retired. Reese is now a part of an rising core that features Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Kiki Iriafen, 4 gamers making their debuts for the senior national team.
At a earlier coaching camp at Duke, Bueckers began calling the younger group the ‘‘Young and Turnt Crew.’’
‘‘Every time we step on the court, you see passion, you see fire, you see a competitive spirit about us, whether it be in the way that we show our emotions, the way we show our passion, the way we talk our stuff,’’ Bueckers stated. ‘‘We don’t shrink back from that; we embrace that.’’
What Bueckers is making an attempt to say is, these youngsters like speaking crap.
‘‘That’s the kind of vocal I like,’’ Bird stated of Bueckers’ trash speak.
Bird, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, didn’t stray removed from USA Basketball in retirement. She’s now the managing director of USA ladies’s basketball, in command of assembling the roster.
She handpicked the Young and Turnt Crew as a part of a 12-player workforce that may compete within the qualifying event. She favored what she noticed on the primary day of camp in Miami.
‘‘I think there’s sufficient veteran management right here that may enable [the young core] to be themselves but additionally information them alongside the best way,’’ Bird stated. ‘‘And that’s precisely what it was for me once I was first coming by way of USA Basketball.’’
It could be the primary time members of the Young and Turnt Crew will put on ‘‘USA’’ throughout their chests in senior-team competitors, however — because the veterans made clear all through camp — these aren’t typical kids.
The veterans, together with three-time Olympic gold medalist Breanna Stewart, stated they wish to be a sounding board and advise the children concerning the ins and outs of USA Basketball. At the identical time, they famous the youthful gamers have already got performed in high-stakes video games and know what they’re doing.
For members of the younger core, it will likely be their first aggressive five-on-five motion of the offseason. Bueckers and Iriafen spent the winter enjoying within the three-on-three Unrivaled league; Reese and Clark largely skilled on their very own.
‘‘A lot of the girls we’re speaking about are like, ‘We haven’t seen five-on-five in months,’ ’’ Reese stated. ‘‘It’s simply good to be right here. I’m actually comfortable to be part of it.’’
The workforce gained’t have a lot time to ramp up. Camp in Miami is being run by assistant coaches Nate Tibbetts (Mercury), Natalie Nakase (Valkyries) and Jose Fernandez (Wings) earlier than the group heads to Puerto Rico.
The event runs from Wednesday to March 17, starting with a recreation towards Senegal. Team USA already has certified for the World Cup, however lots of the different groups can be clawing for a spot.
‘‘Globally, you have to understand that when you put that jersey on, it’s completely different,’’ Bird stated. ‘‘People come at you different.’’
Veterans say the most important distinction in worldwide play is the physicality, which ought to swimsuit Reese. Her defining traits at all times have been toughness, edge and fearlessness. Bueckers even gave Reese the nod because the second-best trash-talker within the group — behind herself.
And in Puerto Rico, Reese might need the most important alternative of anybody within the Young and Turnt Crew.
An damage to Aliyah Boston and the absence of key Olympic veterans reminiscent of A’ja Wilson and Alyssa Thomas leaves extra room within the submit rotation.
Bird clarified that gamers reminiscent of Wilson and Napheesa Collier stay firmly within the combine for the World Cup roster in September. In the meantime, Reese could make her mark.
With a skinny submit rotation, Dearica Hamby, Iriafen and Monique Billings are the one different true frontcourt gamers. Reese probably will see important minutes at energy ahead and heart.
‘‘You come here, and you’re a sponge to no matter place they put you out as,’’ Reese stated. ‘‘Everybody here can score. Everybody’s the star of their workforce. So you come right here and attempt to discover your role and your match.’’
Meanwhile, the USA is loaded at guard. There’s ‘‘Point Gawd’’ Chelsea Gray, do-it-all scorer Jackie Young and sharpshooter Kelsey Plum. Not to say former Sky star Kahleah Copper, Reese’s ‘‘big sister’’ and the participant who helped seal the gold-medal recreation in 2024 in Paris.
Still, don’t anticipate Clark and Bueckers to be grabbing towels for the veterans.
‘‘I don’t at all times purchase into age dictating your expertise stage,’’ Bird stated. ‘‘I think it can come in all different forms.’’
Bird stated she sees Bueckers, particularly, as a ‘‘connector’’ and desires her to guide vocally already.
For Clark, the camp was an opportunity to shake off some rust and nerves. The qualifying event will characterize her first actual competitors since nagging accidents stored her out for a lot of the 2025 WNBA season.
Clark spent the offseason rebuilding her conditioning by enjoying five-on-five with former males’s faculty gamers and execs. She stated she has turned a nook mentally within the final couple of months and not is anxious about accidents.
As for the Young and Turnt Crew as an entire, Reese stated she is prepared for the shift from rivals to teammates.
‘‘It’ll be a lot enjoyable,’’ she stated. ‘‘People are already messaging me about being in Puerto Rico, and they can’t wait to see all of us.’’
