As the 2026 FIBA Women\u2019s Basketball World Cup gets underway Friday, expect some Grade-A basketball over the next few weeks. Team USA enters as the reigning gold medalist, having won gold at nine of the last 12 tournaments.<\/p>\n
As the 2026 FIBA Women\u2019s Basketball World Cup gets underway Friday, expect some Grade-A basketball over the next few weeks. Team USA enters as the reigning gold medalist, having won gold at nine of the last 12 tournaments. The Americans enter the tournament with a 30-0 record, gunning for their fifth straight gold medal. Despite the lopsided results to date, one WNBA reporter still doesn\u2019t appear to be fully convinced by the new-look Team USA roster.<\/p>\n
The Athletic\u2019s Annie Costabile shared her thoughts on Team USA\u2019s roster on Thursday, making it clear that she\u2019s not fully sold on the current squad\u2019s chances, citing France as the biggest threat to its quest for a fifth straight title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think because of their (France) experience together and who anchors that team,\u201d Costabile said<\/a> on the Off-Season channel. \u201cI mean, when you look at the entire roster, they have the second-most WNBA players to the U.S. They have eight WNBA players, but Gabby Williams is the head of that. And then from there, I think their guard play and Pauline Astier and Marine Johannes, obviously. I think really, they\u2019re solid. They\u2019re really solid. And then you think about Dominique Malonga and Janelle Salaun. It\u2019s really, like, I know we keep saying the U.S. Is not only expected to go in and do well, but they\u2019re expected to go in and win and dominate. But I\u2019m just, like, not sold on that.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s understandable why Costabile isn\u2019t fully convinced, as there has been much made of the fact that Team USA has left a couple of its top scorers at home, namely A\u2019ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum while replacing them with Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen. As good as the current roster is, it features seven newcomers alongside some veterans.<\/p>\n As for France, despite boasting several WNBA talents, the team has not won a medal since the inaugural tournament in 1953. So, it will be interesting to see how the two teams fare in this tournament.<\/p>\n Team USA will begin its tournament Friday against China, while France will face Hungary later in the day.<\/p>\n Wealth of Skill Makes France Top Threat to Team USA at World Cup<\/p>\n One of the reasons France ranks highly alongside Team USA as the odds-on favorites to win gold is its tremendous depth at all positions. Picture a lineup featuring Gabby Williams, who is one of the best two-way players in the world; Marine Johannes, one of the most lethal shot-makers; and Dominique Malonga, who has elite athleticism and rim protection and is already throwing down dunks in the league. Carla Leite and Pauline Astier are also coming off breakout seasons.<\/p>\n They also have a solid bench featuring Janelle Salaun and Leila Lacan, and you\u2019ll see why Les Bleues have all the firepower they need to be successful.<\/p>\n A lot of fans have been predicting this development for some time now, and it looks as though it\u2019s finally coming to fruition. At the Paris Olympics, Team USA edged France by just one point to win gold, but France comes into this tournament with more experience and talent than ever before. In sum, Les Bleues are a terrifically balanced group, and no one should be shocked if they end the drought or even find themselves atop the championship podium a few weeks from now.<\/p>\n Read More:<\/p>\n Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers Headline Intriguing Team USA Lineup as Practice Hints What\u2019s in Store Ahead of World Cup Opener vs. China<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cYou Got a Special Whistle\u201d: Paige Bueckers Bluntly Calls Out Angel Reese in Hilarious Exchange<\/a><\/p>\n College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in college football<\/a>, men\u2019s college basketball<\/a>, women\u2019s college basketball<\/a>, and college baseball<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the 2026 FIBA Women\u2019s Basketball World Cup gets underway Friday, expect some Grade-A basketball over the next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":882818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-882817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}