Fredette’s full-time 3×3 vision
USA’s men are no strangers to success on the international stage, with three World Cup medals to their name – gold in 2019 and silvers in 2016 and 2023. But they have yet to match the women’s programme, which claimed a fourth World Cup title in Warsaw last month to go with Olympic gold from Tokyo 2020 and bronze at Paris 2024.
Fredette’s diagnosis of what has held past men’s teams back is blunt. While rival nations built dedicated 3×3 systems, U.S. rosters were assembled on the fly.
“The biggest thing is we’ve got to make it a full-time programme, and that’s something that we’ve been lacking as USA,” he said. “We haven’t been able to get in the gym for long months at a time and practise with people that are committed full-time to 3×3. That’s the mindset shift that we have to make in order to be great, because that’s what all these other countries are doing – whether it’s Europe, Asia, Africa, South America.
“If we can do that and continue to get our talent, but actually know how to play 3×3 as well, I think we’ll be in good shape.”
The rebuild remains a work in progress. Fredette’s first World Cup in charge, in 2025, ended in a 22-14 quarter-final loss to Germany. In Warsaw, the first team built around his full-time model topped its pool before falling in a far tighter quarter-final, 14-11 to France – closer, but still short of the medal rounds, with the gap to champions Latvia yet to close before LA28.