debuts for the senior national team<\/a>.<\/p>\nAt a previous training camp at Duke, Bueckers started calling the young group the \u2018\u2018Young and Turnt Crew.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Every 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,\u2019\u2019 Bueckers said. \u2018\u2018We don\u2019t shy away from that; we embrace that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
What Bueckers is trying to say is, these kids like talking crap.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018That\u2019s the type of vocal I like,\u2019\u2019 Bird said of Bueckers\u2019 trash talk.<\/p>\n
Bird, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, didn\u2019t stray far from USA Basketball in retirement. She\u2019s now the managing director of USA women\u2019s basketball, in charge of assembling the roster.<\/p>\n
She handpicked the Young and Turnt Crew as part of a 12-player team that will compete in the qualifying tournament. She liked what she saw on the first day of camp in Miami.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I think there\u2019s enough veteran leadership here that can allow [the young core] to be themselves but also guide them along the way,\u2019\u2019 Bird said. \u2018\u2018And that\u2019s exactly what it was for me when I was first coming through USA Basketball.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
It might be the first time members of the Young and Turnt Crew will wear \u2018\u2018USA\u2019\u2019 across their chests in senior-team competition, but \u2014 as the veterans made clear throughout camp \u2014 these aren\u2019t typical youngsters.<\/p>\n
The veterans, including three-time Olympic gold medalist Breanna Stewart, said they want to be a sounding board and advise the youngsters about the ins and outs of USA Basketball. At the same time, they noted the younger players already have played in high-stakes games and know what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n
For members of the young core, it will be their first competitive five-on-five action of the offseason. Bueckers and Iriafen spent the winter playing in the three-on-three Unrivaled league; Reese and Clark mostly trained on their own.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018A lot of the girls we\u2019re talking about are like, \u2018We haven\u2019t seen five-on-five in months,\u2019\u2009\u2019\u2019 Reese said. \u2018\u2018It\u2019s just good to be here. I\u2019m really happy to be a part of it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The team won\u2019t have much time to ramp up. Camp in Miami is being run by assistant coaches Nate Tibbetts (Mercury), Natalie Nakase (Valkyries) and Jose Fernandez (Wings) before the group heads to Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n
The tournament runs from Wednesday to March 17, beginning with a game against Senegal. Team USA already has qualified for the World Cup, but many of the other teams will be clawing for a spot.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Globally, you have to understand that when you put that jersey on, it\u2019s different,\u2019\u2019 Bird said. \u2018\u2018People come at you different.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Veterans say the biggest difference in international play is the physicality, which should suit Reese. Her defining traits always have been toughness, edge and fearlessness. Bueckers even gave Reese the nod as the second-best trash-talker in the group \u2014 behind herself.<\/p>\n
And in Puerto Rico, Reese might have the biggest opportunity of anyone in the Young and Turnt Crew.<\/p>\n
An injury to Aliyah Boston and the absence of key Olympic veterans such as A\u2019ja Wilson and Alyssa Thomas leaves more room in the post rotation.<\/p>\n
Bird clarified that players such as Wilson and Napheesa Collier remain firmly in the mix for the World Cup roster in September. In the meantime, Reese can make her mark.<\/p>\n
With a thin post rotation, Dearica Hamby, Iriafen and Monique Billings are the only other true frontcourt players. Reese likely will see significant minutes at power forward and center.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018You come here, and you\u2019re a sponge to whatever position they put you out as,\u2019\u2019 Reese said. \u2018\u2018Everybody here can score. Everybody\u2019s the star of their team. So you come here and try to find your role and your fit.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the USA is loaded at guard. There\u2019s \u2018\u2018Point Gawd\u2019\u2019 Chelsea Gray, do-it-all scorer Jackie Young and sharpshooter Kelsey Plum. Not to mention former Sky star Kahleah Copper, Reese\u2019s \u2018\u2018big sister\u2019\u2019 and the player who helped seal the gold-medal game in 2024 in Paris.<\/p>\n
Still, don\u2019t expect Clark and Bueckers to be grabbing towels for the veterans.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I don\u2019t always buy into age dictating your experience level,\u2019\u2019 Bird said. \u2018\u2018I think it can come in all different forms.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Bird said she sees Bueckers, in particular, as a \u2018\u2018connector\u2019\u2019 and wants her to lead vocally already.<\/p>\n
For Clark, the camp was a chance to shake off some rust and nerves. The qualifying tournament will represent her first real competition since nagging injuries kept her out for most of the 2025 WNBA season.<\/p>\n
Clark spent the offseason rebuilding her conditioning by playing five-on-five with former men\u2019s college players and pros. She said she has turned a corner mentally in the last couple of months and no longer is worried about injuries.<\/p>\n
As for the Young and Turnt Crew as a whole, Reese said she is ready for the shift from rivals to teammates.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It\u2019ll be so much fun,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u2018\u2018People are already messaging me about being in Puerto Rico, and they can\u2019t wait to see all of us.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 When Sky star Angel Reese was a kid, she remembers watching FIBA World Cup games with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-510751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}