The United States women's team wonthe inaugural 3-on-3 world basketball championship Sunday, beating France 17-16in the final.
Notre Dame University's SkylarDiggins, Connecticut University's Bria Hartley and Chiney Ogwumike of StanfordUniversity teamed with Ann Strother for the U.S. team.
Serbia won the men's title with a16-13 victory over France. The U.S. men were eliminated by Serbia in thequarterfinals, losing 20-16.
"I am very proud of teammates.They took the hits and gave some back. This was definitely very physical, verydifferent from America," Diggins said.
Diggins, Hartley and Ogwumike, alongwith Alyssa Thomas easily won a six-team qualifying tournament in early July,in which Strother took part, with another team. With Thomas unable to make thetrip to Athens, Strother was called in as a last-minute replacement.
"We had reserved a space in thewomen's (qualifying) tournament for women who were former national teamplayers," said Jim Tooley, USA Basketball's executive director and CEO.
"It was very easy to learn toplay with these girls," Strother said. "They are smart, they aretalented, they are competitors."
The U.S. women went 9-0 in thefour-day tournament, cruising through the initial group stage, the round of 16and the quarterfinals but were pushed hard by Australia in the semifinalsearlier Sunday, winning 19-18.
In the final Ogwumike, who had beenused to dominating the boards and blocking or altering their shots, had a toughtime with France's Helena Ciak.
"She was the most physicalplayer in the tournament and she set the tone for the others. But, in the end,it's better to be physical than to play like girls," Ogwumike said.
FIBA, the world basketballfederation, is certainly investing a lot in the 3-on-3 game, or 3x3 basketball,as it calls it.
"What FIBA wants is to create anew generation of players...and take the game into new places. You saw hereteams from Guam, from Nepal," Tooley said.
Patterned after streetball, 3x3basketball is played on a halfcourt and lasts just 10 minutes, unless one ofthe teams reaches 21 points before that, something the U.S. women did in theirfirst seven games. There is a 12-second shot clock. One point is awarded forfree throws and shots inside what is the 3-point arc in the "regular"5-on-5 game, and two points for shots beyond that arc.
The teams have four athletes each,with on sitting on the bench at any time and they act as their own coaches,taking timeouts and deciding on the timing of substitutions. Actual coaches arenot allowed in the court and are not allowed to shout instructions from thesideline, although, in this tournament, several flouted the rule and were notalways warned by the referees. There are two referees in each game.
Having managed to include the 3x3event in the inaugural Youth Summer Olympics, held in 2010 in Singapore, and toorganize a world Youth Championship in 2011, the FIBA staged the event as ashowcase for its push to have the 3-on-3 format included at the 2016 RioOlympics.
"This is a great historicalsetting," said FIBA General Secretary Patrick Baumann, pointing to Athens'Zappeion Hall looming over the four temporary basketball courts assembled forthe competition. "This is where the fencing was staged in the inauguralmodern Olympics (held in Athens in 1896) and were the press center was."
Baumann, also a member of theInternational Olympic Committee, said FIBA's intent was to stage the inaugural3x3 World Championship at the Panathinaiko Stadium, the actual central venue ofthe 1896 Games. But archaeological authorities would not have allowed thedisplaying of the sponsors' logos there and the event was moved to the ZappeionHall, a few hundred yards away.
Baumann said the IOC will discussincluding the 3x3 in the Summer Olympics in November but will not make a finaldecision until late 2013. He is optimistic about the inclusion of the event.
"Imagine, to have Copacabana asthe setting for 3x3 basketball. It would be fantastic," he said.
If 3x3 ball becomes an Olympicevent, said all U.S. athletes said, they would jump at the chance to representtheir country. "Of course, I would prefer to be part of the 5-on-5team," Diggins said. "But I would do whatever my country wants me todo." ''I would do in in a heartbeat," agrees Ogwumike.
"I would definitely trythat," agrees Tyree Hardge, one of the men's U.S. team members.
Hardge, along with teammates IraBrown and Allen Williams, are all former college players and veterans of the3x3 circuit. The fourth member, Adetayo Adesanya, was a track and fieldAll-American in the long jump and high jump and played high school basketball.
The U.S. men were 5-2.
"The men represented us well,on and off the court ... they came through the grass-roots system in theU.S." said Tooley, adding that USA basketball would consider recruitingtop college or pro players to try for future 3x3 teams.
"We could have done better, butwe are excited about representing our country. In the following years, the U.S.will do much better," said Hardge, adding that the four would considerwhether they will continue as a team.
As for the women, Strother, who hasretired from pro 5-on-5 play, will continue working the 3x3 circuit.
"This (win) was right up therewith the college championships" she won at UConn in 2003 and 2004,"she said.