USA Basketball officially announced the 12-player roster for the 2024 Olympics on Tuesday, even though the list had been reported over the weekend and caused quite the stir when Caitlin Clark’s name was not included.
Clark, for her part, has handled this like a pro, noting Team USA is “the most competitive team in the world” and said she’ll use this as motivation to get better to ensure she’s selected for the 2028 Games. However, while Clark is taking it all in stride, many fans and folks in the media are not, and her omission has been a topic of debate on sports television and social media for days.
The main point those who think Clark should be on the roster have made is that this is about growing the game and getting more people to tune in. As Jen Rizzotti, the chair of USA Basketball’s selection committee, explained to the Associated Press, that is not part of the criteria for selecting an Olympic basketball team. Rizzotti highlighted Clark’s lack of experience, particularly on the international stage, as a big reason for her being left off of the squad, and also indicated there were other players that were even harder to cut than Clark.
“Here’s the basketball criteria that we were given as a committee and how do we evaluate our players based on that?” Rizzotti told The Associated Press in an interview. “And when you base your decision on criteria, there were other players that were harder to cut because they checked a lot more boxes. Then sometimes it comes down to position, style of play for [coach Cheryl Reeve] and then sometimes a vote.”
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“It would be irresponsible for us to talk about her in a way other than how she would impact the play of the team,” Rizzotti said. “Because it wasn’t the purview of our committee to decide how many people would watch or how many people would root for the U.S. It was our purview to create the best team we could for Cheryl.”
USA Basketball is not NBC (or ESPN), and as such their goal is not aligned with simply drawing the most eyeballs. As Rizzotti notes, the USA player pool is extremely deep, and it certainly sounds like Clark was not even one of the final cuts made. Arike Ogunbowale has the strongest case for being the biggest snub from the roster from a basketball and experience perspective, as she’s currently second in the WNBA in scoring average and was part of the last three years of Team USA training camps. Given how Rizzotti talked about basketball performance and experience being the criteria for selection, it seems likely Ogunbowale would be the first call for an injury replacement if one is needed, not Clark.
