Bravo il est bien fait. That’s how the world of basketball is expected to react to Team USA being 56-0 at the grandest stage of them all. And that’s what transpired Monday when the 7x defending Olympic champs got off to a perfect start. Courtesy of some emphatic performances by their experienced campaigners A’ja Wilson (24 points) and Breanna Stewart (22 points), their opening challenge against their gold medal game opponents in Tokyo, turned out to be a winning affair. Still, according to fans, their game had some major lapses that needed the particular expertise of Indiana rookie Caitlin Clark.

“The next chapter in The Greatest Dynasty Ever” had the upper hand in some departments. As it turns out, they displayed their dominance from the paint by racking up 64 points. On a regular basis, Cheryl Reeve’s crew positioned themselves to have better access to entry passes and capitalize on the offensive rebounds. The Akatsuki Five seem to have no answers for this approach throughout the fixture. On top of that, there was clear daylight in terms of field goals between the 2 units. While there was a difference of 17% in the total field goals scored, the Japanese lacked efficiency by 30% in 2-pointers.

Anyhow, despite a convincing 102-76 victory, Team USA wouldn’t be proud of their accuracy from beyond the arc. Seemingly, the afternoon at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium had them connect only 4 out of their 20 attempts from the 3-point range. And, this is way less than what Japan pulled off as a 15 of 39 effort summed up their fixture.

Consequently, this compelled the fans to demand the presence of the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer Caitlin Clark.

Fans crying “Tu me manques” for Caitlin Clark

The snub of Caitlin Clark from the Olympic squad created a lot of dissatisfaction among a particular segment of people. Many believe that the 6-foot-guard was able to live up to her staggering college basketball career as a pro making a compelling case for her selection. Expressing that cryptically, one of them wrote, “So team USA needs a 3-point shooter? Interesting”.

At the same time, some even predicted what the squad would focus on before taking on the reigning European champions Belgium. While the team was 42 of 77 from the field and converted 38 out of their 57 two-pointers, a dismal show from long range was somewhat worrying for their followers. One of them said in a humorous sense, “Guess I know what Team USA is doing in practice tomorrow”.

Earlier this year, Caitlin Clark in Iowa’s quarterfinal victory over Penn State at the 2024 Big Ten tournament, overcame Stephen Curry’s tally for the most three-pointers in a single season by any Division I player. Apparently, a total of 201 three-pointers is the most by any college basketball athlete regardless of gender. On top of that, she connected 71 as a rookie placing her 3rd overall in the WNBA. Perhaps this is the reason why one fan wrote, “Could have used CC’s shooting”

Meanwhile, there were some fans who were backing the talent of Arike Ogunbowale in this regard. The 27-year-old displayed a classic exhibition of her shooting abilities shooting 8 of 13 from deep in the All-Star Game. In addition to this, she is alongside Clark at the third position in the WNBA. Keeping that in mind, one fan opined, “f yall been watching the WNBA you would know CC not dropping 3’s like she was in college. She would have went out there passing it 😂. They need arike_ogunbowale !” 

Also, some even criticized Kelsey Plum. She was 1 of 3 from long range. Comparing her with Sabrina Ionescu who was 3 of 7, some questioned the tactics applied by Cheryl Reeve in the fixture. Subsequently, one of them said, “How irresponsible putting up Plum instead of Ionescu when she was responsible for the majority of those three’s made… I’m sure tho Plum missed at least 8 tho 😂”.

Well, All’s Well That Ends Well. Team USA will be glad that they had the desired result despite their one particular shortcoming. Having said that, they’ll need to address it as quickly as they can before the business end of the competition begins.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And, join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show”. Our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.