South Carolina Gamecocks

40 women's college players invited to under-23 training camp

Published Jul. 11, 2017 1:53 p.m. ET

Forty of the top players in women's college basketball have accepted invitations to the USA Basketball Under-23 national team training camp at the end of the month.

Among them are four-time USA Basketball gold medalists Arike Ogunbowale of Notre Dame and Katie Lou Samuelson of UConn and A'ja Wilson, who helped lead South Carolina to its first NCAA championship last spring.

The training camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado, runs from July 31-Aug. 4. Players will take part in sessions dedicated to developing skills and compete in a round-robin tournament. Former USA Basketball national team coach Geno Auriemma will speak.

From the 40-member group, a team of 12 will be chosen to play in the inaugural Under-23 Four Nations Tournament in Tokyo next month. The U.S. team will be coached by Louisville's Jeff Walz and face teams from Australia, Canada and Japan.

''It's a great opportunity to work with other outstanding coaches and learn and share information. It's going to be fun,'' Walz said. ''You're talking two weeks of very intense basketball with great players. I'm always appreciative to work with USA Basketball and I'm sure the committee will have a hard time picking the team for Japan.''

Walz was an assistant coach with the Under-18 and Under-19 teams a few years ago. He is joined on the staff by Princeton's Courtney Banghart and Western Kentucky's Michelle Clark-Heard.