Ariel Atkins and Mike Thibault named to USA Basketball women’s national team for fall training

On Thursday, USA Basketball announced its November exhibitions and women’s national team training camp rosters. Washington Mystics guard Ariel Atkins was named to the 16-woman roster and General Manager Mike Thibault was named an assistant coach.

Atkins was on the 2020 Olympic squad member that won the Gold Medal in Tokyo, Japan. The following year (the 2020 Olympics were actually in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic), the Americans won the Gold Medal in the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup.

Thibault was an assistant coach on the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup team and also for the 2008 Olympic team that also won the Gold Medal.

In November’s exhibitions, Team USA will play two college teams, the Tennessee Lady Volunteers on Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. ET and the Duke Blue Devils on Nov. 12 at 12 p.m. ET. There will also be a training camp between those dates.

These games aim to pick which players will play in the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, where the Americans will play in Antwerp, Belgium next February. Even though Team USA already qualified by winning the World Cup, they are still required to bring a squad for this tournament. The squad that plays in February will likely be some players’ last chance to impress the selection committee to make the final Olympic team.