USA Basketball to stream classic games, featuring Katie Smith, Dawn Staley and more

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Tarrytown, New York/USA – Sept. 07, 2018: Dawn Staley speaks during a USAB Practice at the NY Knicks Training Facility in Tarrytown, New York. Photo Credit: Chris Poss

Fans will have more opportunities to watch classic USA Basketball games, as the organization will be streaming vintage matches on its website, www.usab.com/live, as well as its Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Women’s games will be featured on Tuesday nights, at 8 p.m. ET, with June 16 showcasing the 2000 U.S. women’s national team against a USA Select Team that included Marie Ferdinand, Jackie Stiles, and a 19-year-old Sue Bird.

Less than one month after the game that was played on Sept. 3, 2000, in Honolulu, the U.S. went on to win the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, behind Hall of Famers such as Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, Sheryl Swoopes, and Katie Smith.

“It was very much set up in order to make sure that we had a long period of training,” Smith recently told USA Basketball. “You had a group of your team together so that you could prepare and train and get really familiar with each other. And we did a college tour again, we traveled around and played college teams. And then obviously, when we get closer to the Olympics, you kind of go to places right before the Olympics that are close or on your way, you know, to try to get in games. So, we were lucky enough to go to Hawaii. Not only to train, but to have a little sun and a little bit of relaxation, as well, before we headed all the way down to Australia. So, it was a nice kind of halfway point, so that the flights weren’t quite as long when headed all the way on Australia.”

Smith added that she tried out for the team that would win the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Ultimately, she was a member of a Pat Summitt-coached U.S. select team that lost to the Olympians. Two years later, in the middle of the Olympic cycle, she was sidelined with a torn ACL.

“I look at that roster, and just some of the familiar names,” Smith said of the 2000 USA Select Team, “but honestly, at the end of the day, it was about us showing and doing and playing at a level that didn’t matter what the score was, didn’t matter what was going on, we’re going to go out there and the effort will be at this level at all times. So it didn’t matter because you can’t get up for one game down for another I just have an inconsistency and I think that’s the one thing that we do is we try to show up and be consistent with what we do, no matter who we face and staying ready.”

The women’s games continue the following Tuesdays, with the U.S. facing France on July 27, 2016, being streamed on June 23; the U.S. against Canada on Sept. 8, 2018, being streamed on June 30; and the U.S. National team versus a U.S. Select Team from July 25, 2016, being streamed on July 7.

In addition, U.S. men’s games will stream on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET. The 2000 Olympic team faces a USA Select Team on June 18, the 2004 U.S. team against Germany on June 25, the 2012 U.S. team versus Argentina on July 2, and the 2007 USA Basketball Challenge, dividing the senior national team, on July 9.