For 24 years, the Nike Hoops Summit has hosted some of the world’s top high school basketball talents. Players like Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki and Anthony Davis made their names nationally known. On Saturday, April 8, it featured its inaugural women’s game in Portland, Oregon.
Two teams featured 25 of the world’s top high school basketball players, showcasing their talents on a stage they never had before. Many of the players who took the court were already committed to play at different colleges across the United States.
ESPN’s top-100 2023 rankings feature 19 Pac-12 commits. Four of those athletes were called up to represent Team USA at the inaugural women’s Nike Hoops Summit. The group was highlighted by the consensus No. 1 overall ranked player in the class of 2023, Juju Watkins.
Team USA held its last practice the day before the big game. Five minutes after the conclusion of practice some players had already headed to the locker room for the day. Others were sitting on the sidelines talking and icing minor injuries picked up.
Except for Watkins.
She was still getting up shots and would do so until she was forced off the court to make way for the next group of players to practice. That sort of relentless drive to master her craft is part of what has led Watkins to be so highly touted coming out of high school.
Watkins narrowed down her list of top colleges in November of 2022 to a list that included South Carolina and Stanford (the women’s 2022 and 2021 champions, respectively). She elected to stay home in Los Angeles and attend USC where she hopes to lead the struggling program back to the national powerhouse it once was.
An ankle sprain kept Watkins sidelined on Saturday and prevented her from displaying her skills to the international viewing audience. Her participation in Team USA camp throughout the week was still valuable, partially because she got to play with some of her future Pac-12 opponents Jada Williams (Arizona), Breya Cunningham (Arizona) and Sunaja “Nunu” Agara (Stanford).
“We’ve all like grown up together playing the sport and we’ve seen each other at all the camps,” Watkins said. “So to see everybody just grow and be at this level together is really special.”
The four all have experience playing together at the 2022 Under-17 FIBA World Cup where they won a second straight gold medal for the U.S. Cunningham and Williams played together at La Jolla Country Day School in San Diego and will continue to be teammates in college at Arizona.
Cunningham opened the score for Team USA at the Hoops Summit with consecutive buckets to give it the early lead. She finished with seven rebounds to go along with her four points.
Williams scored six points, including two three-pointers, off of the bench. Although she struggled overall shooting from the field, she showed that she’s capable of being a dead-eye three-point shooter, as well as getting quick buckets in transition.
Arizona women’s basketball was the national runners-up in the 2021 season but has since failed to make it past the Round of 32. Adding the duo of Cunningham and Williams who have pre-existing chemistry might be what the Wildcats need to make another deep tournament run.
Agara had the biggest impact of the four on Team USA’s win at the Hoops Summit. She scored 10 points and picked up five rebounds. She displayed her efficient jump shooting and the ability to be a skilled rebounding guard.
Unlike USC and Arizona, Stanford has dominated the Pac-12 conference and the national stage. Its most recent national championship came in 2021 when it defeated Arizona. Agara will be joining a Cardinal program coached by the winningest coach in women’s college basketball history, Tara VanDerveer.
Agara will likely need to assume a leadership role with national champion Haley Jones getting drafted by the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA and 2022 No. 1 recruit Lauren Betts entering the transfer portal. Still, she’ll be joining a team that includes 2023 Naismith semi finalist Cameron Brink. If healthy, Stanford will be a difficult team to contend with in the Pac-12 next season.
The inaugural Hoops Summit game was coming off a week where women’s basketball dominated the national sports conversation. The women’s Final Four shattered previous viewership records, including a national championship game that averaged 9.9 million viewers. Saturday’s game was another example of how far the investment in women’s basketball has grown.
All of the players selected to participate expressed how special it was to get to pave the way for the future women’s players that will play in the game.
“This is the first-ever Nike Women’s Hoop Summit,” Watkins said when asked about her goals for the camp. “So just to set the tone for the future ones to come and, you know, make our mark”
Following Team USA’s 100-79 victory the team talked about building history in front of a large crowd at the Moda Center.
“I’m pretty confident that when these ladies take the stage at the next level they’ll be playing at sold out arenas,” USA head coach Sue Phillips said. “They are future stars and it’s an incredible honor and privilege to coach them tonight.”
At least one team from the Pac-12 has appeared in the women’s Final Four 12 times since 2000. With the addition of several of the top high school recruits, don’t expect the conference to stop competing any time soon. A new generation of stars is ready to take over with the sport at an all-time high.
