Richard Cohen

All 11 Americans who've played have at least one field goal at halftime (Rae Burrell yet to get in). Clark also has 8 assists. It's the anticipated demolition. #FIBAWWC

I don't know if you guys have the same commentators I'm getting, but Mame Fall very much isn't the tallest player in these qualifying tournaments. Because Zhang Ziyu exists. #FIBAWWC

Official scorers are struggling with those numbers as well - that deep three by Clark got credited to Monique Billings in the play-by-play. #FIBAWWC

They do at least have an outline in this case, but white numbers on white jerseys will forever be really fricking stupid.

Starting five for the US in their FIBA women's World Cup qualifying tournament opener is CGray, JYoung, Copper, Hamby, Reese (if you trust the FIBA boxscore). #FIBAWWC

Well that'll do. Fairly comfortable win, and by my maths we're through, whatever happens in the two games remaining. Need Temi and Holly back for the next stafe, though.

Ha. Apparently, "They're not calling shit" is a universal phrase that has crossed over to Swiss German.

Turkiye cling on for the 71-69 win. Canada had three looks on their final possession, but no dice. Can't slip up too many more times.

After trailing by as many as 19 in the third quarter, Canada are back within a point against Turkiye with five minutes to play. #FIBAWWC

Fortunately, Switzerland are... not a basketball powerhouse.

We take a break from all this international women's basketball to... watch some different international basketball! Great Britain vs Switzerland in EuroBasket Women 2027 qualifying. No Fagbenle and no Winterburn for GB, so despite the re-addition of Anigwe this could be messy, at best.

Juhasz finishes 15-22 from the field for 35 points and Hungary come away with what could be a huge 77-65 win over Japan. Only opening day, but that could end up vital in deciding a World Cup spot. #FIBAWWC

Talked about this with @chelsealeite.bsky.social on our preview podcast: the tournament in Istanbul is the most interesting because several teams can all beat each other. Japan clinging to Hungary's coattails with 5 minutes left, trailing by 8. #FIBAWWC

Japan are struggling so much to handle Juhasz that the commentator just brought up Bam Adebayo. #FIBAWWC

Dorka Juhasz looking really good for Hungary in their opener. Final year of her rookie-scale deal, even adjusted up for new CBA numbers, could be very useful for Minnesota with the amount of money they're likely to have to spend elsewhere to retain their core players. #WNBA #FIBAWWC

Always takes barely 30 seconds for me to be reminded "Oh yeah, watching Japan play basketball is So. Much. Fun." Very few teams across the globe that are just so delightful to see play. #FIBAWWC

Wild seeing Zhang Ziyu at senior level and *still* looking like the high school kid who got their growth spurt before everyone else. Listed at 7'2" or 7'3" depending on where you look, WNBA draft-eligible in 2027 (if rules don't change), and we haven't seen anything like her since Margo Dydek.

Something we're probably going to see in these #FIBAWWC qualifiers is tactical resting of players. 5 games in 7 days, so there'll be thought processes like "well we're not going to beat the US anyway, save X for the games that matter". Key games are going to be seen as winnable, others as throwaway.

South Sudan only have 8 players available, and one of the ones missing is point guard Delicia Washington who basically runs everything for them. Uh oh.

The refs are from Bulgaria, Korea and Colombia. An unsurprising lack of small-talk during the warmups.

For anyone awake, FIBA Women's World Cup qualifying tournaments about to get underway with Czechia vs South Sudan. By virtue of the groups being played in China, Puerto Rico, France and Turkey there are basically games on somewhere at all moments of the day during this thing.

Slightly more seriously, they surely must be getting somewhere. If they went in and one side said "we want 26%" and the other said "well we're not going over 16%", then you're not still in there at midnight. No point arguing rookie-scale length or core rules if you're deadlocked on basic cash. #WNBA

To be fair, they never specified exacty *where* it had to still be March 10 when they got a deal done. If we go with Howland Island they still have eight hours.

"Okay, so we're gonna put a decimal point in the middle of whatever Bam scores tonight, and set the cap at that many million. All agreed?"

Full preview of every group in the FIBA Women's World Cup qualifying tournaments that start tonight/tomorrow 👇. Explanation of the format, players to watch out for, which groups have real competition, potential 2026 WNBA draft prospects to check out, and plenty more. #FIBAWWC #WNBA

Honestly, I would happily shorten the regular season anyway. I don't need 44 games per team. But the answer we still don't have is how losing games would affect the finances. Not every game is sold nationally, so presumably you could lose some and still fulfil the numbers. But where's the line?

🎥 Explaining the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers format, which countries are already qualified, and who still has work to do.

Full Episode:
🍎 apple.co/3MUUErz
📺 youtu.be/gbRBm3Ukgx8

Clip from The Her Hoop Stats Podcast
Hosts: @chelsealeite.bsky.social @richardcohen.bsky.social

Jin An, Korea;
Jade Kirisome, New Zealand;
Imani McGee-Stafford, Puerto Rico;
Megan Gustafson, Spain;
Sami Whitcomb, Australia;
Yvonne Turner, Hungary;
Kennedy Burke, Turkey.

2/2 #FIBAWWC

Just as an interesting FYI, players in final FIBA Women's World Cup qualifiers squads who count as naturalised:

Bethy Mununga, Belgium;
Delicia Washington, South Sudan;
Gabby Williams, France;
Alexis Peterson, Germany;
Victoria Macaulay, Nigeria;
Stefanie Berberabe, Philippines...

1/2 #FIBAWWC

Breaking down the four qualifying tournaments that will make up the 2026 FIBA World Cup field with @chelsealeite.bsky.social and @richardcohen.bsky.social.

🍎 apple.co/3MUUErz
📺 youtu.be/gbRBm3Ukgx8