New-look Canadian 3x3 basketball teams shoot for 1st-ever World Cup titles
Battered and bruised in the immediate aftermath of the Olympics, Canada's 3x3 women's basketball team chose the 10,000-foot view.
The long successful group had come to Paris with eyes on a gold medal, but left having not reached the podium at all.
Yet the foursome of Katherine Plouffe, twin sister Michelle Plouffe, Paige Crozon and Kacie Bosch opted to revel in the journey instead of dwelling on the defeat.
Their voyage together may not have peaked with gold, but it was undoubtedly successful, including many victories and establishing the groundwork for Canadian 3x3 basketball from unfunded in 2019 to Olympians five years later.
On Sunday, a new chapter of Canadian 3x3 basketball will begin at the World Cup in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with both the women's and men's teams set to compete for a title neither has ever won.
"I don't think we lost confidence after the Olympics. I think it was definitely tender and emotional. But our team values stayed the same and we all knew what we brought to the table both on and off the court," Crozon said from a hotel room in Mongolia.
Schedule conflict, minor injuries sideline Plouffes
It'll be up to Crozon and Bosch to pass those values on to a pair of new team members at the World Cup. The Plouffes will not play as they deal with both schedule conflict and minor injuries.
In their place will be Saicha Grant-Allen, with 49 games on her ledger, and Cassandra Brown, a relative rookie at 26 games.
Crozon and Bosch have combined to make 412 appearances for Canada on the 3x3 circuit.
"Just using it as an opportunity to expand our games personally, but then also embracing the challenge of finding out what works for this team … and just trying to continue the culture and values that Michelle and Katherine Plouffe have instilled in this group," Crozon said.
Live coverage of the World Cup will be available on CBC Gem and CBCSports.ca beginning Sunday at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT through to the medal games on Sunday, June 29.
The Canadian women, ranked sixth, are pooled with No. 3 France, No. 11 Hungary, No. 14 Austria and No. 18 Latvia.
Canada's men — making their first World Cup appearance since 2018 — are ranked 17th and will face No. 3 France, No. 6 Austria, No. 11 China and No. 14 Puerto Rico in the group stage.
Sixteen countries from each 20-team tournament will reach the single-elimination knockout stage, with division winners headed directly to the quarterfinals.
While the Canadian women have won back-to-back regular-season championships on the 3x3 circuit, and earned the inaugural Champions Cup title in March, their best finish at the World Cup was a silver in 2022.
A win in Mongolia would leave just one shiny Olympic first to obtain. But that gold medal will only be available three years from now in Los Angeles.
Establish chemistry
For now, Crozon said the goal is to establish chemistry with Grant-Allen and Brown like she and Bosch enjoyed with the Plouffes.
"There was a level of comfort because we understood each other's tendencies and there was a lot of trust that was built. So there's not as much comfort going into this tournament. However, I think we're all really excited because we get to explore kind of ways that we can expand our game," Crozon said.
"I'm looking forward to the challenge and maybe stepping into a little bit of a different role and the growth that can come out of it."
Grant-Allen, the 29-year-old from Hamilton, Ont., played four years at Dayton College before graduating in 2017 and going on to play professionally in Russia, Spain and Turkey until 2022.
Brown, the 33-year-old from Vernon, B.C., played for Canada's five-on-five team at the 2019 Pan Am Games and spent 10 years plying her trade internationally before committing to 3x3.
On the court, Crozon said to expect the new group to feature more size down low with the six-foot-five Grant-Allen and increased spacing in the form of the sharp-shooting Brown.
"They are long and dynamic and versatile, and they bring so much energy and they have a little bit of a different style of play than what we have seen in the past," Crozon said.
Canadian men on tap
The men's team includes Alex "Superman" Johnson, who committed to 3x3 full-time in 2021, alongside Grant Audu, Jerome Desrosiers and Toronto Metropolitan University's Aaron Rhooms.
Johnson and Desrosiers were part of the group that placed third at the Olympic qualifying tournament last season, narrowly missing a spot in Paris. Canada's men also missed out on qualifying for Tokyo 2020.
"It's always back to the drawing board when you don't reach your goals," Johnson said. "Seeing the women go and us stuck at home is kind of bittersweet. You're happy for your friends and you're happy for the program as a whole, but you kind of want to be there. So it just added motivation to try and seize every opportunity."
That begins with the World Cup, where Canada's men are making just their second-ever appearance after qualifying at a tournament in Azerbaijan in May.
Johnson, the 37-year-old Toronto native, said his group is looking at the women's side as a model for success.
"They've kind of just showed the blueprint. The chemistry that that group has kind of put together, it's really special to see and it's something that we are trying to emulate," he said.
Audu, the 27-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., played four years at UBC before launching a pro career that included a stop in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.
Desrosiers, the 27-year-old from Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., recently began playing 3x3 professionally and holds the highest individual ranking on the team.
Toronto's Rhooms, 23, was named the OUA's player of the year last season and currently competes for the CEBL's Edmonton Stingers.
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