Had things gone differently, we might be talking now about LSU's Flau'jae Johnson and TCU's Olivia Miles as part of a strong rookie class in the WNBA this summer. Instead, both guards -- who were eligible for April's WNBA draft -- opted to return to college. This week, they are part of the U.S. women's basketball team headed to the AmeriCup competition in Santiago, Chile, from June 28 to July 6.
Johnson and Miles are among several top women's college players who are competing for USA Basketball this summer and one day could be on the senior national team.
Forward Sarah Strong, the 2025 consensus national freshman of the year who helped lead UConn to the national championship, is currently playing in the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in Mongolia. That event, which started Monday, runs through June 29, with LSU's Mikaylah Williams, Oklahoma's Sahara Williams and 2025 Creighton graduate Morgan Maly joining Strong on the U.S. squad.
The AmeriCup is a 5-on-5 competition that dates to 1993. It has extra emphasis now as a qualifying event for the FIBA Women's World Cup in 2026, a senior national team event that is held every four years. It will be in Berlin in September 2026.
The United States are in AmeriCup Group B and will face host nation Chile (June 28), followed by Colombia (June 29), Puerto Rico (June 30) and Mexico (July 2) in group play. The games can be watched on FIBA's streaming service, Courtside 1891.
Here's a look at the team that will go to Chile, which features 12 players and is coached by Duke's Kara Lawson.
Seniors' time to shine
Johnson and Miles are among six players on the team entering their final season in college. Oklahoma center Raegan Beers, UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens, Iowa forward Hannah Stuelke and Michigan State forward Grace VanSlooten are the others.
Reflecting the trend now in college sports, only two -- Johnson and Stuelke -- will play their entire college careers with the same school. Beers spent her first two years at Oregon State, and VanSlooten played two years at Oregon. Kneepkens was at Utah four years but played just eight games in 2023-24 because of injury. She will spend her final season with the Bruins.
Miles entered Notre Dame early in the second half of the 2020-21 pandemic-impacted season. She didn't play in 2023-24 because of a knee injury and has a year of eligibility left. This past season, the Irish lost to TCU in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, the team Miles ended up joining.
Miles told ESPN that she had been in Fort Worth, Texas, a couple of weeks before USA Basketball training camp in Colorado and is excited about how she will fit in with the Horned Frogs. With TCU's top three scorers from last season gone, Miles will be a very prominent player for them.
"It's a great system and great fit for me," Miles said. "I felt I could benefit from another year [in college] to better myself. I know I can improve my leadership, setting the tone for my team, reading the room and knowing what to do when the vibes are low. It's really important as a point guard that you're able to do that at a high level."
Johnson said she was cut the first time she tried out for a USA Basketball team, and that stuck with her as motivation. When she was named to the AmeriCup team last week, she got a congratulatory text from LSU assistant coach and former Tigers and WNBA star Seimone Augustus, a three-time Olympic gold medalist.
"She just told me to stay consistent; that's one of the things we always talk about," Johnson told ESPN. "I'm very excited. This is such a big honor to be picked. I think I had a little chip on my shoulder, not making the team the last time, and I was determined to do it this time."
Johnson also thinks another year of college will help her, and she doesn't shy away from what she hopes she can do in 2025-26.
"I really want to put in the work to show that I could be in the conversation for the No. 1 draft pick," Johnson said. "But more than anything, I want to try to win another national championship."
Juniors ready to lead
Three rising juniors will be on the U.S. squad: Texas forward Madison Booker, Iowa State center Audi Crooks and Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo. It's the first USA Basketball team for Crooks, who led the Big 12 in scoring (23.4 points per game) and field goal percentage (60.5) last season.
Booker and Hidalgo have played together on two previous U.S. junior teams that won gold at tournaments in 2022 and 2023. This past season, they were players of the year in their respective conferences, the SEC and ACC. Booker also led Texas to its first Final Four since 2003. Texas lost to South Carolina in the national semifinals.
"It meant a lot to the program, because it had been a while, and also to coach [Vic] Schaefer," Booker told ESPN. "It was great being able to get him another milestone in his career. It was sad we came up short at the Final Four, but you can't hang your head. You have to be proud of yourself; we were one of the last teams standing."
Sophomores ready for their encore
Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes, the SEC freshman of the year, is one of three rising sophomores on the AmeriCup team. She's joined by South Carolina's Joyce Edwards -- who was on the SEC's all-freshman team with Blakes -- and USC's Kennedy Smith, who made the Big Ten's all-freshman team.
"I think seeing how well the freshmen class before us played helped open the door and pave the way for us," Blakes said about the likes of USC's JuJu Watkins, Hidalgo, Booker, Crooks, etc. "I think as young hoopers, we have that edge to us: We want to be great, and our age doesn't matter. We're going to play whoever we have to play and do what we do best. You can't be scared."
Blakes was a national sensation last season for her scoring prowess: She topped 50 points in a game twice and was the SEC's second-leading scorer at 23.3 points per game. Blakes had 53 points on Jan. 30 at Florida, which was the SEC freshman record for single-game scoring. On Feb. 16 at Auburn, she topped that with 55 points, which bested Delaware Fighting Blue Hens' Elena Delle Donne (54 in 2010) for the NCAA Division I freshman record.
Blakes told ESPN she was most pleased with the progress Vanderbilt is making. The Commodores have made it to the NCAA tournament the past two seasons after having a drought that dated to 2014.
"I'm not going to put any boundaries on myself," Blakes said. "Obviously, it's hard to top scoring 50 points twice -- who knows if that will happen again? So I'm not going to judge myself on that. To me, it's about being a good leader for the freshmen coming in and just continuing to get better."
Defense should be the key
Lawson is a former Olympic gold medalist as a player with extensive USA Basketball coaching experience in 5-on-5 and 3-on-3. And she is known especially for tough defense. Her Duke Blue Devils, who gave up 56.5 points per game last season, were second to Texas (56.2) in points allowed among major conference teams.
Lawson knows this group can score, but she also hopes defense can be a big strength.
"It better be. That's our plan: to be very disruptive," Lawson said on a video call with media Monday. "We haven't played a game yet and we haven't seen the level of physicality and experience we're going to see down there. So that remains to be seen: If we're going to be able to impose that athletic, physical play. But there's no doubt we're going to try."
SEC, Big Ten strongly represented
Five of the players on the AmeriCup team are from the SEC, and all were on the all-league first team this past season: Beers, Blakes, Booker, Edwards and Johnson. It was the first season in the SEC for Texas and Oklahoma.
"It's fun to actually get together with them all on the same team," Booker said of her fellow SEC players, adding with a laugh, "You're also trying to see what they've learned from their programs and maybe scouting them a little for next season."
Kneepkens, Smith, Stuelke and VanSlooten represent the Big Ten, Crooks and Miles the Big 12 and Hidalgo the ACC.