Iowa star Caitlin Clark was named to the USA Basketball women’s national team roster on Thursday ahead of its training camp starting April 3 in Cleveland. The training camp concludes April 5, the same day the Final Four is set to begin in the same city.

Clark, who leads the nation in scoring, assists and three pointers, is the only non-WNBA player named to the 14-athlete roster. Her top-seeded Hawkeyes face No. 5 seed Colorado on Saturday in the Sweet 16, and are aiming for their second straight Final Four appearance after losing to LSU in last year’s championship game.

This year’s national semifinal is set for Friday, April 5 with the championship slated for Sunday, April 7. If Iowa loses before then, Clark can participate in the national team camp.

Clark has averaged 29.5 points per game through first- and second-round wins in the NCAA Tournament over Holy Cross and West Virginia, respectively. She is the projected top pick in next month’s WNBA draft.

The 22-year-old won three gold medals with USA Basketball junior national teams, most recently featuring on the 2021 U19 women’s squad. During that competition, she started all seven games and averaged 14.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game en route to tournament MVP honors.

Clark could eventually be named to the women’s U.S. Olympic five-on-five or 3×3 teams for this summer’s Paris Games. The U.S. five-on-five team has earned gold medals in the past seven consecutive Summer Olympics. Its 3×3 outfit won the inaugural tournament at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The 14-player training camp roster announced Thursday features former Olympians Diana Taurasi, Ariel Atkins, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Jewell Loyd, Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson. It also includes guards Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, members of the 3×3 team in Tokyo, and former No. 1 draft picks Aliyah Boston and Rhyne Howard. Sabrina Ionescu and Mystics center Shakira Austin round out the group.

INDIANA: Sophomore Yarden Garzon acknowledges it’s been difficult for her to focus solely on basketball with the war going on in Gaza.

Garzon is from Ra’anana, Israel, about 14 miles north of Tel Aviv, and says she has family and friends serving in the Israel Defense Forces.

“But my teammates and the staff are doing a great job of supporting me, and they understand what I’m going through and they give me great feeling about being here and feeling like I’m part of something bigger than myself, and they are here for me for everything I need,” she said.

Garzon wears a necklace that reads “bring them home”.

“Everything I do right now is trying to raise the awareness about what’s going on in Israel with the hostages,” she continued.

OREGON STATE: After playing the first two rounds at home, Oregon State is now playing 2,937 miles from Corvallis, despite the NCAA having its other super regional in Portland.

With the Pac-12’s Southern Cal being a top seed and Stanford slotted as a No. 2 in the two Portland Regionals, there was no room for the Beavers out west, a mere 84 miles north of their home.

“Of course we’d love to be there, but we understand why we’re over here, and we’re going to make the most of it, and we’re excited to keep playing,” Talia von Oelhoffen said.

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