Paris • When the international basketball federation went all in on 3x3 basketball a dozen years ago, it coined the slogan “From the streets to the world stage.”
The slogan for the Canadian women’s team preparing to make its Summer Games debut in Paris, then, might be, “from the dorms to the Olympics.” Specifically, the dorms at the University of Utah.
Of the five members of the team — four players and a coach — three played for the University of Utah women’s basketball team. Two of them, forwards Michelle Plouffe (2010-14) and Paige Crozon (2012-16), wound up rooming together. In those cramped quarters, a friendship was born — and later an idea, and eventually a team and, finally, hopes of a medal.
Crozon was on the phone with Plouffe shortly after the Tokyo Olympics announced in 2017 that it would add 3x3 basketball to its program. Of course, the topic came up. And of course they’d both thought it would be exciting to compete.
They didn’t know much about the 3x3 game. But they did know about basketball.
“We knew that [3x3] was going to be in the Olympics,” Plouffe said. “That’s why we started.”
If only it was that easy.
(Rebecca Blackwell | AP) Paige Crozon of Canada, left, and Marena Whittle of Australia compete at the basket in the women's 3x3 basketball pool round match between Australia and Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Paris.
For one thing, the sport is called 3x3 for a reason. They were just two players. They needed one more plus a reserve.
Plouffe quickly pulled in her twin sister, Katherine Plouffe, who played traditional basketball for Marquette and for the Canadian women’s team alongside Michelle in the 2016 Olympics. The fourth proved harder to find. Gaucher was their go-to choice. She’d also played for the Utes, from 2002-06, and had been helping with the women’s basketball team when both Plouffe and Crozon came through Utah. She is a Canadian citizen. Plus, she had two Olympics behind her, in 2012 and 2016.
But Gaucher said no. She considered it, she said, but she knew her banged up body couldn’t handle the more rough-and-tumble 3x3 format, which is an organized form of pickup basketball.
“I just went back to 5s because it’s a little easier to slide in,” Gaucher said. “In 3s you can’t really take a break or come back slowly from injury.”
Undeterred, when FIBA began its women’s world tour in 2019, Crozon and the Plouffes signed up without having a fourth player on their roster.
They had more pressing needs than finding a fourth player anyway if they wanted to compete in the Olympics. They also needed a national team.
Canada, of course, had the infrastructure in place to support its traditional 5-on-5 squad. It was the same national team Gaucher and the Plouffes had played for before. As far as 3x3 went, though, the country had no official representation, no support staff and, most importantly, no funding available. If they wanted to enter tournaments and position themselves to qualify for the 2020 Games (no one could have predicted the pandemic would delay them a year), then Crozon and the Plouffes — who made their money by playing for clubs internationally — would have to pay for it out of their own pockets.
“We’re always up for a challenge,” Michelle Plouffe said. “So why not do something like create a national team? Just for funsies.”
(Rebecca Blackwell | AP) Canada's Michelle Plouffe jumps under pressure from Australia's Marena Whittle, right, and Anneli Maley in the women's 3x3 basketball pool round match between Australia and Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Paris.
As with a missed steal, the gamble didn’t pay off, not right away. Team Canada (*) failed to qualify a women’s 3x3 team for the Tokyo Olympics. It wasn’t for lack of success, since they won four of their seven tournaments in 2019 and climbed onto the podium in all but one. Rather, they fell victim to a somewhat obscure qualification system.
It wasn’t a total loss, though. After the 2020 Olympics, Canada Basketball began putting more resources toward the 3x3 game. It added a U18 team, a U23 team and started paying for the elite team’s tournaments. They even gave Crozon and the Plouffes enough money to hire a coach.
Again, Gaucher was their go-to choice. This time she said yes.
Gaucher admits she didn’t know much about the 3x3 game except for what she has gleaned from watching the Plouffes, Crozon and Kacie Bosch, who joined the team in 2021.
It differs from traditional basketball in a few key ways. For one, games only last 10 minutes or until one team reaches 21 points, with shots counting for one or two points apiece. Also, the action is nonstop. Unlike most pickup games, there is no checked ball. When a team scores, the opposing team has to be able to rebound the ball, but play is live after that. The rebounding team must get the ball behind the arc, though, in order to score.
Perhaps hardest on Gaucher, coaches aren’t able to give advice or direction during a game.
She doesn’t think anyone has deep knowledge of 3x3 strategies, though, which is something she said she loves about the discipline. It takes creative thinking, since she said what works in 5s doesn’t always, or even usually, work in 3s.
“That’s one of the really cool things about 3s is that it is so new that teams are still kind of like inventing new things,” Gaucher said. “Whereas in 5s, it’s pretty hard to invent a new set play right now. The best brains in the world have gone at it for years. There’s not much new.”
Creating a new national team just so they could compete in the Olympics together should be enough proof that the Canadians are adept at innovative solutions. If not, then let their results do the convincing. Canada won the FIBA World Cup in 2022 and stands as the top team in FIBA’s women’s 3x3 rankings entering the Paris 2024 Games. In addition, Katherine Plouffe (1), Crozon (3) and Michelle Plouffe (5) all rank among the top five players in terms of points, based on team performance and individual scoring and statistics.
All of that just because of a bond forged in a dorm room at the University of Utah.
“Without playing together at Utah, we wouldn’t have had this friendship to begin with, right?” Michelle Plouffe said. “It’s been a fun little serendipity being on this journey.”
Canada began play Tuesday with a 22-14 win over Australia. Pool play ends Aug. 3 and the medal games will be played Aug 5. Team USA is the defending Olympic champion and the 2023 World Cup champion. Germany, Australia, Spain, Azerbaijan, France and China round out the teams competing in Paris.