New-look Canadian 3x3 basketball teams shoot for 1st-ever World Cup titles

Myles Dichter · for CBC Sports

· Posted: Jun 19, 2025 12:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Battered and bruised successful the contiguous aftermath of the Olympics, Canada's 3x3 women's hoops squad chose the 10,000-foot view.

The agelong palmy radical had travel to Paris with eyes connected a golden medal, but near having not reached the podium astatine all.

Yet the foursome of Katherine Plouffe, duplicate sister Michelle Plouffe, Paige Crozon and Kacie Bosch opted to revel successful the travel alternatively of dwelling connected the defeat.

Their voyage unneurotic whitethorn not person peaked with gold, but it was undoubtedly successful, including galore victories and establishing the groundwork for Canadian 3x3 hoops from unfunded successful 2019 to Olympians 5 years later.

On Sunday, a caller section of Canadian 3x3 hoops volition statesman astatine the World Cup successful Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, with some the women's and men's teams acceptable to vie for a rubric neither has ever won.

"I don't deliberation we mislaid assurance aft the Olympics. I deliberation it was decidedly tender and emotional. But our squad values stayed the aforesaid and we each knew what we brought to the array some connected and disconnected the court," Crozon said from a edifice country successful Mongolia.

Schedule conflict, insignificant injuries sideline Plouffes

It'll beryllium up to Crozon and Bosch to walk those values connected to a brace of caller squad members astatine the World Cup. The Plouffes volition not play arsenic they woody with some docket struggle and insignificant injuries.

In their spot volition beryllium Saicha Grant-Allen, with 49 games connected her ledger, and Cassandra Brown, a comparative rookie astatine 26 games.

Crozon and Bosch person combined to marque 412 appearances for Canada connected the 3x3 circuit.

"Just utilizing it arsenic an accidental to grow our games personally, but past besides embracing the situation of uncovering retired what works for this squad … and conscionable trying to proceed the civilization and values that Michelle and Katherine Plouffe person instilled successful this group," Crozon said.

Live sum of the World Cup volition beryllium disposable connected CBC Gem and CBCSports.ca beginning Sunday astatine 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT done to the medal games connected 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 archetypal World Cup quality since 2018 — are ranked 17th and volition look No. 3 France, No. 6 Austria, No. 11 China and No. 14 Puerto Rico successful the radical stage.

Sixteen countries from each 20-team tourney volition scope the single-elimination knockout stage, with part winners headed straight to the quarterfinals.

While the Canadian women person won back-to-back regular-season championships connected the 3x3 circuit, and earned the inaugural Champions Cup rubric successful March, their champion decorativeness astatine the World Cup was a metallic successful 2022.

A triumph successful Mongolia would permission conscionable 1 shiny Olympic archetypal to obtain. But that golden medal volition lone beryllium disposable 3 years from present successful Los Angeles.

Establish chemistry

For now, Crozon said the extremity is to found chemistry with Grant-Allen and Brown similar she and Bosch enjoyed with the Plouffes.

"There was a level of comfortableness due to the fact that we understood each other's tendencies and determination was a batch of spot that was built. So there's not arsenic overmuch comfortableness going into this tournament. However, I deliberation we're each truly excited due to the fact that we get to research benignant of ways that we tin grow our game," Crozon said.

"I'm looking guardant to the situation and possibly stepping into a small spot of a antithetic relation and the maturation that tin travel retired of it."

Grant-Allen, the 29-year-old from Hamilton, Ont., played 4 years astatine Dayton College earlier graduating successful 2017 and going connected to play professionally successful Russia, Spain and Turkey until 2022.

Brown, the 33-year-old from Vernon, B.C., played for Canada's five-on-five squad astatine the 2019 Pan Am Games and spent 10 years plying her commercialized internationally earlier committing to 3x3.

On the court, Crozon said to expect the caller radical to diagnostic much size down debased with the six-foot-five Grant-Allen and accrued spacing successful the signifier of the sharp-shooting Brown.

"They are agelong and dynamic and versatile, and they bring truthful overmuch vigor and they person a small spot of a antithetic benignant of play than what we person seen successful the past," Crozon said.

Canadian men connected tap

The men's squad includes Alex "Superman" Johnson, who committed to 3x3 full-time successful 2021, alongside Grant Audu, Jerome Desrosiers and Toronto Metropolitan University's Aaron Rhooms.

Johnson and Desrosiers were portion of the radical that placed 3rd astatine the Olympic qualifying tourney past season, narrowly missing a spot successful Paris. Canada's men besides missed retired connected qualifying for Tokyo 2020.

"It's ever backmost to the drafting committee erstwhile you don't scope your goals," Johnson said. "Seeing the women spell and america stuck astatine location is benignant of bittersweet. You're blessed for your friends and you're blessed for the programme arsenic a whole, but you benignant of privation to beryllium there. So it conscionable added information to effort and prehend each opportunity."

That begins with the World Cup, wherever Canada's men are making conscionable their second-ever quality aft qualifying astatine a tourney successful Azerbaijan successful May.

Johnson, the 37-year-old Toronto native, said his radical is looking astatine the women's broadside arsenic a exemplary for success.

"They've benignant of conscionable showed the blueprint. The chemistry that that radical has benignant of enactment together, it's truly peculiar to spot and it's thing that we are trying to emulate," helium said.

Audu, the 27-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., played 4 years astatine UBC earlier launching a pro vocation that included a halt successful the Canadian Elite Basketball League.

Desrosiers, the 27-year-old from Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., precocious began playing 3x3 professionally and holds the highest idiosyncratic ranking connected the team.

Toronto's Rhooms, 23, was named the OUA's subordinate of the twelvemonth past play and presently competes for the CEBL's Edmonton Stingers.