Now it’s official: Caitlin Clark didn’t make the Olympic team, and Kahleah Copper did

The U.S. women’s basketball Olympic team was officially announced Tuesday, confirming the news that Caitlin Clark isn’t on it.

A lot of big-time stars are, though, including probably the two biggest of all in A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart. North Philly’s Kahleah Copper is going for the first time, and so is Harrisburg-area native Alyssa Thomas, which is great for fans here.

“If y’all knew — oh my God,” an emotional Copper said in a video published by USA Basketball of her receiving her jersey. “For it to really, like, happen now — unreal. Unreal.”

» READ MORE: Kahleah Copper and Natasha Cloud bring Philly flair to the Phoenix Mercury: ‘They’re our spark’

USA Basketball selection committee chairperson Jen Rizzotti was plenty aware of the uproar on TV talk shows and social media about not taking Clark, and she didn’t mind talking about it.

“Just a little bit,” Rizzotti said with a laugh, one of the only moments when she could afford one.

“As much as you want to maybe make conversation around how we should have considered TV viewership or jersey sales or popularity, that wasn’t the purview of the committee to have those discussions,” she continued. “We had to block out some of that outside noise. It was a hard decision for a lot of players that didn’t make the team.”

Rizzotti also specifically addressed a major component of that “outside noise”: men who haven’t watched much women’s basketball before but tune in to watch Clark’s games on national TV.

“I know a lot of men that pay attention to women’s basketball,” she said, “and I would hope that the journey that this team is about to take, and the unprecedented amount of success that they’ve had, is a story enough for people to want to follow it, and to market it, and to pay attention to these extraordinary 12 women that are going to be representing us this summer in Paris.”

» READ MORE: Should Caitlin Clark's popularity matter for picking the Olympic team, or just basketball?

The most controversial inclusion probably is Diana Taurasi, who turned 42 Tuesday and is going to her record sixth Olympics. And this isn’t just about Clark. Arike Ogunbowale is on a tear for the Dallas Wings this year, averaging 26.4 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.5 rebounds. She’s been on the outside looking in with the national team for a while, and that has raised some eyebrows.

Rizzotti gave a strong defense of picking Taurasi.

“To have the security of what Diana brings both as a basketball player and a leader is invaluable,” said Rizzotti, who’s also the president of the Connecticut Sun. “Maybe behind Chelsea Gray, she’s the best passer on the team, and she’s probably arguably still the best shooter on the team. … She has an uncanny ability to make everybody around her feel really good about themselves and be the best version of themselves.”

At least there isn’t too much controversy about the rest of the team. Thomas is averaging just short of a triple-double this year — 12.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 8.5 assists — while Copper is having a great first season with the Phoenix Mercury, playing with Taurasi and fellow Olympian Brittney Griner.

Griner’s selection hasn’t gotten as much attention, but maybe it should. It will be her first time on a major international stage since coming home from a Russian prison in December 2022.

» READ MORE: Team USA and the WNBA are fools. Caitlin Clark is too important to be bullied and snubbed. | Marcus Hayes

The rest of the Olympic squad starts with three of Wilson’s teammates from the two-time reigning WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces: Gray, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young. Gray hasn’t played yet this year because of an injury, but she attended a U.S. camp in April, and Rizzotti believes she’ll be ready in July.

“We’ve been in contact with Chelsea and the Aces organization and Chelsea’s representatives, and we feel confident that Chelsea will be able to compete in Paris,” Rizzotti said.

If she isn’t, a replacement player will have to be picked before the Olympics start. That leaves the door open for Clark to come on. Rosters are locked on July 26, two days before the tournament starts with two games. The Americans’ first game is the next day against Japan.

The New York Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu, the Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd, and the Minnesota Lynx’s Napheesa Collier round out the 12-player roster.

» READ MORE: The Caitlin Clark discussion got really loud and a little nutty. Let’s get real about it. And about her. | Mike Sielski

The U.S. coach is South Jersey native Cheryl Reeve, who’s also the coach of the Lynx. Her assistants are Duke women’s coach Kara Lawson, Texas A&M women’s coach Joni Taylor, and Washington Mystics general manager Mike Thibault.

The roster was picked by a committee that includes Reeve’s predecessor (among many titles) Dawn Staley, ex-Olympians Seimone Augustus and DeLisha Milton-Jones (both now also in the college coaching ranks), WNBA head of league operations Bethany Donaphin, and Rizzotti.

The Americans have won seven consecutive Olympic women’s basketball gold medals, and nine overall.

“Having a team that understands the magnitude of how hard it is — although you may all think it’s easy because at times the scores make it look easy — it is very hard to win a gold medal in five-on-five,” Rizzotti said, noting a game against Belgium this past February that was won on a Stewart buzzer-beater. “Our women have made it look easy for so long, but we felt like experience was something that was important.”

» READ MORE: Fans lined up for hours to meet legendary basketball coach Dawn Staley at Mitchell & Ness

Guards: Kahleah Copper (Phoenix Mercury), Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas Aces), Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty), Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm), Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces)

Forwards: Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx), Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury), Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty), A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces)