Encouraging Signs from Bilal Coulibaly in Gold Medal Game
Encouraging Signs from Bilal Coulibaly in Gold Medal Game
Bilal shines against France and Mystics teammates battled for Bronze
(photo credit: AP, Michael Conroy)
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games came to a close and Monumental Sports was fortunate enough to bring back some hardware to the DMV. Washington Wizards guard Bilal Coulibaly earned a silver medal as a part of the French National team that lost to the United States in the gold medal game. After having played only 77 seconds in the previous two games, Coulibaly played 21 minutes in the gold medal game and scored six points to help keep France in the game all the way until the last minute.
The 2024 Men’s Basketball Olympic gold medal game will go down in history as one of the most memorable final games because of the Steph Curry barrage of 3-pointers that solidified another gold medal for USA basketball, but Wizards fans will have a few added memories from that game because of the performance of Coulibaly.
The young Frenchman celebrated his 20th birthday during the Olympics on July 26th and established himself as a future staple of the French Men’s national team. In observing Coulibaly’s minutes in the gold medal game, it is very clear that the French entrusted him with tough defensive assignments and his natural feel for the game allowed him to get active on the offensive end. Coulibaly had a great play in transition where he kicked the ball out to a teammate, but immediately got it back and finished with an emphatic slam dunk that put France up 25-24 and forced the US to call a timeout. That was the last time that France had a lead in that game and his strong first half minutes allowed the coaching staff to put him back out there in the third quarter, where he looked a bit more timid.
Overall it was a great experience for Coulibaly to not only be a part of the national team, but to get invaluable playing time that will boost his confidence heading into his second NBA season. While most second year players were playing in NBA Summer League against NBA rookies and undrafted free agents, Coulibaly was sharpening his skills among the absolute best basketball players in the world and showed that he is more than capable of holding his own and competing at a high level. The Wizards traded up on draft night 2023 to draft Coulibaly with the 7th overall pick and he rewarded the team with a very promising rookie season in which he averaged 8.4 points per game, 4. Rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game as a 19-year old kid. The future is very bright for the athletic swingman because while he isn't a prolific scorer, his offensive game is smooth and efficient as he is slowly mastering the art of being in the right place at the right time on the basketball court. Combine that with his elite length and natural defensive instincts, and there is much to be intrigued about Coulibaly as a prospect. Wizards fans will have high expectations for Bilal going into his second NBA season and y the Wizards trading away Deni Avidja this offseason, Coulibaly will have a great opportunity to start as the small forward for the Wizards in the upcoming season.
Mystics Players Battle for Bronze
The bronze medal game on the women’s side saw two Mystics have to battle each other for 3rd place and despite a double-double from Julie Vanloo, Belgium fell to Australia 85-81. Mystics guard Jade Melbourne helped her national team to victory with seven assists. Vanloo averaged 14 points and 6.8 assists per game and was a very feisty player during Olympic play, perfectly complementing former Mystics star and 2019 Finals MVP Emma Meesseman as a dynamic duo.
The biggest news to come out of the Olympics for Vanloo wasn’t her spectacular shooting, but the fact that we all have been mispronouncing her name since she came over the states. During the broadcasts Noah Eagle and LaChina Robinson were referring to Vanloo as ‘Vahn-low’ while the Mystics broadcast team of Christy Winters-Scott and Meghan McPeak, along with all of her Mystics teammates have been calling her ‘Van-lou.’
LaChina Robinson did the hard-hitting journalism and went directly to the source to find out the truth on the pronunciation of Vanloo’s name and Vanloo told her it was pronunced ‘Vahn-low'.’
Christy Winters-Scott then took to twitter to defend her own journalism homework:
Vanloo will be a critical player for the Mystics as she finishes up her rookie season in the WNBA with the Mystics being 5 games back from the eighth and final playoff spot in the WNBA. The Mystics are playing much better ball after a rough 0-12 start to the season.
On the brightside, if the Mystics aret able to turn it around, they put themselves in prime position for getting a very high draft pick in the WNBA draft lottery. The Mystics currently hold the 2nd best draft lottery odds with their own pick along with the 3rd best draft lottery odds via a pick that is owed to them by the Atlanta Dream.
The Mystics will be gearing up for the second half of the season with their first matchup being Thursday August, 15th against the Minnesota Lynx.