Gold Standard: Oak Grove’s Caroline Bradley back on big stage with U.S. national team
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
BATON ROUGE – Amongst a vast collection of trophies and awards that sit in her bedroom, Caroline Bradley has a true conversation piece hanging in one corner.
The shiny gold medal is quite an ice breaker for those visiting Bradley, the result of representing the United States in her first international competition. She was a key reserve that averaged 7.5 points and 8.3 rebounds, defeating Canada 85-59 in the gold medal game of the FIBA U16 AmeriCup in Iraputo, Mexico.
“I think I take it for granted a lot,” Bradley said. “I’m still reminded of how special it is when people walk in and ask if that’s a gold medal. It’s such an honor to wear USA across my chest. To be able to do that for a second time … there’s only a few people that have two gold medals. To have the opportunity to do that is going to be amazing.”
Bradley has collected such life-altering awards in twos. She’s a two-time Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year, two-time winner of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Miss Basketball honor and two-time Class 2A Player of the Year.
Obtaining a second gold medal is the next goal for the 6-foot-5 Bradley of Oak Grove High, the nation’s No. 3 overall prospect and five-star prospect who’s committed to LSU, who landed one of 12 spots on the USA’s U17 national team.
Bradley departs for the team’s training camp July 1 in Colorado Springs to begin preparations for U17 FIBA AmeriCup, July 11-19, in Brno, Czechia. The team will fly from Colorado Springs to Vienna, Austria, and drive to Brno, where pool play begins on July 11.
“We love who she is; she’s intelligent,” Team USA U17 head coach Steve Gomez of Division II Lubbock Christian University. “She’s respectful. She enjoys the game and works hard, and she’s just fun to be around. She seemed like a different competitor this year than even last year, and she was good last year.”
The July 1 departure date is part of an ambitious month of basketball for Bradley, who will be away from home for 28 days.
Because of the upcoming international tournament, Bradley has remained closer to home and worked out with her teammates at Oak Grove, which reached the Division III non-select state semifinals last season. Once she’s finished playing with Team USA, Bradley will fly to Cincinnati, Ohio to meet her AAU team – the Arkansas Mavericks – for the final tournament of her AAU career.
“Instead of being focused on AAU, I’m getting to focus on high school stuff, which I think is going to be beneficial not only for me, but the team moving forward,” Bradley said. “I’m enjoying being home. It’s the little freedom of the summer I have.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Bradley said of her month of July. “To be able to be 17 and able to compete for my second gold medal is not something a lot of people get to say. I’m super grateful and excited. It’s going to be a journey. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and I’m excited.
Bradley went straight from the basketball court, where she averaged 27 points, 17.6 rebounds, 3.4 blocks, and picked up a bat and glove for the first time since the seventh grade, joining Oak Grove’s softball team.
After the disappointment of a state semifinal finish in basketball on March 3, Bradley turned her attention to playing first base for the Lady Tigers’ softball team.
Oak Grove won 12 of its final 13 games, including eight run-rule victories – that culminated with the Division IV non-select state championship, an 8-0 triumph over LaSalle.
Bradley hit .419 with 13 homers and 34 RBIs and doubled twice and was 4-for-5 in the title game. She was a first-team Class 2A All-State selection.
She was also doing more than taking batting practice and fielding ground balls with her teammates.
Bradley was also preparing for her second trials to make the U17 team. She tried to work out when possible, focusing on her basketball game to make a run at another roster spot where a total of 46 hopefuls met in Colorado Springs on May 24 for a four-day span.
“It can get overwhelming at times,” Bradley said. “You also remind yourself these are things you’ve played for and prepared for. I enjoyed the softball state championship, and at the same time I was in the gym practicing every day. There were late nights and early mornings. Whatever I had to do to be able to fit that in my schedule.
“Just because I started playing softball, the basketball part didn’t turn off,” Bradley said. “Those things had to work hand in hand. It was tiring, but it was also very rewarding in both aspects, and I’m grateful that I was able to manage both of those, so I could execute both and get the results that I wanted.”
Bradley, who attended a women’s junior national team camp in April during the Women’s Final Four in Phoenix, was a lot more at ease during her latest trip to the USA Basketball Training Center.
The drills and number of sessions were the same, and Bradley used that to her advantage to work her way through the cuts and earn another opportunity to represent the United States for a second straight summer.
“My mindset was to thrive in this environment, just survive,” she said. “Being able to be a leader, being more vocal and do all of the things that I needed to do. I knew what it was going to be like. I knew what the landscape was; I knew the layout. I was able to jump right in and make an instant impact because of what I knew from last year.”
Gomez, the head coach of last year’s U16 team, appreciates Bradley’s competitive drive and ability to remain even-keeled.
“We have 46 of the top kids in the country that come together and compete to make the team,” Gomez said. “She has a great spirit about her. She’s a kid that competes hard but never loses her head. You can see that edge which is something that’s developed over the past year. She’s worked hard to be there.”
The U17 team will have a familiar look to last summer’s U16 team, which extended the United States’ streak to three straight gold medals in the AmeriCup event.
Bradley is one of 10 players that returns from the U16 team, and a player that embraced Gomez’ team-first philosophy.
“That is going to be the key,” Gomez said. “We will have the individual talent that will be as good or better than any other country. It’s a matter of us putting it together because a lot of those countries, those kids play together for a long time. Some of those countries train a lot together during the year. It’s not just six days in Colorado.
“There’s a sense of urgency to create unity in a short amount of time,” Gomez said. “But it also speaks to the character of the kids we have. They’re high-quality people. Those girls are very talented. They’re the kind of kids you want to be around. They’re going to have to bring their best game but also figure out what’s best for the team and whatever it takes. They’re going to do that.
“It would be awesome if we had 10, 11, 12 players that all got 8 points, 6 rebounds,” Gomez said. “That would make us almost impossible to play. There’s going to be some that need to do more than others on a team of 12. We’re hoping and anticipating that she (Bradley) will have an elevated role this year. That’s to be seen. It’s a challenge to figure out who needs to play when and what matchups are better.”
Bradley’s a prime example of such unselfish play.
She was more than willing to fulfill a role in 2025 that called for her to come off the bench in all six of the team’s games and average far fewer statistics than at any stage of her high school and AAU career.
Bradley’s rebound average was the team’s best, but her scoring was more complimentary than spectacular, which has been the case at Oak Grove where she’s scored 2,433 points, grabbed 1,690 rebounds and blocked 343 shots.
“Whatever I do, I’m going to do what I have to do to help the team win,” she said. “Whatever that role is, that’s what I’m going to do. Of course, you go into it hoping your name’s called in the starting five, but at the same time, what I really want is to be on that podium with a gold medal around my neck.”
The U.S. team is capable of mixing and matching its lineups based on that day’s opponent.
They can go with a big lineup to pound another team inside or go with a smaller lineup to utilize its quickness and athleticism against a team with suspect guard play that can’t handle full-court pressure.
“It was a different style of play,” Bradley said. “I belong, but it’s what is best for us to win. In the moment, they may want to go faster and push the pace. They don’t want to slow down, and I get that. It depends on what we need. In the moments I was in the game, I was able to make a positive impact, and that’s really all I can ask for. To continue to do positive things and improve the game in a way coaches and everybody want to see.”
Gomez says post play at this level presents his team with the challenge of facing interior players with length and the ability to face up to the goal and take advantage of their mid-range games.
Players such as Bradley pose problems with their height and physical strength to score and rebound.
“She should have opportunities to really impact games,” Gomez said. “That’s what we need her to do. We want her to be a dominant threat around the basket. Her IQ, her passing ability and her defensive presence around the basket are going to be important.
“Her ability to shoot and score is going to sort of be clutch to our success,” Gomez said. “She doesn’t need to just be a bruiser. She needs to be productive. She needs teams to have to double her. If they don’t, then she has to be able to score one on one. She seemed to have more of a dominant mindset when we saw her. She needs to be that way every game and be a factor.”
Bradley is the team’s tallest player and truest center.
Nation Williams of Las Vegas, a 6-2 forward, Notre Dame commitment Eve Long of Olathe, KS, a 6-3 forward, and Nya Riak of Madison, WI, a 6-2 forward, combine with Bradley to give the U.S. team a formidable inside presence.
“The competitor in me wants to be in the starting five,” Bradley said. “If it’s not best for the team, so be it. The stages of basketball change, but basketball itself never changes. It’s the same game. There’s some differences, there’s some similarities. Every player on this team is getting recruited to play Power 4 basketball.”
Gomez said 6-2 forward Maliya Hunter of Stanford, CA, and 6-2 guard/guard Ivanna Wilson Manyacka of Frederick, MD, are also capable of playing and contributing to the team’s interior needs.
“Every game we’re going to need an inside presence, someone that’s going to demand attention around the basket,” Gomez said. “That’s a constant. Someone that can be physical, rebound the ball, score and attract attention.”
The U.S. may be 50-1 all-time in the tournament, but that hasn’t stopped Gomez from preparing his team through video scouting the past three to four months.
He’s watched zone championships and last year’s U16 AmeriCup tournaments where teams don’t experience much of an annual overhaul.
“There’s a handful of teams that are going to be a challenge,” he said. “We want to go in having confidence. You better not expect to just show up and play. We’ve got to get ready.”
Individual skill levels and coaching continue to improve, adding to the chemistry that’s a staple of the international teams.
Australia, a team in the U.S.’s pool, joins Canada, Slovenia, Italy, Japan and China as countries to keep an eye on during the Americans’ quest for gold.
“We’re going to take whoever the opponent is and be serious,” Gomez said. “Hopefully there will be some games where we can experiment with kids, but we need to prepare for close games. We’re hoping to get into those medal-round games and see if we can win more games, get to the finals and see what happens. Other countries are figuring out ways to make it really difficult.”
The U.S. opens pool play with the Ivory Coast on July 11, followed by matchups against Australia and Latvia. The top two teams from the four pools advance to bracket play and the pursuit of gold takes center stage.
“It’s a gratefulness all the way through because it’s such an incredible opportunity,” Bradley said. “Going back to training camp and doing the things you do, you realize that I’m a member of this team. Any competition you have on such a competitive level, you benefit from it.”