Body height of female basketball players: Association with ranking at the Women’s World Basketball Cup

Abstract

Female basketball players at the FIBA basketball women’s world cup (FIBA-WWC) are highly distinct individuals because they need to be tall and sufficiently skilled to score or defend the basket set at the height of 3.05 m. This study aimed to investigate whether players from the first eight teams at FIBA-WWC were taller than those ranked above the eighth place, and to what degree body height determines the ranking. This study included the body height of 575 female basketball players from three FIBA-WWC. They were sorted to point guards (PG), shooting guards (SG), small forwards (SF), power forwards (PF), and centres (C). The differences in players’ height at each position were analysed between the ranking groups using an independent t-test. Linear regression analysis determined to what degree ranking at FIBA-WWC is associated with the height of players at each position. A significant large difference occurred between SF, PF, and C, with those from the first eight teams being taller. Linear regression showed that teams rank higher by each 1 cm of increase in the height of SG, SF, and C and 2 cm in PF. Body height significantly predicts the success at FIBA-WWC, suggesting that talent identification and selection could be improved in female basketball.