Today, we learned the roster of the USA Basketball Select Team that will train against the National Team during its July 19-24 camp in Las Vegas. Five of the 20 collegians chosen for the Select Team are from the Big Ten: William Buford (Ohio State), JaJuan Johnson (Purdue), Mike Tisdale (Illinois), Jon Leuer (Wisconsin), and John Shurna (Northwestern). These players will help the U.S. National Team prepare for the upcoming FIBA World Championship. The Big Ten leads all conferences with it’s 5 selections.
By Paul M. Banks
Joining these five on the USA Basketball Select squad are:
Lavoy Allen (Temple), LaceDarius Dunn (Baylor), Jimmer Fredette (BYU), Scotty Hopson (Tennessee), Scoop Jardine (Syracuse), Shelvin Mack (Butler), Marcus Morris (Kansas), Jacob Pullen (Kansas State), Kyle Singler (Duke), Chris Singleton (Florida State), Nolan Smith (Duke), Howard Thompkins (Georgia), Kemba Walker (Connecticut), Chris Wright (Dayton) and Tyler Zeller (North Carolina).
Co-head coaches for the USA Select Team are Washington coach Lorenzo Romar and Villanova coach Jay Wright.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim chairs the USA Junior National Team Committee, which made player selections for the Select Team. The Committee also includes Illinois coach Bruce Weber, North Carolina coach Roy Williams, Romar and athlete representative Jay Williams.
Notes and Quotes from the roster announcement:
-This marks Tisdale’s second opportunity with USA Basketball after he participated in team trials for the World University Games last summer.
-Featuring players from 19 different colleges, Duke is the only institution to feature two players. The 20 Select Team players include nine who will be seniors in 2010-11 and 11 who will be juniors. Shurna will be reunited with Shelvin Mack of Butler and Howard Thompkins of Georgia who were teammates of his on last summer’s gold medal-winning U-19 team.
-Shurna earned the rare opportunity to represent the U.S. in international competition last summer when he earned a gold medal at the FIBA World Championships in New Zealand as a member of the country’s under-19 squad.
“This is another fantastic opportunity for John,” Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody said. “Anytime you get the chance to compete against some of the very best players in the world, it can only make you better. His experience while winning a gold medal with the United States U-19 team last summer helped him reach a new level of play. I’d expect this opportunity to help him in a similar fashion.”
“We believe bringing in a USA Basketball Select Team will help the USA National Team be better prepared for the upcoming FIBA World Championship,” said Jerry Colangelo, USA Basketball chairman.
“We had USA select teams comprised of young, up-and-coming NBA players train against the national team in 2007 and 2008. That proved not only beneficial for our national team, but also for the select team players who got a great training opportunity and became involved in USA Basketball’s pipeline. This will be a tremendous opportunity for these collegians to be involved in USA Basketball and to get a look at the next level.”
-Eight collegiate conferences are represented, with the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 each listing four, while Atlantic 10, Big East and SEC each have a pair, respectively, and the Horizon and Mountain West have one player on the roster.
-Singler and Smith were teammates on the USA ’s U18 Championship that captured gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship and they were again teammates on the 2007 USA Junior National Select Team that defeated am international select team in the Nike Hoop Summit.
-Hopson was a member of the victorious 2008 USA Junior National Select Team in the Nike Hoop Summit, while Walker was a member of the 2008 USA FIBA Americas U18 Championship Team that collected a silver medal. Johnson has USA Basketball experience through the 2009 USA Basketball Trials.
-Both Romar and Wright have extensive international experience as USA Basketball coaches. Romar was head coach of the USA ’s 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship Team that won gold, and an assistant coach with the 2003 USA Pan American Games and 1997 USA 22 & Under World Championship teams. Wright was head mentor for the USA ’s 2007 Pan American Games Team and led the 2005 USA World University Games Team to a gold medal showing, and was an assistant with the 2000 USA World Championship for Young Men Qualifier.
Written by Paul M. Banks, President and CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest focused webzine. He is also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, the Chicago Tribune’s blog network, Walter Football.com, the Washington Times Communities, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank and @bigtenguru