COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—The selection of any team, at any level for representation of the United States in international competition is…simply put…a monumental undertaking. It’s on par with officiating, even on your best day chances are half of the people will disagree with you questioning your virtue and obvious hidden agendas.
This week’s USA Basketball U17 Trials for the National Team to compete in Belarus in July had the challenge multiplied by the impressive depth and breadth of talent in the younger generation of athletes on the looming horizon. With 12 members of last year’s FIBA Americas U16 Gold Medal squad in contention for a return engagement along with 23 more very deserving “guests” of USA Basketball looking to claim a spot of their own, the challenge for the selection committee was tough enough. Add in a multitude of players taking advantage of the “open” opportunity available at the U16 and U17 levels and you get 158 athletes taking the floor Thursday for the first of three drill sessions before the actual full court competition of the trials themselves began Friday evening.
The first cut came mid-day Saturday with 102 returning to the gym followed by additional cuts to 70 and then 45 for the final two sessions on Sunday. Monday’s announcement of 18 finalists is not the final cut but narrows the scope considerably for Coach Carla Berube (Tufts University) and her staff as they begin practice. This group will start building the structure and chemistry they hope will help reclaim the gold that slipped away two years ago in Spain where the United States fell in the U17 semis to the eventual gold medalists from Australia returning home with the Bronze Medal. The final cut down to the 12 players to make the final roster will come Wednesday, a tough pill to swallow for those six putting their passport back in their backpack and heading home.
So, who’s new in red, white and blue?? Well to start with just eight of 12 members from the U16 team remain in contention to be back on the bench in July. Cameron Brink (2020-Beaverton, Oregon), Allison Campbell (2020-Altoona, Pennsylvania), Aubrey Griffin (2019-Ossining, New York) and Hannah Gusters (2020-DeSoto, Texas) are joined by Rickea Jackson (2019-Detroit, Michigan), Haley Jones (2019-Santa Cruz, California), Charisma Osborne (2019-Moreno Valley, California)Griffin and Hailey Van Lith (Wenatchee, Washington) as new contenders hopeful to claim one of those four open spots or even bump one of the eight returners should they slip over the next couple of days.
Among the 18 are 11 members of the 2019 class, 6 2020’s and returner Azzi Fudd as the sole representative of her 2021 class. Geographically, there are 14 states represented with four (California, New York, Ohio and Virginia) having two athletes still in the mix. As mentioned, eight return from the 2017 U16 team. Additionally, eight more were on the “invite” list from USA Basketball and two (Griffin and Osborne) took full advantage of the open participation invitation. Three athletes are impressively finding success in their first ever USA Basketball experience. The coaching staff will have plenty if size at their disposal with the average size among the finalists being just a fraction shy of 6-1 and seven members topping out at 6-2 or taller according to their listed heights.
With all that in mind, below are the 18 still standing after nine workouts still hoping to survive one last cut of six before they head home Wednesday Evening. The National Team will return to Colorado Springs July 4thto prepare for a busy month that includes stops for practice, scrimmages and a prep tournament in Washington, D.C., Liepaja, Latvia and ultimately Minsk, Belarus.
Also, listed below are links from our previous coverage throughout the trials. Check back with Blue Star Media for more from Colorado Springs as well as Minsk in July for first hand coverage and insight on the FIBA U17 World Championships.
https://bluestarmedia.org/usa-u17-trials-day-one/
https://bluestarmedia.org/first-day-at-usa-basketball-u17-trails/
https://bluestarmedia.org/usa-basketball-u17-trails-day-two/
https://bluestarmedia.org/returning-to-the-mix/
https://bluestarmedia.org/depth-and-disappointment/
