From USA Basketball Communications, May 5, 2014
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A total of 12 athletes with prior USA Basketball experience, including three gold medalists, headline the list of 21 of the nation’s top 18-and-unders who accepted invitations to participate in the 2014 USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team training camp, USA Basketball today announced. The training camp, scheduled to be held June 10-19 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., will be used to select the 12-member team that will compete in the USA Basketball-hosted 2014 FIBA Americas U18 Championship at the USOTC from June 20-24.
The 2014 FIBA Americas U18 Championship will feature eight national teams from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean, including: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, United States and Uruguay. The top four finishing teams will qualify for the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men. Players eligible for this competition must have been born on or after Jan. 1, 1996.
Invitations were issued by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee, chaired by Syracuse University Hall of Famer head coach Jim Boeheim.
“I’m very excited about going through this process again,” said Billy Donovan, USA U18 National Team and University of Florida head coach, who led the 2012 U18 and 2013 U19 USA National Teams to gold and a combined 14-0 record. “I see a lot of talent in this group, similar to the past couple of summers, and I’m looking forward to coaching them. Having players with USA Basketball experience certainly helps, and I know these guys will be ready to compete. Our challenge once again will be to learn to function as a team and try to reach our potential in a short amount of time.”
Headlining the list of invitees is a trio of high school seniors who each have two gold medals playing internationally for USA Basketball: Stanley Johnson (Mater Dei H.S. / Fullerton, Calif.), Tyus Jones (Apple Valley H.S. / Apple Valley, Minn.) and Justise Winslow (St. John’s School / Houston, Texas).
Also scheduled to attend the USA training camp are: Leron Black (White Station H.S. / Memphis, Tenn.); Isaiah Briscoe (Roselle Catholic H.S. / Union, N.J.); Jaylen Brown (Wheeler H.S. / Alpharetta, Ga.); Jalen Brunson(Adlai E. Stevenson H.S. / Lincolnshire, Ill.); Kameron Chatman (Columbia Christian School / Portland, Ore.);Marquese Chriss (Pleasant Grove H.S. / Elk Grove, Calif.); Tyler Dorsey (St. John Bosco H.S. / Los Angeles, Calif.); Perry Dozier (Spring Valley H.S. / Columbia, S.C.); JaKeenan Gant (Effingham County H.S. / Springfield, Ga.); Luke Kennard (Franklin H.S., Ohio); Dwayne Morgan (St. Frances Academy / Baltimore); Malachi Richardson (Trenton Catholic Academy / Hamilton, N.J.); D’Angelo Russell(Montverde Academy, Fla.); Justin Simon (Temecula Valley H.S, Calif.); Myles Turner (Trinity H.S. / Bedford, Texas); Rashad Vaughn (Findlay Prep, Nev.); Glynn Watson (St. Joseph H.S. / Westchester, Ill.); and Stephen Zimmerman (Bishop Gorman H.S. / Las Vegas).
Joining Donovan on the sideline as USA assistant coaches are collegiate head coaches Ed Cooley of Providence College and Sean Miller of the University of Arizona.
In all, 12 athletes have participated in at least a USA Basketball training camp.
Winslow won gold at the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship; Johnson, Jones and Winslow teamed up to collect a gold medal at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship; while Johnson and Jones earned a gold medal at the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship.
Four players (Johnson, Jones, Turner, Winslow) were members of the 2014 USA Junior National Select Team that defeated a World Select Team 84-73 in the 2014 Nike Hoop Summit.
Johnson, Jones, Turner and Vaughn participated in the 2013 USA Developmental National Team (DNT) mini-camp; Johnson, Jones, Morgan and Winslow were members of the 2011-12 USA DNT; Briscoe, Dorsey, Dozier, Richardson and Zimmerman took part in the 2012 DNT mini-camp; while Black, Johnson and Jones first donned a USA Basketball jersey in the 2010 DNT mini-camp.
Six were named as their respective Gatorade Boys Basketball State Player of the Year, including Black (Tennessee), Brunson (Illinois), Johnson (California), three-time Gatorade honoree Jones (Minnesota), Kennard (Ohio) and two-time Gatorade award winner Winslow.
Jones, Russell, Turner and Winslow competed on the 2014 McDonald’s All-American Game East Team, while Johnson and Vaughn played for the West Team. Competing in the 2014 Jordan Brand Classic were: Booker, Chatman, Johnson, Jones, Russell, Turner, Vaughn and Winslow.
All of the 10 members of the high school Class of 2014 have signed a National Letter of Intent with some of the nation’s top collegiate basketball programs. Black is heading to University of Illinois, Booker has signed with the University of Kentucky, Chatman will play for University of Michigan, Gant signed with University of Missouri, Johnson will compete for University of Arizona, Jones and Winslow inked with Duke University, Morgan and Vaughn will team up at UNLV, Turner will suit up for University of Texas, and Russell will play for The Ohio State University. Further, Chriss (University of Washington), Dorsey (Arizona), Kennard (Duke) and Richardson (Syracuse University) have given a verbal commitment to play collegiately in 2015-16.
Ten athletes will graduate high school in 2014, while the remaining 11 are slated to graduate in 2015. The athletes hail from 13 different states, with California boasting the most with four athletes; Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey and Texas have two representatives each; while Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina and Tennessee each have a single representative on the roster.
In addition to Boeheim, members of the USA Basketball Junior National Team Committee include NCAA appointees Bob McKillop (Davidson College), Matt Painter (Purdue University) and Lorenzo Romar(University of Washington); while the athlete representative is Curtis Sumpter, a member of the 2011 Pan American Games 2004 USA U20 National teams.
