From USA Basketball Communications
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Featuring 11 players who won gold medals with USA Basketball in 2014, the 2015 USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Select Team that will take on the World Select Team in the 18th Nike Hoop Summit will be the most-experienced U.S. roster ever fielded for the event it was announced today.
The Nike Hoop Summit, which will be played at 12 p.m. (PST) on Saturday, April 11 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, is the country’s premier annual basketball game for U.S. high school senior boys and features the USA Junior National Select Team against a World Select Team composed of elite international players who are 19 years old or younger.
Suiting up for the USA will be: Isaiah Briscoe of Roselle (N.J.) Catholic; Jaylen Brown of Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.); Jalen Brunson of Stevenson (Lincolnshire, Ill.); Henry Ellenson of Rice Lake (Wis.); Chase Jeter and Stephen Zimmerman of Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas); Luke Kennard of Franklin (Ohio); Malik Newman of Callaway (Jackson, Miss.); Ivan Rabb of Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland, Calif.); Caleb Swanigan of Homestead (Fort Wayne, Ind.); and Allonzo Trier of Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.).
The team will be led by Eric Flannery of St. Edward (Lakewood, Ohio) with assistant coach L.J. Goolsby of K.C. Run GMC (Kansas). The duo served together as assistant coaches the past two summers for the gold-medal winning 2014 USA U17 World Championship and 2013 USA U16 National teams.
“The talent on this roster is as good as we have seen in the past ten years,” Flannery said. “Since I have been fortunate to work with these guys a few times in the past, I am extremely excited to watch them put those talents on display in the Nike Hoop Summit. We have very talented post players who can handle the ball extremely well and guards that can score in various ways. With this much talent and versatility it gives a coach many different options during the course of a game.
“In order for the USA to be successful versus a very talented World Team, we have to bond together as quickly as possible. As coaches it is our job to find the right combinations, and once that’s established the rest takes care of itself. These are the best players in the world, at their age, going at it for a relatively short period. Anything can happen in that time, however, if we limit our mistakes and utilize our strengths, we have a great chance of winning this game.”
Seven members of the 2015 USA team helped USA Basketball to gold and a 5-0 record at the 2014 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Colorado Springs, Colorado, including Briscoe, Brown, Brunson, Jeter, Kennard, Trier and Zimmerman.
The remaining four athletes won gold and collected a 7-0 record at the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, including tournament MVP Newman along with Ellenson, Rabb and Swanigan.
