Three high school seniors who have won two old medals playign internationally for USA Basketball — forward Stanley Johnson of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif..point guard Tyus Jones of Apple Valley Minn. High and forward Justice Winslow from St. John’s High in Houston– are among the 15 finalists for USA Basketball’s U18 team that will particiapte in the FIBA Americas U18 tournament June 20 -24 at the US Training Center in Colorado Springs.
The other 12 finalists include 6-1 point guard Isaiah Broscoe of Roselle N.J. Catholic, 6-1 guard Jalen Brunson of Adlai Stevenson High in Lincolnshire, Ill, 67 forward Jaylen Brown of Wheeler High in Alpharetta, Ga , 6-4 guard Antonio Blakeney of Oak Ridge High in Orlando, Fla. 7-0 centers Chase Jeter and Stephen Zimmerman of Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas, 6-9 forward Tyler Lydon of New Hampton School from Elizaville, N.Y., 6-5 guard Luke Kennard of Franklin, Oh. 6-5 guard Alonzo Trier of Montrose, Md. Christian, 6-10 center Myles Turner of Trinity High School in Bedford, Tex,. 7-0 center Thomas Welsh of Loyola High in Redondo Beach, Calif, and 6-8 forward Dwayne Morgan of St. Francis Academy in Baltimore.
Johnson, Jones, Winslow and Turner were all McDonalod’s All Americans who played for the U.S. Select team in the Nike Hoop Summit.
Nine players will graduate high school in 2015, and six are members of the Class of 2014. All six graduating in 2014 have signed a National Letter of Intent. Johnson will compete for University of Arizona; Jones and Winslow signed with Duke, Morgan will play at UNLV; Turner will play for the University of Texas; and Welsh will play for UCLA. Additionally, Kennard (Duke) and Lydon (Syracuse), members of the Class of 2015, have given a verbal commitments to those two schools.
The U18 team will be coached by Florida coach Billy Donovan, who led the 2012 U18 and the 2013 U19 USA Natiional teams to gold medals in a combined 14-0 in world championshp competition.
“The first thing is the attitude and unselfishness because I think there are so many outstanding players there’s going to have to be a level
of sacrifice by everybody; everybody is going to have to sacrifice something for the betterment of the team,” Donovan said. “Then the next thing I look at is style of play. Because we have a limited amount of practice time and some of these teams have been practicing much longer, you’ve got to be able to play a style of play of being able to press and be disruptive defensively, and you try and find guys that are going to fit into that kind of system.
That’s why sometimes it’s not necessarily the best players but the best players that fit into a system that can be unselfish and want to sacrifice.”
Donovan will be assisted by head coaches Ed Cooley of Providence College and Sean Miller of the University of Arizona.
The finalists will continue training June 12-19 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and selection of the official USA 12-member team will occur during that training period. .
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.
Six were their respective Gatorade Boys Basketball State Players of the Year, including Brunson (Illinois), Johnson (California), three-time Gatorade honoree Jones (Minnesota), Kennard (Ohio), Trier (Maryland) and two-time Gatorade award winner Winslow (Texas).
Nine athletes will graduate high school in 2015, and six are members of the Class of 2014. All six graduating in 2014 have signed a National Letter of Intent with some of the nation’s top collegiate basketball programs. Johnson will compete for University of Arizona; Jones and Winslow inked with Duke University; Morgan will play at UNLV; Turner will suit up for University of Texas; and Welsh will play for UCLA. Additionally, Kennard (Duke) and Lydon (Syracuse), members of the Class of 2015, have given a verbal commitment to play collegiately in 2015-16.
