Dick Weiss on College Basketball
The USA Basketball U16, which is 25-0 and has won all five FIBA Americas tournament gold medals, has cut its roster to 18 finalists after five practice sessions at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
The finalists include 6-4 guard Amari Bailey (Sierra Canyon H.S./Chatsworth, Calif.); 6-10 center Nathan Bittle (Crater H.S./Central Point, Ore.); 6-2 guard Jaden Bradley (Cannon School/Concord, N.C.); 6-5 guard Max Christie (Rolling Meadows H.S./Arlington Heights, Ill.); 6-3 guard Zion Cruz (Hudson Catholic H.S./Trenton, N.J 6-3 guard Gradey Dick (Wichita Collegiate School/Wichita, Kan.); 6-9 forward Jalen Duren (Roman Catholic H.S., Pa.)/New Castle, Del.); 6-6 forward Gregg Glenn III (Calvary Christian Academy/Pompano Beach, Fla.); 6-6 forward AJ Griffin (Archbishop Stepinac H.S./Ossining, N.Y.); 6-4 guard Camden Heide (Wayzata H.S./Wayzata, Minn.); 6-3 guard Dillon Hunter (Westlake H.S./Atlanta, Ga.); 6-1 guard Richard Isaac Jr. (Coronado H.S./Las Vegas, Nev.); 6-7 guard Will Jeffries (McDowell H.S./Erie, Pa.); 6-4 forward Trevor Keels (Paul VI Catholic H.S., Va./Clinton, Md.); 6-2 guard Tamin Lipsey (Ames H.S./Ames, Iowa); 6-5 forward Chris Livingston (Buchtel H.S./Akron, Ohio); 6-8 forward Jabari Smith Jr. (Sandy Creek H.S./Tyrone, GA); and 6-8 forward Kijani Wright (Windward H.S./Los Angeles, Calif.).
The finalist will practice for four days and a 12-man team will be announced May 30 prior to departure for the tournament, which will take place Jun. 3-9 in Belem Brazil.
The team will be coached by Mike Jones of DeMatha, Md. Catholic. Players eligible for this team must be 16-years or younger, born on or after Jan. 1, 2002 and U.S. citizens.
Bailey, Bittle, Bradley, Christie, Duren, Glenn, Hunter, Isaacs, Jeffries, Keels, Lipsey, Livingston, Smith and Wright took part in the 2019 USA Junior National team April mini-camp, which included participating in the NCAA Next Generation Sunday at the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four in Minneapolis.
Bradley, Duren and Livingston were listed on the 2019 MaxPreps Freshman All-American first team; Glenn was named to the third team. Keels was a 2019 Max Preps sophomore All American first team selection. Bittle and Christie were named to the third team.
The tournament will feature eight national teams from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean. The USA men will compete in the preliminary Group A and open play against Argentina June. 3 before facing Mexico June 4 and the Dominican Republic June. 5. Group B will feature Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico and Uruguay. The quarterfinals will be held June. 7 with the semi-finals being played June 8 and the finals will be held June. 9.
