UBA Basketball completed its initial cuts for the upcoming U17 World Championships in Zaragoza, Spain today at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Following four training sessions involving 36 hopefuls, 18 finalists were selected. They include 6-10 forward Brown of Woodcreek HS in Roseville, Calif., 6-6 guard Troy Brown of Centennial High in Las Vegas, 6-10 center Wendell Carter Jr. of Pace Academy in Atlanta, 6-3 guard Daejon Davis of Garfield HS in Seattle, 6-5 Nojel Eastern of Evanston Twp HS Ill. 6-8 forward Carte-Are Gordon of Webster Grove HS in St. Louis, 5-11 guard Markus Howard of Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., 6-10 forward Jaren Jackson Jr. of Park Tudor School in Carmel, Ind., 6-8 forward Kevin Knox II of Tampa, Fla. Catholic, 6-4 guard Immanuel Quickley of John Carroll School in Havre De Grace, Md., 6-7 forward Cameron Reddish of Westtown School in West Chester, Pa., 6-6 guard D’Shawn Schwartz of Sand Creek High in Colorado Springs, 6-0 guard Gary Trent, Jr. of Apple Valley HS in Burnsville, Minn., 6-2 guard Collin Sexton of Pebblebrook High in Mableton, Ga., 6-9 forward Jalen Smith of Mt. St. Joseph’s HS in Baltimore, Md., 6-3 guard Javonte Smart of Scotlandville High in Baton Rouge, 6-10 center Austin Wiley of Spain Park High in Hoover, Ala. and 6-5 guard Robert Woodard II of Columbus High in Columbus Miss.
The team will be coached against by Don Showalter, the head of USA Basketball’s Youth Development who has never lost a game in U16 or U17 competition in seven international events.
This should be a better team than last year’s U16s, which had to rally from a 23-3 deficit to defeat Canada in the gold medal game. Carter, Jordan Brown, Trent, Knox, Smart, Woodard, Howard all played for the USA U16 gold medalists in the FIBA Championship of Americas tournament last summer. Trent was selected MVP and at least one scenario has both he and 6-10, 240 pound Carter attending college as a package.
It was also nice to see more East Coast prospects– Quickly, Reddish and Smith– included among the finalists Interestingly, there are no Texas prospects among the finalists.. I’ll be intriguing to watch Sexton, who was the leading scorer in Nike’s EBYL. .
Training camp will continue through June. 18 and he final roster will be announced no later than that date. The competition beings June 23 and lasts through July 3. The USA qualified for a spot in the worlds by winning the FIBA Americas U18 championship.
