MALAGA, Spain— They have become an unstoppable juggernaut, the closest thing FIBA basketball has to a men’s basketball dynasty.
Team USA’s U17 team won their sixth straight World Championship here last night, defeating host Spain, 79-67, in the gold medal game before a partisan Spanish crowd of 7,000 at Martin Capena Arena. The Americans, who have never lost in this competition, increase their winning streak to 44-0 and won their sixth straight title. And given the fact they dominated the competition by an average margin of victory of 39.6 points, there is no end in sight.
But unlike previous games in this tournament, the outcome was in dispute for two and a half quarters. Spain led by eight points before Team USA went on a 22-4 run, in the third quarter to take a 62-51 lead and cruised from there.
Cooper Flagg, a precocious 15-year-old 6-9 who had just completed ninth grade in Newport, Me, led the way with 10 points, 17 rebounds, 8 steals and four blocked shots for an efficiency rating of plus 30. Four other players scored in double figures. Rising senior guard Jeremy Fears, Jr. of La Lumiere Academy in Indiana scored a team high 17 points and rising senior forward Ron Holland of Duncanville, Tex. High had 13.
Spain had its highest finish ever. The Spaniards’ 7-3 center Aday Mara and guard Hugo Gonzalez both had 16 points while forward Izan Almansa added 9 points and 15 rebounds.
Almansa was voted the tournament’s MVP by the pro Spanish media, but Flagg, who made the all-tournament team with another rising sophomore Koa Peat– both made the all-tournament team. But there was at least three other strong candidates from Team USA.
The depth of talent in the young age groups in America, it undeniable. This team had 11 of 12 players score in double figures in at least one game.
“We had five starters, but the next seven could all easily be starters,” said Fears Jr,, a 2023 Michigan State commit who left his public school team in Joliet, Ill. to enroll at La Lumiere after ninth grade when COVID looked like it might wipe his season in Illinois, said. “On any given day, you could have someone new step up and be a star. All depends if it’s your day.”’
Fears had his first dramatic moment in the sun during the semi-finals when he came off the bench to score 18 points during a 89-62 victory over Lithuania– a team that had given them problems in a pre-tournament friendly– in the semi-finals.
“Ever since training camp, all we heard about was the U17s and the streak,” Fears admitted.
The Americans has cruised through this tournament, averaging 99.6 points
And it has reached the point where USA Basketball has attracted the bulk of the best eligible players who fit into Sharman White’s team- first category
White, the head coach at Pace Academy in Atlanta, was placed into the difficult position of maintaining the excellence created by the legendary Don Showalter, USA Basketball’s first director of Youth Sports and Development who never lost a U16 or U17 game since those international tournaments started in 2009. White, the 2013 national high school Coach of the Year at Millers Grove High in Lithonia, GA met Showalter at a clinic and was invited to be a court coach at USA Basketball Youth team tryouts. He moved up the ladder and was rewarded with a job as head coach of the U16 Americas tournament team in 2021 and his current coaching position with the U17s.
He appears to have taken a page from Showalter’s legacy when it came to selecting this team– picking players with wing span, defensive quickness in the press, ability to find the open man in a set offense, team first qualities with basketball IQ.
“We’re not necessarily looking for the most talented 12. but the best 12 for us,” he said.”
The pieces have fit together nicely. and the team has gotten better since the group began practice although they got off to a rough start at both ends against Spain, making just 1 for their first 10 three pointers and allowing Spain to get to the rim at will. But they clamped down when it mattered.
Picking the MVP of this tournament has been hard because Team USA has so many candidates. In fact, the team could flesh out the bulk of the All Star Five.
In all likelihood, at least eight of players from this USA team should be drafted in the first round. That includes three players from the class of 2024: Holland. guard DJ Wagner of Camden NJ High and forward Sean Stewart, a Duke commit — who are projected to go in the lottery of the 2024 draft, Various 2025 mock drafts include two New York Catholic League players — wing Ian Jackson of Hayes and point guard Boogie Fland of Stephanic while two rising sophomores — as first rounders along with Karter Knox of Tampa Catholic. Forward Koa Peat of Gilbert Perry and Cooper Flagg of Montverde — look like they will both go Top 3 in the 2026 draft.
There was no future Victor Wemanyama, the 7-3 French giant who has a Luka Doncic like upside and should be a lock for the No.1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, among the internationals in this tournament. But there are some intriguing internationals like 7-0 Alexandre Sarr of Overtime Elite and 6-5 wing guard Illane Fibleuil of France worth looking at, along with 7-1 Rocco Zikarsky of Australia and Alamansa and Mara of Spain to take a long look at over the next few years.
