usa team trial members named

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

USA Basketball Men's National Team
Trials Invitees Named--(May 10, 2000)

Tayshaun Prince (6''-9" So. SG/SF) from the University of Kentucky was the lone SoCal player named to the USA Men's Basketball Team trials, and the only other California native was Kansas freshman Andrew Gooden (6'-9" Fr. F) from Richmond, California. Invitees include thirty of the top men's basketball players in the nation aged 20 and younger, including 15 with prior USA Basketball experience who have accepted invitations to the 2000 USA Basketball Men's National Team Trials, the USA Basketball Men's Collegiate Committee announced yesterday. Chaired by University of Virginia athletic director Terry Holland, the Committee will select finalists for the 2000 USA Basketball World Championship for Young Men Qualifying Team following the three-day Trials which will be held May 26-28 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The 2000 USA Basketball Men's National Team Trials will begin Friday, May 26 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. (all times MST). Sessions will follow from 9:00-11:00 a.m. and from 5:00-7:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 27, and will conclude on Sunday, May 28 with a session from 8:00-10:00 a.m.

The 2000 USA Young Men's Team will compete July 19-23 in Riberao Preto, near Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the 2000 COPABA World Championship for Young Men Qualifying Tournament. The finalists for the USA team, which will compete against seven other teams from the Americas for one of the three Americas Zone qualifying berths for the 2001 FIBA World Championship for Young Men, will be announced following the final Trials session on May 28. Any male athlete who is a U.S. citizen and is 20-years-old or younger (born on or after January 1, 1980) is eligible for the 2000 USA Basketball World
Championship for Young Men Qualifying Team.

Held every four years, the U.S. qualified for the previous competition which was initiated in 1993 as the FIBA 22 And Under World Championship and originally designed for men 22-years-old or younger. FIBA lowered the age eligibility to 21-years-old or younger in December 1998 and changed the competition name to the World Championship for Young Men. Featuring 12 teams, the next FIBA World Championship for Young Men is scheduled for 2001 in Japan.

Syracuse University (N.Y.) head coach Jim Boeheim will serve as head coach of the 2000 U.S. squad, and he will be assisted by University of Houston (Texas) head coach Ray McCallum and Hofstra University (N.Y.) head coach Jay Wright. The final 12-member team will be named during the July 10-17 training camp which will be held at a site to be determined.

Included among the invitees are:

Steve Blake (Maryland / Miami Lakes, Fla.)
LaVell Blanchard (Michigan / Ann Arbor, Mich.)
Keith Bogans (Kentucky / Hyattsville, Md.)
Carlos Boozer (Duke University / Juneau, Alaska)
Nick Collison (Kansas / Iowa Falls, Iowa)
Brian Cook (Illinois / Lincoln, Ill.)
Omar Cook (Christ the King H.S., N.Y. / Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Josh Davis (Wyoming / Salem, Ore.)
Patrick Doctor (American / Brandywine, Md.)
Mike Dunleavy (Duke / Lake Oswego, Ore.)
Drew Gooden (Kansas / Richmond, Calif.)
Eddie Griffen (Roman Catholic H.S., Pa. / Philadelphia, Pa.)
Brooks Hall (Dayton / Troy, Ohio)
Kirk Hinrich (Kansas / Sioux City, Iowa)
Steve Hunter (DePaul / Maywood, Ill.)
Joe Johnson (Arkansas / Little Rock, Ark.)
Dahntay Jones (Rutgers / Hamilton Square, N.J.)
Steve Logan (Cincinnati / Cleveland, Ohio)
Jason Parker (Fork Union Academy / Charlotte, N.C.)
Tayshaun Prince (Kentucky / Compton, Calif.)
Zach Randolph (Marion H.S., Ind. / Marion, Ind.)
Jason Richardson (Michigan State / Saginaw, Mich.)
Kenny Satterfield (Cincinnati / Bronx, N.Y.)
Johnnie Selvie (Southeastern C.C. / Flint, Mich.)
Bobby Simmons (DePaul / Chicago, Ill.)
B. B. Waldon (South Florida / Lakeland, Fla.)
Damien Wilkins (North Carolina State / Washington, N.C.)
Chris Williams (Virginia / Birmingham, Ala.)
Jason Williams (Duke / Plainfield, N.J.)
Vincent Yarbrough (Tennessee / Cleveland, Tenn.).

Of the 30 athletes who have accepted invitations to the 2000 Trials, 15 have been involved with USA Basketball in the past, nine recently completed their sophomore seasons at the NCAA Division I level, 16 were NCAA freshmen in 1999-00, one finished his second season at the NJCAA Division I level, one attended prep school in 1999-00 and three are high school seniors. Of the 25 NCAA athletes, 14 list among their respective all-conference teams, 14 earned conference all-freshmen honors, five were selected to their conference all-tournament teams and four are listed among the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's 2000 all-district teams. The lone junior college participant, Selvie, helped lead his squad to the NJCAA championship, earning 2000 NJCAA All-Tournament Team honors in the process.

Headlining the Trials invitees are 15 players who have had prior experience with USA Basketball, including Kansas standouts Collison and Hinrich, who have each competed on three U.S. squads. The Jayhawk duo were both members of the 1999 USA Men's Junior National Select Team that claimed a 107-95 victory over an International Select Team in the fifth annual Nike Hoop Summit, while Collison aided the 1998 USA Men's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team to a gold medal and the 1999 USA Junior World Championship Team to a silver medal finish, and Hinrich was a member of the 1998 gold medal winning USA World Youth Games Team, the 1998 USA Basketball Men's Youth Development Festival North Team, and participated in the 1999 USA Men's Junior National Team Trials.

Joining Collison on both the '98 Junior team and '99 Junior World Championship squad was Simmons. Blake helped the U.S. juniors to a gold medal in 1998, and Logan, Parker and Chris Williams were all members of the 1999 Junior World Championship Team. Dunleavy, Johnson, Parker and Jason Williams teamed up with Hinrich on the 1999 USA Junior National Select Team, while St. John's University (N.Y.) freshman-to-be Omar Cook and Michigan State University freshman-to-be Randolph competed for the U.S. in the 2000 Hoop Summit. Additionally, Satterfield competed in the 1998 USA Basketball Men's Youth Development Festival, Randolph was a 1999 Festival participant, Blake and Walden were both finalists for the 1999 USA Junior Worlds squad, and Jones participated in the 1999 USA Junior Trials.

Invitees claiming all-conference honors in 1999-2000 include Davis, who earned All- Mountain West Conference first team honors, and Doctor, who was named to the All-Colonial Athletic Association first team, and are the only all-conference first team members. In the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Chris Williams was named to the second team, Jason Williams earned third team accolades and Blake and Boozer were All-ACC honorable mentions. Listed on the All-Conference USA second team were Simmons and Walden, Prince and Yarbrough earned All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) second team honors, while Johnson was an All-SEC third team member, Blanchard was named All-Big 10 Conference third team and Collison and Gooden were both honorable mention in the Big 12 Conference. In addition to their conference honors, Davis (District 8), Chris Williams (District 3), Jason Williams (District 3) and Yarbrough (District 4) were all selected by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association to their All-District Teams.

Highlighting the conference freshmen awards are Big 12 Freshman of the Year Collison, SEC co-Freshman of the Year Johnson and Big 10 co-Freshmen of the Year Blanchard and Brian Cook, while those who were named to their conference all-freshmen teams included Blake (ACC), Bogans (SEC), Boozer (ACC), Dunleavy (ACC, honorable mention), Gooden (Big 12), Hall (Atlantic 10 Conference), Hunter (Conference USA), Satterfield (Conference USA), Wilkins (ACC, honorable mention) and Jason Williams (ACC). Earning ACC Tournament MVP honors, Jason Williams leads the all-tournament picks and was joined on the ACC All-Tournament Team by Wilkins (first), Boozer (second) and Dunleavy (second), while Johnson earned a spot on the SEC All-Tournament Team.

Omar Cook, Seton Hall University (N.J.) freshman-to-be Griffin and Randolph each were listed on the 2000 Parade Magazine High School All-American first team, with Griffin running away with Parade's Player of the Year honors. Both Griffin and Randolph were tabbed 2000 All-USA first team by USA Today, while Omar Cook was named All-USA third team and the prep trio competed together in the 2000 McDonald's High School All- American Game.

All told, there are 22 NCAA schools represented, with Duke and Kansas ringing in with three athletes apiece, and nine conferences, with the ACC leading the way with six athletes each. Additionally, three high schools, one prep school and one junior college are represented among the 30 athletes invited to the 2000 USA Basketball Men's National Team Trials.