SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Two Players From SoCal Qualify
For US Junior National Team--(June 3, 2002)

We received an e-mail last night after returning from the Orange County Roundball Extravaganza (where we coincidentally watched one of the US National Junior team invitees, Ikene Ibekwe receive one of the MVP awards in the all-star game immediately after returning from Colorado Springs, CO, where he had participated all weekend in the tryouts) from Ollie Goulston, and it was clear that Ollie was very proud of the accomplishments of one of his players.  Rather than edit the message, we'll just pass it along, with some other observations about the tryouts.

Here's Ollie's note:

"Just wanted to drop everyone a note to let you know that after 3 days of competing with 33 other invitees at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Mohamed Abukar has been selected one of the 16 finalists for the 2002 USA Junior National Team.  After a final training camp in Miami (July 14-22), the 12-man squad, coached by Ernie Kent, will compete in the 2002 Junior World Championships in Venezuela (July 24-28).  Mohamed was among only 6 juniors to be selected a finalist. Here is the list of 16 finalists:

Name	Hgt	Class	School
Mohamed Abukar	6'09"	2003	Rancho Bernardo HS (CA)
Carmelo Anthony	6'08"	2002	Oak Hill Academy (VA)
Chris Bosh	6'11"	2002	Lincoln HS (TX)
Aaron Brooks	6'00"	2003	Franklin HS (WA)
Dee Brown	6'00"	2002	Proviso East HS (IL)
Brad Buckman	6'09"	2002	Westlake HS (TX)
Derrick Byars	6'07"	2002	Ridgeway HS (TN)
Matt Gorman	6'08"	2002	Watertown HS (NY)
Dion Harris	6'04"	2003	Detroit Redford HS (MI)
Daniel Horton	6'03"	2002	Cedar Hill HS (MI)
Kris Humphries	6'08"	2003	Hopkins HS (MN)
Andre Iguodala	6'06"	2002	Lanphier HS (IL)
David Padgett	6'11"	2003	Reno HS (NV)
Mustafa Shakur	6'03"	2003	Friends Central (PA)
Deron Williams	6'03"	2002	The Colony (TX)
Antoine Wright	6'07"	2002	Lawrence Academy (MA)

"For more information on the team trials including quotes and the list of 34 trials' participants, just log on to www.usabasketball.com.

"While we will miss having Mohamed play for our Southern California All-Stars' squad at the Big-Time in Las Vegas, we are very proud of him and excited to see him earn this great opportunity!"

Ok, so Abukar was one of the two SoCal finalists....Who, you ask, is the other?  Antoine Wright.  Yes, although he's listed as being from "Lawrence Academy" in Maine, Antoine is really a Southern California native, and each year he has returned home for the summer to compete with his club team, Elvert "Kool Aid" Perry's "Inland" team.  And while he'll be once again playing for four years away from Southern California at Texas A&M, he's still a native player, and will hopefully proudly represent the United States as a member of the US Junior National team. 

Abukar was one of six high school rising seniors (i.e., current juniors) who made the initial cut (the other 10 will all be college freshman in the fall).   Probably the most recognizable name among the six players in the current junior class, at least to those of us who follow club ball and the summer circuit tournaments here and in Las Vegas, is David Padgett, the talented junior from Reno, NV, who played with the Pump N Run team (along with Brad Buckman in the spring and summer of 2001).  If Padgett is selected to the US Team, this could change the face of the Pump N Run this summer,  since the USA competition will be running smack in the middle of the adidas Big Time Tournament and the Best of Summer, where Padgett has been anticipated to play with his other teammates.  Could make things interesting for one of the top teams on the summer circuit if they are without their best big man.....

If you visit the USA Basketball website, you'll be able to see some interesting notes and quotes by and from the players selected, including some tidbits on player recruitment, where the guys will attend camps (if anywhere) this summer, what the finalists will be doing between now and July when the competition will take place, and the reactions of the players to being selected as finalists.  Be sure to visit USA Basketball.com to read this and more, including some news on the upcoming USA Youth Development Festival which will feature 48 of the top high school players in the country whose names have not yet been announced publicly. 

Lastly, we want to again extend our congratulations to all the players who tried out and who were named as invitees, especially those other four players from Southern California who unfortunately for them were not selected as finalists.  in case you've got a short memory and don't remember who the other players were who attended the initial phase of the tryouts for the USA team this past weekend, they were Trevor Ariza of Westchester, Ekene Ibekwe from Carson HS, Sean Phaler from Villa Park, and Hassan Adams of Westchester who will be entering Arizona this fall as a freshman. Each of them were honored by being named as Trials Invitees and even though they weren't selected, it's still quite an honor to be among the top 32 players in America selected for the pool of tryout participants. 

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