News Release 5465 Mark Dabling Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO 80918-3842 http://www.usabasketball.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / May 22, 2013 For further information contact Craig Miller, Caroline Williams, Jenny Maag or John Holt at USA Basketball (719)-590-4800. *This release is also available on USA Basketball’s World Wide Web homepage - http://www.usabasketball.com. Twenty-Four Athletes Accept Invitations To USA Basketball’s 2013 Men’s U19 World Championship Team Training Camp - Sixteen Players With Prior USA Experience Included On U19 Training Camp Roster - COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 22, 2013) -- Twenty-four players, including 16 with previous USA Basketball experience, have accepted invitations to attend the 2013 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Championship Team training camp that will be held June 14-19 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo. The USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee issued the player invitations. Accepting invites to participate in the USA U19 training camp were Ryan Arcidiacono (Villanova University/Langhorne, Pa.); Bryce Alford (La Cueva H.S./Albuquerque, N.M.); Brandon Ashley (University of Arizona/San Francisco, Calif.); Robert Carter (Georgia Tech/Thomasville, Ga.); Damyean Dotson (University of Oregon/Houston, Texas); Kris Dunn (Providence College/Oakdale, Conn.); Javan Felix (University of Texas/New Orleans, La.); Michael Frazier (University of Florida/Tampa, Fla.); Marcus Georges- Hunt (Georgia Tech/College Park, Ga.); Shaq Goodwin (University of Memphis/Atlanta, Ga.); Aaron Gordon (Archbishop Mitty H.S./San Jose, Calif.); Jerami Grant (Syracuse University/Bowie, Md.); Montrezl Harrell (University of Louisville/Tarboro, N.C.); Rondaé Hollis-Jefferson (Chester H.S./Chester, Pa.); Jahlil Okafor (Whitney Young H.S./Chicago, Ill.); Rodney Purvis (University of Connecticut/Raleigh, N.C.); James Robinson (University of Pittsburgh/Mitchellville, Md.); Marcus Smart (Oklahoma State University/Flower Mound, Texas); Jarnell Stokes (University of Tennessee/Memphis, Tenn.); Rasheed Sulaimon (Duke University/Houston, Texas); Devin Thomas (Wake Forest University/Harrisburg, Pa.); Mike Tobey (University of Virginia/Monroe, N.Y.); Nigel Williams-Goss (Findlay Prep/Happy Valley, Ore.); and Justise Winslow (St. Johns H.S./Houston, Texas). The 2013 USA U19 World Championship Team will be led by a trio of experienced and successful college coaches, including Billy Donovan (University of Florida) as head coach, with Tony Bennett (University of Virginia) and Shaka Smart (Virginia Commonwealth University) as assistant coaches. “We have a really impressive group of talented players and a large number of the players have USA Basketball and college experience. Selecting our 12-man U19 team will be extremely difficult, but the committee is excited and confident that we will be able to field another strong USA team,” said Jim Boeheim, Syracuse University and Hall of Fame coach and chair of the USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team Committee. “The FIBA U19 World Championship might be from top to bottom the most competitive competition FIBA conducts. Any of the teams that are competing have a real chance to win the U19 gold medal as has been shown by six different countries winning the title over the last six U19 World Championships.” The USA U19 training camp will be used to select the 12-member USA team that will compete in the FIBA U19 World Championship. The U19 training camp will begin on June 14 with the first session (5:30-7:30 p.m., all times are local time, MDT), followed by two sessions on June 15 (9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. and 4:30-7:00 p.m.) and one session on June 16 (8:30-11:00 a.m.). Team finalists will be announced following the June 15 morning session. The team will train twice a day on June 17 and 18 (9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 4:30- 7:00 p.m.), and will practice once on June 19 (9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.). The team will train twice a day at the Washington Wizards' practice facility in Washington, D.C., on June 20-22, then depart for the Prague, Czech Republic, and the June 27-July 7 FIBA U19 World Championship. Sixteen players will enter the U19 training camp possessing a variety of prior USA Basketball experiences. Eight players, Goodwin, Grant, Harrell, Robinson, Purvis, Smart, Stokes and Sulaimon were all part of the 2012 USA U18 National Team that won gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship and qualified the United States for the FIBA U19 World Championship. Okafor and Winslow were members of the 2012 USA U17 World Championship Team that collected gold, and Okafor was named was selected the tournament’s MVP and was joined on the FIBA U17 World Championship All-Tournament Team by Winslow. Gordon and Okafor were members of the 2011 USA U16 FIBA Americas gold medalist team; Gordon and Hollis-Jefferson were members of the 2013 USA Junior National Select Team that participated in the 2013 Nike Hoop Summit, and Robinson and Sulaimon played for the USA in the 2012 Nike Hoop Summit. Hollis- Jefferson has also been part of the 2012 USA 3x3 U18 World Championship Team that won silver and the 2011 USA 3x3 Youth World Championship Team. Arcidiacono, Carter and Dunn boast of USA Basketball experience that came from participating in last year’s U18 National Team training camp; while Ashley, Gordon, Hollis-Jefferson, Okafor and Winslow were members of USA Basketball’s 2011-12 Developmental National Team. The 24 players represent 14 states, including four hopefuls from Texas; three from Georgia; two from California, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania; and one player each from Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Tennessee. The roster of training camp participants features one rising college junior, Stokes, 17 rising sophomores, four graduating high school seniors, and two rising high school seniors. Marcus Smart comes to the U19 training camp having been selected in 2012-13 The Sporting News and U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Freshman of the Year, Big 12 Conference Player of the Year and Big 12 Freshman of the Year, while also earning All-Big 12 first team, All-Rookie and All-Defensive team honors. Stokes in his sophomore season claimed All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) second team honors, and seven players earned all-freshman team honors from their respective conferences, including Arcidiacono (Big East Conference), Carter (Atlantic Coast Conference), Dotson (Pac-12 Conference), Frazier (SEC), Goodwin (Conference USA), Sulaimon (Atlantic Coast Conference) and Thomas (Atlantic Coast Conference). Two training camp attendees were selected in 2013 as their state’s Gatorade State Player of Year, including Alford (Calif.) and Winslow (Texas.). Marcus Smart (Texas) in 2012 earned his second-consecutive Gatorade State Player of the Year honor; while Dunn (Conn.) and Purvis (N.C.) also collected their state’s 2012 Gatorade State Player of the Year. Future Arizona Wildcat Gordon earned MVP honors at the 2013 McDonald’s All-America Game, while also playing in the ’13 McDonald’s Game were Hollis-Jefferson, and Williams-Gross. Player selections for the USA U19 World Championship Team will be made by the 2013-16 USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee. In addition to chair and NCAA representative Boeheim, the committee features four additional voting members: NCAA appointees Bob McKillop (head coach, Davidson College), Matt Painter (head coach, Purdue University) and Lorenzo Romar (head coach, University of Washington), as well as athlete representative Curtis Sumpter, a 2011 USA Pan American Games and 2004 USA U20 National Team member. FIBA U19 World Championship The FIBA U19 World Championship features some of the world’s best, young talent, and six different countries have claimed a gold medal in the past six U19 World Championships. FIBA conducted the draw to determine the four preliminary round pools on Jan. 15, and the U.S. was placed in Group D with China (FIBA Asia gold), Ivory Coast (FIBA Africa silver) and Russia (FIBA Europe fourth place). Drawn into Group A for the June 27-29 preliminary round were Canada (FIBA Americas bronze), Croatia (FIBA Europe gold), South Korea (FIBA Asia silver) and Spain (FIBA Europe fifth place); Group B includes Argentina (FIBA Americas fourth place), host Czech Republic, Iran (FIBA Asia bronze) and Lithuania (FIBA Europe silver); while Group C is comprised of Australia (FIBA Oceania gold), Brazil (FIBA Americas silver), Senegal (FIBA Africa gold) and Serbia (FIBA Europe bronze). The top three finishing teams from each first-round group advance to the second round that will be played July 1-3, where the 12 teams will be divided into Groups E and F. Each team will play the three new teams in its new group, with preliminary-round results carrying over to the second-round standings. Teams finishing in first through fourth places in the second round will qualify for the quarterfinals, with the opportunity to advance to the semifinals and finals. The quarterfinals will be held on July 5, semifinals are slated for July 6 and the gold medal game will be contested on July 7. Game times will be announced by FIBA at a later date. Originally known as the FIBA Junior World Championship, the tournament was held every four years between 1979-2007. FIBA now conducts the U19 World Championship every two years. USA men's teams are 69-13 in the U19/Junior World Championships and have won four gold and three silver medals, most recently finishing with a 7-2 record and in fifth place in 2011. USA U19 World Championship Team players of note include: Stacey Augmon (1987); Vin Baker (1991); Michael Beasley (2007); Dee Brown (2003); Vince Carter (1995); Nick Collison (1999); Stephen Curry (2007); Seth Curry (2009); Paul Davis (2003); Eric Floyd (1979); Jonny Flynn (2007); Gordon Hayward (2009); Larry Johnson (1987); Jeremy Lamb (2011); Stephon Marbury (1995); Doug McDermott (2011); Gary Payton (1987); Sam Perkins (1979); Wesley Person (1991); J.J.