Cooney Starts USA Basketball Tryouts
6/16/2011 1:10:14 PM | Men's Basketball
Syracuse newcomer Trevor Cooney (Sanford School/Wilmington, DE) is one of 21 players, including six with prior USA Basketball experience, who will converge June 17 on the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., for the June 17-24 USA Men's U19 World Championship Team training camp. The USA Basketball U19 training camp will be utilized to select the 12-member team that will represent the USA at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship in Latvia.
Cooney will attend Syracuse in the fall.
The USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team Committee, chaired by NCAA representative Jim Boeheim (head coach, Syracuse University), is expected to announce on June 19 finalists for the 12-member USA U19 World Championship Team roster. Training camp for the selected finalists will begin in the afternoon on June 19, with the official 12-member USA roster being announced prior to the team's departure for Europe on June 24. The 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men is being held June 30-July 10 in Valmiera, Liepaja and Riga Latvia.
Also announced by USA Basketball as attending the 2011 USA U19 World Championship Team training camp were: Keith Appling (Michigan State/Detroit, Mich.); Melsahn Basabe (Iowa/Glen Cove, N.Y.); James Bell (Villanova/Orlando, Fla.); Anthony Brown (Stanford/Huntington Beach, Calif.); .); Jahii Carson (Mesa High School/*Arizona State/Phoenix, Ariz.); Allen Crabbe (California/Los Angeles, Calif.); Tim Hardaway, Jr. (Michigan/Miami, Fla.); Joe Jackson (Memphis/Memphis, Tenn.); Jeremy Lamb (Connecticut/Norcross, Ga.); Meyers Leonard (Illinois/Robinson, Ill.); Khyle Marshall (Butler/Davie, Fla.); Javon McCrea (Buffalo/Newark, N.Y.); Doug McDermott (Creighton/ Ames, Iowa); Travis McKie (Wake Forest/Richmond, Va.); Tony Mitchell (North Texas/Dallas, Texas); Richard Solomon (California/Los Angeles, Calif.); Josiah Turner (Quality Education Academy/ Sacramento, Calif.); Scott Wilbekin (Florida/Gainesville, Fla.); Cameron Wright (Pittsburgh/Cleveland, Ohio); and Patric Young (Florida/Jacksonville, Fla.).
Recently named George Mason University head coach Paul Hewitt is head coach of the USA U19 World Championship Team. Randy Bennett of St. Mary's College and Cliff Warren of Jacksonville University are assistant coaches.
Jerry Carrillo (Cochise County College, Ariz.), Billy Donovan (University of Florida) and Dan Miles (Oregon Tech), three successful college head coaches who have compiled a combined 1,646 victories in 70 seasons, will serve as court coaches for the U19 National Team Training Camp.
Six of the players possess prior USA Basketball experience including three players from the 2010 USA U18 National Team that captured gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship.
Cooney, Mitchell and Young were part of USA Basketball's 2010 U18 team, while Leonard and Young participated on the USA Junior National Select Team that won the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit.
Other players possessing USA Basketball trials experience include Appling and Bell, while Jackson was invited to the 2010 U17 Trials but was unable to participate.
Included on the roster are 18 student-athletes who attended a NCAA Division I school in 2010-11 and three (Carson, Cooney and Turner) players who completed their high school careers this year.
Sixteen colleges and seven conferences have representation on the USA roster. The University of California, with Crabbe and Solomon, and the University of Florida, with Young and Wilbekin, are the only colleges sending multiple representatives.
Lamb helped lead the University of Connecticut to the 2011 NCAA title and along the way was named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team after averaging 16.2 ppg. and 4.8 rpg. Marshall was a freshman for NCAA runner-up Butler.
Nine athletes listed among their NCAA conference all-freshman squads following the 2010-11 season, including three who were named their conference's freshman of the year. Crabbe was named the Pac-10 Conference Freshman of the Year, McCrea was named the Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year, and McDermott was named the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Additionally, Jackson collected MVP honors for the Conference USA Tournament, Lamb was named to the Big East Conference All-Tournament Team and McDermott was also named All-Missouri Valley Conference first team.
Named to their respective conference all-freshman teams were: Basabe (Big Ten), Brown (Pac-10), Crabbe (Pac-10), Hardaway (Big Ten), Lamb (Big East), McCrea (Mid-American), McDermott (Missouri Valley), McKie (Atlantic Coast) and Young (Southeastern). Additionally, McCrea was tabbed by CollegeInsider.com to its Mid-Major Freshmen All-America team; McDermott was named to the USBWA Freshman All-America second team, while Hardaway, McDermott, McKie and Young were each named to the 2011 CollegeInsider.com Freshman All-American Team. Of the three incoming freshmen attending the training, Turner ranks No. 14 in the ESPNU Class of 2011 rankings, Carson lists No. 49 and Cooney is No. 64.
Recently named George Mason University head coach Paul Hewitt is head coach of the USA U19 World Championship Team, and Randy Bennett of St. Mary's College and Cliff Warren of Jacksonville University are assistant coaches.
In addition to Boeheim, the 2009-12 USA Basketball Men's Junior National Committee includes NCAA appointees Lorenzo Romar (head coach, University of Washington), Bruce Weber (head coach, University of Illinois) and Roy Williams (head coach, University of North Carolina); and athlete representative Jay Williams, a member of the 2002 USA World Championship Team.
FIBA U19 World Championship
Led by then University of Oklahoma head coach Jeff Capel, the 2010 USA U18 National Team secured the USA's berth to the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship with a 5-0 and gold medal finish in its zone qualifier, the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, held June 26-30 in San Antonio, Texas. Sixteen nations will battle for the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men title June 30-July 10 in Latvia. The United States has been placed in Group D, along with China, Egypt and Serbia. The 12 remaining 19-and-under national teams were distributed as such: Group A includes Brazil, Poland, Russia and Tunisia; Group B consists of Argentina, Australia, Latvia and Taiwan; and Group C is comprised of Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and South Korea.
The U.S. squad's preliminary round slate opens with a June 30 contest against Egypt, followed by Serbia on July 1, and the USA squad will conclude preliminary play July 2 versus China. The top three teams from each preliminary group will qualify for the preliminary second round, while the fourth place teams will qualify for the classification round to determine 13th to 16th places.
The 12 teams who qualify for the second round, which will be played July 4-6, will be divided into groups E and F, with six teams in each group. The top three preliminary round teams from groups A and B will advance to Group E, and the top three from C and D will advance to Group F. Each team will play the three new teams in its new group, with the final scores of all games played in the preliminary round carrying over to determine the second round standings.
Teams finishing in first through fourth places in the two second round groups will qualify for the quarterfinals, with the opportunity to advance to the semifinals and finals. Teams finishing in fifth and sixth places in Groups E and F will play for ninth through 12th places. The quarterfinals will be held on July 8, semifinals are slated for July 9 and the gold and bronze medal games, as well as the 5th/6th place and 7th/8th place games will be contested on July 10.
Originally known as the FIBA Junior World Championship, the tournament was held every four years from 1979 – 2007. Starting in 2009 FIBA changed its calendar and now holds age-based world championships every other year. USA men's teams are 62-11 in the U19/Junior World Championships, and have won four gold and three silver medals, most recently earning the gold medal for the first time since 1991 with a 9-0 record in 2009.
USA U19 World Championship for Men Players of note include: Stacey Augmon (1987), Vin Baker (1991), Michael Beasley (2007), Dee Brown (2003), Vince Carter (1995), Nick Collison (1999), Seth Curry (2009), Stephen Curry (2007), Paul Davis (2003), Eric Floyd (1979), Jonny Flynn (2007), Ashton Gibbs (2009), Gordon Hayward (2009), Larry Johnson (1987), Stephon Marbury (1995), Gary Payton (1987), Sam Perkins (1979), Wesley Person (1991), Kevin Pittsnogle (2003), J.J. Redick (2003), Bobby Simmons (1999), Scott Skiles (1983), Tyshawn Taylor (2009), Howard Thompkins (2009), Deron Williams (2003) and James Worthy (1979).
