We received this yesterday and didn’t really know what it was about….Did some detailed reading on it and figured it out this morning…..Plenty of details here about the USA Men’s Basketball program……..
2011-12 USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team Announced
Theo Pinson(Oak Ridge Military Academy/Greensboro, N.C.) was named as one of 24 members of the 2011-12 USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 24, 2011) — Twenty-four of the
nation’s top 16-and-under basketball standouts, including 18 who
participated in the Oct. 2010 USA Developmental National Team mini-camp,
have been named to the 2011-12 USA Basketball Men’s Developmental
National Team, USA Basketball today announced. The 2011 USA U16 National
Team and 2012 USA U17 World Championship Team, should the U.S. qualify
for the U17 Worlds, will be comprised of USA Developmental National Team
members. Invitations were issued by the USA Basketball Men’s
Developmental National Team Committee.
Two-time USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the YearDon Showalter
(Mid-Prairie High School, Iowa) returns for a second stint as the USA
Developmental National Team head coach after guiding the USA to perfect
records and gold medals at the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship and 2009
FIBA Americas U16 Championship. Showalter will be assisted over the next
two years by Rich Gray (St. Louis Eagles AAU, Mo.) andMike Jones (DeMatha
High School, Md.).
“We’re pretty familiar with 18 of the kids and the majority of them have
had really good high school years with their varsity teams,” said
Showalter. “The difference from last fall to this year will be
significant. We’ll be able to see a big difference in their mental and
physical abilities, their mental toughness, from last fall. So, I’m
really looking forward to those 18 coming in and seeing how much they’ve
improved.
“Then we’ll have six more kids who weren’t with us last fall, but who have had
really good years. You try and get the best group you can and these guys really
stepped up to the plate during their high school seasons. I think that’s why the
committee chose them to come in for the training camp.
“I’m looking forward to this. We’ve got kids who can play multiple positions. We
have some good shot blockers there who we can take a hard look at. They’re all good
athletes, they run the court really well. We like to put points on the board and I
think this group can do that.”
The 18 athletes named to the 2011-12 USA Developmental National Team who
participated in the 2010 USA mini-camp include:Shaqquan Aaron (Mater Dei
H.S. / Apple Valley, Calif.);Larry Austin (Lamphier H.S. / Springfield,
Ill.);Anton Beard (Parkview Magnet School / Little Rock, Ark.);James
Blackmon, Jr. (Bishop Leuers H.S. / Fort Wayne, Ind.);Dominique Collier
(Denver East H.S. / Denver, Colo.);Stephen Domingo (St. Ignatius Prep /
San Francisco, Calif.);Conner Frankamp (Wichita North H.S. / Wichita,
Kan.);Aaron Gordon (Arch Bishop Mitty H.S. / San Jose, Calif.);Dakari
Johnson (St. Patrick H.S., N.J. / Brooklyn, N.Y.);Stanley Johnson (Mater
Dei H.S. / Fullerton, Calif.);Tyus Jones
(Apple Valley H.S. / Apple Valley, Minn.);Jahlil Okafor (Whitney Young H.S. /
Chicago, Ill.);Jabari Parker (Simeon H.S. / Chicago, Ill.);Malik Price-Martin
(Monsignor Edward Pace H.S. / Miami, Fla.);Theo Pinson (Oakridge Military Academy /
Greensboro, N.C.);Jordan Swopshire (Fort Zumwalt South H.S. / Ofallon, Mo.);Charles
Tucker(Lansing Eastern H.S. / Lansing, Mich.); andJohnathan Williams (Southwind
H.S. / Memphis, Tenn.).
Also named to the 2011-12 USA squad were:Beejay Anya (DeMatha Catholic
H.S. / Hyattsville, Md.);Trey Lyles (Arsenal Technical H.S. / Camby,
Ind.);Kendrick Nunn (Simeon H.S. / Chicago, Ill.);Jimmie Taylor
(Greensboro H.S. / Greensboro, Ala.);Paul White (Whitney Young H.S. /
Chicago, Ill.); andIsaiah Whitehead (Lincoln H.S. / Brooklyn, N.Y.).
The official 12-member 2011 USA Men’s U16 National Team will be selected
during training camp for the 2011-12 USA Developmental National Team,
which will take place June 10-18 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in
Colorado Springs, Colo. Players eligible for this competition must have
been born on or after Jan. 1, 1995.
The 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship will be held July 21-25 in Leon,
Mexico. Teams qualified for the eight-nation tournament include:
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, United States, Venezuela and two
still to be determined. The top three finishing teams will qualify for
the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship, scheduled for June 29 – July 12 in
Lithuania.
The 24 players hail from 15 different states, with Illinois represented
by a high of five players, followed by California with four and Indiana
with two athletes. Alabama Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kansas,
Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina and
Tennessee are each represented by one player; while one player hails
from New York, but competes in New Jersey.
Six players have helped their teams to national rankings byUSA Today
(all rankings and records as of 3/22/11). Dakari Johnson has helped St.
Patrick to a 26-1 slate and a No. 2 national ranking; Simeon, which
features Nunn and Parker, is currently ranked No. 9 in the country and
owns a 30-2 record; Aaron and Stanley Johnson have led Mater Dei to a
31-3 record and a No. 11 national ranking; while Gordon’s Archbiship
Mitty squad is No. 19 with a 31-2 record. Additionally, Whitehead and
Lincoln are ranked No. 9 in the East Region with a 28-3 mark.
“The challenge will be to see how well they come together,” Showalter added. “The
talent’s pretty good. I hate to say this, you hate to compare them to the last
group, but we were really good the last two years. What made them so good is that
they bought into team play. When you’re bringing guys like Michael Gilchrist,
Marquis Teague and Tony Wroten off the bench, who willingly did it for the good of
the team, that’s a huge factor. It’s going to take a little work to mesh these guys
into the same kind of a team atmosphere, but that’s the job of our coaching staff.”
The 2011-12 USA team member selections were made by the USA Basketball
Men’s Developmental National Team Committee. Chaired in a non-voting
position by Sean Ford, the USA Basketball Men’s National Team Director,
the USA Men’s Developmental National Team Committee also includes AAU
appointees Ron Crawford and Boo Williams, National Federation of High
Schools representatives Eric Flannery and John Olive and athlete
representative Kermit Holmes (1999 USA Pan American Games Team).
In the inaugural 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship that was held in
Mendoza, Argentina, the U.S. squad was flat out impressive. Scoring an
average of 113.0 points a game, the USA won its five games by an average
of 33.8 points a game to claim the competition’s first gold medal and
qualify the U.S. for the 2011 FIBA U17 World Championship. The 2011 USA
U17 squad also dominated opponents, winning its eight games by an
average of 34.9 points a game, en route to gold.Brad Beal,Quinn
Cook,James McAdoo andAdonis Thomas were members of the ’09 U16 squad,
claimed their second gold medal for the U.S. at the 2010 FIBA U17 World
Championship, and are scheduled to compete for their third
USA Basketball squad at the 2011 Nike Hoop Summit.
USA Basketball
Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA Basketball is a nonprofit
organization and the national governing body (NGB) for men’s and women’s
basketball in the United States. As the recognized NGB for basketball in
the U.S. by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the
United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible
for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in
FIBA sponsored international basketball competitions, as well as for
some national competitions.
Since 2008, USA Basketball men’s and women’s teams have compiled a
sterling 96-2 win-loss record in FIBA or FIBA Americas competitions. USA
teams are the current men’s and women’s champions in the Olympics, FIBA
World Championships; U19 and U17 FIBA World Championships; and U18 and
U16 FIBA Americas championships. USA Basketball currently ranks No. 1 in
all five of FIBA’s world ranking categories, including combined, men’s,
women’s, boys and girls.