Five Players Added to USA Basketball Men’s Developmental Team October Mini-Camp

From our friends at USA Basketball:

For a fifth straight year USA Basketball will gather members of its Men’s Developmental National Team for an October mini-camp, which will take place on Oct. 5 and 6 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Since the inception of the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in 2009 and the FIBA U17 World Championship in 2010, members of the USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team program have dominated the competition and won five consecutive gold medals and compiled a perfect 31-0 record at U16 and U17 championships.

Including five new players, the mini-camp will feature 35 members of the 2013-14 USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team (born on or after Jan. 1, 1997), who are preparing for the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship, as well as 13 players from the high school class of 2014, who are training in preparation for the 2014 USA U18 National Team and the 2014 USA Nike Hoop Summit Team.

“The October mini-camp has become a very important part of developing players for future national team competitions,” said Sean Ford , USA Basketball Men’s National Team Director and Chair of the USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team Committee. “We will have a lot of USA Basketball experience on the court, and we will get a chance to introduce some new talent to the Developmental National Team. In addition, we are bringing in some older guys to help deepen the pool of players available for events in 2014.”

The five players added to the 2013-14 USA Developmental National Team (DNT) are:  Terrell Brown (St. Andrew’s School/ Barrington, R.I.); Juwan Durham (Tampa Preparatory School/Tampa, Fla.); DeAaron Fox (Cypress Lakes H.S./Katy, Texas); Chase Jeter (Bishop Gorman H.S./Las Vegas, Nev.); and Doral Moore (Luella H.S./Locust Grove, Ga.).

They join 2013-14 DNT members: Edrice Adebayo (Northside H.S./Gatesville, N.C.); Tyus Battle (Gill St. Bernard’s School/ Edison, N.J.); Thomas Bryant (Bishop Kearney H.S./Rochester, N.Y.);  Amir Coffey (Hopkins H.S./New Hope, Minn.); Bryant Crawford (Gonzaga College H.S., D.C./Kensington, Md.); Eric Davis (Arthur Hill H.S./Saginaw, Mich.);  Henry Ellenson (Rice Lake H.S./Rice Lake, Wis.); Terrence Ferguson (Prime Prep Academy/Flower Mound, Texas); Daniel Giddens (Wheeler H.S./ Mableton, Ga.);  Harry Giles (Wesleyan Christian Academy/Winston-Salem, N.C.); Quentin Goodin (Taylor County H.S./Campbellsville, Ky.); Jessie Govan (St. Mary’s High School/Queens Village, N.Y.);  Mustapha Heron (Wilbraham & Monson Academy/West Haven, Conn.); Josh Jackson (Consortium College Prep H.S./ Southfield, Mich.); Derrick Jones (Arch Bishop Carroll H.S./Marcus Hook, Pa.);  V.J. King (St. Vincent – St. Mary H.S./Akron, Ohio); Joshua Langford (Madison Academy/ Huntsville, Ala.); T.J. Leaf (Foothills Christian H.S./Lakeside, Calif.);  Malik Monk (Bentonville H.S./Bentonville, Ark.); Malik Newman (Callaway H.S./Jackson, Miss.); Payton Pritchard (West Linn H.S./West Linn, Ore.);  Ivan Rabb (Bishop O’Dowd H.S./ Oakland, Calif.); Devearl Ramsey (Sierra Canyon H.S./Los Angeles, Calif.); Kobi Simmons (St. Francis H.S./ Alpharetta, Ga.);  Horace Spencer (William Tennent H.S./Warminster, Pa.); Diamond Stone (Dominican H.S./Milwaukee, Wis.); Jayson Tatum (Chaminade College Prep/St. Louis, Mo.);  Derryck Thornton (Findlay Prep, Nev./Simi Valley, Calif.); D.J. Williams (Simeon Career Academy/Chicago, Ill.); and Seventh Woods  (Hammond School/Columbia, S.C.). Coffey, Giles and Goodin will be on the sidelines as they are injured but will attend camp.

Additionally, 13 players (born prior to Jan. 1, 1997) will train for USA teams that will play in 2014.

Among the 13 are seven with USA Basketball experience, including:  Joel Berry (Lake Highland Prep School/Apopka, Fla.); James Blackmon, Jr. (Marian H.S./Fort Wayne, Ind.); Justin Jackson (Homeschool Christian Youth/Spring, Texas);  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.); and  Theo Pinson (Wesleyan Christian Academy/Greensboro, N.C.).

Class of 2014 players new to USA Basketball are: Kevon Looney (Hamilton H.S./Milwaukee, Wis.);  Chris McCullough (Brewster Academy (NH)/Bronx, N.Y.); Kelly Oubre (Findlay College Prep, Nev./Fort Bend, Texas); D’Angelo Russell (Montverde Academy Fla./Louisville, Ky.);  Reid Travis (De Las Salle H.S./Minneapolis, Minn.); and Rashad Vaughn (Findlay Prep, Nev./Golden Valley, Minn.).

Led by  Don Showalter, who has won five gold medals as head coach of the USA Basketball Developmental National Team since 2009, training camp will run from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 4:15-7 p.m. (times listed are Mountain Daylight) on Saturday, Oct. 5., and at 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. and 4:30-7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6.

“I am very much looking forward to working with these players again in October,” Showalter said. “This will be a great weekend for the U17 players as they can compete against the best competition in the country at their age group.

“This camp is not so much for the players to be evaluated but to practice and play against each other. I think each of them will get an idea of what they needs to work on over the course of their high school season and next year’s AAU spring and summer season. This will make the evaluation camp next July very, very competitive in order to compete for the U17 World Championship in Dubai.”

Mike Jones (DeMatha Catholic H.S., Md.) and Cory Alexander  (Boo Williams AAU, Va.) will assist Showalter as court coaches. Jones was head coach for the 2013 USA Nike Hoop Summit Team, and an assistant coach at the 2012 Nike Hoop Summit. He also was an assistant for the 2011-12 DNT, winning two gold medals, and he assisted the East Team to a bronze medal at the 2004 USA Men’s Youth Development Festival. Alexander, a former NBA player and University of Virginia star, was an assistant for the USA in the 2013 Nike Hoop Summit, and he has played on three USA Basketball teams. He earned gold with the USA at the 1993 FIBA U21 World Championship, silver at the 1992 FIBA Americas U20 Championship and bronze with the South Team at the 1991 U.S. Olympic Festival.

Among the 2013-14 DNT, all 12 players that won gold at the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 Championship return, including tournament MVP Newman; as well as Bryant, Ferguson, Giddens, Giles, Justin Jackson, King, Rabb, Ramsey, Stone, Tatum and Woods.