USA Basketball: October mini-camp roster
27-player mini-camp will be held Oct. 15 and 16 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center
Release from USA Basketball:
Twenty-seven members of the 2011-12 USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team are confirmed to participate in a mini-camp that will be held Oct. 15 and 16 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
On the heels of a gold medal at the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, the USA will utilize four practice sessions to prepare to defend its inaugural gold at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship, which will be played June 29 – July 8 in Lithuania.
Shaqquan Aaron (Taft H.S. / Apple Valley, Calif.)
Beejay Anya (DeMatha Catholic H.S. / Gaithersburg, Md.)
Larry Austin (Lanphier H.S. / Springfield, Ill.)
Anton Beard (Parkview Magnet H.S. / North Little Rock, Ark.)
James Blackmon, Jr. (Bishop Luers H.S. / Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Dom Collier (Denver East H.S. / Denver, Colo.)
Stephen Domingo (Saint Ignatius Prep / San Francisco, Calif.)
DeMonte Flannigan (Villa Angela-St. Joseph H.S. / Richmond Heights, Ohio)
Conner Frankamp (Wichita North H.S. / Wichita, Kan.)
Aaron Gordon (Archbishop Mitty H.S. / San Jose, Calif.)
Justin Jackson (Homeschool Christian Youth Assoc. / Spring, Texas)
Rondaé Jefferson (Chester H.S. / Chester, Pa.)
Dakari Johnson (Montverde Academy, Fla. / Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Stanley Johnson (Mater Dei H.S. / Fullerton, Calif.)
Tyus Jones (Apple Valley H.S. / Apple Valley, Minn.)
Trey Lyles (Arsenal Technical H.S. / Camby, Ind.)
Kendrick Nunn (Simeon H.S. / Chicago, Ill.)
Jahlil Okafor (Whitney Young H.S. / Chicago, Ill.)
Jabari Parker (Simeon H.S. / Chicago, Ill.)
Theo Pinson (Wesleyan Christian Academy / Greensboro, N.C.)
Jordan Swopshire (SportsQuest Academy, Va. / O’Fallon, Mo.)
Jimmie Taylor (Greenboro H.S. / Greensboro, Ala.)
Charles Tucker (Lansing Eastern H.S. / Lansing, Mich.)
Paul White (Whitney Young H.S. / Chicago, Ill.)
Isaiah Whitehead (Lincoln H.S. / Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Johnathan Williams (Southwind H.S. / Memphis, Tenn.)
Justise Winslow (St. John’s School / Houston, Texas)
“I think this year’s mini-camp is different than last October because we have had some experience with the players and many of them now have experience in international competition,” said Mid-Prairie High School (Iowa) head coach Don Showalter, who enters his fourth year as head coach of the USA Men’s Developmental National Team having collected gold at the 2009 and 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship and the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship.
“After a summer of intense basketball, it will be interesting to see how much improvement they’ve made,” Showalter continued. “I know many of them have had great summers.
“I think our goal is to do some work with our offense, in terms of recognizing pick and roll options, to review some things and then to generate some good competition,” Showalter said of the mini-camp. “We want to get in four really good practices and end each of those with a game-like competition.”
The participants will train twice a day, with sessions scheduled for 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and 5:30-8 p.m. (MDT) on Oct. 15, and 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. on Oct. 16.
Under the guidance of Showalter and 2011-12 USA Men's Developmental National Team assistant coaches Rich Gray (St. Louis Eagles AAU, Mo.) and Mike Jones (DeMatha H.S., Md.), twelve members of the 2011-12 USA Men’s Developmental National Team earned a gold medal at the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, including Austin, Collier, Frankamp, Gordon, Jackson, Stanley Johnson, Jones, Nunn, Okafor, Parker, Pinson and Williams.
After averaging 15.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game, Parker was named MVP of the zone qualifier, and Gordon led five players who averaged double-figure scoring with 17.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. Okafor contributed 14.6 points per game, while Pinson scored 11. 5 points per game and Jackson added 10.4 points per contest. The USA won its five games by an average of 42.2 points, and the first place finish qualified the USA for next summer’s U17 World Championship.
Additionally, Aaron, Jefferson and Swopshire competed in the inaugural FIBA 3x3 Youth World Championship, compiling a 7-5 record for an eighth-place finish Sept. 9-11 in Rimini, Italy.
The 27 players hail from 17 different states, with Illinois represented by a high of five players, followed by California with four athletes and Indiana, New York and Texas with two apiece. Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas are each sending one player.
Two sets of teammates are featured on the roster and both are from schools in Chicago, Ill. Nunn and Parker are teammates at Simeon High School, while Okafor and White suit up together at Whitney Young High School.
Twelve players will graduate high school in 2013, while 15 are members of the class of 2014.
Assisting the coaching staff during the mini-camp will be USA Basketball Men’s Developmental Committee members: Ron Crawford, head of the Arkansas Wings AAU program; Eric Flannery, 2010 USA Basketball Boys Youth Olympic Games head coach and head coach at St. Edward High School (Lakewood, Ohio); and John Olive, USA Junior National Select Team head mentor for the 2009 Nike Hoop Summit and head coach at Torrey Pines High School (Encinitas, Calif.).
The player selections were made by the USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team Committee, which also includes USA Basketball Men’s National Team Director Sean Ford (non-voting chair), as well as Boo Williams, head of the Boo Williams Summer League (Va.); and 1999 USA Pan American Games Team member Kermit Holmes, who serves as the athlete representative.
