USA Basketball Announces October Mini-Camp For 2009-10 Men's Developmental National Team

Sept. 28, 2009 - Colorado Springs, Colo.

Featuring 14 of the nation's top high school juniors and six of the premiere sophomores, USA Basketball today announced that the 2009-10 USA Men's Developmental National Team will reassemble for a fall mini-camp on Oct. 9-11 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The mini-camp will be utilized to help the USA prepare for the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship, which is scheduled for July 2-11 in Hamburg, Germany. The 2010 USA Basketball U17 World Championship Team will be comprised of Developmental National Team members, and in order to be eligible, an athlete must be a U.S. citizen born on or after January 1, 1993.

'I think the mini-camp for this young age group is really important,' said Don Showalter, 2009-10 USA Developmental National Team and Mid-Prairie High School (Iowa) head coach, who led the USA to gold at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship last June. 'For one thing, it's important to get the players together as a national team and I think the other thing is to relay a message as to how challenging next summer's FIBA U17 World Championship will be. We will be competing in Germany against some really good teams and this sends a message to our 21 kids that we need to do some serious preparation now in order to be ready for that tournament.

'These four practices will be an extension of what we worked on last summer,' Showalter continued. 'I think after going through our training camp and the tournament in Argentina, our coaching staff found out some things that will help us in our preparation. We will do a little bit of evaluation, but the mini-camp will be about getting our team together and looking to improve.'

Twenty of the 21 members of the 2009-10 USA Developmental National Team will arrive in Colorado Springs on Friday, Oct. 9, and the team will train twice a day, from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 5:00-7:00 p.m. (MDT) on Oct. 10 and 9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 4:00-6:00 p.m. (MDT) on Oct. 11.

In addition to the original Developmental National Team members named on May 28, 2009, Michael Gilchrist (St. Patrick H.S. / Somerdale, N.J.), a 6-7 forward out of New Jersey, has been added to the 2009-10 roster. Anthony Wroten, Jr. (Garfield H.S. / Renton, Wash.) will be unable to participate in mini-camp due to injury.

Rounding out the USA Basketball Men's Developmental National Team and mini-camp roster are: Justin Anderson (Montrose Christian School, Md. / Montross, Va.); Kyle Anderson (Paterson Catholic H.S. / Fairview, N.J.); Brad Beal (Chaminade College Prep H.S. / St. Louis, Mo.); K.C. Caudill (Brea Olinda H.S. / Brea, Calif.); Angelo Chol (Herbert Hoover H.S. / San Diego, Calif.); Quinn Cook (DeMatha H.S. / Bowie, Md.); André Drummond (St. Thomas More School / Middletown, Conn.); Perry Ellis (Wichita Heights H.S. / Wichita, Kan.); Sterling Gibbs (Seton Hall Prep / Scotch Plains, N.J.); Brandan Kearney (Southeastern H.S. / Detroit, Mich.); James McAdoo (Norfolk Christian H.S. / Norfolk, Va.); Johnny O'Bryant (Eastside H.S. / Cleveland, Miss.); Tony Parker (Miller Grove H.S. / Lithonia, Ga.); Norvel Pelle (Dominguez H.S. / Long Beach, Calif.); Chasson Randle (Rock Island H.S. / Rock Island, Ill.); L.J. Rose (Second Baptist School / Houston, Texas); Marquis Teague (Pike H.S. / Indianapolis, Ind.); Adonis Thomas (Melrose H.S. / Cordova, Tenn.); and Kevin Ware (Rockdale County H.S. / Conyers, Ga.).

Showalter is assisted on the USA sideline by Herman Harried, head coach at Lake Clifton High School (Md.), and Kevin Sutton, head coach at Montverde Academy (Fla.).

Following the inaugural training camp held last June 6-9 in Colorado Springs, the USA Basketball Men's Developmental National Team Committee selected twelve players to represent the USA as members of the 2009 USA U16 National Team.

Helping the USA to the FIBA Americas U16 Championship gold medal, a perfect 5-0 record and a qualifying berth into the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship on June 17-21 in Mendoza, Argentina, were: Justin Anderson, Beal, Cook, Drummond, Gibbs, Kearney, McAdoo, O'Bryant, Parker, Randle, Rose and Thomas.

Led by Showalter and staff, the USA U16 squad scored an average of 113.0 points and won its five games by an average of 33.8 points per game. Three U.S. players ranked No. 1 in the eight-team field for individual marks. Cook ranked No. 1 in assists with 5.0 apg., Gibbs ranked No. 1 with a 7.0 assist-to-turnover ratio and Beal led the tournament in 3-point field goals made with 18. Beal averaged a USA-high 19.0 ppg. and ranked No. 3 overall in scoring, while O'Bryant grabbed a team-high 9.8 rpg. to list No. 4 in rebounding. McAdoo tallied 16.8 ppg. to rank No. 9 in scoring and grabbed 8.6 rpg. to rank No. 5 in rebounding.

The USA dominated the tournament statistics, leading the eight nations in 12 of 19 statistical categories, including scoring offense (113.0 ppg.), scoring margin (+33.8 ppg.), field goal percentage (.498), defensive field goal percentage (.371), offensive rebounds (24.6 rpg.), rebounding margin (+20.0 rpg.), assists (16.6 apg.), blocked shots (8.2 bpg.) and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.89).