USA Draws Group A For 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship For Men

Feb. 10, 2010 - Colorado Springs, Colo.

FIBA conducted the draw to determine the preliminary round grouping for the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship For Men today in Hamburg, Germany, host of this year's U17 Worlds. The USA was placed in Group A for preliminary round-robin play along with Argentina, China, Egypt, Lithuania and Serbia; while Group B consists of Australia, Canada, host Germany, Poland, South Korea and Spain. The inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship For Men will be played July 2-11, 2010.

-Everybody has a good team when you get to the World Championship," said Don Showalter of Mid-Prairie High School (Iowa), who is serving as head coach for the 2009-10 USA Basketball Men's Developmental National Team. -You look at our side of the draw and we'll play a pretty familiar team in Argentina. I know Lithuania has had a lot of success as well and we're hoping to scrimmage them ahead of time, so that will give us a look at them. China won the gold medal in the Asian tournament, and pretty easily it seems from looking at their scores. Egypt will certainly be a force and Serbia always has good players. It looks to be a very competitive group. Obviously we're happy to be playing in the (U17) World Championship, but at the same token, we're going to go over there with the idea that we want to win the gold medal."

Opening U17 World Championship play in a rematch of last year's FIBA Americas U16 Championship gold medal contest against Argentina on July 2. The U.S. will face Lithuania on July 3, continue preliminary round action against China on July 5, meet up with Egypt on July 6 and close the opening round with a game against Serbia on July 7. The top four finishing teams from each group will advance to the medal quarterfinals, scheduled for July 9, the semifinals are slated for July 10 and the gold and bronze medal games will be contested on July 11.

-It doesn't really matter in a set-up like this who you have in your pool," added Showalter. -If you want to win the gold medal, you have to go through almost everybody. Once you get to the medal round it's not an NBA best-of-seven series, it's a one and done type of thing. That puts more pressure on teams, once you get to the medal round. Obviously we hope that we can get there, but once you do it puts a lot of pressure on every team every game. You really have to be on top of your game in every game.

-Last year the kids didn't really know what to expect (at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship), nor did the coaching staff for that matter. After last year's experience we have a little better idea of what to expect. This year everybody's going to be at a higher level, everybody is going to be a little bit better and I think we will be also."

As the host country, Germany earned an automatic berth to the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship. The remaining 11 nations from around the globe qualified for the championship through FIBA Zone Qualifying Tournaments in 2009. The U.S. earned its entry by virtue of finishing 5-0 and winning the gold medal at the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, with Argentina claiming silver and Canada earning bronze; Egypt collected the gold medal and the one FIBA Africa berth; China won gold and South Korea earned the silver medal in FIBA Asia; Spain won the gold medal in FIBA Europe, with Lithuania claiming silver, Serbia earning the bronze and Poland finishing in fourth place to earn Europe's fourth and final berth; while Australia claimed FIBA Oceania's lone qualifying berth after defeating New Zealand in a best of three series of games.

The U.S. team that will compete in the '10 FIBA U17 World Championship will be selected during the USA Basketball Men's Developmental National Team training camp, June 18-24 in San Antonio, Texas. The 12-member team that will represent the U.S. this summer will be announced prior to the USA's July 25 departure from the United States. In order to be eligible for the 2010 USA Basketball U17 World Championship Team, an athlete must be a U.S. citizen born on or after January 1, 1993.

Members of the 2009-10 USA Basketball Developmental National Team include: 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.); Michael Gilchrist (St. Patrick H.S. / Somerdale, 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 (Price 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.); Kevin Ware (Rockdale County H.S. / Conyers, Ga.); and Tony Wroten, Jr. (Garfield H.S. / Renton, Wash.).

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