USA Men's U17 Team Additional Quotes

July 11, 2010 - Hamburg, Germany

Don Showalter, 2010 USA U17 National Team head coach
(Mid-Prairie High School, Iowa)

What can you say about today's performance?
Best game we’ve had here.  I thought we put it all together. I thought every player played his best game today.  Coming into the tournament we said we wanted to improve a little bit every game and I thought today was just fantastic for our kids. We got great play from our center position. Johnny (O’Bryant) really came ot play today and Andre did a great job, and what can you say about our guards and forwards? It was just a team effort, you just can’t single out any one person because they all did a great job.

How rewarding is this, to win the gold after putting in almsot two years of building this team?
Again, Coach Sutton and Coach Harried, we couldn’t do it without those two guys. We really put in a lot of work on this deal. Not only just from the standpoint of getting the team ready, but we spent time watching tapes from last year and we thought we were really well prepared coming in and a lot of that has to do with coaches Sutton and Harried. We worked well together and we really showed the kids that as a coaching staff we were all on the same page and working hard and I think that carried over to the team.

What was the biggest key in today's game?
The last two minutes of the second quarter. We were up by five and we stretched it to 17 at halftime so that was a huge stretch for us.  Teams in the second half just wear down.  We keep bringing people off the bench and our opponents just wear down. We ended up outrebounding by them by about 15, and we had a tremendous amount of assists. We get our running game going a little bit and make smart decisions. Obviously this team is really good, they probably set a pretty high standard for any other U16-U17 teams coming in.  To get the first ever U17 World Championship is something these kids can look back on and know they were all a part of it.  They kind of created a legacy. 

Herman Harried, 2010 USA U17 National Team assistant coach (Lake Clifton High School, Md.)

How regarding is it to win a gold medal for a second consecutive summer?
It's very rewarding. There were a lot of sacrifices - time and effort - but we had great chemistry among the coaches first and I think the kids saw the chemistry amongst the coaches and followed our lead and then their chemistry became pretty good. It's just a great feeling, we put a lot of time and effort into it.

Kevin Sutton, 2010 USA U17 National Team assistant coach (Montverde Academy, Fla.)

How regarding is it to win a gold medal for a second consecutive summer?
I sent an email to Sean Ford (USA Basketball Men's Program Director), B.J. (Johnson), Herman (Harried) and Don (Showalter) before the game to thank them for this opportunity to be part of USA Basketball, to be a part of history for over the last two years with this initiative. I said in the email that this was by far the greatest experience in my coaching career and I've been very fortunate to have a good coaching career. This is really special. These young men have really come together and bought in and really played for our country and represented it very well. I'm very honored to be a part of it and humbled at the same time.

Justin Anderson
(Montrose Christian School, Md. / Montross, Va.)

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
It feels good. It feels like we're on top of the world. We got to represent our country in a different way and we did it for everyone back at home and it feels really good.

What will you do with your gold medal?
I think when I get home the first couple of days I'm going to wear it everywhere I go. The only thing I may not do with it is take a shower (wearing it). But after I've got enough wears and all my friends and family get to see it I think we're going to end up framing it and put it up on a wall.

Brad Beal
(Chaminade College Prep H.S. / St. Louis, Mo.)

What can you say about being named MVP of the FIBA U17 World Championship?
I was shocked, it's really just a blessing, I was excited to hear my name but there's nothing I can say I'm just thankful for all the guys and everything they did. It was fun being with these guys.

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
I feel we deserved it. We've been working hard for almost a month. We bonded together, we've had our ups and downs but we always stayed together. I think we really deserved it. It feels good to have it around our neck.

What will you do with your gold medal?
I don't know. I'm probably going to wear it everyday for the next couple or weeks or something like that. After that I'll probably give it to my mom.

Quinn Cook
(DeMatha H.S. / Bowie, Md.)

How does it feel to win the FIBA U17 World Championship gold medal?
The best feeling ever, it’s definitely the biggest achievement I've been a part of. This makes all the hard work... everything we’ve been through, and being away from our families, paid off. I'm just happy and blessed to be here.

What will you do with your gold medal?
Give it to my mom and she’ll hang it up I guess. It’s in her hands so whatever she wants to do with it.

Andre' Drummond
(St. Thomas More School / Middletown, Conn.)

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
We've been with each other for two years and we worked for this and then we went out and got it and it feels great.

What will you do with your gold medal?
I'm probably going to give it to my mama or my AAU coach.

Michael Gilchrist
(St. Patrick H.S. / Somerdale, N.J.)

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
Hard work pays off, all the time no matter what. All them days we put in at the gym, I don't know how to really explain it, but it's a good feeling.

What will you do with your gold medal?
I'm going to give it to my mom. We've been through a lot together, she's my best friend, so I'm going to give it to my mom.

James McAdoo
(Norfolk Christian H.S. / Norfolk, Va.)

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
It felt good, I can't really explain in words, but it's an awesome opportunity that USA Basketball gave us. It felt like two years preparation, practice, hard work...all the work we put in finally came down to one game, 40 minutes. We just went out there and executed. When they put that gold medal around my neck, I could see all the men and women in the army that gave their life so we could just be able to have this opportunity.

What will you do with your gold medal?
I know I'm going to be wearing it for now on until I have to take it off, but I know it's going to be around my neck for a long time now.

What about being selected to the all-World Championship Team?
I'm thankful that God blessed me with that, to be the captain of this team and to be selected as one of the best players which is also an opportunity to represent my team.

Johnny O'Bryant
(Eastside H.S. / Cleveland, Miss.)

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
Man, it feels great. We've been gone like 22 days, a long time and it's been a lot of hard work.

What will you do with your gold medal?
I'm taking it home and put it in a frame."

Tony Parker
(Miller Grove H.S. / Lithonia, Ga.)

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
It feels great to win the gold medal especially with most of the guys from last year. So we're really like a family,and so to win it with those guys was very special., There was a lot of hard work. Months and months of training, even before we got to San Antonio. To see us come together so fast was great.

What will you do with your gold medal?
Put it on display in my house I guess, really don't know yet

Chasson Randle
(Rock Island H.S. / Rock Island, Ill.)

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
It's unbelievable. I want to give thanks to the man upstairs, all the coaches and my teammates, it was a great experience and it just feels great to win it. It's unexplainable, all the hard work you put in to it and it finally pays off in the end. I'm just happy we won.

What will you do with your gold medal?
I probably won't take it off for about a day, but it's definitely going to hang up on a wall in my house.

Marquis Teague
(Pike H.S. / Indianapolis, Ind.)

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
It means everything. We've been here for like a month...we finally got what we came here for. It means everything. There was a lot of hard work. Two-a days, a lot of scrimmages, a lot of things, a lot of running, a lot of work for this and to finally accomplish this is great.

What will you do with your gold medal?
I'm going to hang it up somewhere with my jersey and keep it forever.

Adonis Thomas
(Melrose H.S. / Cordova, Tenn.)

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
It's special to me. Last year we got our first gold medal so two under my belt is just a blessing.

What will you do with your gold medal?
I'm probably going to get it framed with my other one, with my jersey and fund somewhere to hang it up. Last year's gold medal I've been thinking about trying to give it to my school to put it in the trophy case.

Tony Wroten
(Garfield H.S. / Seattle, Wash.)

What does it mean to you to win the gold medal after all the work you put it?
It means a lot. I felt like LeBron (James) and them winning the gold medal and bringing it back to my country, my state and my city. It means a whole lot. All the hard work paid off and coach told us we were playing for gold in this game and we showed up and played and now we're gold medalists.

What will you do with your gold medal?
I'm going to hang it up somewhere in my room, but I'm wearing it all day and I'm not taking it off. I'm getting on the plane with it, when we land in my city I'll be wearing it, I might sleep wearing it.