Hoop Dreams

November 21, 2008

This summer seven members of the class of 2009 earned valuable experience as members of the USA Basketball U18 National Team and last week six of them signed National Letters of Intent with three of the nation's top programs.

Hauling in three who took home silver from the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship was the University of North Carolina, which signed Leslie McDonald, David Wear and Travis Wear. Heading right down the road were two of their USA teammates, Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee, who are headed to Duke University next year, while Maalik Wayns will bring his talents to Villanova University. The lone standout is Dominic Cheek, who will have the rest of the year to make his final decision.

Ironically, all three schools feature coaches who have paced along the USA Basketball sidelines. Most recently, Duke's Coach K headed up the USA's gold medal efforts at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, UNC's Roy Williams was an assistant coach to the 2004 USA Olympic Team and Villanova's Jay Wright was head coach for the 2007 USA Pan American Games Team.

• Duke's official release
• North Carolina's official release
• Villanova's official release