USA Basketball made their first round of cuts Thursday for the Men’s U18 National Team. Ultimately, USA Basketball will name a 12-member team that will compete in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship July 19-23 in Valdivia, Chile.
Among those cut were St. John’s signee Shamorie Ponds, Duke signee Javin DeLaurier and 2017 wing Jordan Tucker of White Plains (N.Y.) Archbishop Stepinac.
The 18 players who made the cut included:
Jarrett Allen (TEXAS)
Mohamed Bamba (Uncommitted)
James Banks (TEXAS)
Miles Bridges (MICHIGAN STATE
Matt Coleman (Uncommitted)
Hamidou Diallo (Uncommitted)
Markelle Fultz (WASHINGTON)
Quade Green (Uncommitted)
Kevin Huerter (MARYLAND)
Brandon McCoy (Uncommitted)
John Petty (Uncommitted)
Michael Porter Jr. (Uncommitted)
Lonnie Walker (Uncommitted)
M.J. Walker (Uncommitted)
P.J. Washington (Uncommitted)
Kris Wilkes (Uncommitted)
Cassius Winston (MICHIGAN STATE)
Trae Young (Uncommitted)
“This was a great group, one of the most competitive groups we’ve ever had for this age group,” said Jim Boeheim, USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee chair chair. “This will be a really good team. They have a great coaching staff and this is a group of finalists that has size, it’s got quality point guards and shooting guards, it’s got very good depth. It’s a really well balanced group. I think it’s one of the most well balanced groups we’ve ever had at U18.
“It is the hardest thing to make cuts, even a few guys. There are no bad players here, they’re all good, and the next cut will really be hard. We’re very blessed in this country, we have great, great depth of players, quality players at all levels and that’s what separates U.S. basketball from other countries – just the depth that we have, no one else has that.”
The USA U18 National Team coaching staff is led by University of Texas head coach Shaka Smart. He is being assisted by collegiate head coaches Kevin Ollie from University of Connecticut and Mark Turgeon from University of Maryland.
That means that Smart is coaching two Texas players in Allen and Banks and Turgeon is coaching a future Terp in Huerter.
All the coaches are also coaching a talented group of uncommitted players, a topic Josh Newman and discussed on this week’s episode of The Quarters Podcast.
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