Entire 2008 UCLA Frosh Class Named To USA Junior Select Team
By KS Wong
Bruin Basketball Report
USA Basketball announced the coaching staff and ten high school players selected for the 2008 USA Basketball Junior National Select Team that will compete in the 11th annual Nike Hoop Summit on April 12 in Portland, Ore.
Bruin basketball fans eagerly awaiting the arrival of the school's incoming freshmen class next November will have a special opportunity to see them in action together beforehand.
Of the ten elite high school players selected to the team, four are from UCLA's incoming blue-chip 2008 freshmen class: Jrue Holiday (Campbell Hall HS), Malcolm Lee (JW North HS), Drew Gordon (Archbishop Mitty HS), and Jerime Anderson (Canyon HS).
The coach and player selections were made by the USA Basketball Men's Junior Development Committee.
"Identifying a 10-man roster is always difficult," Don Showalter, chairman of the USA Basketball selection committee, said. "This is not an all-star game, and we expect the World Team to be very good. These kids are going to have to play some defense."
"This USA roster, though, is talented and balanced and will be tough to beat. We have a strong mix of skills and sizes, and we also have players that gained valuable experience at the 2007 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival. Those kids understand what we're looking for from a team standpoint, and they have a familiarity with international basketball."
The 2008 USA Basketball Junior National Select Team roster includes: Al-Farouq Aminu (Norcross HS); Jerime Anderson (Canyon HS); Ed Davis (Benedictine HS; Demar DeRozan (Compton HS); Tyreke Evans (American Christian); Drew Gordon (Archbishop Mitty HS); Jrue Holiday (Campbell Hall HS); Scotty Hopson (University Heights Academy); Malcolm Lee (JW. North HS); and Greg Monroe (Helen Cox HS).
The head coach of the 2008 USA Team will be Douglas Mitchell of North Central HS in Indianapolis.
The USA and World Select Team will face off on April 12 at 1:00 PM in Portland's Rose Garden, in a nationally televised game on Fox Sports Net.
(photo credit: USA Basketball)
Labels: Recruiting Misc News
BBR :: Article Link :: 5:30 AM ::
11 comments
11 Comments:
Very nice.
Hmmmm...The selection committee wanted players who played "team" ball and played "defense".
Yep, sounds like Bruin ball under Howland to me.
Honestly, that just looks sick....Love, please stay....GO UCLA!!
Unreal. I can't wait to see them all play together. Yea, an inside presence for next year would also be a good add if Love goes.
Only issue next year will be youth. Can you imagine if Collison, Westy, and Love ALL stayed???? I don't even want to think about it.
Ha, almost half the roster are UCLA commits. Insane. Will be fun to track this team. Great thing is that these guys will get a lot of playing time together in real game time situations. When the season starts next year, they should all be very comfortable with each other. This is great news!
Are any of these games going to be on TV or the LA area so we can watch the future Bruins in action?
Is there a reason vast majority of players were selected from California?
It says above the game is going to be televised on Fox sports!
Do you notice no Brandon Jennings who has been named top HS player of the year. Why?? Because this isnt a playground game its a team game against some good world players.
Why so many CA players? UCLA's 4 sort of skewed the number to start with. The Q really should be ...why so many UCLA players! And we all know the answer to that one :)
Drew Gordon from San Jose's Archbishop Mitty HS is the "big man" in this class. He is a Mata-Real with an offensive game, and much more advanced than M-R was at this age. However, Gordon broke his foot about 6 weeks ago and has not played since. His team is still rated #1 in Nor Cal in D-2, is 30-1, won their section, and has advanced to the Nor-Cal semi-finals in which they are playing while I write this vs. Hayward. Does BBR know Gordon's recovery status and if he'll be able to play on this USA Junior Select Team, or perhaps even sonner if they advance to the state finals @ ARCO in Sacramento next week?
Drew Gordon, in a surprising return, played a total of 8 minutes, 41 seconds in Archbishop Mitty's Tuesday night first round victory over Shasta of Redding.
"Gordon was not tentative, leaping high to block shots and dunk the ball, while providing his typical game-changing presence on defense."
"He was sore after the game, but the ice was wrapped around his calf muscles, not his left foot..."
(David Kiefer, San Jose Mercury News, Wednesday, March5, 2008)
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