Men's Basketball: Pittsnogle Makes USA Junior Team
July 02, 2003 07:55 PM | General
July 2, 2003
DALLAS, Texas -- Following eights days of training and a pair of games in the Global Games, the 12-player USA Basketball Junior World Championship Team roster was finalized on July 2 and features 10 players boasting of prior collegiate experience and a pair of players who represented the United States last summer at the Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament in Venezuela.
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| Kevin Pittsnogle was selected for the 12-player USA Basketball Men's Junior World Championship Team (USA Basketball photo) |
Named as members of the 2003 USA Junior World Championship Team were Maurice Ager (Michigan State / Detroit, Mich.); De'Angelo Alexander (Oklahoma / Midwest City, Okla.); Daniel Brown (Illinois / Maywood, Ill.); Graham Brown (Michigan / Mio, Mich.); David Burgess (Woodbridge High School / Irvine, Calif.); Paul Davis (Michigan State / Rochester, Mich.); Ryan Hollins (UCLA / Pasadena, Calif.); Kevin Pittsnogle (West Virginia / Martinsburg, W.Va.); J.J. Redick (Duke / Roanoke, Va.); Mustafa Shakur (Philadelphia Friends Central / Wynnewood, Pa.); C.J. Watson (Tennessee / Las Vegas, Nev.) and Deron Williams (Illinois / The Colony, Texas).
Ernie Kent, University of Oregon's successful head coach who also served as head coach of the USA junior qualifying team last summer, is again head mentor of the 2003 USA junior squad. He is being assisted by Dennis Felton of the University of Georgia and Ray Harper of Kentucky Wesleyan College. <>"For me as a head coach this has been one of the most difficult things to do because I believe in saving kids not letting kids go. But unfortunately we had to cut this down to 12 pplayers," remarked Kent. "This was very challenging, probably one of the more challenging times because the quality of the players was so even. We had to go through a lot of different practices and look at a lot of things before we could finally come up with this final 12.
"Already in the short period of time we've been together its been an amazing difference from last year when we were trying to bring together basically 12 high school players to play at the international lever. Now you have 10 proven college players who have been under some great coaching, that understand things much better, and they possess a lot more confidence because they've been in environments where they had an opportunity to hit the big shot and to play in pressure environments. So it's a lot easier coaching them this year, they've been a lot more responsive to coaching too having played for some of the great coaches they play for.
"To me the last things we need to accomplish are to bring J.J. Redick back into the fold because he has been hurt and hasn't been able to play in the games (Global Games) yet, and to really come together. Here are the final 12, lets come together and take everybody's game to another level. The key to our success and to winning any gold medal will be defense. This team right now is a very good defensive unit although we need to continue to work to get better," Kent added.
The official 12-member USA junior team will continue its training in Dallas, Texas, through July 5. As part of its training for the FIBA Junior World Championship, the U.S. is currently 2-0 and taking part in the Global Games that are being conducted in Dallas. Featuring 10 teams, the USA will play five games between June 30-July 5.
The USA opened the Global Games on June 30 and recorded a 79-63 win over Lithuania, defeated the Global Games Select Team 97-77 on July 1, and will face Africa on July 2 (8 p.m. CDT) and Canada on July 3 (8 p.m. CDT). Following an off day on July 4, the finals of the Global Games will be held July 5. All Global Games competition is being played at Moody Coliseum at Southern Methodist University.
The USA Junior squad will compete July 10-20 in the 2003 FIBA Men's Junior World Championship that was recently moved from Malaysia to Thessaloniki, Greece. Featuring 16 junior national teams that qualified last summer, the teams have been placed into four groups of four for preliminary round robin play. The top two teams from each group will advance to the medal second round, while the remainder of the field will compete for 9th - 16th place. The USA has been placed in Group C, joining China, Nigeria and Slovenia. The USA will open play against Slovenia on July 10, and face China on July 11 and Nigeria on July 12. Second round action is being played July 14-16, while the world championship semifinals slated to be held July 19 and the finals will be played July 20.
Eligibility for the 2003 USA Basketball Men's Junior World Championship Team is limited to any male athlete who is a U.S. citizen and 19-years-old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1984). The USA team finalists were selected by the USA Basketball Men's Collegiate Committee.
The USA squad features six members who have participated in previous USA Basketball competitions, including the starting backcourt of last summer's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team that finished 4-1, earned the bronze medal and qualified the United States for the 2003 FIBA Junior World Championship. Members of the 2002 junior qualifying team are University of Illinois starting guards Daniel Brown and Williams. Also possessing prior USA Basketball experience are Alexander (2002 USA Junior National Team Trials, 2001 Youth Development Festival), Davis (2001 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival), Redick (2001 and 2001 USA Basketball Youth Development Festivals) and Shakur (2002 USA Basketball Junior National Team Trials).
Four of the USA players, Daniel Brown, Pittsnogle, Redick and Watson, claimed all-freshman team honors in their respective conference, while two U.S. team members, Burgess and Shakur ,competed at the high school level in 2002-03, with Burgess having completed just his junior year in ‘03.
Of the 12 players selected to represent the United States in Greece, five, Ager (Michigan State), Daniel Brown (Illinois), Graham Brown (Michigan), Davis (Michigan State) and Williams (Illinois) hail from the Big 10 Conference, and the 12 include two sets of players from the same college - Ager and Davis from Michigan State and Brown and Williams from Illinois.
