Seven USA Basketball gold medalists, including four members of the 2016 USA U18 National Team that qualified USA Basketball for the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup for Men, headline 28 of the nation’s top 19-and-unders who have accepted invitations to attend the 2017 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup Team training camp June 18-25 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Invitations were issued by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee. Athletes eligible for this team must be 19 years old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1998) and U.S. citizens.

"We’re excited about the players who have accepted our invitation to attend the USA Men’s U19 training camp,” said Purdue University head coach Matt Painter, chair of the selection committee. “We have an outstanding group of players, some of whom have prior USA Basketball experience, some with outstanding collegiate experience and some of the best high school players in America. It will be very competitive in tryouts to make the 12-person U19 team.”

As the 2013 and 2015 FIBA U19 World Champion, the United States will look for a third-consecutive gold medal at the July 1-9 event in Cairo, Egypt.

Accepting invitations to attend the USA U19 World Cup Team training camp were: Desmond Bane (TCU/Richmond, Ind.); Bol Bol (Mater Dei H.S./Santa Ana, Calif.); Marques Bolden (Duke/DeSoto, Texas); Chaundee Brown (First Academy/Orlando, Fla.); Devon Daniels (NC State/Battle Creek, Mich.); Hamidou Diallo (University of Kentucky/Queens, NY); Carsen Edwards (Purdue/Atascocita, Texas); Malachi Flynn (Washington State/Tacoma, Wash.); Kevin Huerter (Maryland/Clifton Park, N.Y.); Louis King (Hudson Catholic H.S./Columbus, N.J.); Kevin Knox II (Tampa Catholic H.S./Tampa, Fla.); Romeo Langford (New Albany H.S./New Albany, Ind.); Brandon McCoy (Cathedral Catholic H.S/San Diego, Calif.); De’Anthony Melton (Southern California/North Hollywood, Calif.); Charlie Moore (Kansas/Chicago, Ill.); Chuma Okeke (Westlake H.S./Atlanta, Ga.); Josh Okogie (Georgia Tech/Snellville, Ga.); Shamorie Ponds (St. John’s/Brooklyn, N.Y.); Payton Pritchard (Oregon/West Linn, Ore.); Immanuel Quickly (John Carroll School/Bel Air, Md.); Cameron Reddish (Westtown School/Norristown, Pa.); Mitchell Robinson (Chalmette H.S./New Orleans, La.); Quinton Rose (Temple/Rochester, N.Y.); Jeremiah Tilmon II (La Lumiere H.S., Ind./East Saint Louis, Ill.); PJ Washington (Findlay Prep/Las Vegas, Nev.); Austin Wiley (Auburn/Hoover, Ala.); Kris Wilkes (North Central H.S./Indianapolis, Ind.); and Trae Young (Norman North H.S./Norman, Okla.).

University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari will lead the USA U19 World Cup Team with the assistance of Tad Boyle from the University of Colorado and Danny Manning from Wake Forest University. Additionally, Sean Hanrahan of Warner University, Dan Muller of Illinois State University, King Rice of Monmouth University and Jeremy Shulman from Eastern Florida State College will serve as court coaches during the training camp.

The 2017 USA Men’s U19 World Cup Team training camp is set to get underway at 5 p.m. (all times local, MDT) on June 18. Following two practice sessions on June 19, 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. and 4:30-7 p.m., and a morning session on June 20, finalists for the USA U19 team are expected to be announced. The selected finalists will remain in Colorado Springs and will train twice a day through June 25. The 12-member team is expected to be announced June 22.

Including seven gold medalists from this past summer, a total of 16 athletes on the list of invitees boast USA Basketball experience.

Returning from the 2016 USA U18 National Team are Diallo, Huerter, Washington and Young, while Knox, Quickly and Wiley return from the gold medal-winning 2016 USA U17 World Championship Team. Knox also helped the 2015 USA U16 National Team to a gold medal, and was a member of the 2017 USA Junior National Select Team that claimed victory in the 2017 Nike Hoop Summit.

Washington was also a member of the 2015 USA 3x3 U18 World Championship Team, which finished in eighth place in Debrecen, Hungary.

Six athletes – Bolden, Brown, McCoy, Ponds, Robinson and Wilkes – are back from the 2016 USA U18 National Team Training Camp, and Langford and Reddish participated in the 2016 USA U17 World Championship Training Camp.

Pritchard returns to the mix for the first time since helping the 2016 USA Junior National Select Team to a win in the 2016 Nike Hoop Summit, where he teamed up with Bolden, while he also was a member of the 2015 U18 3x3 World Championship Team and participated in the 2013 U16 National Team Training Camp.

Athletes with experience from the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team October minicamps are Bolden, who took part in the 2015 USA Junior National Team October minicamp; Knox, who was part of the 2015 and 2016 minicamps; Reddish, who also participated in the 2015 U16 National Team’s June training camp and the 2014 and 2015 October minicamps; Washington from the 2014 minicamp; Wiley, who has participated in the past three minicamps; and Young from the 2016 October minicamp.

Thirteen athletes recently completed their freshman season in college with six earning conference honors, including Okogie (ACC), Ponds (Big East) and Rose (American), who were named to their respective all-freshman teams. In addition, Flynn and Moore were named Pacific-12 Conference All-Freshmen team honorable mentions, while Melton garnered Pac-12 All-Defensive honorable mention honors.

Of the 14 high school athletes, nine are rising college freshmen and five, Bol, King, Langford, Reddish and Quickly are rising high school seniors. Ten earned high school All-America honors for their play this past season.

Brown (Florida) claimed Gatorade State Player of the Year honors, while the list of McDonald’s All-Americans included Knox, McCoy, Robinson, Washington, Wilkes and Young.

Naismith All-Americans were: Knox (second team), Langford (third team), McCoy (honorable mention), Reddish (honorable mention), Robinson (honorable mention), Wilkes (honorable mention) and Young (second team). The MaxPreps All-American Teams lists featured Knox (second team), Langford (fourth team), Okeke (third team), Robinson (honorable mention), Washington (third team), Wilkes (honorable mention) and Young (first team).

In addition to Painter, who was an assistant coach for the gold medalist 2009 USA U19 World Championship Team and a member of the USA Basketball Junior National Team Committee from 2013-16, members of the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee include 2001 Goodwill Games gold medalist and 2006-08 USA National Team member Shane Battier as the athlete representative, and joining Painter as representatives of the NCAA are USA Basketball experienced coaches Tony Bennett from the University of Virginia, Providence College head coach Ed Cooley and University of Arizona head coach Sean Miller.

2017 FIBA U19 World Cup

FIBA conducted the draw on Feb. 11 in Cairo, Egypt, and announced the four preliminary round groupings. The United States was drawn into Group D for preliminary round games and will open against Iran on July 1, face Angola on July 2 and will cap preliminary round action versus Italy on July 4.

The United States earned its berth into the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup by virtue of claiming gold at the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, while Iran earned FIBA Asia U18 gold, Angola won FIBA Africa U18 gold and Italy collected FIBA Europe U18 bronze.

Following the preliminary round, all 16 teams will be seeded according to group play results, and will advance to the July 5 round of 16. Winners will advance to the July 7 medal quarterfinals, while the remaining teams will continue playing out for classification. The medal semifinals will be held July 8, and the gold and bronze medal games are slated for July 9.

Now titled the FIBA U19 World Cup and played every two years, the event originally was known as the FIBA Junior World Championship from 1979 through 2003 and as the FIBA U19 World Championship from 2005-2009, and it was played every four years from 1979 through 2007.

In the 12 previous U19 competitions held, the USA men’s teams have won six gold and three silver medals, including gold in three of the past four U19 championships (2009, 2013 and 2015). In 2015, led by Jalen Brunson, Terrance Ferguson, Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum and Josh Jackson, the USA men finished 7-0 to capture gold. USA U19 teams own an all-time win-loss record of 85-13 in the competition.

Past USA U19 standouts include: Jalen Brunson (2015 MVP), Vince Carter (1995), Stephen Curry (2007), Terrance Ferguson (2015), Aaron Gordon (2013 MVP), Tim Hardaway Jr. (2011), Montrezl Harrell (2013), Gordon Hayward (2009), Doug McDermott (2011), Jahlil Okafor (2013), Gary Payton (1987), Sam Perkins (1979), J.J. Redick (2003), Marcus Smart (2013), Klay Thompson (2009), Scott Skiles (1983), Deron Williams (2003), Justise Winslow (2013) and James Worthy (1979).

USA Basketball

Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and chaired by retired Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, USA Basketball is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men’s and women’s basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the U.S. by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA-sponsored international competitions, as well as for some national competitions, and for the development of youth basketball initiatives that address player development, coach education and safety.