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USA Basketball 2015 Men’s U19 World Championship Team Named – Allonzo Trier Made Final Cut!

By Shereen Rayan

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Earlier today, the USA Basketball committee announced the final 12 players selected to represent the USA at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men in Crete, Greece.

Source: USA Basketball 2015 Men’s U19 World Championship Team Named

Arizona Wildcats
Arizona Wildcats /

Arizona Wildcats

The day a lot of us having been waiting for, the day the U19 USA Basket Team finalist were announced. There was chatter on Twitter and elsewhere that Arizona commit Allonzo Trier just might not make the cut and I was confounded by that preposition. Note that the decision of whom makes the final cut for the team is done by committee, a committee led by Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim in which Arizona Coach Sean Miller is not included.

Junior National Team Committee members:

Chair: Jim Boeheim (Syracuse)
Bob McKillop (Davidson)
Matt Painter (Purdue)
Lorenzo Romar (Washington)
Curtis Sumpter (Athlete Representative)

Allonzo was a starter on the 2013 FIBA Americas U18 Championship team which won the gold medal and qualified the U.S. for the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship. This McDonalds All-American and co-MVP of the 2015 Jordan Brand Classic started in all five games and averaged 12.6 ppg shooting 78.3% from the free-throw line.  At that time Trier, who compares his game to former Arizona Wildcat Gilbert Arenas, had not yet committed to Arizona.

The U18 team was coached by then University of Florida Coach Billy Donovan (now NBA Head Coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder) and Arizona Coach Sean Miller (assistant) who was coaching another future wildcat: Trier’s U18 teammate and Arizona commit Stanley Johnson who earned MVP honors.

One would venture to guess that having Allonzo on the U18 team being coached by Coach Miller may have had something to do with Allonzo committing to Arizona. This year there are only four uncommitted high school recruits on the U19 team. There are two players who have offers from Arizona’s Coach Sean Miller, Josh Jackson and Terrance Ferguson.

Ferguson, one of the youngest participants, is a shooting guard who made the USA team for the third time. He had this to say after the announcement, “It was unbelievable because when I first came out here to try out for this team, I really did not think I would make the team. I had doubt in my mind. Then my mom gave me a pep talk, which got inside my head that I could actually do it. I came out here knocking down shots and playing defense. I got the coaches’ attention, that was really good for me.”

Related: USA Men’s Basketball Teams Include Arizona Recruits and Commits

More from Wildcats Basketball

A lot of critics have reported their opinions on the 2015 season predictions and the Arizona Wildcats either just didn’t make the list of the top 25 (Jason McIntyre), or was ranked in the lower 15 teams of the top 25 (Jon Wilner predicts Oregon will win the Pac-12). Cal is getting a lot of attention, and so is Oregon, UCLA seems to be in the same boat as Arizona, not much confidence in the programs to make a mark next season. I often wonder if this is planned for next season for the Wildcats, less hype, start with less expectations, and rise to the top.

We seem to be experiencing a deja vu with the selections of the U19 USA Basketball team which competes every two years.  The last team USA took to these games was in 2013, and guess who was on the team and who was coaching the team? Do you remember? Yes, Aaron Gordon and Sean Miller. The duo won the regular season Pac-12 championship in the regular season following their Gold Medal U19 USA Basketball Team win. Will history repeat itself in 2015/2016?

Related: USA Men’s Basketball Teams Include Arizona Recruits and Commits

Who made the team? Let’s break it down for you. In all there were three current NCAA sophomore players, four undecided High School players, and five remaining High School players who have already committed to a college and are incoming freshman:

Mar 15, 2014; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Aaron Gordon (11, right) shoots the basketball against UCLA Bruins forward Travis Wear (24) during the first half in the championship game of the Pac-12 Conference college basketball tournament at MGM Grand Garden Arena. The Bruins defeated the Wildcats 75-71. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Note: Athletes eligible for this team must be U.S. citizens who are 19 years old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1996).

Returning gold medalists:

  • Isaiah Briscoe (Roselle Catholic H.S./Union, N.J. – Kentucky Commit) – Isaiah unfortunately suffered a concussion during Thursday’s practice and will be replaced by Justin Bibbs (Dayton, Ohio – Virginia Tech Sophomore)
  • Jalen Brunson (Stevenson H.S./Lincolnshire, Ill. – Villanova Commit)
  • Terrance Ferguson (Homeschooled/Dallas, Texas – Undeclared, Arizona offered)
  • Harry Giles (Wesleyan Christian Academy/Winston-Salem, N.C. – undeclared, offered by Kentucky, NC, and Duke)
  • Josh Jackson (Prolific Prep, Calif./Southfield, Mich. – Undeclared, offered by Arizona, Kentucky, NC, Duke, UCLA)
  • Caleb Swanigan (Homestead H.S./Fort Wayne, Ind. – Purdue Commit)
  • Jayson Tatum (Chaminade College Prep/St. Louis, Mo. – Undeclared, offered by Kentucky, NC, Duke)
  • Allonzo Trier (Findlay Prep, Nev./Seattle, Wash. – Arizona Commit)

The Rest of the players:

Coaches of the 2015 USA Men’s U19 World Championship Team:

Where: 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship from June 27-July 5 in Heraklion, Crete, Greece

I was fortunate to be able to watch Isaiah Briscoe play and compete in a three-point contest in the BallisLife showcase, and all I can say is “wow.” This is a huge loss for the team, but a great break for Virginia Tech commit Justin Bibbs.

Coach Miller, class act that he is, can really empathize with Isaiah, “I feel very bad for Isaiah. He had a tremendous attitude and was one of our overall best players and one of our leaders of the team. It is very, very unfortunate to see him get injured in what was really a two-on-two drill. But the good news is I know he’ll recover and be fine; the bad news is he won’t be able to play on our team.”

To give you a little history of the FIBA U19 World Championship series, here are some tidbits:

  • The USA has captured a record five FIBA U19 World Championship gold medals and three silver medals in the 11 editions of the even
  • The first Championship series was held in 1979
  • The championship Series is played every four years through 2007
  • The U19s now are held every other year
  • The USA men own an all-time record of 78-13 at the event

USA has drawn preliminary round Group A and will play on June 27 against Iran, then on June 28 against Croatia and finally Egypt on June 30 in preliminary rounds. Group B will include Argentina, China, Spain and Turkey; Group C is made up of Australia, Canada, Italy and Tunisia teams; and Group D includes the Dominican Republic, Greece, Serbia and South Korea.

Apr 17, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; West Team shooting guard Allonzo Trier (4) goes up for a shot while being defended by East Team center Skal Labissiere (4) in the first half during the Jordan Brand Classic at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

Coach Sean Miller in his usual complementary style explained how he felt after the final cut from 16 to 12 players was announced, “I thought the 16 players, really everybody, but especially when we got it to 16, they did a fantastic job. Each one of them should leave here, especially the four that didn’t make it, with no regrets.”

As a side note, 5-star Arizona commit T.J. Leaf missed the first cut on the USA U19 team from 21 to 16. That was dissapointing news for us Wildcats fans, but no worries, T.J. has played on the USA Select Team at the Adidas Eurocamp in Italy, and also played in Isreal so he has been spanning the globe and keeping busy.

Coach Miller added, “The 12 that made it are excellent players and really talented Obviously it was a hard fight to make this team because of the talent. The thing that we like a lot is the fact that we have eight players of the 12 that have competed and won a gold medal, several have won multiple gold medals. We have a lot of versatility in our lineup, we have players that can play more than one position and I think playing pressure basketball like we want to play defensively and offensively, that we have the depth, athleticism and quickness, and also some shooting that will really allow us to play a style that we can be successful at.”

The U16 USA Basketball team has raised the gauntlet and after a lot of hard work, the team won the Gold last week. Arizona recruit Jalen Hill was part of that gallant effort and earned a gold medal. He returned this week from Argentina to his very happy and loving family.

Zona Zealots wishes Coach Miller, Allonzo Trier, possible Arizona Commit Terrence Ferguson and the rest of the team a ton of luck in the upcoming championship series, although I am assuming they don’t need luck as they have plenty of skill.

Have a blast, go kick some USA b*** and bring home the gold!

Beardown!

Next: Arizona Recruit Jaylen Hands - Gotta Love Him!

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