Steve Blake Named To USA World Championships Qualifying Team
7/14/2000 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
July 14, 2000
MIAMI, Fla. - Following three days of training sessions involving 16 of the nation's top basketball players aged 20-years-old or younger (born on or after January 1, 1980), the 12-member 2000 USA Young Men's World Championship Qualifying Team has been finalized with Maryland's Steve Blake among its final members. The players, who will attempt to bring home a gold medal and a berth in the 2001 World Championship for Young Men, began practicing Tuesday night, July 11 in Miami. The team will continue training twice a day at LaSalle High School from 9-11 a.m. (EDT) and 4:30-6:30 p.m. (EDT) through Sunday, July 16, before departing for Brazil.
"We've got 12 really good players," said USA and Syracuse University (N.Y.) head coach Jim Boeheim. "I think that 10 or 11 of these guys can play in the NBA, so we certainly have got enough talent. We don't have that big post guy, but we have all the other ingredients. We've got leadership and experience and we've got guys who can shoot the ball really well. This is a very strong USA Basketball team and I'm looking forward to taking them to Brazil."
The 12-member team includes 11 who played at NCAA Division I universities in 1999-00 and one who played in high school. Selected to the team in addition to Blake were: Nick Collison (Kansas / Iowa Falls, Iowa), Brian Cook (Illinois / Lincoln, Ill.), Mike Dunleavy (Duke / Lake Oswego, Ore.), Drew Gooden (Kansas / Richmond, Calif.), Joe Johnson (Arkansas / Little Rock, Ark.), Tayshaun Prince (Kentucky / Compton, Calif.), Zach Randolph (Marion H.S., Ind. / Marion, Ind.), Jason Richardson (Michigan State / Saginaw, Mich.), Kenny Satterfield (Cincinnati / Bronx, N.Y.), Bobby Simmons (DePaul / Chicago, Ill.) and Jason Williams (Duke / Plainfield, N.J.).
Rounding out Boeheim's coaching staff will be recently named University of Houston (Texas) head coach Ray McCallum and Hofstra University (N.Y.) head coach Jay Wright.
More than half of the USA squad have donned the red, white and blue in the past. Collison boasts the most, with experience on three U.S. squads as he was a member of the 1999 USA Men's Junior National Select Team that claimed a 107-95 victory over an International Select Team in the fifth annual Nike Hoop Summit, he aided the 1998 USA Men's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team to a gold medal and the 1999 USA Junior World Championship Team to a silver medal finish. Joining Collison on both the '98 Junior team and '99 Junior World Championship squad was Simmons, while Blake helped the U.S. juniors to a gold medal in 1998. Dunleavy, Johnson, and Williams were on the 1999 USA Junior National Select Team, while Randolph helped lead the U.S. to a victory in the 2000 Hoop Summit. Additionally, Satterfield competed in the 1998 USA Basketball Men's Youth Development Festival, Randolph was a 1999 Festival participant and Blake was a finalist for the 1999 USA Junior Worlds squad.
The 2000 Confederation of Pan American Basketball Associations (COPABA) World Championship for Young Men Qualifying Tournament will take place July 19-23 in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil. Featuring eight nations from the International Basketball Federation's (FIBA) Americas Zone, the countries are split into two groups of four teams each for preliminary round play. The United States was placed in Preliminary Group B along with Argentina, Panama and Uruguay, while Group A consists of host Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The top three teams from the Americas Zone Qualifying Tournament will earn a berth to the 2001 FIBA World Championship for Young Men, which will be held in Japan.
The U.S. will tip-off tournament play on July 19 against Uruguay, followed by a July 20 contest against Panama and will conclude its preliminary round games against Argentina on July 21. The top two teams from each Group will advance to the medal semifinals, slated for July 22, and the gold and bronze medal games will be contested on July 23.
Held every four years, the U.S. qualified for the previous competition which was initiated in 1993 as the FIBA 22 And Under World Championship and originally designed for men 22-years-old or younger. FIBA lowered the age eligibility to 21-years-old or younger in December 1998 and changed the competition name to the World Championship for Young Men. Winner of the FIBA 22 And Under World Championship gold medal in 1993 with an unblemished 8-0 record, the USA squad in 1997 finished in fifth place with a 6-2 record.
