COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — UTSA head men’s basketball coach Brooks Thompson has been selected as one of five court coaches for the USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team training camp to be held June 14-16 at UTSA, USA Basketball announced Monday.
Thompson will join Ken Ammann from Concordia University (Calif.), Randy Bennett from Saint Mary’s College (Calif.), Francis Flax from Brown Mackie Junior College (Kan.) and Brad Stevens from NCAA runner-up Butler. The coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee.
Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel will lead the 2010 USA U18 National Team, while Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech and Reggie Witherspoon of Buffalo are the assistant coaches.
The five court coaches will work with the 2010 USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team coaching staff and the 21 previously announced 18-and-unders who will attend the training camp in San Antonio. The camp will be used to select the 12-member team that will represent the USA at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.
The FIBA Americas Men’s U18 Championship will be held June 26-30 at St. Mary’s in San Antonio and will feature eight national teams from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean. On March 5, the draw was held to determine the first round groups, and USA was placed into Group A along with Argentina, Mexico and the Virgin Islands. Group B includes Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico and Uruguay.
The U.S. will open preliminary play against the Virgin Islands at 7 p.m. on June 26. Team USA will face Mexico at 7 p.m. on June 27 and will close preliminary play against South American rivals Argentina at 7 p.m. on June 28. The semifinals are slated for June 29 and the finals will be held June 30.
Not only will a gold medal be at stake, the top four finishing nations will qualify for the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship. Players eligible for this competition must have been born on or after Jan. 1, 1992.
Syracuse head coach and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim, an assistant coach for the 2009-12 USA Basketball Men’s National Team, chairs the USA Men’s Junior National Team Committee. The Committee also includes NCAA appointees Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar, Illinois head coach Bruce Weber and North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, while 2002 USA Basketball World Championship Team member Jay Williams serves as the athlete representative.
For more information and a list of U18 team members, click here.
