The 2018 USA Men’s U18 National Team training camp tipped-off May 30 with 33 athletes, and after five training sessions the roster was reduced Sunday morning to 18 finalists. The remaining athletes will continue training twice a day at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the final, 12-member team will be announced prior to the team’s June 7 departure for St. Catharines, Canada, and the 2018 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.
Selections were made by the USA Basketball Junior National Team Committee.
The roster and training schedule are available online.
The 18 finalists are: Cole Anthony (Archbishop Molloy H.S./Briarwood, N.Y.); Armando Bacot (Trinity Episcopal School/Richmond, Va.); Keion Brooks (North Side H.S./Fort Wayne, Ind.); DJ Carton (Bettendorf H.S./Bettendorf, Iowa); Hunter Dickinson (DeMatha Catholic H.S./Hyattsville, Md.); Ayo Dosunmu(Morgan Park H.S./Chicago, Ill.); Quentin Grimes (College Park H.S./The Woodlands, Texas); Kamaka Hepa (Jefferson H.S./Barrow, Alaska); Matthew Hurt (John Marshall H.S./Rochester, Minn.); Trayce Jackson-Davis (Center Grove H.S./Greenwood, Ind.); Josiah James (Porter-Gaud School/Charleston, S.C.); Jalen Leque (Christ School/Teaneck, N.J.); Tyrese Maxey (South Garland H.S./Dallas, Texas); Justin Moore (DeMatha Catholic H.S./Hyattsville, Md.); Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (Bishop Miege H.S./Shawnee Mission, Kan.); Anton Watson (Gonzaga Prep/Spokane, Wash.); Mark Watts Jr. (Old Redford Academy/Detroit, Mich.); and Coby White (Greenfield H.S./Goldsboro, N.C.).
“We had 33 guys come here and all 33 competed hard,” said Bill Self, USA U18 and University of Kansas head coach. “We were all so impressed with how much it meant to all of them. But at the end of the day these 18 were the 18 who stood out the most and are certainly very deserving of the opportunity to continue. Now from this, they’ll each get a couple full days in order to show that they could be one of the 12 to make this team the best team it possibly can be moving forward into competition.
“It’s going to be difficult to get down to 12. Sometimes putting a USA team together is a little different than just looking at who can score the most points and who can get the most rebounds. So, it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. But the 18 that were selected, we thinks gives us a great pool of players to give us the best chance to win.”
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