Majok to Suit up for UConn This Year; USA Basketball Camp Begins this Week

The UConn program got a major boost when Ater Majok, a 6-foot-10 native of Sudan told Connecticut reporters he would play for the team beginning in the second semester this year.

“Education comes first, so I’m going to get my education,” Majok told Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant. “The decision is for me to get my law degree. It was tough, all the pressure and stuff. Now, it’s not about that. It’s time for me to get to work on school and the team.”

Majok, who dropped 30 points in a Greater Hartford Pro-Am game on Sunday, tested the NBA Draft waters but never hired an agent and ultimately pulled his name out. There had been some speculation that he might play overseas, but now he joins a UConn team that also returns Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson in the backcourt and Stanley Robinson at the three.

“He’s really going to help us,” Dyson told the Courant. “He has a lot of skills and I know the coaches will work with him and tune up the areas that need it. He’s going to rebound, defend and score a lot of points for us.”

The Huskies lost big man Hasheem Thabeet to the NBA Draft. Forward Jeff Adrien also graduated, as did guards A.J. Price and Craig Austrie.

With a core of Walker, Dyson, Robinson and Majok, as well as the arrival of a recruting class that includes wing Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and center Alex Oriakhi, the Huskies should be among the league’s elite teams again.

USA BASKETBALL CAMP BEGINS THIS WEEK

Twenty-five top rising NBA players have accepted invitations from USA Basketball to participate in the 2009 USA Basketball Men’s National Team mini-camp July 22-25 in Las Vegas, Nev. The selections were announced by USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo.

The July USA Basketball Men’s National Team mini-camp will feature practice sessions on July 23 and July 24 at Valley High School, and the mini-camp will be capped by the USA Basketball Showcase, a Blue-White intra-squad game, on Saturday, July 25, 8 p.m. (PDT) at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV.

Accepting an invitation to attend the July 22-25 mini- camp were: LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland Trail Blazers / Texas); Trevor Ariza (Los Angeles Lakers / UCLA);  D.J. Augustin (Charlotte Bobcats / Texas); Jerryd Bayless (Portland Trail Blazers / Arizona); Ronnie Brewer (Utah Jazz / Arkansas); Glen Davis (Boston Celtics / LSU); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder / Texas); Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies / Connecticut); Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers / New Mexico); Jeff Green (Oklahoma City Thunder / Georgetown); Blake Griffin (University of Oklahoma); Devin Harris (New Jersey Nets / Wisconsin); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers / Arizona); Kyle Korver (Utah Jazz / Creighton); David Lee (New York Knicks / Florida); Brook Lopez (New Jersey Nets / Stanford); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves / UCLA); O.J. Mayo (Memphis Grizzlies / USC); Paul Millsap (Utah Jazz / Louisiana Tech); Greg Oden (Portland Trail Blazers / Ohio State); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls / Memphis); Brandon Roy (Portland Trail Blazers / Washington); Josh Smith (Atlanta Hawks / Oak Hill Academy, Va.);  Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder / UCLA); and Thaddeus Young (Philadelphia 76ers / Georgia Tech).

Lee will attend the meetings but will not participate because of his unresolved contract status, according to the New York Post.

“They still wanted him to come and go to the meetings,” agent Mark Bartelstein told the Post. “But it doesn’t make a lot of sense to play. The last thing we want now is to get hurt. But he’s part of (Team USA’s) future and they wanted him to be part of everything else. It’s a great honor.”

Speaking of the Knicks, they went 0-5 in summer league action in Vegas.

Jordan Hill, the No. 8 pick out of Arizona, averaged 12.8 points and 8.5 rebounds in the summer league.

USA Basketball is also due to host a conference call today in which it is expected that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski will announce he is staying on as coach.

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