Photo by Sam Forencich/USA BasketballAbdul Gaddy already has a year under his<br> belt at the University of Washington.
USA Basketball added six outgoing high school seniors to its U18 National Team on Wednesday in preparation for the FIBA Americas U18 Championship later this month in San Antonio.
James Bell, Michael Gbinije, Kyrie Irving, Tony Mitchell, LeBryan Nash and Desmond Simmons will join 13 other hopefuls for a June 14-16 training camp at the University of Texas San Antonio. From that group of 19, a dozen will be selected to represent the USA in the U18 Championship June 26-20.
Irving, a 6-foot-1 point All-American guard from St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.), and Gbinije, a 6-7 rising senior at Benedictine (Richmond, Va.), are future Duke Blue Devils.
Mitchell and Nash are both athletic forwards from Dallas. Mitchell is headed to the University of Missouri this fall while Nash will try to replace him as the area's top player.
Bell will play for Jay Wright at Villanova next season after a big year at Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.).
Simmons was a big-time winner at Salesian (Richmond, Calif.), leading the Pride to a 63-7 over his final two seasons and a state title in 2009. The 6-7 forward signed with Lorenzo Romar's Washington Huskies.
The U18 National Team is coached by Oklahoma's Jeff Capel with Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech and Reggie Witherspoon of Buffalo on as assistants.
The complete training camp roster can be seen here.
Equally as interesting as the additions are some of the players that have withdrawn from the training camp – Michael Chandler, P.J. Hairston, Tobias Harris, Joe Jackson, Terrence Jones, Meyers Leonard, Josh Smith and T.J. Taylor.
Harris would have been a strong candidate but is recovering from a broken foot suffered in late March. Several others – specifically Jackson, Jones and Smith – are all players with sparkling high school resumes that would have been in the mix for the 12 roster spots.
Picking 12
My stab at picking the final 12-man roster: Keith Appling, Vander Blue, Abdul Gaddy, Josh Hairston, Irving, Quincy Miller, Mitchell, LeBryan Nash, Jereme Richmond, Austin Rivers, Amir Williams and Pat Young.