USA Basketball announces developmental team

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Basketball announced the roster for its 2011-12 Men's Developmental National Team on Thursday.

The list includes 24 of the nation's top under-16 talents, including 18 that participated in a mini-camp last fall. Under the direction of head coach Don Showalter, the squad will participate in the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championships in Mexico this summer and the 2012 FIBA World Championship in Lithuania pending qualification.

"We're pretty familiar with 18 of the kids and the majority of them have had really good high school years with their varsity teams," Showalter said. "The difference from last fall to this year will be significant. We'll be able to see a big difference in their mental and physical abilities, their mental toughness, from last fall."

Showalter is back as the program's head coach after coaching a team led by Bradley Beal, Michael Gilchrist and James McAdoo to a gold medal at last summer's FIBA U17 World Championship in Germany. He will be assisted by Rich Gray of the St. Louis Eagles AAU program and Mike Jones of DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.).

The 12-member team will be selected during training camp in June at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

"The challenge will be to see how well they come together," Showalter said. "The talent's pretty good. I hate to say this, you hate to compare them to the last group, but we were really good the last two years. What made them so good is that they bought into team play."

The 24 players hail from 15 different states with Illinois represented by a high of five players, followed by California with four and Indiana with two. Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina and Tennessee are each represented by one player.

Complete USA Basketball Men's Developmental Team roster
Shaqquan Aaron, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
Beejay Anya, DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.)
Larry Austin Jr., Lanphier (Springfield, Ill.)
Anton Beard, Parkview (Little Rock, Ark.)
James Blackmon, Bishop Luers (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
Dominique Collier, Denver East (Denver, Colo.)
Stephen Domingo, St. Ignatius (San Francisco, Calif.)
Conner Frankamp, North (Wichita, Kan.)
Aaron Gordon, Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.)
Dakari Johnson, St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.)
Stanley Johnson, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
Tyus Jones, Apple Valley (Minn.)
Trey Lyles, Arsenal Tech (Indianapolis, Ind.)
Kendrick Nunn, Simeon (Chicago, Ill.)
Jahlil Okafor, Whitney Young (Chicago, Ill.)
Jabari Parker, Simeon (Chicago, Ill.)
Malik Price-Martin, Monsignor Pace (Miami, Fla.)
Theo Pinson, Oak Ridge Military Academy (Oak Ridge, N.C.)
Jordan Swopshire, Fort Zumwalt South (St. Peters, Mo.)
Jimmie Taylor, Greensboro (Ala.)
Charles Tucker Jr., Eastern (Lansing, Mich.)
Isaiah Whitehead, Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Paul White, Whitney Young (Chicago, Ill.)
Jonathan Williams, Southwind (Memphis, Tenn.)