Bruising big man Caleb Swanigan, once considered an elite football prospect, earned a spot on USA Basketball's FIBA U17 World Championship team headed to Dubai.
Photo by Ralph Thompson
USA Basketball's FIBA U17 World Championship team is set – and it looks a lot like last year's U16 roster.
Nine members of last summer's gold medal team at the FIBA Americas Championship in Uruguay made the final cut Tuesday in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The mainstays include FIBA Americas MVP
Malik Newman of
Callaway (Jackson, Miss.),
Terrence Ferguson of
Prime Prep (Dallas),
Harry Giles of
Wesleyan Christian Academy (High Point, N.C.),
Joshua Jackson of Prolific Prep (Napa Valley, Calif.),
V.J. King of
Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.),
Ivan Rabb of
Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.),
Devearl Ramsey of
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.),
Diamond Stone of
Dominican (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) and
Jayson Tatum of
Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.).
The newcomers are 6-foot-6 guard
Tyus Battle of
Gill St. Bernard's (Gladstone, N.J.), 6-9 post player
Henry Ellenson of
Rice Lake (Wis.) and former football player
Caleb Swanigan of
Homestead (Fort Wayne, Ind.), a hulking 6-8 post.
It's certainly not a bad thing that the 2014 developmental national team squad looks a lot like the 2013 version. That team went 5-0 in South America en route to the gold medal, winning by an average margin of 53.4 points per game.
"Any one of the 17 players could have been a part of our 12," USA head coach Don Showalter said. "We couldn't really make a wrong decision."
The FIBA U17 World Championship will be played in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from Aug. 8-16. The team will continue practicing in Colorado Springs through Friday, then spend three days in Qatar prior to the event.
"I'm excited to get started with these 12," Showalter said. "Chemistry is obviously a huge issue for us, getting them working together as a team. We're going to be putting in more of our system with our presses, with our offense and then having the guys getting used to playing with each other. That's really big for us, because we don't have a long time to prepare for the FIBA U17 World Championship."
The United States has dominated the last two FIBA U17 World Championships in 2010 (Germany) and 2012 (Lithuania), combining for a record of 16-0 and winning all but one of those contests by 20 points or more. Five members of the 2010 team are already established NBA performers.
Other countries participating in Dubai include Angola, Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Serbia and Spain.
