Bradley Beal
Photo by Steven Maikoski/USA Basketball
Featuring five of the top 10 players in the class of 2011, USA Basketball announced its 12-member 2010 U17 World Championship Team on Monday.
The selections came at the end of five training sessions over the weekend in San Antonio. The FIBA U17 World Championship will be held July 2-11 in Hamburg, Germany. The United States faces Argentina on the opening day of the event.
Top-rated rising senior Michael Gilchrist of St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) is a huge addition to the team after not playing in the FIBA Americas U16 Championship last summer in Argentina. He is joined by newcomers Marquis Teague of Pike (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Tony Wroten Jr. of Garfield (Seattle, Wash.).
Returning from last summer's gold-medal winning team are Justin Anderson of Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.), Bradley Beal of Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.), Quinn Cook of DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.), Andre Drummond of St. Thomas More (Oakdale, Conn.), James McAdoo of Norfolk Christian (Norfolk, Va.), Johnny O'Bryant of East Side (Cleveland, Miss.), Tony Parker of Miller Grove (Lithonia, Ga.), Chasson Randle of Rock Island (Rock Island, Ill.) and Adonis Thomas of Melrose (Memphis, Tenn.).
"I think we are a really good shooting team," U17 head coach Don Showalter of Mid-Prairie High School in Iowa said. "Everybody can really shoot the ball from our post players inside the lane and then our guards are really good shooters.
"I think our defensive unit is going to be very good with our bigs. We have several kids who can play different positions and I think that is big for us."
In addition to Gilchrist, Beal, McAdoo and Thomas are regarded as top 10 prospects in the class of 2011 by MaxPreps.com.
Anderson, Drummond and Parker are rising juniors slated for graduation in 2012.
The United States will head to Germany as a heavy favorite. Even without Gilchrist, the Red, White and Blue dominated in Argentina last summer, averaging 113 points per game and winning five contests without a loss by an average of 33.8 points per outing.
