UCSB’s Orlando Johnson is one of 21 collegiate players invited to training camp for the USA Basketball World University Games team.
The camp begins July 29 and runs through Aug. 7 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Twelve players will be selected to represent the U.S. in the men’s basketball competition, Aug. 13-22, in Shenzhen, China.
“I’m excited to get to Colorado Springs and get our training camp started,” said USA and Purdue University head mentor Matt Painter, who previously assisted the 2009 USA U19 World Championship Team to a gold medal. “I love to coach the game of basketball, and we’ve got a group of young men coming in whom I’m really looking forward to working with. This should be a fun and beneficial experience for everyone involved.
“As a coach, I’m always looking for guys who play hard, take care of the ball and make good decisions,” Painter continued. “When you do those three things, you’re usually pretty successful. Other than that, we’ll look to see how different guys fit together on and off the court, and how guys’ skill sets complement each other.”
The USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee, chaired by Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim is expected on July 31 to announce finalists for the team. The official roster will be announced prior to the team’s departure for China on Aug. 8.
Along with Johnson, the camp roster includes: Ray McCallum (Detroit Mercy/Beverly Hills, Mich.); Shabazz Napier (Connecticut/Randolph, Mass.); Tim Abromaitis (Notre Dame/Unionville, Conn.); Bradford Burgess (VCU/Midlothian, Va.); Marcus Denmon (Missouri/Kansas City, Mo.); Kim English (Missouri/Baltimore, Md.); Yancy Gates (Cincinnati/ Cincinnati, Ohio); Ashton Gibbs (Pittsburgh/Scotch Plains, N.J.); Draymond Green (Michigan State/Saginaw, Mich.); JaMychal Green (Alabama/Montgomery, Ala.); Scoop Jardine (Syracuse/Philadelphia, Pa.); John Jenkins (Vanderbilt/Hendersonville, Tenn.); Greg Mangano (Yale/Orange, Conn.); Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota/St. Paul, Minn.); C.J. McCollum (Lehigh/ Canton, Ohio); Khris Middleton (Texas A&M/North Charleston, S.C.); Darius Miller (Kentucky/Maysville, Ky.); Tony Mitchell (Alabama/Swainsboro, Ga.); Aaric Murray (West Virginia/Philadelphia, Pa.), and John Shurna (Northwestern/Glen Ellyn, Ill.).
Collegiate head coaches Cuonzo Martin of the University of Tennessee and Brad Stevens of Butler University were named as assistant coaches for the U.S. team, and Tony Bennett (University of Virginia), Sean Miller (University of Arizona) and Shaka Smart (Virginia Commonwealth University) are serving as court coaches during the team’s training camp.
