SANTA CRUZ (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019) — United States are the number one National Team in the FIBA ranking, but when the time comes of choosing the players that will represent them in the senior men's team, it can be a headache.

For their most recent international commitments, USA Basketball has opted to recruit players from the NBA G League to build the teams for FIBA tournaments.

Until now, the results have been successful: a gold medal attained with no defeats at the FIBA AmeriCup 2017, and a solid 3-0 kick start in Group C of the Qualifiers to the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

However, building those teams has been no easy task for coach Jeff Van Gundy and the American federation. Of the 12 players that conquered the highest place in Cordoba, just one (Larry Drew II) has been in the two following United States teams.

As a matter of fact, only five players of the Americas champions came back to the first window in November, and only two (Drew II and Travis Wear) who were in the qualifying November games came back for the second February window.

“We're happy that a lot of these guys that were on both the AmeriCup team and the November Qualifying team have improved their careers by getting called up to the NBA. We hope the same thing for our group. But it does present the challenge of trying to build a team that has chemistry, that these other teams who've played together for much longer already have established,” Jeff Van Gundy (USA)Jeff Van Gundy (USA)

“It’s a challenge, but it's a great challenge,” said the veteran coach who has a 8-0 record at the head of the United States team. The job of choosing the players is Van Gundy's, his coaching team’s and Sean Ford's —director of men’s teams of USA Basketball— responsibility, who must choose the players that they believe are qualified to accept the challenge of facing national teams that have groups with several years’ continuity.

“The thing we're looking for in players —and John Ford has done such a tremendous job with the player selection in that he finds people who are talented but also have character. Because you're going to be tested mentally in these FIBA games. It's a rough game. It’s a game that's much more intense than the average G-League Game. Sean has put together a good roster and I enjoy working with the guys,” Van Gundy added.

United States will try to keep up their good rhythm in the World Cup Qualifiers when on Monday they welcome in Santa Cruz the team from Puerto Rico (2-1), against whom they had to play to the maximum to defeat, 85-78, in November’s window.

In the summer, for the third window, the US will play as visitors in Cuba (June 28) and in Mexico (July 1) to end the first stage of the Americas Qualifiers.