COLORADO SPRINGS (FIBA Americas U18 Championship) - Adding guard Chris Wright (St. John's College H.S., D.C./Undecided) to the list of the previously announced 22 players, 23 of the nation's top 18-year-old and younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1988) basketball players are set to participate in the 2006 USA Basketball Men's U18 National Team Trials that begin Friday, June 16 and continue through Sunday, June 18 at the University of Texas-San Antonio.

The USA Trials will be used to select the finalists for the USA Basketball U18 squad that will compete in San Antonio at the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship For Men that is being hosted June 28- July 2 by USA Basketball and the San Antonio Sports Foundation.

Athlete selections for the USA Basketball Trials were made by the USA Basketball Men's Collegiate Committee, chaired by Syracuse University (N.Y.) head coach Jim Boeheim.

Accepting invitations to participate in the USA U18 Trials were: Cole Aldrich (Bloomington Jefferson H.S., Minn./Kansas); Chris Allen (Meadowcreek H.S., Ga./Michigan State); Jerryd Bayless (St. Mary's H.S., Ariz./Undecided); Michael Beasley (Oak Hill Academy, Va./Undecided); Joevan Catron (Thornton Township H.S., Ill./Oregon); Johnny Flynn (Niagara Falls H.S., N.Y./Syracuse); Drew Gordon (Archbishop Mitty H.S., Calif./Undecided); Donte Greene (Towson Catholic H.S, Md./Syracuse); Blake Griffin (Oklahoma Christian/Oklahoma); Spencer Hawes (Seattle Prep, Wash./ Washington); James Hickson (Wheeler H.S., Ga. /Undecided); Gary Johnson (Aldine H.S., Texas /Undecided); Taylor King (Mater Dei H.S., Calif./Duke); Gani Lawal (Norcross H.S., Ga./Georgia Tech); Tajuan Porter (Renaissance H.S., Mich./Oregon); Reggie Redding (St. Joseph Prep H.S., Pa./ Villanova); Stanley Robinson (Huffman H.S., Ala./Connecticut); Kyle Singler (South Medford H.S., Ore./Undecided); Nolan Smith (Oak Hill Academy, Va./Duke); DaJuan Summers (McDonogh School, Md./Georgetown); Lance Thomas (St. Benedict's H.S., N.J./Undecided); Julian Vaughn (Reston South Lakes H.S., Va./Undecided); and Wright.

University of Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar has been named to lead the USA's 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship For Men Team, while Georgia Tech head mentor Paul Hewitt and DePaul University (Ill.) head coach Jerry Wainwright will serve as assistant coaches.

The USA U18 Trials sessions will be held June 16-18 at the University of Texas-San Antonio. The first Trials session, to be conducted in UTSA's Convocation Center, will be held on Friday, June 16, at 5:00-7:00 p.m. (all times local).  On Saturday, June 17, Trials sessions will be conducted at 9:30-11:30 a.m. and 4:30-6:30 p.m. at UTSA's Recreation Center. The final Trials session is scheduled for Sunday, June 18, 9:00-10:30 a.m.

The selected finalists for the USA U18 Team will remain in San Antonio for the USA's June 18-27 training camp, which will include scrimmages against Brazil on June 24 and 25 at Bill Greehey Arena, St. Mary's University. The 12-member USA squad will then compete in the June 28-July 2 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.

Four of the 23 athletes boast of prior USA Basketball experience. Hawes was a member of the  2006 USA Basketball's Junior National Select Team and recorded eight points and three rebounds in the USA's 109-91 win over the World Select Team on April 8 in the 9th Annual Nike Hoop Summit in Memphis, Tenn. 

Additionally, Robinson, Singler and Thomas were all participants on USA teams in the 2005 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival held in San Diego, Calif.  Singler helped lead the White Team to a gold medal at the Youth Development Festival, averaging 14.0 ppg. and 3.4 rpg., while shooting 60.0 percent from the floor and 47.1 percent from 3-point.  Robinson finished the Festival averaging 9.0 ppg. and a USA Red Team leading 5.8 rpg. and 2.2 spg., while USA Blue Team member Thomas posted 9.0 ppg., 4.3 rpg. and 1.8 spg.

The 23 Trials hopefuls include seven who are in the class of  2006, 15 are members of the 2007 class and one is in the class of 2008.

Rivals.com ranked four of the seniors among its top 50 players.  Hawes listed No. 6, Robinson placed       No. 14, Summers was No. 23 and Thomas No. 42, while Redding ranked No. 146.

All 15 of the rising juniors rank among Rivals.com top 40 players in the class of 2007. 

Beasley lists No. 4, Singler is No. 6, Bayless ranks No. 9, Hickson is No. 14, Greene is No. 15, Aldrich is No. 16, Griffin ranks No. 18, Vaughn is No. 19, Wright ranks No. 21, Allen lists No. 22, Johnson is No. 24, Smith is No. 25, Flynn ranks No. 29, Lawal is No. 32, and King  lists as No. 40.

Hawes was named to the five-member 2006 USA Today All-USA Prep Basketball first team, while Beasley was named third team for a second consecutive year. Aldrich, Bayless, Johnson, King, Singler and Smith were included in USA Today's Class of 2007 list of honorees.

Included on the 2006 Parade Magazine All-America High School Boys Basketball Teams were Hawes as a first team pick, Beasley, Robinson, Singler and Thomas earned second team honors, while Bayless collected fourth team honors.

Trials invitees were also well represented on the 2005-06 Gatorade Boys Basketball State Players of the Year listing with Robinson selected for the state of Alabama, Bayless for Arizona, Summers for Maryland and Hawes listed for Washington.

All seven players slated to finish their high school careers in 2005-06 have signed with prominent NCAA Division I institutions.  Catron and Porter have both been signed by Oregon, Hawes will play for Washington, Redding was inked by Villanova, Robinson signed with Connecticut, Summers will play at Georgetown and Thomas signed to play at Duke.

Eight of the remaining 16 players have orally committed to NCAA Division I programs. 

Aldrich with Kansas; Allen with Michigan State; Flynn and Greene with Syracuse; Griffin with Oklahoma; King and Smith with Duke; and Lawal with Georgia Tech.

USA Basketball