DUBAI (FIBA U19 World Championship) - Flower Mound, Texas isn't known for much. But United States guard Terrance Ferguson is doing a good job of changing that, with the help of a past USA player who won a FIBA U19 World Championship title - Marcus Smart.

According to Wikipedia, the town of Flower Mound, located about a half-hour north of Dallas, is known mainly for "The Mound" - a 12.5-acre hill about 15 meters in height which attracted the attention of early settlers to the area back in the 1840s.

The 65,000-person town, however, can also be known as the home town of Smart, who captained the United States to the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship title and then was drafted by the Boston Celtics as the number six pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

Ferguson also has a history with Flower Mound - and with Smart.

The 1998-born guard was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma but moved to Flower Mound with his family when he was 11 years old. Ferguson met Smart there when he was 13 years old and started working out together with him.

"His work ethic got him so far in life. Now he's going to be in the NBA playing for the Celtics," Ferguson said of Smart, who attended Oklahoma State University for two years before entering the NBA.

"Not many people from Flower Mound have the potential to make it that far. But Marcus has a work ethic that no one had. He was always in the gym. His work ethic was crazy."

Ferguson, the youngest player on the USA team in Dubai, spent a year and a half working out with Smart.

"Just watching him and how hard he works and how far he got in life makes me just want to do the same thing," said the 1.98m guard, who was the second-youngest member of the USA team that won last summer’s FIBA Americas U16 Championship.

The Kevin Durant fan said he didn't really talk to much to Smart during their time together.

"Most of the time together we were just working out. When we did talk about the future and making decisions, he said one of the hardest decisions is the college decision. But he said just take time and enjoy the life I live right now," said Ferguson, who has since moved to Dallas to attend high school at Prime Prep Academy.

The two also talked about playing at a FIBA World Championship.

"He told me to get on a USA team is not about offense but about lock-down defense and to help the team out. It's not about you, it's about the team," Ferguson recalled.

If he can help the USA take the title in Dubai, the Texan town of Flower Mound will be able to say it had two world champions learn the game of basketball there. Not bad for a town previously known for a hill.

FIBA