USA - 17 players accept invites for FIBA U19 World Championship training camp

COLORADO SPRINGS (2011 FIBA U19 World Championship) - Seventeen of the USA's top players aged 19 and under have accepted invitations to attend the 2011 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Championship Team training camp.

The training camp will be held between 17 and 24 June at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Coloroda.

It will be used to select the 12-member team that will represent the USA at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship taking place in Latvia from 30 June until 10 July.

Seven of the players possess prior national team experience, including one member (Brad Beal, pictured) of the 2010 U17 World Championship gold medalist team and three players from the 2010 USA U18 National Team that captured gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship.

The 17-man panel also includes a winner of the 2011 NCAA national title in Jeremy Lamb, who helped Connecticut defeat Butler in the championship game back in early April. 

The swingman will hope to add another title, that of world champion, to his collection.

The USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team Committee, chaired by Syracuse University head coach and NCAA representative Jim Boeheim, is expected to announce finalists for the U19 World Championship team on 19 June.

The official 12-member USA roster will be announced prior to the team's departure for Europe on 24 June.

"Between the coaching staff and the 17 players that will be participating in the USA U19 training camp, we believe we have assembled another outstanding group who should give us an excellent opportunity to defend our U19 World Championship gold medal," said Boeheim, who is also an assistant coach to Mike Krzyzewski on the senior USA men's team.

In Latvia, the USA will be defending the gold medal they won in Auckland, New Zealand in 2009, where they went the entire tournament undefeated.

Past editions of the FIBA U19 World Championship have seen a number of international stars in the making, including Andrew Bogut (2003), Linas Kleiza (2003), Andrei Kirilenko (1999), Pau Gasol (1999), Vince Carter (1995), Wang Zhizhi (1995), Dejan Bodiroga (1991) and Steve Nash (1991).

USA 17-man roster (for 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship training camp): Keith Appling, Melsahn Basabe, Brad Beal, James Bell, Anthony Brown, Trevor Cooney, Allen Crabbe, Tim Hardaway Jr, Joe Jackson, Jeremy Lamb, Meyers Leonard, Doug McDermott, Travis McKie, Tony Mitchell, Richard Solomon, Josiah Turner, Patric Young.

FIBA