USA - Men's U17 World Championship team announced

SAN ANTONIO (2010 FIBA U17 World Championship for Men) - Nine players from the 2009 USA team that captured gold at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Argentina are among the 12 selected to represent their country at the inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship in Hamburg in July.

The selections were made by USA Basketball's Men's Developmental National Committee after five training sessions were held at the University of Texas, San Antonio between 18th and 20th June.

The nine members from last summer's winning team who will compete in Germany from 2nd to 11th July are: Justin Anderson, Brad Beal, Quinn Cook, André Drummond, James McAdoo, Johnny O'Bryant, Tony Parker, Chasson Randle and Adonis Thomas.

The trio of Michael Gilchrist, Marquis Teague and Anthony Wroten, Jr complete the roster.

"I think we are a really good shooting team," said USA U17 head coach Don Showalter. "Everybody can really shoot the ball from our post players inside the lane and then our guards are really good shooters. I think our defensive unit is going to be very good with our bigs. We have several kids who can play different positions and I think that is big for us."

The USA will play Argentina, China, Egypt, Lithuania and Serbia in Group A.

Showalter hopes his team's depth will set them apart from their opponents.

"We found out last year that when you go to a foreign country a lot of things can happen - foul trouble, some sickness could come on, or somebody's not playing very well one night, just whatever, so your seven-eight-nine-ten players are very, very important to what you're trying to accomplish," he explained.

"If you can get energy off the bench, if you can get some production off the bench with those kids, then you're set pretty good. Hopefully we have that as an advantage when we play the international teams and we have a better second five then maybe our opponents do."

Last summer, the USA took gold at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Mendoza, Argentina, finishing with a perfect 5-0 to earn their berth for the first-ever FIBA U17 World Championship.

Showalter's team are training in San Antonio until Thursday and then travel to Kaunas, Lithuania, where they will continue their preparations and play warm-up games against Russia's U18 side on 28th June and Lithuania's U17 on 29th June, in what will be a preview of their Group A game.

For more information on the USA's U17 team, click here.

FIBA