USA - Unknown quantity as USA U19 roster sees plenty of new faces

COLORADO SPRINGS (FIBA U19 World Championship for Men) - Perennial pre-tournament favourites and defending U19 World Champions USA have named a 13-man roster that includes nine players yet to represent their country on the international stage.

The team, which will be trimmed down to 12 for the beginning of the FIBA U19 World Championship for Men, to get underway on 30 June, was selected by the USA Basketball Junior National Team Committee following three days of training camp that ended on Sunday.

Only Tony Mitchell and Patric Young were among the team that captured gold at last year's FIBA Americas U18 Championship, while Young and Meyers Leonard both represented Team USA at this year's Nike Hoops Summit.

Keith Appling and James Bell both attended last year's USA trials for the FIBA U17 World Championship, but did not make the final cut.

While the lack of experience may raise concerns, a successfull defense of the title they won two years ago in Auckland, New Zealand would further prove the depth of basketball talent available to the USA, who this summer begin their defense of all six World Championship titles (U19 Men, U19 Women, U17 Men, U17 Women, Senior Men and Senior Women).

USA U19 head coach Paul Hewitt said of the team: "I think our inside players are tremendous. We have some good balance and some guys that can shoot the basketball. Obviously, it was a hard decision to come down to 13, and we still have to make one more decision before we go overseas."
"The focus from here has got to be on defense. I don't think that we can be a team that's going to have the most continuity, so we have to be a really good defensive team and capitalize on our ability to get stops in transition," he added.

USA 13-man roster:

Keith Appling, James Bell, Anthony Brown, Jahii Carson, Tim Hardaway Jr., Joe Jackson
Jeremy Lamb, Meyers Leonard, Khyle Marshall, Javon McCrea, Doug McDermott, Tony Mitchell, Patric Young.