Dixon ready to lead USA to another U19 world title

 FORT WORTH (Texas, United States) - Jamie Dixon knows what it's like to win the title at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, having guided the United States to the crown in 2009. Dixon will try to work his magic again next month as the USA Basketball head coach during the 2021 edition in Latvia.

Dixon will bring together 26 players on Saturday, June 20 for the start of tryouts and training camp ahead of the U19 World Cup. Dixon and his coaching staff will have to work quickly to first select the team that will head to Daugavpils and Riga as reigning champions and then form a team ready to fend off any and all challenge starting on July 3.

Dixon took time before the training camp to talk to fiba.basketball about his connection with Seth Curry, a tough battle against Croatia en route to the trophy 12 years ago, the challenges of getting a team ready, and what the United States side must do to win the U19 World Cup for the eighth time in 15 editions.

FIBA: Hi Coach, we see the Philadelphia 76ers are still alive in the NBA playoffs with Seth Curry. Of course, you coached the Philadelphia sniper on the USA national team at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2009. How much do you think of that tournament when you see Curry play?
Dixon: Yeah, I was thinking about that the other day, seeing him play. It was great seeing those guys so young and many of them were not the big stars that they are today. We didn’t get the best of the best for the team. Seth, Klay Thompson, Gordon Hayward were not the big stars and didn't go to big colleges. But everybody bought into the plan and we saw ourselves as underdogs.

Seth Curry (No.5) and Klay Thompson (8) before they were NBA stars

You and Seth together won the title in 2009. Let’s go back and relive some of that tournament 12 years ago. USA Basketball had not won the U19 title since 1991. What was the mindset going into the tournament in New Zealand knowing the pressure of failing to win in 18 years?
Oh, we knew about the pressure of not having won. And we were trying to figure out why not. We just wanted the guys to play hard and whatever came out would happen. The main thing was the guys played as a team and got the job done.

The team rolled through the group stages until a challenge with Lithuania in the last game of the eighth final round. Then came a 20-point win over Canada in the Quarter-Finals. How was the team playing and feeling going into the Semi-Finals against Croatia?
Yeah, we were playing pretty well, didn’t have too much trouble along the way. I remember we had one tough game (against Lithuania), but otherwise we were getting contributions from a lot of different guys. There was always someone else stepping up and having a big game.

The team looked to be rolling along in the Semi-Final - you were up 13 points in the third quarter - and then Croatia went ahead with a 20-3 run. And it was still a two-point game in the final minute. How do you remember that game?
I remember it. We started well but they had some good bigs and they were able to give us a good fight. You saw that they played together for a while. But we got our defensive stops and were able to get contributions from enough guys 

And then in the Final against Greece, you guys kind of took control with a 16-1 run. They got the deficit down to five points, but you ended up winning by eight points. And that meant the wait was over. Talk about the mix of relief of ending the wait for USA Basketball and the joy of accomplishing the goal?
 Sure, we were relieved. That was the goal, and there is always a reward with that. But they gave us a good fight even though we had played them before and beaten them pretty soundly if I remember correctly (by 16 points in the second group stage). But it was kind of a surprise that Greece made it out of that side of the bracket. We were thinking it would have been Australia. But it was a tough game.

 
Fast forward 12 years and what were your thoughts when USA Basketball asked you if you were interested in leading the team at the U19 World Cup again?
I was honored for sure. I had good memories of the last event and the fact that we were able to have it here (the training camp is being held at Texas Christian University where Dixon is head coach) and have the university involved in something like this for the first time is exciting for the program.

Some other nations already have 12-man rosters set after multiple training camps while the USA training camp will begin on June 20 with 26 players. And your first game is on July 3 in Latvia. Talk about the challenges of first getting down to 12 players and then getting your team ready for a World Cup in such a short time.
It is a big challenge, but it is what it is. We will get together and see what we have and figure out what we want to do. I am really happy that nearly everybody who was invited is also going to be showing up. What will the team look like? We don't know that yet. Even last time, you thought certain guys would be your leaders going into the camp and it ended up being entirely different players who led the team.

I know it’s probably difficult to say without really having seen the guys. But what do you think your core principles will be for this team - I guess, not by not giving away too many secrets.
We will rely on our defense. We need to force turnovers and get some easy points. And then we will have to knock down the open shots we do get and hope we have enough of them. But we will go as our defense goes.

The last couple of USA teams at the U19 World Cup have included players who the previous summer played at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no U17 World Cup last summer and none of your players has played a FIBA 5x5 event. How much do you think that could impact the team especially since many of the teams have been playing together for a couple of years?
Sure, it would have been good, and I know that the last few teams have had those guys. But we can’t change it. We will just have to take advantage of our strengths and try to hide our weaknesses.

 
USA have been drawn into Group D. You guys start with an always difficult team from Europe with Turkey, then play an African team in Mali that will actually have a lot of experience internationally including two guys who lost to USA in the 2019 U19 Final and then the always strong Australians. What do you think about the group?
Yeah, it won’t be easy for sure. Europeans are always tough, I remember that from 2009. Mali will probably be strong and have athleticism. And you always know Australia will be tough. But we just have to stick to our ideas and play our game.

Having experienced this tournament 12 years ago and the challenges of facing different styles of play and everybody shooting to knock off USA Basketball, what are some of the key messages you are going to give your team for the times when they face challenging moments in Latvia?
To rely on defense and each other. We know there will be times when we face adversity, and we just have to overcome them together.

What is the United States team’s goal going into the tournament and what must the team do to be successful in achieving that?
Our goal is to go to Latvia and play the best basketball we can and play USA basketball and be successful. What does that mean, defense. We know it will be difficult, but we are looking forward to the challenge.

FIBA