TORONTO (2016 FIBA U17 World Championship) - Canada are gearing up their preparations for the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship as national team coach Dave DeAveiro invited 22 players to his training camp.

DeAveiro has called together the group with less than three weeks before his team will be competing in Zaragoza in the challenging Group C with Australia, China and Finland.

"We're excited to bring this young group together. Last summer we had our best-ever finish at this age level and we look forward to seeing their development and representing Canada on the world stage," said DeAveiro.

The Canadians will be considered one of the main contenders for the title in Spain, especially after giving the United States a major scare in the Final of the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, leading by 20 points early in the second quarter before losing 77-60.

The leader of the team will most likely be Rowan Barrett Jr., the son Canada Basketball’s Assistant GM and Executive VP Rowan Barrett. The 2000-born wing was Canada's leading scorer at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship and is considered one of the country's future stars.

Some of the other players who will be taking on leading roles for the Canadians in Spain will be Lithuanian-born Ignas Brazdeikis, Danilo Djurcic and Andrew Nembhard.

One major name missing on DeAveiro's list is Simi Shittu, who was second in scoring and tops in rebounding for Canada last summer. Marcus Carr, who is a high school teammate of Barrett Jr. and Shittu at Montverde Academy, also was not included on the tryout group despite coming back from a major knee injury in April.

All told, DeAveiro called on nine of the players from last summer’s U16 team.

DeAveiro will have his players run through tryouts at Humber College - North Campus in Toronto until June 10 before the team heads to France for preparation games from 15-17 June.

FIBA