USA Basketball: Vernon Carey Jr. among top young prospects to nab a spot on U16 team
USA Basketball finalized its U16 men’s FIBA Americas roster on Monday evening.
USA Basketball announced the 12 players who will compete for the organization in the U16 men’s FIBA Americas Championship on June 5. The U16 squad opened training camp on June 1 with 32 players. Head Coach Don Showalter and his staff then whittled that number down to 16finalistst on June 4.
The roster includes five players from the class of 2019 and six from the class of2020. Zion Hamilton is the lone member of the class of 2021.
Vernon Carey leads the group of talented young college prospects. The 6’9″ power forward is a consensus top-10 player in the class of 2019. Carey averaged 22.0 points along with eight rebound for University School (Fla.) last season as a sophomore. He has already compiled over 1,000 points and 330 rebounds in high school career.
De’Vion Harmon, Wendall Moore Jr., and James Wiseman are the other 2019 class members on the team ranked by various recruiting services.
6’4 guard Jalen Suggs is the top player from the class of 2020 on the team. Suggs may have had the best training camp of all 32 players according to Evan Daniels of Scout.com. The St. Paul, Minnesota, native has already played three years of high school basketball, producing 1,175 points, 378 rebounds, and 264 assists.
Scottie Barnes, Jalen Green, R.J. Hampton, Jeremy Roach, Isaiah Todd, and Romeo Weems round out the roster. Carey, Todd, and Wiseman are the only players on the roster 6’9″ or taller.
“We’ve got got a really talented group that’s incredibly talented and versatile,” Showalter said. “When we got down to 16, we put in our system and now with 12 (players) remaining we’re going to sharpen things up over the next few days. We’re going to put a few more things in offensively and defensively and really focus in on our goal.”
“Some of the guys got caught up in the numbers, as far as making the team. We’re all really pleased with everybody’s work ethic and attitude. Nobody got cut because of those things, it was just what we felt was going to be pieces to fit into our puzzle in order to make the best team.”
Jabari Abdur-Rahim, Eric Dixon, Lynn Greer III, and Nico Mannion were the four finalist who did not make the team.
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The team will continue to practice twice a day through June 9 at the USOTC in Colorado Springs (Colo.). The U.S. will then depart for Argentina for the FIBA Americas Championship, which will take place from June 14-18.