The USA Junior National Select Team for the 2017 Nike Hoop Summit will be led by 11 players who have won at least one gold medal in international competition and three athletes who have earned two international gold medals.
The 2017 USA Junior National Select Team, which features U.S. high school senior boys, will take on a World Select Team that is comprised of top international players who are 19 years old or younger in the 20th annual Nike Hoop Summit at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 7 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.
Named to the USA Nike Hoop Summit Team were Wendell Carter Jr. (Pace Academy/Fairburn, Ga.), Kevin Knox II (Tampa Catholic H.S./Riverview, Fla.) and Gary Trent Jr. (Prolific Prep Academy, Calif./Burnsville, Minn.), who teamed up to capture gold medals at the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship and the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship.
Also selected to the team after collecting gold medals at the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship were: Troy Brown Jr. (Centennial H.S./Las Vegas, Nev.), Jaren Jackson Jr. (La Lumiere School/Carmel, Ind.) and Collin Sexton (Pebblebrook H.S./Mableton, Ga.); while Jarred Vanderbilt (Victory Prep Academy/Houston, Texas) collected gold at the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship.
Further rounding out the USA team and its gold medalists are Mohamed Bamba (Westtown School, Pa./New York, N.Y.), Quade Green (Neumann-Goretti H.S./Philadelphia, Pa.), Michael Porter Jr. (Nathan Hale H.S./Seattle, Wash.) and M.J. Walker (Jonesboro H.S./Riverdale, Ga.), who helped lead the USA to a first-place finish at the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championship and a berth into the 2017 FIBA U19 World Championship.
The 12-man roster is finalized with the selection of Trevon Duval (IMG Academy, Fla./New Castle, Del.), a three-time USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team October minicamp participant.
Tickets for the 2017 Nike Hoop Summit are now on sale. Lower bowl seating starts at just $10, and courtside seats are $50 and $75. Applicable service charges apply. Tickets will be available at Ticketmaster.com, the Rose Quarter Box Office or by calling 800-745-3000.
“First of all, it’s a tremendous honor to be a part of USA Basketball,” said USA head coach Miles Simon (California Supreme AAU), who previously aided the USA to gold medals at the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship and the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship and was a court coach at the 2015 and 2016 October minicamps. “It is a continuation of my two-year journey with the U16 and U17 teams and getting to continue that with this class of players. I’m looking forward to having a lot of fun and trying to make it the best experience possible for the players during their week in Portland.
“We have a lot of strengths,” Simon said of the team. “We are very athletic. I think we are an unselfish group. We could be really good defensively. Scoring should not be a problem for this team with the amount of talent on the roster. I think this team will really enjoy being with each other and playing for each other.”
Simon will be assisted by Mike Jones (DeMatha Catholic H.S., Md.), who was 1-1 as the head coach of the USA Junior National Select Team in 2013 and 2014 and was an assistant coach at the 2012 Nike Hoop Summit. Jones also helped lead USA teams to gold medals as an assistant for the 2012 and 2016 USA U17 World Championship Teams and the 2011 USA U16 National Team; he was a court coach at the 2014, 2015 and 2016 October minicamps; and he was an assistant for the East Team at the 2004 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival.
Trent earned MVP honors at the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, while Sexton was the MVP at the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship and Carter joined him on the all-tournament team.
Seven of the 12 players have signed a National Letter of Intent for the 2017-18 NCAA season, including Brown (Oregon), Carter and Trent (Duke), Green (Kentucky), Jackson (Michigan State), Porter (Washington) and Sexton (Alabama). Additionally, Vanderbilt verbally committed to the University of Kentucky.
Release: USA Basketball
