Whether or not Jesse Govan will make the USA U16 team remains an open question.
But he’s certainly getting to test himself against some of the top big men in his age group.
During practices in Colorado Springs, Colo., the 6-foot-9, 255-pound Govan has gone against Ivan Raab, Diamond Stone, Thomas Bryant and Henry Ellenson, among others.
“This is a great opportunity to play against great competition,” Govan, a rising junior from St. Mary’s High School on Long Island, told SNY.tv by phone. “Every day you get to play against the best of the best so it gets you better.”
He added: “They’re all good so I just try to play hard against them all the time.”
The 12-man roster will be announced Sunday morning and Govan his hoping he hear’s his name called.
“Oh man, that would mean the world because you’re playing the sport that you love and its’ a great opportunity,” he said.
As far as recruiting, Govan says Virginia, Georgetown and Villanova are recruiting him “the hardest right now,” yet only Virginia has offered.
He said Georgetown and Villanova told him “they’ll be coming to my school a lot and coming to my games a lot.”
Govan, who runs with the New York Lightning AAU squad, has no visits slated for this summer
“Not at the moment but I’ll probably schedule some in August,” he said.
Looking ahead, he has plenty of time to pick a school.
“I’ll probably commit senior year,” he said.
And now he just waits on the final U16 roster.