Three Wildcats invited to Team USA U19 camp
Sean Miller may not have a full Arizona roster in Tucson until early July, but three of his players will be together this summer for good reason.
Sophomore-to-be Brandon Ashley and incoming freshmen Aaron Gordon and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are among the 24 players who received invitations to participate in Team USA's U19 World Championship team training camp from June 14-19.
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The trio will give Arizona the most representatives for one school at the camp.
The players will report to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., to compete for a spot on the 12-man roster that will travel to Prague, Czech Republic for the FIBA U19 World Championship tournament.
Finalists will be decided after the June 16 morning sessions, and Florida head coach Billy Donovan, who will lead the Americans, will have his roster set on June 18.
The tournament will be played from June 27 to July 7.
Ashley averaged 7.5 points and 5.3 rebounds while starting in 21 of the Wildcats' 35 games as a freshman last season. The 6-8, 235-pound forward shot 52.5 percent from the field.
Hollis-Jefferson has previous experience with USA Basketball as a member of the 2012 U17 World Championship team that went to Lithuania, but he did not compete because of injury. He also represented the U.S. at the 3-on-3 FIBA Boys' Youth World Championship, where the team finished in seventh place in 2011.
The 6-7, 215-pound small forward from Chester, Pa., averaged 15.5 points as a high school senior, but he is mostly known for his standout defense.
Gordon, the No. 3-ranked player in the country, played in the McDonald's All-American Game with Hollis-Jefferson and took home MVP honors. The San Jose (Calif.) Archbishop product averaged 21.6 points, 15.7 rebounds and better than three blocks per game as a senior.
The pair will be two of just four incoming freshmen at the camp. Bryce Alford (UCLA) and Nigel Williams-Goss (Washington) also will be in attendance.
The youngest player, Justise Winslow, an Arizona target in 2014, recently completed his junior season. Winslow will be joined by 2014's top-ranked recruit, center Jahlil Okafor.
Kentucky, which boasts the No. 1 recruiting class loaded with six top-20 recruits in the Rivals150, will not be represented at the camp.
Current college players also on the roster include: Ryan Arcidiacono (Villanova), Robert Carter (Georgia Tech), Damyean Dotson (Oregon), Kris Dunn (Providence), Javan Felix (Texas), Michael Frazier (Florida), Marcus Georges-Hunt (Georgia Tech), Shaq Goodwin (Memphis), Jerami Grant (Syracuse), Montrezl Harrell (Louisville), James Robinson (Pittsburgh), Rodney Purvis (Connecticut), Marcus Smart (Oklahoma State), Jarnell Stokes (Tennessee), Rasheed Sulaimon (Duke), Devin Thomas (Wake Forest) and Mike Tobey (Virginia).
1" align="left" />Click Here to view this Link.Tracy McDannald
GOAZCATS.com Senior Editor