http://kansas.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=121&tid=75207311&sid=&style=2he tries to justify cole aldrich's failure by making the usa basketball team seem like no big deal. thing is, cole aldrich STILL didn't make the team even though the team "isn't elite"
Elite talent rejects USA BasketballWhile the United States 18-and-under men's basketball team practiced yesterday in San Antonio, Kevin Durant, a 6-foot-9 forward, was 85 miles north in Austin, Tex.
He was asked to participate in the team's tryouts nearly two weeks ago, but Durant, one of the top players in the United States eligible for the international competition, declined. Instead, he is taking a class called Youth and Gangs during a summer session at the University of Texas, where he will be a freshman this fall.
"I had committed to Texas a while ago, and when I committed to them, I really told them that whenever they needed me to be at school, I'd be at school," Durant said in a telephone interview. "They needed me to come to school early, and that's what I had to do.
"I put that in front of USA Basketball."
The absence of Durant magnifies USA Basketball's continuing struggles to attract the nation's best talent.
Some players choose to attend college summer sessions or participate in Amateur Athletic Union events and basketball camps held by shoe companies. The schedule for this year's FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship, however, avoids conflicts with A.A.U. events and shoe camps. The seven-team tournament starts today in San Antonio, and the event's top four teams earn spots in next year's FIBA Under-19 World Championship.
Sean Ford, USA Basketball's assistant executive director for men's programs, said 10 to 15 players turned down invitations to try out for the United States team.
Many of those who declined are considered can't-miss prospects. In addition to Durant, rejections came from Kevin Love, a power forward at Lake Oswego High School in Oregon; Derrick Rose, a point guard from Simeon Vocational High School in Chicago; and Eric Gordon, a shooting guard at North Central High School in Indianapolis. All three are ranked by recruiting analysts in the top 10 of the 2007 class of prep players.
Two other top-10 prospects, point guard O. J. Mayo, who attends North College Hill High School in Ohio, and his teammate Bill Walker, are too old to play for the team, Ford said.
"Somewhere, we've lost that competitiveness and how big of a deal it is to represent this great country," said Oregon Coach Ernie Kent, who is on the 10-person committee that issued invitations for the under-18 team.
...But only 2 of the 12 players on the team — power forward Michael Beasley and small forward Kyle Singler — are consensus top-10 prospects in the class of 2007, according to recruiting analysts, and the only top-10 player from 2006 is center Spencer Hawes.
Gordon, a highly regarded shooting guard in the 2007 class who has orally committed to Illinois, said he declined his invitation because he wanted to rest — but he then admitted that he would be playing in a series of Indiana all-star games and practicing with his A.A.U. team.
"I just haven't been that much interested in going, really," Gordon said in a telephone interview.
Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who coaches the senior national team and will coach the men's team at the 2008 Beijing Games, said the players' rejections of USA Basketball demonstrated a disconnect between the organization's older teams and its youth programs.
The 23 N.B.A. and college players selected for potential spots on the world championship team and the 2008 Olympic team were required to give three-year commitments.
"Eric Gordon is an outstanding player and should actually be here," Krzyzewski said. "The people eventually who run those all-star games would understand that it's more important to play for your country than it is to play in that all-star game. However, at this point, I don't blame him. I think it just shows where we have to go with the program, but that shouldn't continue.
"If a kid gets an opportunity to play for his country, whether you're playing at the Nike camp, the Adidas camp or the Indiana-Kentucky all-star, it should be no decision. It should be U.S. basketball. Let's get it back to that level to where that becomes prestigious enough to do it."
