USA Basketball announced the 11-man roster for the Men’s Junior National Select Team on Monday afternoon. The group will play the World Select Team in the 18th Nike Hoop Summit, which is scheduled for April 11 at the Moda Center in Portland.
The group is comprised entirely of players who won gold medals with USA Basketball with either the U17 or U18 team last summer.
Here’s the roster for Team USA:
Isaiah Briscoe, 6-foot-3, Roselle Catholic High School (Roselle, NJ) -- committed to Kentucky
Jaylen Brown, 6-foot-7, Wheeler High School (Marietta, GA) -- undecided
Jalen Brunson, 6-foot-1, Adlai E. Stevenson High School (Lincolnshire, IL) -- committed to Villanova
Henry Ellenson, 6-foot-10, Rice Lake High School (Rice Lake, WI) -- committed to Marquette
Chase Jeter, 6-foot-10, Bishop Gorman High School (Las Vegas, NV) -- committed to Duke
Luke Kennard, 6-foot-5, Franklin High School (Franklin, OH) -- committed to Duke
Malik Newman, 6-foot-3, Callaway High School (Jackson, MS) -- undecided
Ivan Rabb, 6-foot-10, Bishop O’Dowd High School (Oakland, CA) -- undecided
Caleb Swanigan, 6-foot-8, Homestead High School (Fort Wayne, IN) -- undecided
Allonzo Trier, 6-foot-4, Findlay Prep (Henderson, NV) -- committed to Arizona
Stephen Zimmerman, 7-foot, Bishop Gorman High School (Las Vegas, NV) -- undecided
All 11 members of the team also made the 2015 McDonald’s All-American game last week and most of the team has played together before in some capacity with USA Basketball.
Briscoe, Brown, Brunson, Jeter, Kennard, Trier and Zimmerman helped the USA U18 team win a gold medal at the FIBA Americas U18 Championships in Colorado Springs with a 5-0 record last summer. Ellenson, Newman, Rabb and Swanigan were members of the USA U17 team that also won gold at the FIBA U17 World Championships in Dubai last August.
The group will face the World Select Team, which will consist of 11 players who are 19 years old or younger from FIBA’s five geographic zones. It’s expected that LSU commit Ben Simmons will be on that team and it will be interesting to see if Kentucky commit Skal Labissiere will be on the roster as well after he was ruled ineligible for the McDonald’s All-American game. The World Select Team will be announced in March, according to the Nike Hoop Summit website.
Making this event is a big deal because it’s another week for national scouts and NBA personnel to view these guys at the end of the high school season. The Nike Hoop Summit has sent 165 players into the NBA Draft during its 17-year history and college basketball currently has 32 players who also played in the game. It also never hurts to represent USA Basketball, and with a team full of gold-medal winners, this 2015 group will understand how much that matters.
Team USA currently holds a 12-5 record in the game’s history and Duke freshman Justise Winslow was the MVP of last year’s game.