COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - Charlotte 49ers rising senior Curtis Withers is among 21 of the country's top basketball players 21-years-old and younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1984) that have accepted invitations to attend the July 21-23 USA Basketball Men's U21 National Team Trials in Dallas, TX. Trials will be used to select the final 12-member U.S. U21 squad that will look to defend the USA's gold medal at the 2005 FIBA U21 World Championship in Mar de Plata, Argentina, Aug. 5-14, and will be led by Saint Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli. Athlete selections were made by the USA Basketball Men's Collegiate Committee, chaired by Syracuse University head coach Jim Boeheim.
Withers started for the 2004 USA U21 World Championship Qualifying Team, that won a gold medal by going unbeaten at the qualifying tournament in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and earned the United States its berth to this year's U21 Worlds.
Withers averaged 9.3 points and 6.3 rebounds and shot .636 from the field for the 2004 USA U21 World Championship Qualifying Team.
This past collegiate season, Withers garnered his second straight first-team all-Conference USA honor as the 49ers earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Withers averaged a team-high 18.0 points and 8.1 rebounds with nine double-doubles. He was named an honorable mention All-America by Sports Illustrated.com. He also earned an ESPN.com National Player of the Week Award after averaging 30.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in a pair of C-USA wins in February.
In addition to Withers, athletes expected to compete for spots on the 2005 USA U21 National Team include: Josh Boone (Connecticut / Mt. Airy, MD); Aaron Brooks (Oregon / Seattle, WA); Shannon Brown (Michigan State / Maywood, IL); Rodney Carney (Memphis / Indianapolis, IN); JamesOn Curry (Oklahoma State / Pleasant Grove, NC); Glen Davis (Louisiana State / Baton Rouge, LA); Jared Dudley (Boston College / San Diego, CA); Nick Fazekas (Nevada / Arvada, CO); Rudy Gay (Connecticut / Baltimore, MD); C.J. Giles (Kansas / Seattle, WA); Justin Gray (Wake Forest / Charlotte, NC); Taj Gray; (Oklahoma / Wichita, KS); Malik Hairston (Oregon / Detroit, MI); Adam Morrison (Gonzaga / Spokane, WA); Allan Ray (Villanova / Bronx, NY); J.J. Redick (Duke / Roanoke, VA); Terrence Roberts (Syracuse / Jersey City, NJ); Rajon Rondo (Kentucky / Louisville, KY); Darius Washington, Jr. (Memphis / Winter Park, FL); and Marcus Williams (Connecticut / Los Angeles, CA).
Of the 13 athletes boasting of prior USA Basketball experience, Justin Gray, Morrison and Withers were members of the 2004 USA U21 World Championship Qualifying Team that captured gold and earned the United States its berth to this year's U21 Worlds. Redick was a member of the 2003 USA Junior World Championship Team that finished fifth with a 7-1 record; Brooks helped the 2002 USA Junior World Championship Qualifying Team earn a bronze medal, and Gay and Hairston were on the USA Junior National Select Team that downed a World Select Team 99-79 in the 2004 Hoop Summit. Additionally, Brown (2002 North), Curry (2002 and 2003 South), Fazekas (2002 West), Hairston (2003 North), Redick (2000 and 2001 East), Roberts (2002 East), Washington (2003 South) and Marcus Williams (2002 West) all got their start in USA Basketball at a Youth Development Festival and Carney participated in the 2004 USA Men's National Team Trials.
Trials will be conducted at the Dallas Mavericks practice facility inside the American Airlines Center and the first Trials session will be held on Thursday, July 21 at 10:00 a.m. (all times local), followed by a 5:00 p.m. session that night. July 22 and 23 will again feature two-a-days with starting times at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Team finalists will remain in Dallas for the USA's July 24 - Aug. 1 training camp, which will feature a July 24 practice at the Dr. Pepper Star Center in Frisco, TX, near Dallas. The training camp will conclude with a pair of daily practices at the Dallas Mavericks practice facility at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on July 25 and July 26. The U.S. squad will then compete in the July 27-31 Global Games at the Dr. Pepper Star Center. The eventual 12-member USA team will be announced during the training camp.
Following one more practice session on Aug. 1 (site and time TBD), the American team will travel to Argentina for its final practices before tipping off play at the 2005 FIBA U21 World Championship on Aug. 5.
Contested Aug. 5-14 in Cordoba and Mar del PlataArgentina, the 2005 FIBA Men's U21 World Championship will consist of 12 national teams split into two groups for preliminary round-robin play. The top four teams in each group will advance to the medal quarterfinals, while the 5th and 6th place finishing teams in each group will compete for 9th-12th place.
6/20/05