Bulldogs Claim USA Basketball Men’s 3x3 U18 National Tournament Title
3x3 U18 World Championship for men and women, USA Basketball held an inaugural 3x3 U18 National Tournament for Men.
W The tournament, held
July 29-31 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., was utilized to help determine the members of the 2012 USA Basketball Men’s U18 3x3 National Team that represent- ed the U.S. at the FIBA U18 3x3 World Championship.
The decision of which
players would represent USA Basketball was made by the USA Basketball U18 3x3 National Team Committee that consisted of Don Showalter, head coach of USA Basketball’s Developmental National Team and head mentor at Iowa City H.S. (Iowa), and USA Basketball 3x3 Program Director Travis Johnson.
A day of training was
held on July 29, and the 3x3 men’s teams in attendance were put through drills to better familiarize them with the fast-paced, half-court setting of 3x3 basketball and FIBA’s 3x3 rules.
“The 3x3 game is really
brand new to all of us, coaches as well as players from a FIBA standpoint. We wanted to see what their skill level was like and how it could be implemented into a 3x3 setting,” said Showalter, who ran the camp for the 40-plus players in attendance.
Most of the 12 men’s teams that
participated in the national championship were invited after competing in various 3x3 events such as the Hoop It Up tournaments. Additionally, one local team was invited from the Eastside Athletics organization in Colorado Springs.
USA Basketball News
Top: The Bulldogs went a perfect 8-0 to win the 2012 USA Basketball 3x3 U18 National tournament. Pictured above (L-R) is Travis Johnson; Larry Austin; DeMonte Flannigan; Rondaé Hollis-Jefferson and Don Showalter. Below: Although there was no women’s 3x3 tournament, the four women selected for the USA U18 3x3 National Team trained together over three days. Pictured below (L-R) is Diamond DeShields, Allisha Gray, Erica McCall and Brianna Turner .
ith FIBA now annually conducting a
tournament. Following completion of
the 3x3 camp, DeShields, McCall and Turner remained in Colorado Springs and participated in a training camp for the USA Women’s U17 National Team, while Gray participated in a train-
ing camp for the USA U18 National Team. During the National
Tournament, a skills competition featuring a 3-point shootout, an obstacle challenge and a hot- shot shooting competition were held on July 30. Brett Brady (Highlands
Ranch H.S./Highlands Ranch, Colo.), from Team TCI won the 3-point contest, Larry Austin (Lanphier H.S./Springfield, Ill.) of the Bulldogs claimed top honors in the obstacle challenge and McCall and Turner from the USA women’s team, won the team hotshot contest. The USA Basketball
National Tournament featured 12 teams that were divided into two preliminary round pools consisting of six teams each. The squads played a round-robin schedule against the other
teams in their pool on July 30 and concluded the tournament on July 31.
Day 2 - July 30 Opening preliminary play
Also arriving on July 29 were the
selected members of the USA Basketball Women’s U18 3x3 National Team: Diamond DeShields (Norcross H.S./ Norcross, Ga.), Allisha Gray (Washington County H.S./Sandersville, Ga.), Erica McCall (Ridgeview H.S./ Bakersfield, Calif.) and Brianna Turner (Manvel H.S./Pearland, Texas). The foursome of women standouts trained July 29-31 as there was no women’s
at the USA Basketball 3x3 National Tournament on July 30, the teams completed five games of round-robin pool
play. High Altitude captured first place in
Pool A with an unblemished 5-0 mark, while the Bulldogs won top honors in Pool B also with a perfect 5-0 record.
“I thought it went really well,” said
Showalter about the first day of competition. “I thought the kids competed really hard. We saw some basketball I.Q. with 3x3 that you don’t