Team U.S. A. has trimmed down to their final roster for the FIBA U19 World Championships and the ACC is still sitting pretty. Three current or soon-to-be Atlantic Coast Conference players survived two rounds of cuts, including Duke’s Rasheed Sulaimon, Syracuse’s Jerami Grant and in a bit of a surprise, Virginia’s Mike Tobey.
Notre Dame’s James Robinson and Georgia Tech’s Marcus Georges-Hunt both made the cut of 16, but were cut for the final roster. Georgia Tech’s Robert Carter and Wake Forest’s Devin Thomas were the only two other ACC players to get invited, but they didn’t survive the first-round of cuts.
Of the ACC players, Duke’s Rasheed Sulaimon has the best resume so far. Starting as a freshmen, ‘Sheed is a lights out three-point shooter, shooting 37-percent from deep last year. He averaging 11.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
Mike Tobey will probably come off the bench for this team. As a freshman for Virginia he averaged about 14 minutes per game coming off the pine last year. He averaged 6.8 points and a so-so 2.9 rebounds per game. He’s a true post player with great hands. He should be a starter for Tony Bennett this coming season.
Jerami Grant came off the bench last year for Jim Boeheim. He averaged about 14 minutes per game, scoring 3.9 points, while grabbing 3.0 rebounds. He’s got a great basketball IQ and loves to work the boards. With Rakeem Christmas and DaJuan Coleman in front of him though, Grant will once again come off the bench for Syracuse next year.
The fact that the ACC did well shouldn’t be surprising. While Florida’s Billy Donovan will be the head coach that leads the team to the Czech Republic, three ACC coaches were members of the committee that made the roster decisions, including Virginia’s Tony Bennett (who is assisting Donovan on the bench), as well as Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse. So now we see why one player from Virginia, Duke and Syracuse made the team.
The World Championships will be played between June 24 – July 6.
Below are lists of who is staying and who is going.
12-MAN U19 ROSTER:
Aaron Gordon (Arizona)
Michael Frazier (Florida)
Elfrid Payton (Louisiana-Lafayette)
Mike Tobey (Virginia)
Jerami Grant (Syracuse)
Montrezl Harrell (Louisville)
Marcus Smart (Oklahoma State)
Jarnell Stokes (Tennessee)
Rasheed Sulaimon (Duke)
Nigel Williams-Goss (Washington)
Jahlil Okafor (Whitney Young H.S.)
Justise Winslow (St. John’s H.S.)
SECOND-ROUND CUTS
Ryan Arcidiacono (Villanova)
James Robinson (Pittsburgh)
Damyean Dotson (Oregon)
Marcus Georges-Hunt (Georgia Tech)
FIRST-ROUND CITS
Shaq Goodwin (Memphis)
Rodney Purvis (Connecticut)
Robert Carter (Georgia Tech)
Brandon Ashley (Arizona)
Devin Thomas (Wake Forest)
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Arizona)
Bryce Alford (UCLA)
Canyon Barry (College of Charleston)
Kris Dunn (Providence)
Javin Felix (Texas)
