World University Games Wrap Part 2 -- The Teams

Final Standings & Some Possession-Based Stats
After looking at the final standings Monday night and reading a few day-after reactions, I decided to go back and process the boxscores for the teams that made it through to the quarter final round. This tournament divided the pool of team (23 total) into four groups of six each, with the intent that the teams within each assigned group would play five games, round robin style, to determine which of the three "second round" groups each team will be assigned. The first eight (two from each group) will play for positions 1 - 8, the next eight (again, two from each group) play for positions 9 - 15, the bottom two from each group will play for ranks 17 - 24. The teams then play three additional rounds to determine place/classification. Unlike the round robin format of the preliminary round, the second round pits winners versus winners and losers versus losers. After a team dropped out of the competition (before the start of play), the five remaining teams in Group B played a four game round robin, then divided (with a single team sent into the last group ). The usual quota of paradoxes and quirks surface when Team USA competes in a tournament with this particular format...

		Record			Points/Poss.
Rnk	Team	W	L	Pct.	Off.	Def.	Diff.	Pace
1	Serbia	6	1	0.857	1.03	0.84	0.19	71.2
2	Canada	5	2	0.714	0.91	0.86	0.05	76.0
3	Lithuania	6	2	0.750	1.02	0.93	0.09	79.7
4	Russia	6	2	0.750	1.01	0.90	0.11	71.1
5	USA	7	1	0.875	1.15	0.90	0.25	82.9
6	Germany	6	2	0.750	1.03	1.01	0.02	70.8
7	Finland	4	4	0.500	0.79	1.15	-0.36	76.2
8	Romania	3	5	0.375	0.85	1.02	-0.17	76.9

In addition to the usual wins/losses/winning percentages, I treated the eight teams that made the quarterfinal (and subsequent classification) round as a mini-conference and tracked their offensive and defensive efficiency and Oliver's four factors (see below) for both offense and defense, along with pace, (that is, possessions per 40 minutes) only in the games they played among themselves. This was typically four games, (admittedly not a large sample) the three played in the medal rounds and the one game played each group's #1 seed played with that group's #2 seed as part of the preliminary, round robin phase. In FISU (and FIBA) tournaments, wins and losses (and winning percentage) do not necessarily track with the place finishes. And this World University Game Tournament was no exception. Some of the oddities persist for the USA teams selected to compete in FIBA/FISU international tournaments.

On Offense...
						FTA
Rnk	Team	eFG%	PPWS	OR%	TO%	FGA
1	Serbia	54.2	1.17	27.2	24.4	57.0
2	Canada	43.4	0.95	36.1	22.7	46.2
3	Lithuania	52.9	1.10	32.9	21.7	36.5
4	Russia	46.1	1.05	40.6	21.4	46.2
5	USA	51.4	1.11	42.5	20.5	42.1
6	Germany	53.6	1.16	35.4	25.6	42.1
7	Finland	37.3	0.83	28.8	20.2	24.5
8	Romania	46.1	0.97	33.4	28.8	25.5

Serbia, 2009 WUG Tournament winner repeated in Shenzhen, taking the gold in a run that also included a single loss. This time, the Serbs lost their second game (on August 14, 2011), a a three point, 67-70 affair with the Canadians, their Group B #2 seed. Group B had only five teams in their bracket, which explains why Team Serbia and Team Canada played eight, rather than nine, games in the tournament. After losing to Team Canada, the Serbs ran off two consecutive wins to finish secure the #1 seed in Group B, and then swept the three medal rounds games, facing Team Canada a second time, and winning 68-55, to secure the #1 rank in the tournament field, and the gold medal.

Team USA ran off five straight wins to sweep their Group D opponents, but (like their U19 compatriots in July's U19 World Championships) dropped a two point quarter final decision and finished with two wins to secure fifth place. Again, losing in the quarter finals made all the difference, as that play began the elimination phase of the tournament.

On Defense...
						FTA
Rnk	Team	eFG%	PPWS	OR%	TO%	FGA
1	Serbia	40.8	0.92	32.8	24.3	43.4
2	Canada	46.6	0.99	28.4	26.8	44.7
3	Lithuania	43.9	1.00	28.8	20.5	41.6
4	Russia	47.5	1.05	20.2	23.8	48.0
5	USA	49.3	1.05	30.7	24.4	28.9
6	Germany	48.7	1.02	36.0	20.9	29.6
7	Finland	59.4	1.22	41.5	23.8	33.3
8	Romania	48.3	1.05	40.7	21.4	37.7

Looking at Team USA's four factors, this American squad posted strong, but not dominate numbers relative to the four teams that finished above them in the rankings. Comparing the overall shooting efficiency, turnover rate, offensive rebound and free throw rate to those posted in the Lithuania game, suggests where the Americans had greater difficulty in dealing with the Group C #2 seed. The American squad posted a dismal 38.1% shot efficiency versus Lithuania, coupled with an offensive rebounding rate of 26.7%, both well off their offensive numbers for the other medal opponent games. The game and boxscores identified Darius Miller with three fiest half fouls, while the Greens, Draymond and JayMychal, along with Trevor Mbakwe had four apiece by the end of the game. Lacking the consistent inside presence afforded by Mbakwe and JayMychal Green, the Americans continued to attempt three point shots, even though they compiled an abysmal 0-14 conversion rate in the second half. Draymond Green picked up two first half fouls, while Mbakwe and JayMychal Green picked up three apiece in the second half. A decimated front court, coupled with moving the offense to the outside (30 of the 67 FGAs attempted -- 44.8% of the American's total FGAs -- was far beyond the usual 31% recorded for the tournament) translated into a lower shot conversion rate and far fewer offensive rebounds.

X's & O's or Jimmys & Joes (part 2)?
The analysis/commentary that followed the U19 World Championship 5th place finish focused on squad experience ("lacked it"), the selection and development process ("star-oriented" and "not long enough to build a team"). Common sense (ie common knowledge) can betray us sometimes, as the tables above suggests the problem was not lack of offensive/defensive efficiency (signs of team cohesion) or offense/defense lack of production. The successes of U16/U17 Coach Don Showalter and Olympic coach Mike Krzyzewski suggest, continuity of the squad may be a bit less important than continuity of the coaching staff. A table of the last four WUG teams built using the tryout approach.

	Head	Staff
Year	Coach	Expr.	Finish
2011	Painter	14	5
2009	Ryan	19	3
2005	Wright	20	1
2001	Dunn	22	3

The staff this time around was very talented, Matt Painter of Purude, assisted by Brad Stevens (Butler) and Cuonzo Martin (Missouri State, Tennessee), but also the least experienced (years of head coaching experience) of the decade. Painter's seven years (six at Purdue and one at Southern Illinois) is actually half of the staff's total. While the coaches do not take the shots nor grab the rebounds, they do design the game plans and prepare the team to play. Does the string of "one game lapses" in the U18, U19 and WUG tournaments suggest a "slide to mediocrity" as some have suggested, or problems with oppposition scouting and game planning?

World University Games Wrap Part 1 -- The Players

Some Possession-Based Stats
I have been processing Team USA's boxscores throughout the tournament, but just got around to formatting the possession-based stats...

							FTA
	College	Min%	Poss%	Shot%	eFG%	PPWS.	FGA
Abromaitis	NDU	41.3	21.5	19.0	45.7	1.00	23.9
Denmon	Mizzou	43.5	23.5	20.0	45.1	1.02	39.2
Gibbs	Pitt	54.4	25.9	22.9	50.7	1.13	27.4
D Green	Mich St.	43.8	28.0	21.0	51.9	1.10	37.0
J Green	'Bama	39.7	32.7	23.6	70.9	1.42	65.5
Jardine	'Cuse	36.9	27.0	19.9	61.6	1.19	46.5
Jenkins	Vandy	50.0	28.1	29.0	55.3	1.18	17.6
Johnson	UCSB	48.8	20.8	15.7	48.9	1.10	37.8
Mangano	Yale	21.3	22.1	20.1	36.0	0.70	20.0
Mbakwe	Minn	49.1	28.3	16.0	60.9	1.24	132.6
McCallum	Detroit	25.0	20.2	19.8	53.4	1.15	17.2
Miller	Kentucky	46.3	17.6	12.5	54.4	1.13	38.2

The Min% suggest that Ashton Gibbs, John Jenkins, Trevor Mbakwe, Orlando Johnson and Darius Miller formed the nucleus of the squad. Those five started all but one of the tournament games -- not to mention the single exhibition game they played pre-tournament -- and Gibbs, Jenkins and Mbakwe got many of the touches (see Poss% above) when they were on the court. Coach Matt Painter employed something of a Bo Ryan platoon system with the result that none of the players logged more than 54% of the minutes at his position (Gibbs), and most logged between 39% and 49% of the available time. USA international teams, made up as they are of "all stars" invited to tryout and selected during the process, tend to use larger rotations (10, 11 sometimes more players -- see the distribution of Min%), but the academic teams these players are drawn from and the international teams they face rarely go beyond the first 7-9 players. Team USA's coaching staff played 11 of the 12 squad memebers in every game. The (single) player who did not appear in every game did log minutes in six of Team USA's eight tournament games, including the finale versus Germany (a tight three point win).

The team's offense went through (see Shot% above) Jenkins (no surprise), JayMychal Green, Gibbs (again no surprise) and Draymond Green, each of whom would be classified as a Significant or Major Contributor (in the Pomeroy classification system). It is notable that each not only took the shots when he was on the floor, but (check each player's eFG% and PPWS) each also shot efficiently (eFG% >50%) and used their opportunities to put points on the board (PPWS >1.00). Not every player had a terrific tournament offensively (see Rush the Court's "Notes on Player Performance" for names...), but the consolation is that those players had limited roles (<= 20% Shot%). If they weren't hitting, they stopped shooting. Overall Teams USA's offensive efficiency (game 6 versus Lithuania excepted) was outstanding, material for a part 2 post.

A look at the rebounding and several support stats (turnover rate, assist rate), affirms the notion that this WUG team was loaded with talent...

	Min%	OReb%	DReb%	TO%	Ast%
Abromaitis	41.3	9.2	16.0	12.2	0.9
Denmon	43.5	3.4	6.5	12.1	5.7
Gibbs	54.4	2.2	5.8	11.0	14.2
D Green	43.8	14.1	19.5	15.2	14.5
J Green	39.7	18.5	18.3	19.1	5.3
Jardine	36.9	4.0	7.7	21.7	11.5
Jenkins	50.0	2.3	6.9	4.4	7.0
Johnson	48.8	7.2	12.3	16.8	10.1
Mangano	21.3	6.2	14.5	9.9	1.7
Mbakwe	49.1	20.3	26.3	16.8	3.6
McCallum	25.0	2.6	4.7	6.1	9.9
Miller	46.3	7.0	12.3	22.8	5.3

Individual offensive rebounding rates for Mbakwe and the Greens, J. & D. in particular were Top 100 for Division 1. Mbakwe posted similarly dominant numbers on defensive boards as well. In all three players, the Greens and Tim Abormaitis posted "above average" defensive rebounding rates, while even several of the wings/guards (see Orlando Johnson, Darius Miller, Scoop Jardine and Jenkins) posted credible numbers under the opponent's boards. RTC may have been unhappy about assists, but consider that this team contended for a medal less than three weeks after their first tryout, it is difficult to see how the staff could have installed an overly involved offensive scheme.

Outstanding squad, outstanding offensive production...and a fifth place finish. What happened?

World University Games 2011 -- USA Beats Germany, Takes 5th Place

USA 86-83 Germany
Team USA earned it's sixth win of the World University Games tournament and secured fifth place with a three point win over Team Germany, 86-83 in Shenzhen University's Luohu Gym. A switch to Ashton Gibbs, John Jenkins, Orlando Johnson, Darius Miller and Trevor Mbakwe, the starting five used through much of the tournament, brought a slow start for the Americans. Though they built a four point lead (12-8) in the early moments of the first quarter, the Germans secured a narrow two point lead (21-19) by the end of the quarter, a lead they yielded -- temporarily -- six and a half minutes into the second quarter. Jenkins personal five point outburst gave the Americans a four point lead, but the Germans bounced back with a 7-2 run on field goals by guards Bastian Doreth (3 points) & Karsten Tadda (2 points) and forward Johannes Lischka (2 points) to take a one point lead, 41-40, into the intermission.

The lead see-sawed between the Germans and Americans until a Dray Green free throw put Team USA on top for good, 48-47 four and a half minutes into the third quarter. Though the margin varied from one to 12 points over the next 15 minutes, the Americans kept the Germans away and perserved an 86-83 score to secure fifth place. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	19	21	24	22	86
Germany	21	20	20	22	83

German forward Johannes Simon Lischka scored a game-high 28 points on 11-20 (2-4, 9-16) shooting from the court and 4-7 from the line. The German back court trio of Doreth (12 points), Tadda (10 points) and Nicolai Simon (10 points) chipped in double digit points. Trevor Mbakwe's 21 points on 7-9 (0-0, 7-9) shooting from the field and 7-9 shooting from the line, paced the Americans. Jenkins (15 points), JayMychal Green (12 points) and Gibbs (11 points) all supported Mbakwe with 10 or more points. Mbakwe posted a game-high eight rebounds even as the Greens, J & D supported with six rebounds apiece. German forward Andreas Seiferth notched six rebounds to lead the German team.

The possession-based breakdown suggests this was hardly a defensive struggle...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	77.3	1.11	52.3	22.0	41.0	42.2	43.3	1.12
Team Germany		1.07	54.5	20.7	25.0	48.2	55.6	1.21

The offensive efficiency numbers, eFG%, turnover rate, and free throw rate (FTA/FGA) are all very close, but Germany "won" every one of those battles. The difference was rebounding. The Americans' offensive rebounding rate (41.0%) was decidedly better than the Germans (25.0%), and yielded Team USA with eight more (64 vs 58) field goal attempts. The additional field goal attempts gave the Americans three more made field goals than the Germans (the Germans got some -- but not all -- of those points back at the line).

Additional Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website, along with a box score and post game quotes.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Defeats Romania, Plays Germany for 5th Place

USA 94-73 Romania
A change in the starting five brought a change of fortunes at Shenzhen University Sunday as Team USA posted a 21 point win over fellow quarter final loser Team Romania, and advanced to a showdown with Team Germany for fifth place at the World University Games. Coach Matt Painter turned to Scoop Jardine and Marcus Denmon to man the back court. In the front court Painter decided to go with a three forward set that included Notre Dame's Tim Abromaitis, Draymond Green and JayMychal Green. The change paid dividends as the Americans jumped out to a 12-2 edge in the game's first five minutes. Though the Romanians staged a mini-rally to cut the USA lead to eight by the end of the quarter (20-12), the Americans never looked back, stretching the lead to 18, 47-29, by intermission. The Romanians conceded only three more points to the Americans through the second half, one in the third quarter to yield a 74-55 score, and two more in the fourth quarter, bringing the final tally to 94-73. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	20	27	27	20	94
Romania	12	17	26	18	73

Romanian forward Titus Nicoara paced all scorers with 9-18 (2-4, 7-14) from the court and 2-2 from the line. He recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds (2-8-10) to go with his 22 points. Power forward Vlad Sorin Moldoveanu also logged a double-double, scoring 13 and grabbing 11 rebounds, while guard Rares Andrei Mandache chipped in 18 points. The American had four double digit scorers, paced by Draymond Green's 16 points on 7-10 (2-3, 5-7) shooting from the field. John Jenkins (12 points), JayMychal Green (11 points) and Tim Abromaitis (11 points) also posted more than 10 points. Tevor Mbakwe, J. Green and Abromaitis posted team-high eight rebounds apiece.

The possession-based breakdown suggests things are returning to "normal" for Team USA...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	81.4	1.16	52.0	19.7	46.2	25.3	29.7	1.12
Team Romania		0.90	47.1	25.8	35.9	17.6	34.5	0.99

The numbers fall back into the pattern Team USA set in games #1 through #5 -- pace in the low 80s, shooting efficiency in the mid-high 50's, offensive rebounding rate in the high 30's/low 40's, etc. The Romanians offered little defensive resistence, allowing the Americans to post an offensive efficiency above 1.10 points per possesion (ppp), with shooting leading the way, as the PPWS, back above 1.10 where it was for tournament games #1 through #5. Defensively, the Americans held Team Romania to a 0.90 ppp, largely because the Romanians did not shoot efficiently (see their eFG%, 47.1), taking 75% of their FGAs as two point attempts, the Romanians converted at a 45.1% rate. Combining high turnover rates (in Romania's case they lost 25.8% of their possessions, over 1-in-4) which limit scoring opportunities with a poor shot conversion rate doomed the Romanians.

Next
Team USA will face Team Germany, which lost to Serbia, 55-77, in the quarter final round and beat (Group D #2 seed) Finland, 84-63, Sunday, for fifth place in the tournament. The game will be played at 7:00 am (Eastern DST) in Shenzhen University's Luohu Gym on Monday (local day/time). The Americans and Germans share a common opponent -- Finland. The Germans beat the Finns by 21 on Sunday (local day); the Americans beat the Finns by 60 (no, not a typo), 124-64, in their fourth tournament game.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website, along with a box score and post game quotes.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Falls to Lithuania, Plays for 5th Place

USA 74-76 Lithuania
For the second time in less than two months a Lithuanian team eliminated an American team from medal consideration in an international tournament, as the Americans dropped a two point decision, 74-76, to that Baltic Republic in the World University Games held at Shenzhen University earlier today. Team USA took a 2-0 lead on an Ashton Gibbs jumper and remained on top through the first quarter. With Team USA nursing a 15-12 lead in the second quarter, the Lithuanians tied it up at 22 near the quarter's midpoint, but the Americans stretched it back out to five at the intermission, 42-37, on the strength of a 9-5 run in the last 1:49 of the period. Vanderbilt's John Jenkins went 3-3 from beyond the arc to provide all nine of Team USA's points in the last two minutes, salvaging what had been to that point a dismal 1-5 efficiency on three point attempts in the quarter.

The Lithuanians used the intermission to regroup, and came out swinging with a 7-0 run to open the third quarter, taking the lead, 44-42, for the first time in the game. Pressured for the first time in the tournament, the Americans dropped the third quarter by a 28-19 margin, shooting blanks from three point land (0-5), an uncharacteristicly anemic 4-8 from inside the arc and committing three turnovers. An 11-16 performance from the charity striped, coupled with six offensive rebounds kept Team USA in the game. Down by four going into the last quarter, Coach Painter's squad managed to tie once, at 74, in the last 1:55, but a foul by Draymond Green on guard Mantas Kadzevicius put the Lithuanians up by two, 76-74, in what became the final score. Five attempted field goals by the American squad (three 3FGAs & two @FGAs) in the last 1:25 failed to drop, sending Team USA to the Classification round to fight for fifth place. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	15	27	19	13	74
Lithuania	12	25	28	11	76

Lithuanian wing Gediminas Orelik recorded a game-high 19 points on 6-10 (5-8, 1-2) shooting from the floor and 2-4 from the line. Three other Lithuanians, Marius Valukonis (11 points), Edgaras Stanionis (10 points) and Gediminas Zyle (10 points) scored double digit points.

Team USA was paced by John Jenkins' 17 points on 5-10 (4-9, 1-1) from the field and 3-3 from the line. Ashton Gibbs and JayMychal Green chipped in 16 points and 12 points respectively. Trevor Mbakwe led all rebounders with (4-6-10) 10, while Kadzevicius and Orelik paced the Lithuanians with six apiece.

The possession-based breakdown suggests this was a defensive struggle...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	87.9	0.84	38.1	26.2	26.7	46.3	47.8	0.91
Team Lithuania		0.87	54.2	27.3	35.6	35.6	67.9	1.10

The high pace could be attributed to the number of turnovers committed by both teams. Uncharacteristically, the USA team was, third quarter aside, unable to rebound their misses effectively (26.7%), which, combined with an out-of-character 30 three point attempts (44.8% of their FGAs; the USA averaged 19.4 3FGAs in their five previous tournament games), worked to diminish their eFG% to 38.1%, well below their tournament eFG% of 59.4% going into today's game.

Next
With the loss, Team USA will face Team Romania, the #2 seed out of Group A, who lost to Team Canada in quarter final play. The game will be played at 8:30 am (Eastern DST) in Shenzhen University's Luohu Gym.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website, along with a box score and post game quotes.

World University Games Preview -- USA & Lithuania

How They Got Here
With the end of group play yesterday the field reseeds for the next round of matches. The original 24 teams (23 actually arrived in Shenzhen to play) were divided into four groups of six teams and scheduled for a five game round robin with the other teams in their group. The two teams that finished with the worst records were supposed to play two classification round games to determine ranks #17 through #24, while the two teams that finished in the #3 & #4 positions play a two classification round games to determine ranks #9 through #16. Each groups #1 and #2 ranked teams will play three matches to determine the #1 through #8 order of finish.

Team USA swept their competition in Group D, going 5-0 for the first prelimnary round and taking the #1 seed. Team Lithuania was assigned to Group C, along with teams from Russia, Ukraine, Japan, New Zealand and the Philipines. The Lithuanians finished #2 with a record of 4-1, their only loss to Team Russia.

By the Numbers, Offense & Defense...
...Team Lithuania has averaged 79.7 possessions through five tournament games, about three possessions lower than the Americans (82.6), so this should not be a tug-of-war over pace. Though the sample is very small, the offensive and defensive efficiencies, along with the possession-based stats may be worth a look...

	Teams
Efficiency	Lith.	USA
Offense	1.07	1.33
Defense	0.91	0.87
Difference	+0.16	+0.46

Given the lack of crossover games to tie the field together, the differences can be deceptive. The efficiency margins however (when combined with four factors below) suggest that favoring the Americans in this game is probably justified. While Lithuania dropped their Group C final game against Russia (62-77), Team USA's closest Group D game was versus Israel (94-84). Russia finished Group C with the #1 seed, while Israel's 2-3 record sent that team to the #9-#16 classifications. The Lithuanians rely on two point field goals for their offense. About 67% of their FGAs are two's, and they count on two's for 60% of their points, the balance coming from three's (23%) or at the line (16%). Why the emphasis on two point FGAs? Maybe because they have problems converting three's. The Lithuanians have averaged a 30.2% conversion rate for three point attempts -- had they taken those points as two's, they would have had to hit at a 45.1% rate, well below their 58.2% conversion rate for two's. They did not take three's because they converted at a more efficient rate with two's.

A "Four Factors" comparison when Team Lithuania has the ball...

When Lithuania has the ball...
				FTA
	eFG%	TO%	OR%	FGA
Lithuanian O	54.1	20.5	38.7	33.4
American D	42.9	21.4	31.8	30.4

The key for Team Lithuania is efficient scoring by 6-6 wing Marius Valunkonis from Vytautas Magnus University and 6-10 Gediminus Zyle, a Euro-style forward out of Mykolas Romeris University. The two typically account for about 50+% of the shots when they are on the floor together. Should one or the other hit a dry spell, the Lithuanians need for a second group, generally headed by 6-7 forward/wing Gediminus Orelik (Kaunas University of Technology...Kaunas Tech?) and/or guard Ernestas Ezerskas (a teammate of Valunkonis at Vytautas Magnus University) to step in and fill the void. The Lithuanians have been a bit lax with the ball (see turnover rate), but give themselves a second chance on missed shots with strong offensive rebounding. Given the Americans have been strong on shutting down second chance opportunities, the battle under the Lithuanian's basket should become a strengh-on-strength matchup. The Americans have been strong at challenging for the ball (see their defensive turnover rate above); the two are fairly evenly matched on turnovers, so expect the Lithuanians to lose about one-in-five possessions; more than that and their offensive efficiency could be seriously diminshed; less than that, and the Americans could be in trouble defensively. The "Four Factors" look at Team USA's offense versus Lithuania's defense:

When the Americans have the ball...
				FTA
	eFG%	TO%	OR%	FGA
USA O	59.4	15.3	53.0	40.5
Lithuanian D	45.0	20.6	26.1	31.7

Though JayMychal Green has paced the team in the past two games, scoring opportunities have been nicely distributed throughout the rotation, with Ashton Gibbs, John Jenkins and Scoop Jardine all knocking down game-high numbers at least once in the tournament and exhibition games. All four, plus Trevor Mbakwe have scored more than 10 points in more than one game. A lot of shooter/scorers to cover and shut down. Like the Lithuanians, the Americans look inside the three point line for their scoring, taking 71.4% of their field goal attempts as two's. Unlike the Lithuanians however, the American squad has converted 41.2% of their attempts, comparable to a 61.8% two point conversion rate. The Americans can look to Jenkins (principally), Gibbs, Draymond Green and Darius Miller for efficient conversion of the attempt. They have been good enough at the two point attempt (54.5% conversion rate) to open up the outside for opportunities.

Finally...
...Assuming a pace for the game of about 80 possessions, the Americans (based on efficiency margins, see above) should win by double digits -- about 15 or so. There are, for Team USA a couple of wrinkles...

1. Team USA has yet to play a competitive, 40 minute game. Several Group D teams (Mexico, South Korea) were able to hang with Team USA for a quarter, sometimes a bit more. The Israelis led after a quarter, and were competitive to another quarter and a half (about 15 minutes, 25 minutes total). The lack of competition had Coach Matt Painter experiment with a different starting five and mix the rotation a bit, neither of which are particularly good when trying to develop game-to-game consistency.
2. The stakes grow immensely in the medal round(s). A single loss in the preliminary round will (almost...) never send a team to the Classification rounds, while a loss in the medal rounds will consign a team immediately to the classifications. Badly timed losses have historically plagued American squads in international tournaments. The quarter final round in particular is a trap game for USA teams. Whether the breakdown is lack of preparation from the staff or lack of understanding by the squad members is not clear, but American squads have a habit of finishing fifth in FIBA and FISU competition with a single loss.

This particular squad may dodge that bullet, as Gibbs, Denmon and JayMychal Green have played on international teams (in similar tournaments) during their college careers. Those three should understand the transition that takes place as the tournament shifts from the preliminary round ("group play") format to the type of single round elimination format used in the medal rounds.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Over Israel, Undefeated in Group D Play

USA 94-84 Israel
Team USA ended their Group D competition by defeating Israel 94-84, finishing with a 5-0 record. Team Israel gave Team USA it's best competition to date, outpointing the American by six in their second quarter -- the first quarter lost by Team USA in the competition -- taking a two point, 43-41 lead into half-time. Coach Matt Painter's squad responded with an explosive third quarter, outscoring the Israelis by 10, 29-19, to take an eight point lead, 70-62, into the last quarter. They added another two points to the margin to secure their sixth consecutive double-digit winning margin in the WUG Tournament.

Tied six times in the second and (first five minutes of...) the third quarter, the teams were not separated by more than four points through that 15 minute stretch. Team USA broke on top with an 8-2 run in the last 2:30 of the third quarter, fueled by buckets and free throws contributed by JayMychal Green (a field goal and two free throws), Marcus Denmon (a layup) and Tim Abromaitis (a layup). A Darius Miller jumper 15 seconds into the fourth quarter pushed the USA lead out to 10, and the Americans were not seriously challenged again. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	27	14	29	24	94
Israel	23	20	19	22	84

Israeli forward Anton Shoutvin logged a game-high 20 points on 7-13 (0-1, 7-12) shooting from the floor and 6-9 from the line. For the second consecutive game Alabama's rising senior J Green led Team USA scorers with 16 points on 5-9 (0-0, 5-9) from the field and 6-9 from the line. Trevor Mbakwe recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points to go with a game-high 13 (5-8-13) rebounds. Two other squad members Denmon (13 points) and John Jenkins (12 points), scored more than 10 points. JayMychal Green collected seven carooms. The Israelis' Shoutvin grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	81.6	1.13	55.6	19.6	44.2	35.2	22.2	1.13
Team Israel		1.03	51.7	24.5	29.7	46.7	37.9	1.15

Unlike the first five games (and a predictor of the games to come?) the USA coaching staff used 11 of the 12 players available, even as the playing time was the least evenly distributed of any prior game. The starters, Scoop Jardine, Jenkins, Orlando Johnson, Miller and Mbakwe played for a combined 49% of the available playing time, with four of the starters averaging 20.8 minutes.

Next
With the #1 seed in Group D, Team USA will meet #2 seed Lithuania from Group C in the quarter final rounds on Saturday at 3:30 am (Eastern DST) in Shenzhen University Main Gym.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website, along with a box score and post game quotes.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Overwhelms Finland

USA 124 Finland 64
Team USA secured the #1 seed coming out of Group D play as part of their continued domination of play in their pool. In the Shenzhen University Gym today they came within four points of doubling up Team Finland, 124-64. As Ray McCallum put it, "Before the game in film today, (Butler) coach (Brad) Stevens really stressed coming out strong from the get-go, being focused and playing hard. I thought that was what we did, and our walk-through this morning carried over to the game today...", as their 12 point lead (31-19) in the first quarter attested. The consistency and momentum continued into the second quarter, as Team USA padded their lead with another 13 points (32-19), taking a large 25 point half-time lead (63-38) into the intermission. Coach Matt Painter continued to employ a large rotation, using all 12 members of the squad with a relatively even distribution of playing time. No player drew more than 47.5% of the playing time (about 19 minutes) at his position, and fully eight players logged at least 40% of the playing time (at least 16 minutes) over the course of the game. Reeling from their 25 point first half deficit, the Finns sa the Americans nearly double their scoring margin by adding another 24 points to their lead with a 37-13 third quarter, pushing the score to 100-51. Team USA took their foot off the pedal in the fourth quarter and cruised home to a 124-64 win, a stunning 60 point margin of victory. With the game well in hand, USA Coach Matt Painter (Purdue) decided to experiment, "...We mixed up the line up a little bit tonight and swaped (sic) our point guards, Scoop (Jardine) and Ashton (Gibbs), just to get a different look and see how our guys would respond to it, and both groups played well..." The game starters, (Tim Abromaitis, the Greens -- Draymond & JayMychal -- Denmon and Gibbs) combined for 44% of the playing time, another indication of the large early scoring margin. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	31	32	37	24	124
Finland	19	19	13	13	64

JayMychal Green paced all scorers with 21 points (in 15 minutes of play) on 6-7 (1-1, 5-6) from the field and 8-10 from the line. Four other Team USA squad members Trevor Mbakwe (14 points in 16 minutes), Ashton Gibbs (13 points in 18 minutes), John Jenkins (12 points in 16 minutes) and Marcus Denmon (10 points in 18 minutes) scored more than 10 points. Draymond Green gathered nine (5-4-9) rebounds as three other Americans (JayMychal Green, Mbakwe and Darius Miller) collected six apiece. Anti Kanervo paced the Finns with a 20 point performance on 8-13 (1-4, 7-9) from the field and 3-4 from the line. Roope Ahonen scored 10 points while two members of the Team Finland squad, Petri Heinonen and Carl Lindbom grabbed team-high four rebounds apiece.

The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	82.6	1.50	63.3	14.5	62.9	54.7	48.8	1.31
Team Finland		0.77	41.4	24.2	35.9	14.3	38.5	0.86

Team USA logged their fourth consecutive game of < 80 possessions with an offensive efficiency of more than 1.13. In three of those games Team USA logged an offensive efficiency (points per possession scored) of 1.31, an impressive level of scoring efficiency powered by shot conversion efficiency (eFG% -- note their 60% rate versus Finland), offensive rebounding rate (50% or better in three of their four WUG matches) and ability to get to the line (see FTA/FGA above -- 54.7%) as a percentage of their field goal attempts. If Team USA misses their field goal attempts, odds are excellent (about 1-in-2) they will rebound the miss and/or get to the line (again, about 1-in-2). On the defensive side Team USA has successfully limited their opponents to an eFG% of <45%, forced turnovers at a close-to 25% rate in three of four games and kept their opponents from balancing the scoring deficit with trips to the line. The American squad is one of four among the 24 team field that remains undefeated.

Next
Team USA has secured a #1 seed going into the quarter final rounds, but still must face Team Israel on Thursday before taking on either Team Russia or Team Lithuania (for those following the U19 World Championships last month, sound familiar?) on Saturday. The USA faces off against Israel Thursday morning at 3:20 am Eastern Daylight Savings time in Shenzhen University Main Gym.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website, along with a box score and post game quotes.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Routs South Korea

USA 112 South Korea 68
Continuing their domination of Group D play, Team USA secured their third consecutive +30 point win over a Group D opponent Monday as they defeated South Korea 112-68 in the University of Shenzhen's Main Gym. In the most competitive first quarter so far, Team South Korea trailed by five, 24-19. As a hint of the coming board domination, Kentucky's Darius Miller took a shot inside the first 17 seconds of play and retrieved his own miss. His second attempt missed but Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe grabbed the miss and was fouled. The Americans stretched their lead out to double digits on the strength of a 10-3 run to open the second quarter. Pittsburgh's Ashton Gibbs contributed two defensive rebounds and four points on two field goal conversions. Greg Mangano, Yale University's contribution to the USA front court added four points of his own on 2-3 shooting in the paint and two boards, one on defense and the other, on offense, which led to his put-back. The Americans withstood a 15-12 South Korea run, and used the last 1:32 of the first half to stage a 4-0 run of their own on a pair of two pointers to push their lead back out to 13, 55-42.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	24	31	26	31	112
South Korea	19	23	12	14	68

Pushing the lead out to 20, 68-48, in the first five minutes of the third quarter, Team USA broke the game open with a 13-6 run (81-54) to close out the third quarter. The Greens, Alabama's JayMychal Green and Michigan State's Draymond Green, were especially active, grabbing six rebounds (JayMychal -- 2, Draymond -- 4) and scoring 10 points (JayMychal -- 4, Draymond -- 6). Two made threes aside (Gibbs & Scoop Jardine) Team USA took two point attempts as they shifted back to inside and pushed their lead out to the final stretch (44 points).

The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	82.1	1.36	59.1	12.2	56.1	31.7	31.1	1.19
South Korea		0.83	35.5	15.8	30.9	30.3	33.3	0.78

JayMychal Green scored a game-high 17 points on 7-10 (0-0, 7-10) shooting from the field and 3-5 from the line. Five other Americans, Jardine (16 points), Gibbs (14 points), Mbakwe (14 points), John Jenkins (12 points) and D. Green (12 points) all recorded double digit points. D. Green led all rebounders with 12 (6-6-12) caroms, recording a double-double in the process. Mbakwe's 11 rebounds also earned the forward from Minnesota a double-double. Mingoo Kim paced the South Koreans in both points scored (12) and rebounds (8).
Next
Team USA take Tuesday off and swings back into action Wednesday when they play Team Finland at 6:00 am Eastern time.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website.
The World University Games host posted the box score, along with the shot chart and play-by-play from the Shenzhen University website.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Hammers Hungary

USA 102 Hungary 53
The USA men's team upped their World University Games record to 2-0 with a dominant performance over Team Hungary Sunday in the University of Shenzhen's Main Gym. The final score, 102-53 hints at the gap between the two teams. Team USA had already doubled-up Team Hungary when John Jenkins hit his first of first of his record six three point field goals. Jenkins hit his second in the waning moments of the first quarter to stake the American squad to a 21-6 lead. Team USA stretched their lead to 39, 58-19 on a scorching 37-13 second quarter. The Americans outscored the Hungarians 26-6 in the third quarter, holding Team Hungary scoreless for the last five minutes of the period as they went on a 13-0 run. Jenkins hit the last of his six three point goals as the third quarter wound down, finishing the period with 20 points. Taking a 63 point lead into the last quarter, the Americans eased off as the Hungarians closed the final gap to 49, 102-53. The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	73.6	1.39	54.3	10.9	45.9	52.9	50.0	1.16
Hungary		0.72	39.7	27.2	38.1	24.1	45.0	0.82

At 73.6 possessions, the pace was not "exhibition-high", but still above what one might expect from a Division 1 (NCAA) game (VMI & North Carolina excepted). Their 1.39 points per possession (ppp) nearly doubled Team Hungary's 0.72 ppp, unheard of in international and D1 basketball. The American dominated the offensive boards, if they did not convert on the first attempt, they were nearly assured to either get a second try (45.9% offensive rebound rate), or go to the line (53.9% FTA/FGA). The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	21	37	26	18	102
Hungary	6	13	6	28	53

Next
Team USA plays Team South Korea Monday at 3:30 am Eastern time.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website.
The official World Univesity Games website posted the box score at USA basketball, USA Basketball's game recap and play-by-play from the Shenzhen University website.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Downs Mexico

USA 108 Mexico 67
The USA men's team opened their play in Group D with a solid 41 point win over Team Mexico. The Mexicans stayed with USA through the first quarter as Mexico took a two point lead into the second 10 minute period. The Americans used the second quarter to overtake the Mexicans and establish a lead they would not yield, building a six point margin 43-37, which they took into the locker room at the half. Coming out of the half time break, the Americans used a 17-9 run, fueled by Draymond Green and John Jenkins, who scored four and five points respectively during the run. The Mexicans rallied briefly, but could get no closer than 12 through the end of the game. Team USA took a 21 point lead into the fourth quarter, and like the two preceding quarters, simply added another 20 points to their margin.

Pittsburgh's point guard Ashton Gibbs logged 25 minutes and scored a game-high 20 points on 7-12 (2-3, 5-9) shooting from the floor and a perfect 4-4 from the line. Four of his teammates Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota -- 12 points), Marcus Denmon (Missouri -- 11 points), Orlando Johnson (UC Santa Barbara -- 10 points) and Draymond Green (Michigan State -- 10 points) each scored 10 or more points. Mbakwe made it a double-double as he also snagged a game-high 10 rebounds (7-3-10). Gabriel Giron paced Team Mexico with 13 points on 4-11 (0-2, 4-9) shooting from the floor and 5-7 from the line. The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	82.3	1.26	52.4	14.0	54.2	45.1	42.1	1.08
Mexico		0.78	44.4	22.2	29.3	33.9	26.9	0.93

The pace, 82.3 possessions, has to be driving USA Coach Matt Painter crazy as his Boilermakers averaged a very middle-of-the-road (for Division 1) 67.1 possessions last season. The team handled it well, dominating the boards, forcing turnovers allowing Mexico to score on only 37.2% of their possessions. Team USA held Mexico to 0.78 points per possession (ppp), due in very large measure (see Mexico's eFG% and PPWS above) to an inability to convert their shots (and get to the line on a miss). Indeed Team Mexico converted 23-47 (0.489) on their two point attempts and 3-15 (0.200) on their three's. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	22	21	31	34	108
Mexico	24	13	16	14	67

Next
Team USA plays Team Hungary in Shenzhen University's Main Gym Sunday at 3:30 am Eastern time.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website.
The official World Univesity Games website posted the official box score, a shot chart and play-by-play.

World University Games 2011 -- New Century Exhibition Game

USA 88 New Century 61
Near the end of a tug-of-war first quarter that saw each team grab leads complements of runs, New Century engineered a 13-0 run that secured the lead as the time wound down. Team USA was on the short end of a 23-17 score. Vanderbilt's rising senior guard John Jenkins hit three treys that fueled a 14-0 Team USA run which put the USA on top with a stunning 22-7 second quarter. The Americans took a 39-30 lead into the intermission and never looked back. "I think more or less, it was about not getting discouraged. We went through a couple of stretches in the first half when we shot poorly. John (Jenkins) got going in the first half to push the lead to nine at the half. We just tried to be positive with our guys, and it wasn't as much about adjustments. We stayed positive and stayed with it..." offered Coach Matt Painter, when asked about half-time adjustments.

Jenkins logged a game-high 24 points on a scintillating 8-12 (8-10, 0-2) effort from the court, yielding an eye-popping 100.0 eFG%. Jenkins was the only American to post double-digit points, though three teammates, UC Santa Barbara's Orlando Johnson, Yale's forward Greg Mangano and Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe recorded nine points apiece. Horace Wormely (Vanguard University in the NAIA) paced New Century with 13 points. Two other New Century players, Qui Biao and Gavin Edwards (Connecticut) notched 10 points apiece. Kentucky wing Darius Miller grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	73.2	1.20	54.7	15.0	40.0	33.8	56.7	1.11
New Century		0.83	37.3	16.4	24.4	40.7	25.0	0.87

73 possessions is towards the high-end for a Division 1 program, but a little low for a professional (NBA-level) team, but the stat that jumps out is the defense. Team USA held New Century to a paltry 0.87 points per possession (ppp) through a combination of strong shot defense (New Century converted 20-59 from the field, hitting 4-21 from three point range), turnovers (New Century committed 12 turnovers, losing 16.4% of their possessions and defensive board domination, limiting New Century to nabbing 24.4% of their missed field goal attempts. New Century could not convert from the field, and when they missed they did not get a second chance. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
Team USA	17	22	23	26	88
New Century	23	7	12	19	61

"...We simply wore them down..." -- Matt Painter
Though Scoop Jardine, Marcus Denmon, Draymond Green, JaMychal Green and Tim Abromaitis started for Team USA they only combined for 40.5% of the playing time. Coach Painter used all 12 members of the squad, allocating exactly 17 minutes (Abromaitis excepted) to every player in the rotation. Or to put Jenkins' production into context, the Vanderbilt forward scored 24 points in 17 minutes of play. "...We have a lot of guys, and we tried to stay fresh..." -- Matt Painter.

Other observations about the game....
1. Jenkins took a Jordan-like 41.5% of the shots while he was in the game. Denmon, a 6-2 guard out of Missouri was the second option on offense, unfortunately he was less effective, scoring three points on 1-8 (1-4, 0-4) shooting from the field. The trio composed of guards Ashton Gibbs and Orlando Johnson and forward Greg Mangano formed an more effective "third option" on offense, taking 20.8% of the shots when they were playing. Johnson and Mangano scored nine points apiece while Gibbs scored six points on 3-6 (0-1, 3-5) shooting.
2. Kentucky guard Darius Miller scored seven points on 2-4 (0-2, 2-2) shooting from the field and 3-6 from the line, which translates into a 50.0% eFG% and 1.02 points per weighted shot (PPWS).
3. Team USA owned the glass, outrebounding New Century 47-34. They grabbed 40.0% of their misses, and 75.6% of New Century's misses. Mbakwe led the way with a 23.5% rebounding rate on the offensive boards. Johnson (17.6%) and
4. The NBA lockout has benefited a number of foreign professional leagues, as NBA professionals look to overseas play (and contracts) to pay the bills until the league and player's union hammer out an agreement. New Century is a franchise in the CBA League, one of two professional leagues operating in Mainland China, and they appear to have three Americans under contract (or at least on their roster) for the exhibition game. Gavin Edwards, a 2010 graduate of UConn who spent part of last season in the NBDL's Springfield franchise (along with Villanova's Scottie Reynolds), along with Horace Wormley, a 5-7 point guard, who logged time with LA D-Fenders after a stint with Landshut in the German League. A 2011 Montana State graduate, 6-6 forward Danny Piepoli, apparently signed on with New Century in the last two months.

Next
Team USA returns to Shenzhen for the Opening Ceremonies of the World University Games. They meet Mexico 6:00 am (Eastern Time) on Saturday.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website.
They also posted the official box score.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Over New Century in Exhibition Game

A twitter report from China announced that Team USA beat New Century a professional team out of the China Basketball Association (CBA) by 27, 88-61 in an exhibition game in Huizhou, China earlier today. Vanderbilt guard John Jenkins, according to the same twitter report, hit 8-10 from the three point line. I will post more as news wire stories (and hopefully a box score) become available.

Team USA will open World University Game action on Friday in Shenzhen, China (host of the games in 2011) against Group D opponent Mexico.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Announces Final Roster

Team Roster is Set
USA Basketball announced the 12 man (final) roster for the USA World University Game Men's Team yesterday as the staff sent two more players home. The 12 who will continue to train in Colorado Springs include...

Name	Pos	Hgt	Wgt	School
Tim Abromaitis	F/C	6-8	235	Notre Dame
Marcus Denmon	G	6-3	185	Missouri
Ashton Gibbs	G	6-2	190	Pittsburgh
Draymond Green	F	6-7	230	Michigan State
JaMychal Green	F	6-8	225	Alabama
Scoop Jardine	G	6-2	190	Syracuse
John Jenkins	G	6-4	220	Vanderbilt
Orlando Johnson	G	6-5	205	UC Santa Barbara
Greg Mangano	F	6-10	240	Yale
Trevor Mbakwe	F/C	6-8	241	Minnesota
Ray McCallum	G	6-1	185	Detroit Mercy
Darius Miller	G	6-7	185	Kentucky

Tim Abromaitis, Ashton Gibbs and Scoop Jardine survived the cut. Sent home were the other two Big East players, last minute addition (to the tryout team) Shabazz Napier from Connecticut and West Virginia transfer Aaric Murray.

Next?
The team will continue two-a-days at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado through through August 7. The team will depart for China on August 8. The squad will play an exhibition game against New Century, a professional team in the Chinese Basketball Association, in Huizho, China, on Aug. 11. They will then travel to Shenzhen (China) to open World University Games play on Aug. 13.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Announces First Cut

The First Cut is the Deepest...
USA Basketball modified their World University roster yesterday as the staff added Shabazz Napier from Connecticut (Tu Holloway of Xavier declined an invitation to tryout) and then trimmed the roster to 14, sending home eight players from eight schools (and four conferences). Players the Turk visited over the weekend included, Brad Burgess, a tall guard from the Virginia Commonwealth (CAA) that ran to the Final Four in April, Kim English, another guard from Missouri in the Big 12, Yancy Gates a bfc out of Cincinnati in the Big East, Kris Middleton from Texas A&M (Big 12), Tony Mitchell (forward) from Alabama (SEC), Northwestern forward John Shurna (Big Ten) and Jordan Taylor, a guard out of Wisconsin (Big Ten).

The Current Roster
As of August 1, the 12 who will continue to train in Colorado Springs include...

Name	Pos	Hgt	Wgt	School
Tim Abromaitis	F/C	6-8	235	Notre Dame
Marcus Denmon	G	6-3	185	Missouri
Ashton Gibbs	G	6-2	190	Pittsburgh
Draymond Green	F	6-7	230	Michigan State
JaMychal Green	F	6-8	225	Alabama
Scoop Jardine	G	6-2	190	Syracuse
John Jenkins	G	6-4	220	Vanderbilt
Orlando Johnson	G	6-5	205	UC Santa Barbara
Greg Mangano	F	6-10	240	Yale
Trevor Mbakwe	F/C	6-8	241	Minnesota
Ray McCallum	G	6-1	185	Detroit Mercy
Darius Miller	G	6-7	185	Kentucky
Aaric Murray	C	6-11	265	West Virginia
Shabazz Napier	G	6-0	170	Connecticut

Notable among the Big East survivors, Tim Abromaitis from Notre Dame, Ashton Gibbs from Pitt who led the U19 USA team to a championship in 2010, Shabazz Napier from Connecticut who was added at the last minute and La Salle ex-pat Aaric Murray who will sit for a season before lacing it up for West Virginia.

Next?
The team will continue two-a-days at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado through August 7. The last two cuts will come via an announcement of the official roster just before the team departs for China on August 8.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Announces Training Roster

Six Big East Players Invited to Tryout for the USA Team
Late last week USA Basketball identified the 22 college players who will tryout for the USA World University Games men's team, the training sessions to begin July 29 in Colorado Springs, CO. Two, Tu Holloway of Xavier and Jordan Taylor of Wisconsin have declined their invitations as of late last week. The twelve who are selected will represent the USA and should depart for Shenzhen, China, site of this year's games, on August 8. The training team roster will include...

Name	Pos.	Hgt.	Wgt.	DoB	YoG	College	Comment
Tim Abromaitis	F/C	6-8	235	9/17/1989	2011	Notre Dame	Graduated, eligibility rem.
Bradford Burgess	G	6-6	225	4/29/1990	2012	VCU
Marcus Denmon	G	6-3	185	3/20/1990	2012	Missouri
Kim English	G	6-6	200	9/24/1988	2012	Missouri
Yancy Gates	F	6-9	260	10/15/1989	2012	Cincinnati
Ashton Gibbs	G	6-2	190	1/19/1990	2012	Pittsburgh
Draymond Green	F	6-7	230	3/4/1990	2012	Michigan State
JaMychal Green	F	6-8	225	6/21/1990	2012	Alabama
Scoop Jardine	G	6-2	190	8/9/1988	2011	Syracuse	Graduated, eligibility rem.
John Jenkins	G	6-4	220	3/6/1991	2013	Vanderbilt
Orlando Johnson	G	6-5	205	3/11/1989	2012	UC Santa Barbara
Greg Mangano	F	6-10	240	10/28/1989	2012	Yale
Trevor Mbakwe	F/C	6-8	241	1/24/1989	2012	Minnesota
C.J. McCollum	G	6-3	165	9/19/1991	2013	Lehigh
Khris Middleton	F	6-7	215	8/12/1991	2013	Texas A&M
Darius Miller	G	6-6	185	3/21/1990	2012	Kentucky
Tony Mitchell	F	6-7	210	8/7/1989	2013	Alabama
Aaric Murray	C	6-11	265	7/3/1989	2013	West Virginia	Transferred fro. La Salle
Alex Oriakhi	F/C	6-9	240	6/21/1990	2013	Connecticut
John Shurna	F	6-8	210	4/30/1990	2012	Northwestern

The six Big East players include Tim Abromaitis out of Notre Dame, Cincinnati Bearcat power forward Yancy Gates, Pittsburgh point guard Ashton Gibbs, rising senior guard out of Syracuse Scoop Jardine, West Virginia's recent addition Aaric Murray and Connecticut forward/center Alex Oriakhi. Abromaitis and Jardine are fifth year seniors, having eligibility remaining due to red shirts. Murray requested his release from La Salle and transferred to West Virginia at the end of the 2011 season. He will be eligible to player for the Mountaineers in 2012. Gibbs was the point guard on the U19 team that won the World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand in 2009. Oriakhi was a member of Connecticut's 2011 National Championship squad, and will return for his junior year in September.

Others of Interest
Trevor Mbakwe played his freshman year at Marquette under Tom Crean in 2008. Mbakwe left the Warriors after Crean took the Indiana head coaching job in the summer of 2008, and spent a season at Miami-Dade CC, moving over to Minnesota to play for Tubby Smith in 2010. Tony Mitchell logged minutes with the U18 team that won the FIBA Americas Cup last summer. JaMychal Green played on the 2008 U18 team that won the FIBA Americas Championship in Formosa, Argentina. Darius Miller bucked a trend set by his Kentucky teammates by accepting the invitation to compete internationally this summer.

The WUG Staff -- Two for One?
In an unusual twist, the World University Games team will have two sets of three coaches. Tony Bennett (Virginia), Shaka Smart (Virginia Commonwealth) and Sean Miller (Arizona) will serve as court coaches during the team tryout period (July 29 through August 7), while Matt Painter (Purdue) will serve as Head Coach with Assistants Cuonzo Martin (Tennessee) and Brad Stevens (Butler) will accompany the team to China and direct operations during the tournament.

About the World University Games
FISU holds competition in over 12 different sports for college students. Shenzhen University is the host for the competitions in 2012. The games will be held from August 12 through August 23 this summer. 24 teams will compete in the men's basketball tournament, the teams divided into four pools of six teams each. Assignment was by a random draw, held in April. The pools:

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
Brazil	Australia	Japan	Finland
China	Canada	Lithuania	Hungary
Czech Rep.	Hong Kong	New Zealand	Isreal
Germany	South Africa	Phillipines	Korea
Romania	Serbia	Russia	Mexico
United Arab Em	Turkey	Ukraine	USA

The competition will consist of a round robin play within each pool. After those five games, the field will recompose into three competitions. The eight teams with the fewest points (the bottom two from each Pool) will play a three round competition for places #17 through #24. The middle two teams from each Pool will play a separate three round competition for places #9 through #16. The top two point-earning teams from each Pool will advance to a quarter final round for medal competition. Winners will advance to a semi-final and final round, while the losing teams will compete for places #5 through #8. Every team will play eight games.

Signs of the Off season 2011 -- International Tournaments

The International Tournaments of 2011
USA Basketball, the organization charged with coordinating with the US Olympic Committee to select, train and field men's and women's teams for international competition has released their schedule of events for the summer of 2011, and the organization will select, train and field four men's teams between June (U16) and October (Pan American Games). A single pre-collegiate team, the U16 men, will the FIBA Americas Cup in Cancun, Mexico in June. Collegiate-aged teams, the U19 men's team and the World University Games men's team will train and play through June, July and into early August, with the Pan American men's team. The calendar for each of the men's team...

U16 Men -- Don Showalter Coach
When	What	Where
6/10-6/17	Training Camp	Colorado Springs, CO
6/21-6/26	FIBA Americas Championship	Cancun, Mexico
U19 Men -- Paul Hewitt Coach
6/16-6/24	Training Camp	Colorado Springs, CO
6/30-7/10	FIBA World Championship	Valmiera & Riga, Latvia
World University Men's Team -- Matt Painter Coach
7/31-8/06	Training Camp	Colorado Springs, CO
8/12-8/23	World University Games	Shenzhen, China
Pan American Men's Team
10/13-10/30	Pan American Games	Guadalajara, Mexico

The U16 Team
18 high schoolers who were named to the 2011-12 USA Developmental National Team and who participated in the 2010 USA mini-camp last summer will be joined by six more athletes who had outstanding seasons in 2011. Those 24 will train/tryout in Colorado Springs June 10 through 18, when 12 of the 24 will be named to the team to represent the USA in the FIBA U16 Americas Championship June 21 through June 25 in Mexico. The official USA Basketball press release of March 24 identifies all 24 invitees; Villanovans however, might be more interested in the progress of Beejay Anya a (class of 2013) forward/center out of Hyattsville, Md who attends DeMatha HS, Dakari Johnson, a (class of 2014) forward/center out of Brooklyn, NY who attends St. Patricks in Elizabeth, NJ (alma mater for Corey Fisher and Mike Nardi) and Isaiah Whitehead, a (class of 2014) off guard who also lives in Brooklyn, NY and plays for Lincoln HS.

The FIBA U16 Americas Championship is an eight team, two pool tournament that will send the three highest finishing teams onto the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship to be held June 29 – July 12 in Lithuania. The eight team field...

Argentina	Brazil
Canada	Mexico
USA	Venezula
TBD	TBD

...at this point has to favor the USA team (dominated the last U16 competition), Argentina (a historic strong competitor), Canada and Venezula as the cohort from which the three teams will advance.

The U19 Team
According to a May 11 USA Basketball press release, 19 players will tryout for 12 spots on the team that will represent the USA in the U19 FIBA World Championship in Latvia June 30-July 10. Of particlar interest to Villanovans is rising sophomore James Bell, who participated in the U18 tryouts last summer and was invited to tryout/train again this summer. Also from the Big East, Jeremy Lamb, a rising sophomore from the National Champion Connecticut Huskies and Trevor Cooney, a wing out of Sanford HS in Delaware will be an entering freshman at Syracuse this fall. The 16 team field will be divided into four pools of four teams each...

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
Brazil	Argentina	Canada	China
Poland	Australia	Croatia	Egypt
Russia	Latvia	Lithuania	Serbia
Tunisia	Taiwan	South Korea	USA

After round robin pool play, the top three teams from each pool will advance to a second preliminary round, where they will be placed in two pools of six teams each. Each team will play the three teams in their pool which they did not play in the first round robin. The eight teams who earn the top point value (wins versus losses, combined scores become the tie breaker) will be reseeded for a three round, single elimination tournament to determine places #1 through #8. The four (total) teams not qualifying for places #1 through #8 will play a similar, two round single elimination tournament for places #9 through #12. A quick glance at the first round pools suggest that the USA should advance easily to the second round. Serbia, a team that beat the USA World University Games team in 2009(?) should be the most competitive game through the first round robin session. Of the Pool C teams (the top three will be grouped with the top three Pool D finishers), Canada, Croatia and Lithuania should advance. All three (with Lituania and Canada most likely) should offer competitve games to the USA team. Of the teams in Pools A & B, expect the USA team, should they advance to the medal rounds, to face some combination of Argentina, Poland or Russia, though it is common for a team in the medal round to face a previous opponent a second time. Do not be surprised if Team USA faces Serbia or Lithuania a second time somewhere in the third round of play.

The World University Games (WUG) Team
The staff includes Matt Painter, head coach at Purdue as the head coach, with Cuonzo Martin, head coach of Tennessee and Brad Stevens, head coach of Butler serving as assistants. Like the U16 and U19 squads, a 12 man squad will be named at the conclusion of a tryout period (July 31 through August 6), with the games to follow (August 12 through August 23). Normally there is a warm up basketball tournament prior to the games. USA Basketball has yet to announce the 20 or so individuals who will be invited to tryout/train in late July. Often those not chosen for the U19 squad are invited to participate in the WUG tryouts. Given the Selection Committee is headed by Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and the squad's coaching staff is drawn from the Big Ten, the SEC and Horizon League, expect the pool of candidates to be dominated by players from those four conferences.