Former Blue Devils Kyrie Irving and Mason Plumlee, along with a full 16-man roster were announced for the 2014 USA Basketball World Cup Team roster. The roster was announced by USA Basketball National Team Managing Director Jerry Colangelo on Tuesday. They trained in Las Vegas last week before they made the final cuts. The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup is scheduled to start Aug. 14 in Chicago, Ill.
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The final roster selections for the USA World Cup Team are DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings), Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors), Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans), DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors), Andre Drummond (Detroit Pistons), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder), Kenneth Faried (Denver Nuggets), James Harden (Houston Rockets), Gordon Hayward (Utah Jazz), Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers), Kyle Korver (Atlanta Hawks), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Chandler Parsons (Dallas Mavericks), Mason Plumlee (Brooklyn Nets), Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls) and Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors).
Several of the athletes on the team have won awards when wearing the USA jersey in the past. Davis, Durant and Harden were on the Olympic team in 2012 when they won the gold in London. Curry, Durant and Rose were on the 2010 World Championship Team when they won the gold medal.
“We had an excellent training camp in Las Vegas and each player gave a great effort and deserves recognition and thanks for his commitment and hard work,” said Colangelo. “We’ve said all along that we would be proud to have any of the players who were in Las Vegas represent USA Basketball and the United States. This phase of the selection process was extremely difficult and very thorough, and it’s worth again mentioning that we are looking to select the best team, which are not necessarily the best players. We’re pleased with where we are at the point of our training and we’re looking forward to getting back on the court and continuing our preparations to represent the United States at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.”
The 2014-16 USA Basketball National Team coaching staff has a tie to Duke as well. The head coach for USA is current Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. The assistant coaches for USA Basketball are Syracuse University head coach Jim Boeheim, Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau and New Orleans Pelicans head coach Monty Williams.
The finalists will practice Aug. 14 and 15 at the Quest Multisport Complex in Chicago and play their first contest on Aug. 16. The first contest is an exhibition game against Brazil at the United Center with tip off scheduled for 8 p.m.
Hardwood Houdini
“We’re excited about where the team is headed. Really all 16 guys have a chance to make the team, which usually does not happen in a training camp, and it shows that all of the guys thus far have done an excellent job. Then it’s just a matter of finding what chemistry that we can develop with the entire group and I don’t think we’ll know that until we play some exhibition games. The 16 guys give us a chance to look at a way of playing in a number of different ways and we just have to figure out what those ways are and then the 12 who will fit best,” said Krzyzewski.
The team will continue in New York to play exhibition games at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 20 against Dominican Republic and again on Aug. 22 versus Puerto Rico. After that, the team heads across the Atlantic to play in the final exhibition game on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain. After practicing for two days over Aug. 24 and 25, the U.S. is scheduled to play Slovenia on Aug. 26.
The team travels yet again after the Slovenia game to Dakar, Senegal to conduct a basketball clinic for children. Once the clinic is finished, the squad returns to Bilbao, Spain for the FIBA Basketball World Cup preliminary games.
On the preliminary slate for the USA is Finland, followed by Turkey, then New Zealand, the Dominican Republic and finally Ukraine. If the United States advance depends on how their group play goes.