May 31, 2012

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Collegiate head coaches Dannton Jackson from Xavier (La.), Frank Martin from South Carolina, Jay Price from Chattanooga State C.C. (Tenn.) and John Thompson from N.C. Wesleyan have been selected to serve as court coaches for the 2012 USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team training camp to be held June 5-7 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo. The coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee.

“I’m extremely excited and honored to be chosen to help out with USA Basketball,” Martin said. “It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to become part of the organization, and I’m extremely excited to do it with Coach Donovan, Shaka Smart and Mark Few. Billy has been one of the guys that I’ve known for such a long time and I’ve had former players who have played for him. I’m very thankful to USA Basketball for this opportunity.”

The four court coaches will assist the 2012 USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team coaching staff and the 24 players who will attend the training camp. The camp will be used to determine the 12-member roster that will represent the USA at the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.

Two-time NCAA national champion Billy Donovan from the University of Florida will serve as head coach for the U18 team, with assistant coaches Mark Few from Gonzaga University and Shaka Smart from Virginia Commonwealth University. All three members of the coaching staff have previously served as court coaches for USA Basketball training camps or trials.

The training camp will begin on June 5 with the first session scheduled at 5:00-7:30 p.m. (all times listed are MDT). Training continues with practices from 9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 4:30-7:00 p.m. on June 6 and June 7. The court coaches will depart on June 8 and finalists for the USA U18 team will be selected by the USA Men’s Junior National Team Committee.

The finalists will continue to train at the USOTC through June 11 before traveling to Sao Sebastiáo do Paraiso, Brazil for the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, which will be played June 16-20. Eight teams will compete in the 2012 U18 Americas zone qualifier, including the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. The top four finishing teams in the tournament will qualify for next summer’s 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship. Players eligible for this competition must have been born on or after Jan. 1, 1994.

In the hunt for a sixth gold medal, USA men’s teams are 38-2 overall in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship (formerly known as the Junior World Championship Qualifier), and have won gold in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010, silver in 2008 and bronze in 2002.

Syracuse University head coach and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim chairs the USA Men’s Junior National Team Committee, which also includes NCAA appointees Lorenzo Romar (University of Washington), Bruce Weber (Kansas State University) and Roy Williams (University of North Carolina), as well as athlete representative Jay Williams (2002 USA World Championship Team).