COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — University of Iowa incoming recruit Adam Woodbury is one of 24 of the nation’s top 18-and-under players that will attend the 2012 USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team Training camp.
The training camp, which will be held June 5-12 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., will be used to select the 12-member team that will represent the USA at the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship. The player invitations were issued by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team committee.
The 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship will be played June 16-20 in Sao Sebastiáo do Paraiso, Brazil. Players eligible for this competition must have been born on or after Jan. 1, 1994.
Woodbury will be one of 17 players from the high school class of 2012 and six players from the 2013 class on the training camp roster. Jarnell Stokes, who was a freshman at Tennessee this past spring, is the lone collegian on the roster.
Woodbury will become a Hawkeye in a few months after a successful prep career at Sioux City East High School. He is a three-time first team all-state, All-Missouri River Conference, All-Northwest Iowa and all-city honoree. The 7-foot-1, 235-pound center was named to the 2012 Class 4A All-Tournament team, averaging 15 points and 11 boards for the state runners-up. He became only the 21st Iowa high school player to surpass 1,000 career rebounds finishing his prep career with 1,009 rebounds, which is a school record. Woodbury led Iowa Class 4A rebounders his last three years (2010-12). He averaged 17 points and 11.6 rebounds per game as a senior and finished as Sioux City East’s all-time leading scorer and Sioux City’s second all-time leading scorer totaling 1,354 points.
Most recently, Woodbury competed in the prestigious All-American Championship, which was held earlier this month in New Orleans at the site of the men’s Final Four. The Sioux City, Iowa, native had a double-double, with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The training camp participants represent 16 states, including five from Texas; three from Maryland; two from California, Georgia, Massachusetts and North Carolina; along with one player each from Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin. Woodbury is the only player on the training camp roster who officially has committed to a Big Ten school.
Following the first three or four days of training camp, finalists for the team will be selected by the USA Men’s Junior National Team Committee and will continue to train at the USOTC.
The team will be led by three experienced and successful college coaches. Florida’s Bill Donovan will be the head coach, with Mark Few of Gonzaga and Shaka Smart of Virginia Commonwealth serving as assistant coaches.
The USA is the reigning champion from the 2010 U18 tournament. The USA brought home silver in 2008 after falling to host Argentina.
Eight teams will compete in the 2012 U18 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.
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.
For a complete list of the 2012 USA Men’s U18 National Team Training Roster, visit USABasketball.com.
