Kansas Basketball Player Darrell Arthur Selected To USA U19 Squad On Saturday
June 30, 2007
DALLAS, Texas –
Kansas basketball sophomore to be Darrell Arthur was one of 12 players named to the USA U19 (under 19) squad it was announced on Saturday. Arthur and 11 others were selected from 18 players who participated in the USA Basketball U19 World Championship Trials in Dallas, Texas.
Three members of the team were part of last summer’s victorious USA U18 Team. The selected players will represent the United States in the 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship (players must be born on or after Jan. 1, 1988) that will be held July 12-22 in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Selected for the USA U19 World Championship squad were: Darrell Arthur (Kansas / Dallas, Texas); Michael Beasley (Notre Dame Prep, Mass./ Frederick, Md.); Patrick Beverley (Arkansas / Chicago, Ill.): Matt Bouldin (Gonzaga / Highlands Ranch, Colo.); Stephen Curry (Davidson / Charlotte, N.C.); Jonny Flynn (Niagara Falls H.S. / Niagara Falls, N.Y.); Donte’ Greene (Towson Catholic H.S. / Baltimore, Md.); DeAndre Jordan (Bellaire Episcopal H.S. / Humble, Texas); David Lighty (Ohio State / Cleveland, Ohio); Raymar Morgan (Michigan State / Canton, Ohio); Tajuan Porter (Oregon / Detroit, Mich.); and Deon Thompson (North Carolina / Torrance, Calif.).
Arthur, a 6-9, 230-pound forward played in all 38 games for the Jayhawks last year, starting seven contests. He averaged 9.8 points, fourth on the team, while playing just 19 minutes per contest. He also averaged 4.7 rebounds per contest and posted a team-high 56 blocked shots, while shooting 53.8 percent from the field.
“I was excited about the attitude that all the kids brought to Dallas. I think in a very short period all of the kids attending the trials understood the significance of what faced them and because of that they all approached the trials as if they were a part of the team. It was intense, it was competitive, but it also showed a lot about their character and how they played together. There was very, very little selfish play. I think they all benefitted from this experience and will be better players just for these couple of days,” said USA and DePaul University head coach Jerry Wainwright.
“In terms of the team, I think the one thing you need to have in today’s basketball is versatility. We have perimeter players that can play with and without the ball. We have very mobile inside kids. I think we really benefit from the fact that the majority of the team has one year of college basketball under their belt and all of them come from programs where they’ve been coached and they already understand the physicality of what they will be facing. I think we’re a strong, athletic, very quick team that will play the right way and one that has chance to represent the country at a very high level.
“What everybody has to understand now is how important each possession is in practice. Because we have such limited practice time, in order to build a team and to deal with what we will face we really need to focus on each and every possession in practice so that we can be organized when we play in these games. We’ll certainly try to impress upon the kids that the teams we are going to play have practiced a lot together and we’re going to have to overcome that with team play and we’re really going to have to be intense and we’re going to have to be focused on each and every possession,” Wainwright added.
Complete roster, training schedule, game schedule and under 19 history is available at USABasketball.com
