Senior Trajan Langdon was one of two collegiate players who still remained as a final candidate for the U.S. team that will compete in the 1998 FIBA World Championships July 21-Aug. 9 in Athens, Greece. Langdon joins Michigan State's Mateen Cleaves and a group of recent graduates, CBA players and other Americans who were playing overseas. There are 14 finalists for 12 spots on the final roster.
USA Basketball originally selected 12 NBA stars but announced in June it was dropping them from the roster after the players threatened to boycott due to the NBA's lockout.
Langdon, who turned down an offer earlier in the summer to try out for the Goodwill Games team, was among 30 players asked to try out for the World Championships team. Now, Langdon and his teammates have little time to prepare to battle countries whose rosters will still have NBA players.
"You need months to get ready and you're not playing your best basketball until the end of the season," Langdon told the Associated Press. "But we don't have that long, so the group we have has to come together quickly."
Brand leads way at Goodwill Games: Sophomore Elton Brand is playing a key role for the United States as it prepares to enter the semifinals of the 1998 Goodwill Games this week at Madison Square Garden.
Brand averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds in a loss to Puerto Rico Sunday and win over China Monday and scored 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting in last night's win over Brazil. He is one of 12 collegiate players representing the U.S. Brand's teammates include Connecticut's Khalid El-Amin and Georgia Tech's Dion Glover.
Earlier in the week, head coach Clem Haskins said that the team would revolve around a three-man nucleus of Brand, Utah's Andre Miller and Georgia's Jumaine Jones.
"It is definitely an honor to play for USA Basketball, for your country, your community, your school," Brand said in a teleconference before the Games began. "The fact that you are representing the nation means a whole lot to everyone.
"The USA team is very strong and we play very well, but those international teams can also play and they are playing better and better every year that I see them. Sometimes they don't have the same foot speed as the American players, but their shooting makes up for it."
The other seven teams in the field are Puerto Rico, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Lithuania and Russia. The U.S. has not win the gold medal since 1986, the first year of the Goodwill Games.
Brown, VanGorp named: Women's basketball players Peppi Browne and Michelle VanGorp were selected to USA Basketball's Jones Cup and Select Teams. After four days of trials in late June, the two were among 24 collegiate players chosen to the two teams that will compete internationally this summer.
Browne, a 5-11 junior forward, will play for the R. William Jones Cup team, which will tour North Korea in early August before participating in the Jones Cup tournament Aug. 23-27 in Taipei, Taiwan. The Silver Spring, Md., native was Duke's leading rebounder and second in scoring last year with 10.7 points per game.
VanGorp, a 6-6 senior center, made the Women's Select Team. This squad competed in a tournament in Puerto Rico from July 3-5 and from there traveled to Europe to play select teams in Poland and Spain.
VanGorp was the Blue Devils' fourth-leading scorer last season at 10.4 points per contest.
Horvath yes, Nelson no: The men's basketball team is 1-for-2 thus far in recruiting for next year's freshman class. Brett Nelson, a 6-2 guard from St. Albans, W.Va., announced June 4 that he will attend Florida in the fall of 1999. He is a consensus top-10 prospect for the upcoming senior class who also considered Duke, Kentucky and West Virginia. Nelson visited Duke during the UCLA game last February.
The Blue Devils received an oral committment June 26 from Nick Horvath, a 6-10 post player from Mounds View, Minn. Horvath, who averaged 19 points and nine rebounds per game his junior year, is ranked among the top 150 recruits for next year. He was named an honorable mention All-American by USA Today last season and also made the 12-man USA Basketball Men's World Youth Games Team this summer.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.