UCLA freshman forward Drew Gordon was selected to compete for a spot on USA Basketball’s Men’s U19 team, USA Basketball announced on Wednesday.
The San Jose native is one of 17 players under the age of 19 who will travel to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., in mid-June to contend for a position on the team’s 12-man roster.
Gordon has experience with the national program, playing on the 2007 USA Basketball Men’s Youth Development Festival Red Team, which won the gold medal going undefeated in five games.
“It’s just a different level of intensity playing with players from all around the country,” Gordon said. “I’m lucky to even be considered as part of the team. Everybody just steps it up because everybody’s trying to improve.”
Gordon averaged 3.6 points and 3.4 rebounds in 34 games in his first season with the Bruins. However, with the departure of senior center Alfred Aboya, Gordon will likely have the opportunity to earn a spot on UCLA’s 2009 starting five as one of the team’s most promising young big men.
At the trials, Gordon will be among other young athletes with impressive resumes.
Also traveling to Colorado will be Duke guard Seth Curry, who led the nation’s freshmen in points scored while playing for the Liberty Flames last season.
Also on the list will be Wake Forest forward Al-Farouq Aminu, who teamed with Gordon on Team USA in 2007 and went on to garner a unanimous ACC All-Freshman team selection after scoring 12.9 points per game last season.
The squad will be coached by Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon, who led his team to the Elite Eight last season and who was also a former assistant to UCLA coach Ben Howland during Howland’s tenure at the helm of the Panthers’ basketball program.
“You get to be coached by some of the best coaches in the world and play against some of the future NBA stars,” Gordon said. “It definitely gives you a newfound respect for basketball. It’s not like playing in the rec league anymore. It’s going up against the best of the best, so I get to test out how good I am against them.”
The trials will be held June 16-18, and the finalization of the roster will be announced before June 25, when the team leaves for New Zealand for its first competition of the summer season.