Final Roster Announced

Surprisingly, the last two cuts from the Pan-American Games XV roster were two of their better shooting wings. G/F Bryce Taylor and SG Josh Carter were the last two to be sent home from the six day Trial. Along with the announcement, Coach Wright justified the coaches' decision to dismiss Taylor and Carter, who showcased some impressive skills in the Gooding Arena. "This was difficult of a decision as any I've been involved with in USA Basketball. Every kid here could play on this team and we would be happy to take them to Brazil. We just had to decide do we want to play with some extra guards and some extra bigs and maybe not as many wings, and that's really what it came to," stated Wright.

Carter never really got into a groove from downtown despite his reputation as a long-distance shooter. Without his shot falling, Carter slipped into invisibility. Though the other facets of his game were strong, he doesn’t stack up against other lanky guard/forwards on D. G/F Kyle Weaver’s lock-down defense solidified his position on the roster over Carter. The rising junior will have plenty of opportunities to build on this Trial and the success he’s already had with international basketball. Carter hit a three-pointer with 6 seconds left to defeat the Chinese Taipei 86-83 at the William Jones Cup representing the US on an “Athletes in Action” delegation.

However, the real surprise is the cut of Bryce Taylor. He’s scary athletic, which translates into terrific on-ball defense and game-breaking potential in transition. If his Oregon teammate F Maarty Leunen hadn’t burned through the nets during last night’s scrimmage, Taylor might still have a spot on the roster.

The cuts of two rangy and athletic guards beg one major concern: can Team USA’s host of small guards lock down their international opponents on defense? PG Drew Neitzel, PG Scottie Reynolds, PG Eric Maynor and SG Derrick Low are all 6’2’’ and under. Our guess is that the outstanding play of SG Wayne Ellington (6’4’’, 195 lbs.) has made the presence of too many other wings moot. He and Derrick Low will combine as a vicious 1-2 punch of accurate shooting and disciplined "chesting the ball" defense.

“I think it has been difficult for everybody on the team and even the coaching staff to really, really think like a team because we were all so concerned with the cuts,” said Wright. We became close, but everybody kind of felt like they had one foot out the door. Now I think everybody will feel ‘alright we’re in this’ and now we’re going to go down there as a team, as a family, and were going to start building that now. We’ve got to learn who is going to play what spots, who’s going to have what roles, and I think it will move quickly now that we know who the squad is.”

The final roster is thus:

- Roy Hibbert

- Drew Neitzel

- Scottie Reynolds

- Wayne Ellington

- Kyle Weaver

- Maarty Leunen

- James Gist

- Joey Dorsey

- D.J. White

- Shan Foster

- Eric Maynor

- Derrick Low