At the U.S. under-19 national basketball team tryouts, Georgia Tech forward Marcus Georges-Hunt made the first cut to 16 players Sunday, while Yellow Jackets teammate Robert Carter did not. The cuts from 26 players to 16 were made Sunday morning at the team tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“I made the first cut, so it’s like I’m doing something good,” Georges-Hunt said. “Whatever I’m doing, I’ve got to keep doing it and do it better than I did before.”
Southwest DeKalb alumnus Shaq Goodwin of the University of Memphis was also eliminated in the cut to 16.The final cut to 12 players will be made either Monday evening or Tuesday morning. The team will play in the under-19 world championships in Prague, Czech Republic June 27-July 7.
Tryouts began Friday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Georges-Hunt said he began slowly on the first day but began to play better Saturday. He said of the altitude (6,035 feet above sea level), “it’s not really bothering me like people said it would.”
Georges-Hunt learned his fate after the Sunday morning practice. After the session, coaches met before making their decisions. Players were called into a room and told that if their name was called, they could stay in the room, otherwise they had to leave to get their flight information to go home.
“I was in there wondering, heart beating fast,” Georges-Hunt said.
