The University of Georgia's Howard "Trey" Thompkins was one of 12 basketball players selected to represent the United States in the FIBA Under-19 World Championships in New Zealand next month.
The 6-foot-10 rising sophomore from Lithonia, who attended The Wesleyan School in Norcross, made the cut Thursday from among 17 players invited to tryouts at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. He will remain in training there through June 25, at which time the team will for Auckland, New Zealand, to compete in the World Championships July 2-12.
"Any great player who has ever played this game has gone through USA and competed at the international level," said Thompkins, who averaged 12.7 points and 7.4 rebounds as a freshman with the Bulldogs last season. "I just find it a blessing from God to be able to participate in something like this. Moving forward, becoming a unit and winning are the most important things, so we can come back with a gold medal. We're not settling for anything else and I'm not expecting anything else."
Others players selected were: DeAngelo Casto (Washington State), Seth Curry (Duke), Ashton Gibbs (Pittsburgh), Gordon Hayward (Butler), Shelvin Mack (Butler), Darius Miller (Kentucky), Arnett Moultrie (UTEP), John Shurna (Northwestern), Tyshawn Taylor (Kansas), Klay Thompson (Washington State) and Terrico White (Ole Miss).
The selections were made by USA Basketball's men's junior national team committee, chaired by Syracuse University head coach Jim Boeheim.
"I think this is a well-balanced team," Boeheim said. "They'll have to get the job done as a team. They may not have a star-caliber player, but they have a lot of very good players. At this stage the U19 team looks like they will work very well together."
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