June 10, 2004

Wake Forest's Justin Gray, Chris Paul and Eric Williams are three of the 24 players invited to try-out for positions on the 2004 USA Basketball World Championship For Young Men Qualifying Team, USA Basketball announced today.

"I am honored and excited about competing against the nation's best college players for a chance to represent the United States," Gray said. "I know that Chris, Eric and I have been looking forward to this for weeks."

The trials are scheduled for July 16-18 at the New Jersey Nets' practice facility in East Rutherford, N.J. After the team is selected, training camp continues in East Rutherford through July 23, followed by four days of training camp in Saint John and Halifax, Canada, including a July 25 exhibition game against Canada's Young Men's National Team in Saint John.

The competition is July 28 through August 1 at the 2004 FIBA Americas World Championship For Young Men Qualifying Tournament in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The U.S. will compete against seven other teams from the Americas for one of the three Americas Zone qualifying berths for the 2005 FIBA World Championships For Young Men, which will be hosted next summer by Argentina.

The World Championship For Young Men and its zone qualifying tournaments are held every four years. Originally held in 1993 and known as the FIBA 22 And Under World Championship, it was designed for men 22-years old or younger. FIBA lowered the age eligibility to 21-years-old or younger in December 1998 and changed the competition name to the World Championship For Young Men. The USA has qualified for all three previous World Championship For Young Men tournaments and has compiled a 22-2 overall record while winning gold medals in 1993 and 2001. United States squads have also compiled a 15-2 win-loss record in the three Young Men Qualifiers, winning gold in 1996 and silver in 2000 and 1993.

The 12 players who make the squad will be guided by Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson, who will s, who will serve as head coach of the United States team. Sampson will be assisted by Tom Crean of Marquette and Dan Monson of Minnesota.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for Justin, Chris and Eric to play against the best competition nationally and perhaps internationally," Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser said. "In Kelvin Sampson, Tom Crean and Dan Monson, they have a chance to learn from some of the best coaches in the college game today."

The Wake Forest trio will have their work cut out for them. Eighteen players with previous USA Basketball experience will be among the 24 players at the trials, including seven who played on the 2003 USA Men's Junior World Championship Team that journeyed to Thessaloniki, Greece, and finished fifth with a 7-1 record. Dee Brown (Illinois) led the team at the Junior Worlds in scoring averaging 17.3 ppg. and he was joined on that team by Illini teammate Deron Williams, Ryan Hollins (UCLA), C.J. Watson (Tennessee), Maurice Ager (Michigan State), Mustafa Shakur (Arizona), and J.J. Redick (Duke).

Supplying additional USA Basketball experience is Aaron Brooks (Oregon), David Padgett (formerly Kansas), Brown, and Williams who helped the U.S. qualify for the 2003 FIBA Junior World Championship after finishing with a 4-1 record and the bronze medal at the 2002 FIBA Americas Junior World Championship Qualifier in Venezuela. Gray is one of 12 players invited to the trials who got their first taste of USA Basketball competition at the USA Basketball Youth Development Festivals.

Paul, McCants, Redick, Sean May (North Carolina) and Curtis Withers (Charlotte) all earned at least honorable mention All-America honors last season.

Wake Forest played against six of the 24 invitees last season -- McCants, May, Redick, Sean Banks (Memphis), P.J. Tucker (Texas) and Bracey Wright (Indiana). Illinois' Brown and Williams will host Wake Forest Dec. 1 of this season as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Wake Forest is the only school that will have three representatives at the trials. Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan State and North Carolina will have two players each at the trials. The ACC, with six players, will be the most-represented league, followed by the Big Ten (5), the Pac Ten (4) and the Big East (4). Gray, Paul, Williams, Redick, May, McCants and Withers give the state of North Carolina seven representatives, not including Texas' Tucker, who hails from Raleigh.

Complete details can be found on the USA Basketball website (www.usabasketball.com).

2004 USA Basketball Men's National Team Trials Roster NAME POS HGT WGT DOB YOG COLLEGE / HOMETOWN Hassan Adams G 6-4 201 06/20/84 2006 Arizona / Los Angeles, California Maurice Ager G 6-5 195 02/09/84 2006 Michigan State / Detroit, Michigan Sean Banks F 6-8 206 01/20/85 2007 Memphis / Englewood, New Jersey Josh Boone F/C 6-10 230 11/21/84 2007 Connecticut / Mt. Airy, Maryland Aaron Brooks G 6-0 160 01/15/85 2007 Oregon / Seattle, Washington Daniel Brown G 6-0 175 08/17/84 2006 Illinois / Maywood, Illinois Shannon Brown G 6-3 200 11/29/85 2007 Michigan State / Maywood, Illinois Justin Gray G 6-2 185 03/31/84 2006 Wake Forest / Charlotte, North Carolina Ryan Hollins C 7-0 225 10/10/84 2006 UCLA / Pasadena, California Sean May F/C 6-9 260 04/04/84 2006 North Carolina / Bloomington, Indiana Rashad McCants F/G 6-4 207 09/25/84 2006 North Carolina / Asheville, North Carolina Demetris Nichols F 6-8 205 09/04/84 2007 Syracuse / Barrington, Rhode Island David Padgett C 6-11 230 02/13/85 2007 TBD / Reno, Nevada Chris Paul G 6-0 168 05/06/85 2007 Wake Forest / Lewisville, North Carolina J.J. Redick G 6-4 195 06/24/84 2006 Duke / Roanoke, Virginia Mustafa Shakur G 6-3 178 08/18/84 2007 Arizona / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Curtis Sumpter F 6-7 220 01/30/84 2006 Villanova / Brooklyn, New York P.J. Tucker F 6-5 220 05/05/85 2007 Texas / Raleigh, North Carolina Charlie Villaneuva F 6-11 230 08/24/84 2007 Connecticut / Brooklyn, New York C.J. Watson G 6-2 175 04/17/84 2006 Tennessee / Las Vegas, Nevada Deron Williams G 6-3 210 06/26/84 2006 Illinois / The Colony, Texas Eric Williams C 6-9 275 03/26/84 2006 Wake Forest / Wake Forest, North Carolina Curtis Withers F/C 6-8 230 08/02/84 2006 UNC Charlotte / Charlotte, North Carolina Bracey Wright G 6-3 200 07/01/84 2006 Indiana / The Colony, Texas

Head Coach: Kelvin Sampson, University of Oklahoma

Assistant Coach: Tom Crean, Marquette University (Wis.)

Assistant Coach: Dan Monson, University of Minnesota

2004 FIBA Americas World Championship For Young Men Qualifying Tournament

July 28 Preliminary Round TBD Halifax Metro Center, Halifax, Canada

July 28 Preliminary Round TBD Halifax Metro Center, Halifax, Canada

July 28 Preliminary Round TBD Halifax Metro Center, Halifax, Canada July 31 Semifinals TBD Halifax Metro Center, Halifax, Canada

Aug. 1 Finals TBD Halifax Metro Center, Halifax, Canada