ULL's Long a finalist for U.S. Pan American hoops team

Following four practices involving 21 hopefuls, Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns basketball star Shawn Long was one of 16 players announced Thursday by USA Basketball as finalists for the 2015 U.S. Pan American Men’s Basketball Team.
The finalists, who range in age from 20 to 35 years old, include one player who played in the NBA in 2014-15, four who played professionally overseas, and 11 current collegians.
Long, a Morgan City High alum who was named to the all-Sun Belt Conference first team for the second straight season and was named a Lou Henson all-American, averaged 16.4 points and 10.2 rebounds last season for the Ragin’ Cajuns. He also shot 54 percent from the floor.
The Morgan City native was the only player in the Sun Belt Conference to rank in the top five in both scoring and rebounding, and his 52 career double-doubles are the most by any active player in the country.
Long reached double figures in scoring in all 20 Sun Belt Conference games in 2014-15 and became just the third player in UL history to reach 1,000 rebounds. He also ranks second all-time in program history in blocked shots.
Also named as finalists for the 2015 U.S. Pan American Men’s Basketball Team were: Ron Baker (Wichita State), Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Bobby Brown (Dongguan Leopards, China), Isaiah Cousins (Oklahoma), Kellen Dunham (Butler), Nigel Hayes (Wisconsin), Ryan Hollins (Sacramento Kings), Keith Langford (UNICS Kazan, Russia), Taurean Prince (Baylor), Anthony Randolph (Lokomotiv-Kuban, Russia), Kaleb Tarczewski (Arizona), Romelo Trimble (Maryland), Denzel Valentine (Michigan State), Fred Van Vleet (Wichita State) and Damien Wilkins (Indios de Mayagüez, Puerto Rico).
“Making the decision on the finalists was very difficult,” Jim Boeheim, chair of the USA Basketball Junior National Team committee that is responsible for player and coach selections, said in a news release.
“The competition at this training camp was especially impressive; very competitive. We believed coming into the training camp that we had assembled a tremendous collection of talented players, and that proved to be the case,” Boeheim said
“Making player selections is always a difficult thing, but we feel confident that we have identified players who can help us form a USA team capable of challenging for the Pan Am gold medal,” he said.
The 16 finalists will continue training camp through Sunday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The official 12-member roster that will represent the United States at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, is expected to be announced Sunday or beforehand. The USA team is scheduled to train July 13-16 in Chicago at the Chicago Bulls practice facility.
Mark Few of Gonzaga University is head coach of the 2015 U.S. Pan American Men’s Basketball Team, and University of Colorado’s Tad Boyle and longtime NBA coach Mike Brown are serving as assistant coaches.
The 2015 Pan American Games men’s basketball competition will take place July 21-25 in Toronto, Canada. The U.S. men have been placed into Group A and will play all three of its preliminary round games at 8 p.m., including Venezuela on July 21 (8 p.m.), Puerto Rico on July 22 (8 p.m.) and Brazil on July 23 (8 p.m.). Competing in Group B will be Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
The top two teams from each preliminary-round group will advance to the medal-round semifinals on July 24, while the third and fourth-placed teams will play for fifth-eighth places. The semifinal winners will compete for the gold medal July 25, and the semifinal losers will play for bronze.
The USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee is responsible for selecting the U.S. Pan American Games Men’s Basketball players and coaching staff, which is approved by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
In addition to Boeheim, the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee includes NCAA appointees: Bob McKillop (Davidson), Matt Painter (Purdue) and Lorenzo Romar (Washington); and athlete representative Curtis Sumpter, who won a gold medal with USA Basketball at the 2004 FIBA Americas U20 Championship and a bronze medal at the 2011 Pan American Games.