A USA Men’s All-Star Basketball team is leaving for China to participate in an important international basketball tournament. The “Four Nations” tournament features the Chinese National team, The Canadian World University Games team and the National team of Latvia in addition to the USA. The team, organized and coached by NetScouts Basketball, will play a round-robin format in three cities for a total of nine games. The team will play six games in the Chongqing City area and then fly to the Wuqi District of Yanan City for the final three games. The team will return to the United States on June 20th.
The NetScouts Basketball USA All-Stars are comprised of Derek Needham 5’11, PG (Fairfield/Dolton, IL), Oliver McNally 6’3, G (Harvard, NBL Canada/ San Francisco, CA), Derrick Rodgers 6’1, PG (Portland/Rancho Cucamunga, CA), Mike Moore 6’5, G (Hofstra/New Haven, CT), Devin Sweetney 6’6, G/F (St. Francis (PA), NBL Canada/Washington, D.C.), Robert Crawford 6’6, G/F (Central Arkansas/Tulsa, OK), Roger Franklin 6’5, F/G (North Texas/Duncanville, TX), Jonathan Morse 6’8, F (Metro State/Boulder, CO), Isaac Butts 6’10, C (Appalachian State,, NBL Canada/Milledgeville, GA), Mike Davis 6’11, C (Seton Hall, Romania/Brooklyn, NY) and Jason Conrad 7’0, C (Chico State, Gilroy, CA)
Needham was the starting PG at Fairfield and averaged over 14 ppg the past two seasons. McNally, Sweetney and Butts all played for the Moncton Miracles of the NBL of Canada. McNally had a solid year at PG averaging over 10 ppg and 6 apg, Sweetney was the MVP and leading scoring of the league, averaging 25.8 ppg with a high game of 56 points, and Butts was the rookie of the year and leading rebounder (15.0 ppg/11.1 rpg).
Rodgers averaged over 6 ppg and 3 apg with Portland this year. Crawford is a 3-point specialist connecting on 42.9% of his attempts while averaging 14.8 ppg. Franklin had a solid 2nd season at North Texas after transferring from Oklahoma State (11.7 ppg/6.3 rpg), Morse had a strong senior season (14.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg), Davis is a veteran with time in the NBA D-League, Romania and Uruguay and Conrad provides additional depth at center coming off an improved season at Chico State.
The team will be coached by George Brosky and Will Biggs. George is currently an assistant coach for the Iowa Energy of the NBA D-League and previously was an assistant at Utah State, Boston University and other schools. Will has spent the last 16 years as Head Coach at Cal State-East Bay.
NetScouts Basketball organizes and coaches All-Star Men’s and Women’s teams which represent the USA in international basketball competition. This enables highly successful players who have recently completed their eligibility to represent their country, get an experience playing international basketball and provide an amazing cultural experience.
Media inquiries can be directed to Carl Berman at (541) 359-9653. Information on NetScouts Basketball can be obtained at www.netscoutsbasketball.com. Detailed articles on the “Four Nations” tournament will be found at www.netscoutsbasketball.com/blog. Email carl@netscoutbasketball.com to get on the mailing list for tour related articles, information and photos.
Best of luck guy!
Jeremy Dirks
Will the games be shown online?
Brianna Holmes
You can check the schedule on CCTV-5 http://cctvnews.cntv.cn/index.shtml. A new schedule changes each day. You will need to translate the site to English.
Carl Berman