Players Dunn, McDermott; Ponds; Coaches Wright, Mack Earn USA-B Selections
NEW YORK – Providence guard Kris Dunn, former Creighton forward Doug McDermott, St. John's incoming freshman Shamorie Ponds, Villanova head coach Jay Wright and Xavier head coach Chris Mack all have been added to the USA Basketball’s summer teams.
Dunn and McDermott are two of 25 players selected to the 2016 USA Men’s Select Team that will train July 18-21 with the 2016 USA Basketball Men’s National Team during its training camp in Las Vegas, Nev. Ponds will participate in the USA Basketball U-18 National Team training camp.
Wright, the coach of the 2015 NCAA Champions, will serve as an assistant coach to head coach Gregg Popovich of San Antonio Spurs.
Mack has been named a court coach for the 2016 USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team training camp, which includes Ponds. The team’s head coach is Shaka Smart of Texas.
Dunn has won BIG EAST Player of the Year and BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year honors in each of the past two seasons and was a first team Consensus All-American in 2015-16. He is the only guard in BIG EAST history to win Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year accolades in the same year and he has done it twice.
McDermott, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, was the 2014 National Player of the Year and the BIG EAST Player of the Year. As a senior, he led the nation in scoring with a 26.7 average and finished his career fifth on the NCAA all-time scoring list with 3,150 points.
Ponds averaged 29 points, eight rebounds and six assists as a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. He scored over 2,000 career points and, as a senior, led his team to its first New York PSAL championship since 1954.
Wright directed Villanova to the National Championship, beating North Carolina 77-74 in the NCAA title game. Overall, the Wildcats finished with a 35-5 record. Wright was named the 2015-16 Naismith Coach of the Year. He has earned BIG EAST Coach of the Year honors for the past three seasons, the only coach in conference history to achieve that honor.
Mack led Xavier to a 28-6 record this past season and won National Coach of the Year awards from CBS Sports and Basketball Times. He has compiled a 162-77 (.678) mark in six seasons at Xavier. Training camp for the U18 National Team will feature 26 players and will take play in June and July before a final roster of 12 players will compete in the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championship July 19-23 in Valdivia, Chile.