Chester's Evans on 2008 USA Basketball Junior National Select Team

-Courtesy of USA Basketball

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 4, 2008) -- Selecting a talented roster that features both coaches

and nine athletes possessing prior USA Basketball experience, USA Basketball today announced the coaching staff and 10 players selected for the 2008 USA Basketball Junior National Select Team that will compete in the 11th annual Nike Hoop Summit on April 12 in Portland, Ore. The USA and World Select Team will face off at 1 p.m. (PT) in Portland's Rose Garden, in a nationally televised game on Fox Sports Net.

Named head coach of the 2008 USA Team was Douglas Mitchell (North Central H.S. / Indianapolis, Ind.), whose most recent of three prior USA coaching assignments came at last year's Hoop Summit. As the assistant coach, he helped the USA to a 100-80 victory over the World Select Team in Memphis, Tenn.

Assisting Mitchell on the 2008 USA sideline will be John Olive (Torrey Pines H.S. / San Diego, Calif.). Olive's first USA coaching assignment came in 2007, when he led USA White to a 3-2 record and silver medal at the 2007 Youth Development Festival in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The 2008 USA Basketball Junior National Select Team roster includes: Al-Farouq Aminu (Norcross H.S. / Norcross, Ga.); Jerime Anderson (Canyon H.S. / Anaheim, Calif.); Ed Davis (Benedictine H.S. / Richmond, Va.); Demar DeRozan (Compton H.S. / Compton, Calif.); Tyreke Evans (American Christian / Aston, Pa.); Drew Gordon (Archbishop Mitty H.S. / San Jose, Calif.); Jrue Holiday (Campbell Hall H.S. / North Hollywood, Calif.); Scotty Hopson (University Heights Academy / Hopkinsville, Ky.); Malcolm Lee (John W. North H.S. / Riverside, Calif.); and Greg Monroe (Helen Cox H.S. / Gretna, La.). The coach and player selections were made by the USA Basketball Men's Junior Development Committee.

"Not only is Doug Mitchell experienced with USA Basketball and the Nike Hoop Summit, he also knows how to coach elite high school players, and when you only have three or four days to get the team ready, that knowledge is really important. Both he and assistant coach John Olive have the experience to bring this team to the intense level of play necessary in such a short time," said Don Showalter (Mid-Prairie H.S., Iowa), who served as head coach of the USA squad in the 1998 Hoop Summit and is the current chair of the USA Basketball Men's Junior Development Committee.

"Identifying a 10-man roster is always difficult," Showalter continued. "This is not an all-star game, and we expect the World Team to be very good. These kids are going to have to play some defense.

"This USA roster, though, is talented and balanced and will be tough to beat. We have a strong mix of skills and sizes, and we also have players that gained valuable experience at the 2007 USA Basketball Youth Development Festival. Those kids understand what we're looking for from a team standpoint, and they have a familiarity with international basketball."

The Nike Hoop Summit is the country's premiere annual basketball game featuring America's top male high school seniors taking on a World Select Team comprised of the top players, 19-years-old or younger. The World Select Team roster is expected to be announced in March.