USA BASKETBALL: Texas duo, targets make 18U team; Five-star big man tidbit

HOUSTON – The second day of the final Team USA 18U practices wrapped up late Tuesday evening, and it was the final day the roster would include more than the final 12 members. Tonight, USA Basketball, who will be led by head coach Shaka Smart and assistants Kevin Ollie (Connecticut) and Mark Turgeon (Maryland) during the FIBA Americas Championship in Chile, announced the 12 members of the 18U team. And the list includes two Longhorns and some key recruiting targets.

In addition to Texas big men Jarrett Allen and James Banks, the roster includes the following:

2017 point guard Matt Coleman
2017 point guard Quade Green
2017 combo guard Trae Young
2016 combo guard Markelle Fultz
2016 guard/wing Kevin Huerter
2017 guard/wing Hamidou Diallo
2017 guard/wing M.J. Walker
2017 wing/forward Michael Porter Jr.
2017 wing/forward P.J. Washington
2017 big Mohamad Bamba

Allen stood out the most among all players Monday, and Banks followed a really solid performance in Colorado Springs, Colorado during the trials with similar efforts in Houston this week. The duo that calls itself the “Fro Bros” will give USA a skilled four that can really, really run the floor and a physical, shot-blocking, constantly-talking center.

Today, Allen, a five-star prospect and McDonald’s All-American out of St. Stephen’s in Austin, showed soft touch and ability to use both hands in the paint to convert baby-hook shots a day after scoring all eight points during his team’s scrimmage thanks mostly to his athleticism and motor. Banks displayed impressive passing for a big, and saw the floor well, which led to him finding a few wide open shooters around the perimeter.

The roster includes great balance. There are a couple of true point guards, playmaking combo guards, shooters, extremely athletic and quick wings that can really press with length, mismatch wings/fours, terrific length and ability to get up and down at the four spot, and a physical, bruising shot-blocker at center.

--- Smart getting more time to be around Coleman, Washington, and Young can’t be a bad thing for Texas. The former are no-doubt top targets that Texas is in great shape to receive an official visit from, and the latter is still definitely considering Texas.

Washington again reiterated that Texas is one of the four official visits, along with Kentucky, North Carolina and Arizona, he has picked out right now, and said everything is “pretty much the same” in recruiting right now. The No. 19 prospect overall stated Tuesday night that he’ll really start focusing more on recruiting and setting up dates for those official visits once July ends.

The No. 14 overall prospect, Young, generally described his recruitment right now the same way. The usual suspects – he listed off Kentucky, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Washington and Texas Tech – are still the ones after Young the most and making him a priority. But the guard with unlimited range also added Tuesday evening that Georgetown and Notre Dame have started to reach out.

Young is just a few days removed from winning the prestigious Nike EYBL Peach Jam.

“That’s the best feeling I’ve had. I’ve never seen a crowd come out to a high school AAU game like that. It’s the craziest thing. You get the chills,” he said about the moment and that being the highlight of his recruiting process and AAU career.

The Oklahoma resident combined with Michael Porter Jr. to form a duo that dominated in the title game, and that duo is also on the USA 18U roster. But will it play on the same college team too?

“It's definitely a possibility, but at the same time we’re going to support each other and do what’s best for each other… We’re going to do the best to make it happen, but also do the best for us at the same time,” stated Young about the possibility of he and Porter playing together in college.

Most believer Porter, whose father is now a coach at Washington, is a strong bet to be a Husky.

Young stated he doesn’t have any officials set up at the moment, but did make it to Texas for an unofficial visit early in June.

“It was great. Had a great time. Got to tour the whole campus. Got to see it all and spent a lot of time with coach Smart and the staff and with Jarrett Allen and Andrew Jones. It was nice,” he said about the visit. “Loved the campus. I grew up a UT fan.”

After regaining his legs – Young said he flew from the Peach Jam back home to Oklahoma on Sunday, hung out at home for about nine hours, went to the Oklahoma City airport and flew to Houston for USA basketball – the five-star prospect shot the ball well on Tuesday, and made plays, including defensively with some scrappy competitiveness. It was his best day in the USA camp, and he was in much improved form compared to some previous days.

--- Don’t underestimate the value of a loud floor general that tries to run the team. That’s what Coleman did throughout the USA camp, and that’s probably a big reason why he made the final roster, along with a jumper that’s shown signs of some improvement, stellar on-ball defense, and some play-making on offense.

--- It’s unclear if USA, who worked on press defense again on Tuesday, will press all the time, but one thing about the press is clear: M.J. Walker and Hamidou Diallo, especially the latter, are going to cause some turnovers in Chile as terrifyingly athletic and tough pressers. Walker shot the ball well on Tuesday.

Could the recruitment of the nation’s No. 4 overall 2017 prospect Mohamed Bamba become one Texas fans should follow? Longhorn fans shouldn't get their hopes up, but the five-star's brother offered an interesting update.

Bamba’s older brother Ibrahim Johnson, a former college basketball player himself, is helping his 6-11 “little bro” through the recruiting process that he saw older brother, and 2011 Arizona signee, Sidiki Johnson go through as well.

“As for his recruitment, it’s a bit odd because there are a bunch of schools that offered, but my family isn’t comfortable with any specific school yet. When my family is consulted, and really tied into the schools, that’s when the recruitment process, as far as cutting down, will really begin for Mohamed,” said Johnson, who added some schools that are intriguing, because of the style and coaching, are Texas, Louisville, Syracuse, and Connecticut among the others that have been recruiting Bamba already.

Duke and Kentucky are perceived leaders. But at this point it sounds like Bamba and his family want to establish better relationships with programs recruiting the 6-11 Harlem native with a truly rare 7-9 wingspan, and that there are no leaders or a group of schools standing out from the pack.