Butler’s Khyle Marshall Among USA U19 Finalists

Forward Khyle Marshall is one step closer to becoming the third Butler player in three years to represent the United States at the U19 World Championship.  The 6-7 sophomore-to-be was among 13 finalists chosen for this year’s national team at the USA Basketball U19 Trials in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Named as finalists for the U19 World Championship squad were Keith Appling (Michigan State), James Bell (Villanova), Anthony Brown (Stanford), Jahii Carson (Mesa High School/Arizona State), Tim Hardaway, Jr. (Michigan), Joe Jackson (Memphis), Jeremy Lamb (Connecticut), Meyers Leonard (Illinois), Javon McCrea (Buffalo), Doug McDermott (Creighton), Tony Mitchell (North Texas) and Patric Young (Florida), in addition to Marshall.  The 13 will participate in training camp, June 20-23, with the official 12-member USA U19 roster announced prior to the team’s departure for Europe on June 24.  The 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men is being held, June 30-July 10 in Valmiera, Liepaja and Riga, Latvia.

Marshall, who hails from Davie, Fla., played in all 38 Butler games in 2010-11, and helped the Bulldogs to a 28-10 record, Horizon League regular season and tournament championships, the NCAA Southeast Regional championship and a second straight national runner-up finish at the Final Four.  He finished as Butler’s fourth-leading rebounder (3.8) and fifth-leading scorer (5.8).  He’s one of nine players (and the lone freshman) who share Butler’s single season record for games played.

The USA team will be looking to defend the gold medal won at the 2009 U19 World Championship held in Auckland, New Zealand.  That title was the first for the U.S. since 1991!  Among the players leading the U.S. to the 2009 gold medal were Butler’s duo of Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack.  Hayward finished as the third-leading scorer on the U. S. squad, and he was named to the Best of the Best All-Tournament Team following the championship game.  Mack was named team captain for the U19 squad, and he finished as the team’s leading free throw shooter.

George Mason head coach Paul Hewitt will lead this year’s U19 World Championship team, and he’ll be assisted by Randy Bennett, head coach at St. Mary’s, and Cliff Warren, head coach at Jacksonville.

“I think our inside players are tremendous.  We have some good balance and some guys that can shoot the basketball.  Obviously, it was a hard decision to come down to 13, and we still have to make one more decision before we can go overseas,” Hewitt said in a USA Basketball release.

Sixteen nations will battle for the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship.  The United States has been placed in Group D, along with China, Egypt and Serbia.  The 12 remaining 19-and-under national teams are Brazil, Poland, Russia and Tunisia (Group A), Argentina, Australia, Latvia and Taiwan (Group B) and Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and South Korea (Group C).

(Photos by Steven Maikoski/USA Basketball)