So guess who's coaching the US 19-and-under team now?

[Olympic Fan]

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/18696958/kentucky-wildcats-coach-john-calipari-coach-united-states-u-19-world-championships

Direct access to the best young prospects in America?

I can't wait to read Adrian Wojnarowski's article complaining about what an unfair advantage that gives Coach Cal on the recruiting trail.

Just in case my sarcasm isn't clear -- most of us recall how Wojo ripped K for the unfair advantage of coaching Team USA, which allowed him to visit the under-19 team in Colorado Springs and meet with them one time! The source of the complaint was widely believed to be Calipari.

[MPandolfi]

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/18696958/kentucky-wildcats-coach-john-calipari-coach-united-states-u-19-world-championships

Direct access to the best young prospects in America?

I can't wait to read Adrian Wojnarowski's article complaining about what an unfair advantage that gives Coach Cal on the recruiting trail.

Just in case my sarcasm isn't clear -- most of us recall how Wojo ripped K for the unfair advantage of coaching Team USA, which allowed him to visit the under-19 team in Colorado Springs and meet with them one time! The source of the complaint was widely believed to be Calipari.

Don't forget his time as the coach of the Dominican National team, which by the way, happened to have Karl-Anthony Towns on it.

[Billy Dat]

Aside from recruiting, I am sure Cal wants to be in the mix for the Senior National Team gig. He started working the USA Basketball fantasy camps a few years back, now this. He's starting to pay his dues. It will be classic if K is eventually the one with the power to make the hire.

[Olympic Fan]

Let me be clear -- I don't have any problem with Coach Calipari getting this gig. He's paid his dues and he's a good choice.

I'm merely releasing my resentment of how Cal (through Wojnarowski and other media buddies) whined about the advantages that K got as Team USA coach. There's more than a little hypocrisy here.

[awhom111]

There is a lot of political intrigue here that I hope gets reported at some point.

I wonder if Shaka decided not to be involved or if he was not retained (he coached the U18s last summer to get them qualified for the tournament). He had three players on the team (Allen, Banks, and Coleman) so if this was not up to him, I could see some player blocking going on with certain schools. Kevin Ollie probably has too much on his plate to have wanted to take over, but Mark Turgeon might be mad if he was passed over (he also had representation on the team). It will be interesting to see if either is retained as an assistant.

From a team perspective, this is really good because it makes it a near certainty that the Kentucky-associated players will participate, which we will frankly need with players like Markelle Fultz not available. Honestly, Canada at full strength last summer should have beaten the United States. If they get their posts this summer along with the guards they had last summer, they will be a tough team to beat. The European teams are not as tough as some previous iterations, but remember that the United States has struggled at this age group until their recent commitment to strengthen the youth program.

This will be an interesting test of the relationships of other coaches with Calipari because there have been some high profile pullouts recently. The other thing to look for is players removing themselves from consideration due to the tournament being played in Egypt. I think the timing of the tournament will make it difficult for Calipari to attend the draft, so that could be a positive for all of us.

[MCFinARL]

There is a lot of political intrigue here that I hope gets reported at some point.

I wonder if Shaka decided not to be involved or if he was not retained (he coached the U18s last summer to get them qualified for the tournament). He had three players on the team (Allen, Banks, and Coleman) so if this was not up to him, I could see some player blocking going on with certain schools. Kevin Ollie probably has too much on his plate to have wanted to take over, but Mark Turgeon might be mad if he was passed over (he also had representation on the team). It will be interesting to see if either is retained as an assistant.

From a team perspective, this is really good because it makes it a near certainty that the Kentucky-associated players will participate, which we will frankly need with players like Markelle Fultz not available. Honestly, Canada at full strength last summer should have beaten the United States. If they get their posts this summer along with the guards they had last summer, they will be a tough team to beat. The European teams are not as tough as some previous iterations, but remember that the United States has struggled at this age group until their recent commitment to strengthen the youth program.

This will be an interesting test of the relationships of other coaches with Calipari because there have been some high profile pullouts recently. The other thing to look for is players removing themselves from consideration due to the tournament being played in Egypt. I think the timing of the tournament will make it difficult for Calipari to attend the draft, so that could be a positive for all of us.

Why would the location in Egypt cause players to pull out? Is it thought to be dangerous for Americans right now?

[awhom111]

Why would the location in Egypt cause players to pull out? Is it thought to be dangerous for Americans right now?

I think it's a case of perception being worse than reality. There are places that are more dangerous for Americans and places that are less dangerous for Americans. The other thing of course is that it's the kind of place where circumstances can change rather quickly between now and then. While FIBA would not have picked it without some assurances and USA Basketball is more than capable of making things safe while also presumably taking advantage of a unique travel experience, I would suspect that some players will consider not going with that as a as reason even if not publically stating it. There is some concern that some Asian players will pull out of national team play for the continental championship in Lebanon this summer, which would be sad because it's the second most basketball-mad country in the region and the last time they were awarded hosting rights it was taken away from the for security reasons.

[miramar]

How long before we get an exclusive U19 NBA Combine?

[awhom111]

Well, we finally have official news, including the assistants:
https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2017/03/mu19-coaches.aspx

Boyle and Manning are the assistants, which is nice because they have actually paid their dues for this and apparently they both know Calipari well already so they should work at least as well as Sean and Archie Miller did two years ago.

I doubt anyone in the media cares enough to find out, but I would really like to know what happened behind the scenes that caused the entire slate to be wiped clean for this team after last summer.

I am also undecided on how much detail I want to go into for international basketball this summer compared to past summers, but I plan on at least covering any Duke players involved.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Calipari such a copycat... :D