Lance, Sylven, Kemba, Dom, Dexter Invited to U18 Tryouts

Lance Stephenson, Kemba Walker, Sylven Landesberg, Dominic Cheek and Dexter Strickland will attend tryouts for the FIBA Americas U18 Championship team that will go to Argentina July 14-18, ZAGSBLOG has learned.

Five of the 20 committed tryouts are from New York and New Jersey. Other players are pending and could still be invited.

Tryouts take place at Georgetown July 1-4, with the training camp set to run July 4-10. About a dozen players will make the final roster.

"(Stephenson) is certainly as gifted as any underclassmen there," Don Showalter of USA Basketball said. "Obviously, those kids (Stephenson, Cheek and Strickland) are really good and it's going be a great experience for them playing with older kids."

The 6-foot-5 Stephenson, a junior at Brooklyn Lincoln and one of the top players in the Class of 2009, may use the practices to take an unofficial visit to Georgetown. He has already visited USC, Arkansas, Seton Hall, Indiana and Louisville.

"Hopefully, while we're down there (at Georgetown), we can talk to some of the coaches," Lance 'Stretch' Stephenson Sr. said.

Cheek is a 6-5 wing at St. Anthony of Jersey City and Strickland, who committed to North Carolina this past season, is a 6-3 junior combo guard at St. Patrick of Elizabeth. The 6-5 Landesberg out of Queens Holy Cross committed to Virginia. The 6-2 Walker out of Manhattan Rice is headed to UConn.

Some of the top players who have represented the United States in the past U18 tournaments include: Shareef Abdur-Rahim (1994), Carmelo Anthony (2002), Chris Bosh (2002), Dee Brown (2002), Nick Collison (1998), Grant Hill (1990), Allan Houston (1990), Andre Iguodala (2002), Stephon Marbury (1994), Mike Miller (1998), Quentin Richardson (1998), and Deron Williams (2002).

Here's the complete list:

GUARDS

Malcolm Lee (Riverside Ca. John North/UCLA/2008); Kemba Walker (Rice/UConn/2008); Dexter Strickland (Elizabeth NJ St. Patrick/North Carolina/2009); Jrue Holiday (North Hollywood Ca. Campbell Hall/UCLA/2008); Darius Miller (Maysville Ky. Mason County/Kentucky/2008); Kenny Boynton (Plantation Fl. American Heritage/Uncommitted/2009); Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony/Uncommitted/2009); Malik Wayns (Philadelphia Roman Catholic/Villanova/2009).

WINGS

Jordan Hamilton (Compton Ca. Dominguez/Uncommitted/2009); Lance Stephenson (Brooklyn Lincoln/Uncommitted/2009); Sylven Landesberg (Queens NY Holy Cross/Virginia/2008); DeQuan Jones (Marietta Ga. Wheeler/Miami/2008); Wesley Witherspoon (Lilburn Ga Berkmar/Memphis/2008); Ari Stewart/Marietta Ga. Wheeler/Uncommitted/2009); Hollis Thompson (Los Angeles Loyola/Georgetown/2009); Terrell Vinson (Rockville Md. Montrose Christian/Uncommitted/2009).

BIGS

Drew Gordon (San Jose Ca. Archbishop Mitty/UCLA/2008); Kenny Hall (Stone Mountain Ga. Redan/Tennessee/2009); John Henson (Round Rock Texas/North Carolina/2009); Reeves Nelson (Modesto Ca. Christian/UCLA/2009).

****Several players, including Georgetown-bound big men Greg Monroe and Henry Sims and Syracuse-bound wing Mookie Jones, were invited but cannot attend because of summer school obligations. Other players, including 6-9 PF Derrick Favors of South Atlanta (Ga.) High, one of the top players in the Class of 2009, are listed as "pending."