USA Basketball has selected its 12-man roster for the opening window of the second round of World Cup qualifying
Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP) — USA Basketball has picked up its 12-man roster for the second-round window of World Cup qualifying, as the Americans move closer to securing a spot in the field for next year’s event.
Jim Boylen will return as coach, assisted again by Ty Ellis and Othella Harrington.
The roster will include six players – Michael Frazier II, Langston Galloway, David Stockton, Dakwan Jeffries, John Jenkins and Eric Mika – who accompanied the Americans for the last qualifying window in July.
The other six players are Tyler Cavanaugh, Malik Ellison, Dewan Hernandez, Mac McClung, Robert Woodard II and McKinley Wright IV for games against Uruguay in Las Vegas on August 25 and Colombia on August 29.
The Americans went 5–1 in the opening round of qualifying from the FIBA Americas region, easily becoming one of 12 teams to advance to the second round.
Seven of the 12 countries going ahead will compete in next year’s World Cup, which will be held in the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan. The World Cup is the first qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The second round of qualifying consists of three two game windows – for the Americas region, they are August 25 and 29, November 11 and 14, and finally February 23 and 26. If the US tops Uruguay and Colombia, it could possibly get a World Cup berth in the November window.
Canada (6–0) is the only team from the Americas region to remain unbeaten in the first round of qualifying. Also in Canada’s group for the second round: Venezuela (5–1), Argentina (5–1), Dominican Republic (4–2), Panama (2–4) and the Bahamas (2–4).
The United States are in the second round group with Brazil (5-1), Uruguay (4-2), Mexico (4-2), Puerto Rico (3-3) and Colombia (2-4).
The top three teams in each group will advance to the World Cup from the Americas region, along with the best overall fourth-place team.
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FILE – In this March 10, 2020, file photo, Chicago Bulls coach Jim Boylen cheers players during the first half of the team’s NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Chicago. Boylen will remain as coach of USA Basketball for the next window of World Cup qualifying, which will take place against Uruguay and Colombia later this month. (AP Photo/Paul Beatty, FILE)