Anderson to share expertise at USA team trials

The honors and recognition continue to roll in for Missouri’s Mike Anderson. This time, it’s USA basketball that has come calling, giving the coach a chance to be a court coach at trials for the 2009 USA U19 World Championship and 2009 USA World University Games teams. The trials will occur June 16-18 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Full rosters of the teams in the trials are listed below, and will include some familiar names.

With the U19 team, Anderson might finally get a chance to ask Kemba Walker just how he made that ridiculous bank shot from the free throw line  at the end of the shot clock that served as the dagger in Connecticut’s 82-75 victory over the Tigers in the Elite 8. Likewise, maybe he can find some weaknesses in Kansas’ Tyshawn Taylor, who helped the Jayhawks dominate inside during a 90-65 win against Missouri in Lawrence.

The University Games team’s roster is made up of 17-24 year-olds and features seven players Anderson has faced in the past. He should pay extra close attention to four that he’ll see next year,Illinois’ Mike Davis, Iowa State’s Craig Brackins, Kansas’ Sherron Collins and Oklahoma State’s James Anderson. Fortunately, he won’t have to worry about Marquette’s Lazar Hayward and Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson and Robbie Hummel unless the Tigers were to meet the Boilermakers or Golden Eagles somewhere in the postseason.

The five other court coaches will for the event will be John Beilein (Michigan), Johnny Estelle (Navarro College), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Alan Magnani (Iowa Wesleyan College) and longtime NC State coach Herb Sendek (Arizona State University).

The head coach for the U19 team is Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon and his assistants will be Chris Lowery (Southern Illinois) and Matt Painter (Purdue), who seemingly should be with his two players on the older team. That team will be coached by Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan with two assistants still to be announced.

It’s difficult to say what the selection criteria for the coaches at this event were, but it’s worth noting that Anderson is the only Big 12 coach. It should be a great opportunity for him to showcase his excellent leadership abilities with athletes who are all significantly more talented than anyone on Missouri’s roster for next season (sorry Kim and J.T.).

Two Missouri players who would have the talent to compete at the trials, DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons, are both currently projected to be late second-round draft picks by nbadraft.net. Lyons is down a bit from the last time we checked in, going to Minnesota at 47th. Carroll’s name has been put on the board in the last month, as he’s projected to go 57th to Phoenix. Of course, it’s important to remember that draft projecting is a very inexact science that becomes significantly less accurate after the first round.

U19 Roster: Kemba Walker (UConn), Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake), Dominic Cheek (’Nova), Drew Gordon (UCLA), Kenny Boynton (Fla.), Darryl Bryant (WVU) DeAngelo Casto (Wash. St.), Seth ‘Stephon’s brother’ Curry,  (Duke), Gordon Hayward (Butler), Darius Miller (Kentucky), Arnett Moultrie (UTEP), Ralph Sampson III (Minn.), John Shurna (Northwestern), Tyshawn Taylor (KU), Howard Thompkins (Georgia), Klay Thompson (Wash. St.) and Terrico White (Ole Miss).

World University Games Roster: Dominique Jones (S. Fla.), James Anderson (Okla St.), Talor Battle (Penn St.), Trevor Booker (Clem.), Craig Brackins (Iowa St.), Da’Sean Butler (WVU), Sherron Collins (KU), Mike Davis (Illinois), Corey Fisher (’Nova), Lazar Hayward(Marquette), Robbie Hummel (Purdue), JaJuan Johnson (Purdue), Quincy Pondexter (Wash.), Deon Thompson (UNC), Evan Turner (Ohio St.), and Jarvis Varnado (Miss. St.).