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Denver's Dom Collier will compete for the U.S. at the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 12, 2011) -- Denver East High School (Colo.) standout Dominique Collier has been added to the 2011 USA Basketball Men's U16 National Team that will compete in the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, USA Basketball today announced.
A member of the 2011-12 USA Developmental National Team, Collier replaces Malik Price-Martin (Monsignor Edward Pace H.S. / Miami, Fla.), who was named on June 10 to the USA U16 squad, but returned home due to a death in his family.
"We're very saddened and our hearts go out to Malik and his family," said two-time USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year Don Showalter (Mid-Prairie High School, Iowa). "He was one of the original 12 who were asked to go down to Mexico with us. We feel bad for him that he can't make the trip, but we understand that family comes first and we certainly encourage that.
"Dominique was right there with us in the five practices we had last weekend. He showed a lot of things to us. He can shoot the ball well, he's got good versatility. I think he's really improved in his aggressiveness and he's really vocal. We're going to look for him for a lot of different things in our games."
"I called my mom and told her that I had been called back because something had happened to one of the players on the team and they wanted me to be back here," said Collier, who was the only freshman among the five-member 2011 Denver Post All-Colorado first team after starting all 26 games and averaging 16.8 ppg., 6.0 apg. and 3.0 spg. for his 21-5 squad. "Then, when I got back and found out that Malik's brother had passed, I'm just praying for him every night. I want to work hard for the team and for him. I want to try to win the gold medal for the country and for Malik, because he would have been a big part of this team."
The U.S. U16 squad will remain at the USOTC to train through June 17 prior to departing for Cancun, Mexico, to compete in the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship. The tournament, featuring eight U16 national teams from the Americas Zone (North, South and Central America and the Caribbean), will take place June 21-25 and the top three finishing teams will earn a berth to the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship. The 2012 USA U17 World Championship Team, should the U.S. qualify for the U17 Worlds, will be comprised of USA Developmental National Team members, and is scheduled for June 29 - July 12 in Lithuania.
In addition to Collier, members of the 2011 USA U16 National Team include: Larry Austin (Lamphier H.S. / Springfield, Ill.); Conner Frankamp (Wichita North H.S. / Wichita, Kan.); Aaron Gordon (Archbishop Mitty H.S. / San Jose, Calif.); Justin Jackson (Home School Christian Youth Association / Houston, Texas); Stanley Johnson (Mater Dei H.S. / Fullerton, Calif.); Tyus Jones (Apple Valley H.S. / Apple Valley, Minn.); Kendrick Nunn (Simeon H.S. / Chicago, Ill.); Jahlil Okafor (Whitney Young H.S. / Chicago, Ill.); Jabari Parker (Simeon H.S. / Chicago, Ill.); Theo Pinson (Oakridge Military Academy / Greensboro, N.C.); and Johnathan Williams (Southwind H.S. / Memphis, Tenn.).
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