Good Morning, Illini Nation: Illinois and USA Basketball

May 25—The training camp is underway in Colorado Springs, Colo., for the U18 national team where 28 players, including Illinois big man Morez Johnson Jr., are competing for 12 roster spots to represent the U.S. at the 2024 FIBA U18 AmeriCup from June 3-9 in Buenos Aires.

Here's video of Johnson pulling off a nifty spin move in the post for a turnaround jumper over Arizona State freshman center Jayden Quaintance (I'm pretty sure):

Illinois doesn't have a super lengthy history with USA Basketball (although former Illini Jerry Colangelo did run the show for several years). Here's a list of every Illinois players past and present who's played for Team USA in some capacity:

Olympics

Deron Williams (Gold, 2008 & Gold, 2012)

FIBA World Championship

Tal Brody (1967, 1970), Rick Schmidt (Bronze, 1974), Kiwane Garris (Bronze, 1998)

FIBA Tournament of the Americas

Deron Williams (Gold, 2007)

Pan American Games

George BonSalle (Gold, 1959)

World University Games

Craig Tucker (Gold, 1979), Jerry Hester (Gold, 1997), Cory Bradford (Gold, 1999)

FIBA Americas U18 Championship

Dee Brown (Bronze, 2002), Deron Williams (Bronze, 2002), Jereme Richmond (Gold, 2010), Ayo Dosunmu (Gold, 2018), Ty Rodgers (Gold, 2022)

FIBA U19 World Championship

Dee Brown (2003), Deron Williams (2003), Meyers Leonard (2011)

FIBA Americas U20 Championship

Brian Cook (Silver, 2000)

FIBA U21 World Championship

Brian Cook (Gold, 2001)