'An honor' for Texas Tech basketball's Grant McCasland to coach Team USA's FIBA U18 AmeriCup team
An already busy offseason for Texas Tech basketball coach Grant McCasland is kicking up another notch — or two.
Earlier this year, it was announced McCasland would be an assistant coach on this year's US team for the FIBA U18 AmeriCup, which takes place June 3-9 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. National team training camp, which will help whittle down the 29 participating players into a 12-team roster for the tournament, begins this week in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
McCasland and Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry will be assistants on the team to head coach Tommy Lloyd of Arizona for the event. Court coaches assisting during the opening phase of training camp include Coastal Carolina's Justin Gray, Drake's Ben McCollum, Saint Louis' Josh Schertz and Duke's Jon Scheyer.
This isn't McCasland's first time participating with Team USA. He was a court coach for the U19 team during the 2021 World Cup. McCasland said Tuesday he made plenty of friends and connections in his four days with the program back then, and hopes to do the same with a higher level of responsibility.
"To be able to be part of something for just short of a month," McCasland said, "will be great no matter what happens moving forward because those relationships, I think, cultivate and you're able to be around great basketball minds and great basketball players."
The 29 players vying for spots on the official team range from the 2024 to 2026 recruiting classes. Three players — Patrick Ngongba, Tre Johnson and Morez Johnson Jr. — all members of the 2024 class, have signed with their colleges of choice of Duke, Texas and Illinois, respectively.
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In total, 23 players going through training camp have yet to commit to a school. McCasland's staff has put more emphasis on recruiting the 2025 and 2026 high school classes, focusing heavily on the transfer portal the first two offseasons at the helm in Lubbock.
That, though, is tertiary to McCasland's overall end goal for this experience at most. At the forefront is relationship building and representing the United States, which has won the last six U18 AmeriCups and 10 out of 12 since its inception in 1990.
"What a remarkable opportunity, really, "McCasland said. "Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it'll be for the next two summers at this point — hopefully with the under-18s this summer and under-19s next summer. What I'll tell you is is the way I look at this genuinely is the opportunity to serve and love the people that are part of USA basketball, and how do we build this and continue to grow?
"What we hope to be is the best basketball in the country. ..."
LATEST ADDITION: Texas Tech basketball earns commitment from 4-star guard Christian Anderson
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech basketball's McCasland set to coach US in FIBA U18 AmeriCup
