MSU sophomore point guard Marcus Taylor might be going from East Lansing to the Far East later this summer.
That’s because Taylor is one of 45 college players who have been invited to the USA Basketball Men’s National Team Trials this weekend at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The trials, which run Friday through Sunday, will consist of a mass tryout for two different national teams - one squad that will compete Aug. 3-12 in Saitama, Japan, in the World Championship for Young Men Tournament, and another team that travels to Beijing for the World University Games from Aug. 22 through Sept. 1.
Taylor said he wants to play at the highest level and doesn’t have a preference as to which Asian country he visits.
“Whatever the highest game is, that’s where I want to go,” Taylor said last week. “I’ve never traveled out of the country, so I won’t know what to expect, but when I come back I’ll have a lot more knowledge.”
Craig Miller, USA Basketball’s assistant executive director for communications, said his organization tries to balance the talent equally between the teams. But the World Championship team, coached by Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, gets first dibs on players because it’s played every four years and the University Games are played every two years.
“We really put the strongest team in the World Championships for Young Men, but balance it so that the next-best players are not buried on the bench and can start for the World University Games team - and maybe lead that team in scoring, he said.
“We may give up a bit in quality of depth (on the World Championship team) to do that.”
Penn State’s Jerry Dunn will lead the University Games team.
At the conclusion of this weekend’s tryout, the pool will be cut from 45 to 32 players - with 16 players invited to each team’s training camp at the head coach’s university, where the rosters of both teams will be shaved to 12 players.
University of Virginia Athletics Director Terry Holland, the chairman for the USA Basketball Men’s Collegiate Committee, said Taylor could be desired by both Boeheim and Dunn not only because of his age, but also because he had a good showing in last year’s national tryout despite being cut.
“Certainly, he’s a player who even last year at the tryouts proved he is one of the better players,” Holland said. “It could easily come down to both coaches wanting him.”
Taylor, one of seven candidates who competed in last year’s Final Four, competed internationally last summer when his 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and one steal helped the USA Basketball Men’s Junior Select National Team beat an International Select Team 98-97.
Aside from some rule changes, Taylor said international play differs from the college game because teams are playing for worldwide recognition, not just in the United States.
“It’s a lot different because you’re playing for a different purpose,” Taylor said. “You’re not playing for a Big Ten Championship - this is for the World Championship, against other countries.”
