MSU sophomore point guard Marcus Taylor was selected as one of 16 finalists for USA Basketball’s World Championship for Young Men team Sunday, after a weekend-long tryout at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Taylor will try to make the team’s final cut July 22-26 at a training camp in Dallas, where the 16 finalists will be whittled to a 12-man roster. If selected, Taylor will play with the U.S. team as it competes Aug. 3-12 in Saitama, Japan, in the World Championship for Young Men Tournament.
Terry Holland, USA Basketball Men’s Collegiate Committee chairman, said the committee and coaches were impressed with Taylor’s continuously improving game.
“He came close to making the cut last year,” Holland said. “We were familiar with Marcus’ ability. He is a good young player who seems to be getting better and better.”
Taylor, who was cut at the training camp for a USA Basketball national team last year, said a year of college basketball under his belt made all the difference.
“Last year, I did not know what to expect,” Taylor said Wednesday. “This year, I had a different outlook and I knew what I wanted to do and did it.”
Among Taylor’s competition for the U.S. team is Michigan’s LaVell Blanchard. Taylor said he didn’t get a chance to face his in-state foe directly, because they played on the same team the entire tryout in Colorado. Taylor added he didn’t have a problem setting aside his rivalry with Blanchard.
“That’s not that hard,” Taylor said. “You just have to refocus because it’s a totally different game. It’s not hard (to refocus) when you’re on the same team playing because I had to do it in high school all-star games.”
Craig Miller, USA Basketball’s assistant executive director for communications, said there are always players at U.S. team tryouts from both sides of big-time rivalries, but the players know how to shelve those emotions.
“They put those aside in recognition that this is a USA team and they are representing their country,” Miller said. “I don’t think rivalries go head to head on the court.”
In addition to Blanchard, Taylor will jockey for a spot on the team with Troy Bell of Boston College, Carlos Boozer of Duke, Caron Butler of Connecticut, Nick Collison of Kansas, Brian Cook of Illinois, Chris Duhon of Duke, Reggie Evans of Iowa, Jared Jeffries of Indiana, Dahntay Jones of Duke, Jason Kapono of UCLA, Jameer Nelson of St. Joseph’s, Michael Sweetney of Georgetown, David West of Xavier and Frank Williams of Illinois.
But if Taylor fails to make the team, there is a possibility he could get picked up by the USA Basketball team competing in the World University Games - a team selected from a pool of players last weekend at the same tryouts as the World Championship team.
“The 10-person committee will determine that on a case-to-case basis,” said Caroline Williams, assistant director of media and public relations for USA Basketball. “If they need a person at that position because of injury or summer school, they will do it.”
