2014 USA Basketball Men's National Team Tour To Include Exhibition Games In Las Vegas, Chicago, New York And Gran Canaria
-- USA To Face Brazil, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico And Slovenia In Challenging Exhibition Tour Prior To 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup --
Exhibition games versus Brazil, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Slovenia, and training camps in Las Vegas, Nev., Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y., and Gran Canaria (Canary Islands), Spain, highlight the 2014 USA Basketball Men’s National Team training schedule and exhibition tour announced today by USA Basketball.
The Americans open their training on July 28 in Las Vegas, the domestic home to the USA Basketball Men’s National Team since 2006. The USA squad will train daily July 28-31 at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and will cap the Las Vegas training camp with the 2014 USA Basketball Showcase, a Blue-White exhibition game, on Friday, Aug. 1 at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center. Tickets for the 2014 USA Basketball Showcase will be available for purchase beginning on June 5.
Following a 12-day break, the U.S. team will reassemble in Chicago, and train Aug. 14-15 and play an exhibition contest versus Brazil at the United Center on Aug. 16. Tickets for the USA game against Brazil will go on sale on May 16.
The USA will continue its World Cup preparations Aug. 17-22 in New York City, and play a pair of exhibition games at Madison Square Garden, the first on Aug. 20 (time TBD) against Dominican Republic, the second versus Puerto Rico on Aug. 22. Tickets for both of the USA’s exhibition games at Madison Square Garden will go on sale June 5.
The USA will complete its tour Aug. 24-26 on the island of Gran Canaria. Training Aug. 24-25, the U.S. will close out its exhibition tour on Aug. 26 (time TBD) against Slovenia at Gran Canaria Arena. Ticket information for the USA-Slovenia exhibition will be announced at a later date.
“Our training sessions and our exhibition games are vital in our preparations for defending our gold medal at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup,” said Jerry Colangelo, USA Basketball chairman and national team managing director. “We have again scheduled a challenging lineup of exhibition opponents for our USA Men’s National Team. We’re excited to give USA fans and basketball fans in general the opportunity to see their USA National Team play in Las Vegas, Chicago, New York and Gran Canaria.”
“The 2014 USA National Team tour will offer our players and coaches the opportunity to get familiar with each other and to gain critical international game experience against a variety of differing styles,” said USA and Duke University head coach Mike Krzyzewski. “Playing games at the Thomas & Mack Center, the United Center, Madison Square Garden and in Gran Canaria will be memorable for fans and valuable preparation for our team prior to competing in the FIBA World Cup.”
The 2014 FIBA (International Basketball Federation) World Cup, featuring a total of 24 national teams, is slated to be held Aug. 30-Sept. 14 in Spain. The 2014 USA Basketball Men's World Cup Team will play its preliminary round games in Bilbao, Spain, after being drawn into Group C along with teams from the Dominican Republic, New Zealand, Turkey and Ukraine.
The USA opens the 2014 World Cup preliminary round play on Aug. 30 against Finland, and then faces Turkey on Aug. 31 in a rematch of the 2010 FIBA World Championship gold medal game, a contest in which the USA claimed an 81-64 victory. Following a day off on Sept. 1, the USA resumes play Sept. 2 facing New Zealand. The U.S. will go against the Dominican Republic on Sept. 3, and will conclude its preliminary play on Sept. 4 facing Ukraine.
Each team at the 2014 World Cup will play the other teams in its preliminary group, and the top four finishing teams from each of the four preliminary round groups will then qualify for the Round of 16. Winners of the Round of 16 games will advance to the quarterfinals, while losers are eliminated from the competition. Winners of the quarterfinals games will advance to the medal round semifinals, while the quarterfinals losers are eliminated from the competition. Winners of the semifinals will advance to the Sept. 14 gold medal game, while semifinals losers will meet in the bronze medal game on Sept. 13. The games from the Round of 16 to the semifinals will be played in Barcelona and Madrid, and the bronze and gold medal games will be held in Madrid.
USA Basketball Men’s National Team
Colangelo, who also served as Managing Director of the USA Men’s National Team for 2005-2008 and 2009-2012, again heads the USA Basketball Men’s National Team program for 2014-16.
On May 23, 2013, Colangelo officially announced that Duke University’s Hall of Fame mentor Krzyzewski would return to lead the USA National Team for 2013-16. Syracuse University Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim also returned as an assistant coach for a third quadrennium, and rounding out the 2013-16 USA coaching staff were Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau and New Orleans Pelicans head coach Monty Williams.
Twenty-eight payers were named on Jan. 23, 2014, as members of the 2014-16 USA National Team and included NBA stars LaMarcus Aldridge; Carmelo Anthony; Bradley Beal; Tyson Chandler; DeMarcus Cousins; Stephen Curry; Anthony Davis; Andre Drummond; Kevin Durant; Kenneth Faried; Paul George; Blake Griffin; James Harden; Gordon Hayward; Dwight Howard; Andre Iguodala; Kyrie Irving; LeBron James; Kyle Korver; David Lee; Kawhi Leonard; Damian Lillard; Kevin Love; Chris Paul; Derrick Rose; Klay Thompson; Russell Westbrook; and Deron Williams.
Over the course of the 2014-16 quad, USA Men’s National Teams will compete in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup Aug. 30-Sept. 14 in Spain; if necessary, the 2015 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament (dates and site TBD); and if the USA qualifies, the 2016 Summer Olympic Games (Aug. 5-21) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Since Colangelo and Krzyzewski teamed together in 2006, USA National Teams have compiled a spectacular 62-1 record over the seven years, and won gold at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2007 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Just as important as the USA’s success on the court, the duo has helped reestablished the USA National Team and its members as positive ambassadors for the United States and the sport.
The USA National Team program between 2006 and 2008 compiled a striking 36-1 overall win-loss record in official FIBA and FIBA Americas competitions, and exhibition games. The USA culminated the 2005-08 quadrennium by finishing 8-0 to reclaim the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the USA’s first gold in a major international competition since 2000. The USA National Team also won gold at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship with a 10-0 record to qualify the U.S. men for the 2008 Olympic Games. In the program’s first year, the U.S. captured the bronze medal with an 8-1 record at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.
With Colangelo and Krzyzewski returning to lead the USA Basketball National Team for 2009-12, the national program compiled a perfect 26-0 win-loss record and won gold medals at the 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2012 London Olympics.
Since first fielding in 1992 a team of legendary NBA stars, USA Basketball national teams comprised of NBA players have claimed gold medals in 12 of 15 major international basketball competitions, while compiling an impressive 117-7 overall record (.944 winning percentage) in those competitions, and posting a record of 42-1 (.977 winning percentage) in exhibition games.
About USA Basketball
Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA Basketball, chaired by Colangelo, is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men's and women's basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the U.S. by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA-sponsored international competitions, as well as for some national competitions.
During the 2009-12 quadrennium, 1,273 men and women players and 235 coaches participated in USA Basketball, including USA Basketball teams and trials, and USA Basketball 3x3 FIBA championships.
USA Basketball men's and women's teams between 2009-12 compiled an impressive 264-35 win-loss record in FIBA and FIBA Americas competitions, the Pan American Games, the World University Games, the Nike Hoop Summit and in exhibition games.
USA teams are the current men's and women's champions in the Olympics; men's and women's FIBA World Championships (Basketball World Cup); men’s and women’s FIBA U19 and U17 World Championships; men's and women's U18 and U16 FIBA Americas Championships, and FIBA 3x3 Women's World Championship and FIBA 3x3 Women's U18 World Championship. USA Basketball also currently ranks No. 1 in all five of FIBA's world ranking categories, including combined, men's, women's, boys and girls.
For further information about USA Basketball, go to the official Web site of USA Basketball at www.usab.com and connect with us on facebook.com/usabasketball, twitter.com/usabasketball, plus.google.com/+usabasketball, instagram.com/usabasketball and youtube.com/usab.
For further information contact Craig Miller, Caroline Williams or Jenny Maag at USA Basketball (719) 590-4800.