Already working out together for the McDonald's All-American West team this week, Arizona signees Nico Mannion and Josh Green were both named to the World Team for the April 12 Nike Hoop Summit Game.
Though both players are now based in Phoenix, Green is from Australia and Mannion was born in Italy, where his father played professional basketball and his mother was a pro volleyball player.
Mannion also played well for the Italian national team last summer in the FIBA World Cup European qualifiers, an experience his father said led them to think he could reclassify and skip his senior season, which Mannion did by jumping to the class of 2019. He has also participated in USA Basketball events.
Green has played for the Australian U18 team and the country's basketball federation is trying to get him to play in the U19 World Cup in June.
Both Mannion and Green told Adam Zagoria that they expect Sean Miller to be coaching at UA next season. Mannion has been consistent with his remarks, saying after Pinnacle won the 6A title last month that he was "100 percent" committed.
Both @niccolomannion and @josh_green6 said they fully expect Sean Miller to be back at Arizona next Year. Nico said he spoke to Miller last night and he offered encouragement for the @McDAAG
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 25, 2019
Story later on @FloHoops
We'll be on hand for the McDonald's pregame interviews Tuesday and the for the game on Wednesday at Atlanta.
ESPN says the travel-ball coach referred to as Michael Avenetti's client in the Avenatti/Nike situation is Gary Franklin of the Cal Supreme.
Based in Southern California, the Cal Supreme has had many players move on to Arizona and other high-major college programs. No players have been named in the complaint.
According to ESPN, prosecutors said Avenetti demanded that Nike pay his client $1.5 million to keep quiet about about Nike's alleged payments to top players and their families.
