COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Initially expected to miss much of the Arizona Open Division playoffs with a broken hand, incoming Arizona freshman Koa Peat instead played anyway in the semifinal and final to lead Gilbert Perry to the title.
Playing through pain probably won’t be an issue on the world stage this summer: Peat says he was cleared May 1 and showed up for USA Basketball’s U19 training camp at full speed.
“I’ve just been in the gym working,” Peat said Monday evening after USA’s third workout. “I haven’t been playing five-on-five but I’ve just been playing one-on-one stuff, trying to get ready.”
The second-leading scorer for USA in last summer’s FIBA U17 World Cup, Peat is expected to play a significant role even with the move up to U19. Already, Peat has won three gold medals with USA Basketball youth teams, though he now may be in his most tense camp yet.
“This camp is really competitive,” Peat said. “All the camps are competitive but this is cool because you have college coaches here, great coaches and then obviously coach (Tommy) Lloyd. It’s been cool to be coached by him.”
Basketball player Koa Peat takes questions from the media during National Signing Day at Perry High School in Gilbert on April 16.
Staying Holmes
While Denver Nuggets forward DaRon Holmes left Goodyear Millennium for Florida’s Montverde Academy as a high school senior, his equally well-regarded little brother has no such plans.
Cameron Holmes said he plans to return to Millennium, a powerhouse high school program that just might seize the opportunity created when Peat graduated from Perry.
“I haven’t really announced it yet, but that is the decision there,” said Cameron, a longtime UA recruiting target. “Really the goal is just to win the state championship with my guys. Koa went in and he got four in a row, and now I feel like it’s my turn to really turn up and get my own.”
Meanwhile, Los Angeles guard Tajh Ariza is moving across town for pretty much the same reason: He’s going from Westchester High School to St. John Bosco Catholic, where he will team with fellow camp invitees Christian Collins and Brandon McCoy on what should be a powerhouse team.
“I wanted to get a state championship in California, so it was just focusing on that,” Ariza said. “That made a pretty big reason why I went to Bosco. The program is cool, very welcoming, but it’s just another opportunity to win state.”
Eyes on the court
While the U19 players can pack gyms throughout the summer club-ball circuit, their workouts this week are drawing a much smaller but much more serious crowd inside the Sports Center II on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center.
Between practices on Sunday and Monday, dozens of college coaches and NBA scouts attended, while national media included ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, 247’s Adam Finkelstein, ESPN game analyst Fran Fraschilla and NBA draft analyst Matt Babcock, a former UA walk-on player.
After watching Sunday’s workouts, Fraschilla even gave a shout-out to incoming UA freshman Koa Peat.
“Arizona has added a terrific young player in Koa Peat,” Fraschilla posted. “He will take a backseat to NO freshman in the country. Currently dominating at the (USA Basketball) Under-19 trials in Colorado Springs.”
Of course, there were college notables on the court, too: UA coach Tommy Lloyd’s staff includes assistants in Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland and Notre Dame’s Micah Shrewsberry, while Alabama’s Nate Oats, Georgia Tech’s Damon Stoudamire and Kentucky’s Mark Pope served as “court coaches” to assist when the camp included the full 31 invitees through Monday morning.
Arizona's Koa Peat, shown during USA Basketball's U19 training camp last weekend, was one of 18 finalists for the 12-player team that will compete in the FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland.
TCU coach Jamie Dixon headed the USA Junior National Team committee, which also includes Boise State coach Leon Rice and Suns senior advisor James Jones.
It ain’t all bad
Even though Holmes and Ariza did not make the list of 18 finalists Monday, Finkelstein wrote that both may have improved their standing with scouts.
In an analysis for 247 Sports, Finkelstein said Holmes had a “very solid” three days of camp.
“He played within the flow, was a rhythm shooting threat off the catch and the dribble, and was one of the best off-ball cutters in the field,” Finkelstein wrote. “While he might not have made the final cut, this was probably his best setting this spring.”
The big numbers
38 – Percent of players cut from USA Basketball’s U19 training camps who later become NBA Draft picks.
68 – Percent of players making USA Basketball’s U19 teams who later become NBA Draft picks.
Quotable
“Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.” – Olympic legend Jesse Owens, as posted on a sign at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center.
