If Team USA looks a little like the Arizona Wildcats in the FIBA U18 AmeriCup this week, flowing quickly and unselfishly down an Argentinian floor en route to some triple-digit scores, that wonโt be a surprise considering the coach.
But everything else about Tommy Lloydโs summertime team is different. There are no current Wildcats on USAโs U18 roster and maybe not any future ones, either. Also, Lloydโs red-and-blue gear represents something else entirely.
Lloyd spent part of USA Basketballโs training camp in Colorado Springs last week convincing a group of mostly five-star college prospects, some of whom he has been recruiting and most he has not, exactly what it was all about.
This was not club basketball or some sort of all-star circuit, and Lloyd was not in a cluster of coaches sitting on the sidelines trying to recruit them.
Arizona basketball coach Tommy Lloyd, who is also serving as head coach of the USA U18 team for the upcoming FIBA U18 AmeriCup, issues instructions during USA Basketballโs U18 training camp Thursday in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
โIโve told all the guys here, Iโm their coach for USA Basketball and right now, my stuff in Arizona is on the backburner,โ Lloyd said by telephone from Colorado as camp wrapped up last week. โI think they need to all put their recruitments aside and understand weโre all playing for USA Basketball. Weโre on a kind of our own group mission right now. The other stuff we donโt need to intertwine.โ
Lloyd said there were โchecks and balancesโ in the roster-determining system to make sure that coaches donโt play favorites: Among other things, a separate Junior National Team committee made up of other college coaches mostly whittles the roster down from 29 invitees, with the coaching staff allowed input on the final few cuts that shaped up the 12-player team.
As it turned out, none of the four camp invitees that Arizona has shown recruiting interest in made the team, including four-star 2025 wing Hudson Greer of Austin, Texas.
โI think it would be short sightedโ for recruiting politics to matter, Lloyd said. โThe other thing is, thereโs good players that donโt make the final 12. Thatโs just thatโs how it is. You consider thereโs 24 McDonaldโs all-Americans, and only 12 guys in the U18 Team. You can do the math. Some really good players donโt make it.โ
It happened to one of Lloydโs best players at Arizona: Guard Dalen Terry was cut early in training camp for the USA U19 World Cup team in 2021, yet became an NBA first-round draft pick a year later.
Tommy Lloyd instructs players at the USA Basketballโs U18 recent training camp in Colorado Springs.
Among the other 29 players invited to USAโs top junior team camp this time but not making the final roster was incoming five-star ASU center Jayden Quaintance, who was beaten out by two other incoming freshmen big men: Patrick Ngongba (Duke) and Daniel Jacobsen (Purdue), whom Lloyd said was one of the strong points that jumped out in camp.
Formerly of Albuquerqueโs La Cueva High School before he transferred to New Hampshireโs Brewster Academy last season, Jacobsen faces the daunting prospect of having to help replace Zach Edey at Purdue. But first, the 7-3 center will be expected to help lead the USAโs U18 team to a gold medal, one of five big men that Lloyd said all distinguished themselves in different ways.
โHeโs been impressive,โ Lloyd said. โHeโs pretty consistently played at a high level in camp and this is somebody who wasnโt on the top 100 list or anything like that. I think people are going to be surprised the impact heโs gonna have.โ
On the perimeter, USAโs top players include incoming Alabama wing forward Derrion Reed, class of 2025 wing forward Nik Khamenia of Southern California, 2025 guard Trey McKenney of Michigan and 2025 point guard Mikel Brown Jr.
โTheyโre very young, really talented guards,โ Lloyd said. โThey all have tremendous strengths and great upside. Itโs been a fun group to work with.โ
Together, Lloyd says, the Americans will play with a similar style as the Wildcats do, a style he said heโs comfortable with. Lloyd also has two UA staffers alongside him in athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie and player development director Rem Bakamus.
The goal will be the same as Lloyd faces at Arizona, too: To win it all.
Usually, that works out pretty well for USA Basketball in what used to be known as the U18 Americas Championship. Team USA has won six straight gold medals, and 10 of them overall in 12 iterations of the event, which is usually played every other year.
But just in case that history leads to complacency, Lloyd noted that thereโs also this: The last time USA didnโt win the gold was when Argentina beat the Americans in a 2008 championship game โฆ that was played in Argentina.
It just so happens that USA will open play against host Argentina on Monday evening at Estadio Obras Sanitarias, otherwise known as the โTemplo de Rockโ because of the many rock concerts it has hosted.
As Team USA U18 player Nate Ament gets ready to drive with the ball, Arizona basketball coach Tommy Lloyd, in his role as head coach of the USA Basketball U18 team ahead of the upcoming FIBA U18 AmeriCup, directs a scrimmage at a training camp Thursday in Colorado Springs. Arizona director of player development Rem Bakamus (seated in in blue behind Lloyd) and UA trainer Justin Kokoskie (not pictured) are also part of Lloyd's USA staff.
โWeโre expecting it to be tough,โ Lloyd said. โItโs gonna be a tough road game. Weโre going in expecting good competition and weโre not going to overlook anybody.โ
The Americans also have Group B games scheduled for Tuesday against Belize on Tuesday and Wednesday against Brazil, followed by a rest day on Thursday and championship-round games starting Friday.
If USA wins its three Group B games, it will play a quarterfinal game Friday against the last-place finisher from Group A, which includes Canada, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. While youth team rosters change every summer, FIBAโs latest overall youth rankings had USA at No. 1, with Canada at 9, Brazil at 11, Puerto Rico at 15 and Argentina at 16.
All four U18 AmeriCup semifinalists receive berths in the 2025 U19 World Cup in Switzerland, and Lloyd is expected to also coach the USA there if it qualifies.
Thatโs another reason for Lloyd, and his players, to take the U18 opportunity seriously.
โIโm taking a two-year approach to this,โ Lloyd said. โIโm hoping a lot of these kids will be with us next year, so weโll have a little bit of continuity. I think weโre organized and weโll have a purpose when weโre playing. Thatโs what I wanted it to be.
โI didnโt want it to turn into an open gym, rat-ball scenario. Iโm coaching โem like I would be coaching them at Arizona.โ
