Carlos Boozer Jr.'s dream of playing for the U.S. junior national team came to an end Friday when he was one of four players to miss the squad's final cut, announced during a Team USA training camp at Miami's LaSalle High School.
Team USA head basketball coach Jim Boeheim said Boozer, a 1999 Juneau-Douglas High School graduate who will be a sophomore at Duke University this fall, is a very good player. But Boeheim, the head coach at Syracuse University, also said Boozer didn't have the conditioning needed to play at the level of the other Team USA players.
"It's always hard when you make the cut," Boeheim said in a press release. "Everybody that we cut is a good player, and Carlos Boozer is a very, very good player. I talked to him (when he was cut), and he felt that he hadn't worked out enough this summer. And that was really his words.
"And I said, 'You know, it looks that way. It looks like just weren't ready. You got tired early in the practices each night.' I think that prevented him from playing up to the level that he can play. That was really the biggest problem, it was mostly the conditioning factor more than anything else," Boeheim added.
Boozer could not be reached for comment Friday as he was traveling from the training camp to his campus address at Duke University, where he could not be reached on Saturday. But his mother, Renee Boozer, said she had spoken to Carlos Friday night and her son said he was disappointed. But she said he also felt honored for being one of the players considered for the junior national team.
"He's disappointed, but he said coach Boeheim really talked to him about him," Renee Boozer said. "They had a really sincere conversation and coach Boeheim said he's not as strong as he could be. He (Boeheim) said Carlos could be the No. 1 power forward and he sees the potential, but he needs to become stronger. This tells him what he needs to improve on."
When the training camp opened earlier this week, Boozer was one of 16 finalists invited to Miami. He'd already survived the cut at a previous training camp -- held May 26-28 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. -- when the roster was trimmed from the original 30 invited players (only 26 showed up for the camp).
The 12 players to make the final cut will continue practicing at LaSalle High School through Sunday, then the team will depart for a tournament in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, the 2000 COPABA (Confederation of Pan American Basketball Associations) World Championship for Young Men Qualifying Tournament on July 19-23. The top three teams in that eight-team tourney will advance to the 2001 FIBA (International Basketball Federation) World Championship for Young Men tournament in Japan.
"We've got 12 really good players," Boeheim said. "I think that 10 or 11 of these guys can play in the NBA, so we certainly have enough talent. We don't have that big post guy, but we have all the other ingredients. We've got leadership and experience, and we've got guys who can shoot the ball really well. This is a very strong USA basketball team and I'm looking forward to taking them to Brazil."
While Boozer, a 6-foot-9, 260 pound center-power forward, didn't survive the final cut for Team USA, two of his Duke University teammates -- 6-2 point guard Jason Williams and 6-7 swingman Mike Dunleavy Jr. -- did qualify for the trip to Brazil.
The other players (and their colleges) to make the final roster are Steve Blake of Maryland, Nick Collison of Kansas, Brian Cook of Illinois, Drew Gooden of Kansas, Joe Johnson of Arkansas, Tayshaun Prince of Kentucky, high school player Zach Robinson (who will attend Michigan State), Jason Richardson of Michigan State, Kenny Satterfield of Cincinnati and Bobby Simmons of DePaul.
Besides Boozer, the other finalists to miss the cut were Steve Logan of Cincinnati, junior college player Johnnie Selvie (who will attend Connecticut) and high school player Marcus Taylor (Michigan State).
Of the 12 players to make the final cut, nine have represented Team USA in other competitions before. This was Boozer's first big tryout for a national team.
