Official Thread on Trevor Mbakwe's USA Team: Articles, Vidoes, Pics, etc.

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Per this release:

USA Basketball Announces Official Roster For 2011 USA Men's World University Games Team

John Jenkins (left) and Marcus Denmon are playing on their first USA Basketball team after being named to the 2011 USA World University Games Team. (Garrett Ellwood/USA Basketball).
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 3, 2011) - The 12-member roster that will represent the U.S. in the 2011 World University Games men's basketball competition has been set, with three prior USA Basketball medalists selected to the team after six days of training camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Listed on the roster are: Tim Abromaitis (Notre Dame/Unionville, Conn.); Marcus Denmon (Missouri/Kansas City, Mo.); Ashton Gibbs (Pittsburgh/Scotch Plains, N.J.); Draymond Green (Michigan State/Saginaw, Mich.); JaMychal Green (Alabama/Montgomery, Ala.); Scoop Jardine (Syracuse/ Philadelphia, Pa.); John Jenkins (Vanderbilt/ Hendersonville, Tenn.); Orlando Johnson (UC Santa Barbara/Seaside, Calif.); Greg Mangano (Yale/Orange, Conn.); Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota/ St. Paul, Minn.); Ray McCallum (Detroit Mercy/Beverly Hills, Mich.); and Darius Miller (Kentucky/Maysville, Ky.).

"I think your strengths are going to come out in competition, and we have some very good players," said USA and Purdue University head mentor Matt Painter , who previously assisted the 2009 USA U19 World Championship Team to a gold medal. "I think we have some good point-guard play, some good, athletic wings that can shoot the basketball and then we have some good interior strength. So, I think we have balance. We do have some interchangeable parts, some guys at the three and four positions that can swing either way. We can play smaller and we can play bigger. It will depend on who we are playing against. I do think we can play a couple of different ways, and that's always a positive."

Cuonzo Martin of the University of Tennessee and Brad Stevens of Butler University are serving as assistant coaches for the 2011 USA Men's World University Games Team.

Training camp continues for the team members through, Aug. 7, with two practices each day at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and the team will depart for China on Aug. 8.

The USA will play an exhibition contest against New Century, a Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) professional team, in Huizho, China, on Aug. 11, before opening World University Games play on Aug. 13.
 


Notice a pattern? Almost all of those players stayed home for college.
 

Half of the big ten players on the team came from the U. We also got more players than Duke or UNC and the same as Kent.

Congrats Trevor.
 





BleedGopher said:
Marcus Fuller blog: Painter: Mbakwe could play a big role for Team USA

http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers/2011/08/06/paintermbakwe-could-play-a-big-role-for-team-usa/

Go Gophers!!
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Painter and Green have some good things to say about Mbakwe. Just makes me more excited for the season to begin and see how much Mbakwe has improved.

“ The thing that jumps out to us about Trevor is that we know that they (international competition) have perimeters that are skilled, that can move around,” Painter said. “Trevor’s a guy that’s a great shot blocker and is great on the interior, but he doesn’t get the credit that he deserves for his ability to defend out on the perimeter. I think Trevor will be a real positive for us because of his ability to cover a lot of ground.”

– Michigan State senior forward Draymond Green, who was Mbakwe’s roommate at training camp, said Mbakwe is “a better shooter than he gets credit for.” That means something coming from arguably the best shooting big man in the Big Ten.
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Michigan State senior forward Draymond Green, who was Mbakwe’s roommate at training camp, said Mbakwe is “a better shooter than he gets credit for.” That means something coming from arguably the best shooting big man in the Big Ten.
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LOL.

...said Mbakwe, the first Gophers player since Vincent Grier in 2005 to compete for the World University Games team...
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True, but USA Basketball has only sent one other team to the World University Games since 2005 (2009).

...But he watched several talented players get sent home this week, including Northwestern All-Big Ten forward John Shurna. Gophers center Ralph Sampson III was cut from the team last summer...
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Ralph was not cut from the team last summer. There was no team. Two summers ago, Sampson did try out for a different team - the USA Basketball U19 team - but did not make it. By the way, Shurna did make that team, as did Mbakwe's World University Games teammate this year Ashton Gibbs of Pittsburgh.

By the way, the 'baby' of the team Ray McCallum was not eligible for the U19 team this year. Despite entering just his second year of college, he is already 20 years of age.
 





From Sid:

"Gophers men's basketball forward Trevor Mbakwe had nine points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes in the United States World University Games team's 88-61 exhibition victory over Chinese pro team New Century on Thursday. He went 4-for-4 from the floor and 1-for-1 at the foul line."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/127565273.html?page=2&c=y

Go Gophers!!
 

Highlights from the USA Men’s World University Games Team’s 88-61 exhibition game

If you'd like to see Trevor and the entire USA team in action, here you go:




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I wanted to see the Beast power dunk on those fools.
 

Here's some video from the opening ceremonies:



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Trevor had a double-double in USA's first official game:

USA Runs Away In Second Half To 108-67 Victory Over Mexico

- Five U.S. Players Finish In Double-Figure Scoring -
11_mwug_mbwake_081311_300Trevor Mbakwe recorded a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds in the USA's win over Mexico. (USA Basketball Photos).

HUIZHOU, CHINA (Aug. 13, 2011) - The 2011 USA Men's World University Games Team (1-0) fought back from a first-quarter deficit and outscored Mexico (0-1) 65-30 in the second half to secure a 108-67 win in its opening game of the 2011 World University Games on Aug. 13 at the Universiade Main Gym in Shenzhen, China.

Led by 20 points and three assists from Ashton Gibbs (Pittsburgh/Scotch Plains, N.J.), every U.S. team member scored and grabbed at least two rebounds. Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota/ St. Paul, Minn.) recorded a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, Marcus Denmon (Missouri/Kansas City, Mo.) added 11 points and collected three steals, Orlando Johnson (UC Santa Barbara/Seaside, Calif.) contributed 10 points and three assists and Draymond Green (Michigan State/Saginaw, Mich.) finished with 10 points.

"For the first game, I thought we had some jitters," said USA and Purdue University head mentor Matt Painter. "We had guys who just weren't quick to the basketball. Mexico played a little bit harder than we did. Then, once we kind of got into the flow of things, we did a little better in the second quarter. Then, obviously we picked it up in the second half.

"When they had to sub, I thought our depth really wore them out because there's not a lot of difference when we sub. We tried to keep things balanced with the starting five, then the next five, then Ray McCallum and (Greg) Mangano, I thought both those guys did a great job of coming in and giving us some energy. I thought it was a total team effort. That's something that's really going to help us, especially in pool play, is using all those guys."

Mexico put the first points on the board and led through much of the quarter. A 3-pointer from Gibbs gave the USA its only advantage in the period, 5-4 at 6:58, but the USA knotted the score twice and kept Mexico within seven points. Green converted on an old-fashioned three-point play at 31.3 seconds, and Tim Abromaitis (Notre Dame/Unionville, Conn.) cleaned up a U.S. miss with a powerful jam to pull the North Americans within two points, 24-22, at the end of the first quarter.

A made free throw from Mbakwe tied the score at 28-28 at 5:43 in the second quarter and kicked off an 8-0 run that ended with the USA up 36-28 on a steal and layup from Denmon at 3:12. Mexico scored out of a timeout to stop the onslaught, and the teams headed to the halftime locker room with the USA leading 43-37.

"At the beginning of the game we didn't really talk too much, and that's where we were getting caught up and they were getting easy baskets," Johnson said. But towards late in the second quarter we started fixing that."

The USA came out of the intermission firing on all cylinders as points from Gibbs, Johnson and Darius Miller (Kentucky/Maysville, Ky.) pushed the lead to 49-37 in the first two minutes of the third period, and the red, white and blue never let up. By the time Denmon finished with quarter with consecutive steals converted into layups at 40 seconds and 20 seconds, nine U.S. players had combined to outscore Mexico 31-16 for a 21-point lead, 74-53.

"Once we started going strong and beating the zone, in the second half, we added to the lead and were able to win the game," Gibbs said.

While Mexico never gave up, the USA's depth and defense helped it compile a 34-14 advantage in the fourth quarter to finish with a 108-67 win.

"I think the chemistry is there," Mbakwe said. "We're a very balanced team and we're very deep, too. That's going to help us. We have 12 guys who can play and at some point each of us could win the game for us. We're all comfortable with each other. We're like a family. The two weeks that we've had, we've come together and we're all excited to play with one another."

Go Gophers!!
 


Yet another double-double from Trevor - 12pts, 13rebs:

JaMychal Green (Alabama/Montgomery, Ala.) led the USA for a second-straight game with 16 points; while Marcus Denmon (Missouri/Kansas City, Mo.) tallied 13 points, five rebounds and four steals; Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota/ St. Paul, Minn.) finished with a 12-point, 13-rebound double-double to go with three blocked shots and John Jenkins (Vanderbilt/ Hendersonville, Tenn.) added 12 points.

http://www.usabasketball.com/mens/worlduniversity/11_mwug_game_05.html

Go Gophers!!
 


Trevor averaging 47% on free throws so far, 17 for 36. That's 9 attempts per game, in 20 min or less.
 

I'm not worried about Trev's FT shooting. He has been improving all summer notice-ably. Maybe he wants to leave some of his game unknown to Painter, so when we play Purdue and Painter tells his team to foul Trevor, you have Ray Allen on the line all of the sudden. One can dream :)
 

From Shooter:

"He's doing for them what he did for us last year, averaging a double-double; I expect him to do for us (next season) what he's doing for them," Gophers coach Tubby Smith said this morning. "I'm proud of what he's doing. Certainly, there are a lot of things he needs to improve on, and his improvement will be very beneficial for our team.

"When the opportunity presents itself, (Mbakwe) needs to be ready to deliver in crunch time and in clutch situations. This is a huge year for him and our program, as well."

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_18707373?nclick_check=1

Go Gophers!!
 

Trevor at World University Games

Just peaking at some of the stats. U.S. in a weak group D. The team is really sharing the ball. In just 19 min a game Trevor is averaging 11.9 pts, leads the entire Games in rebounding at 9.8, and is 5th in blocks at 1.8 per game. Way to go Trevor!

No news on wether he is hitting any 12 ft jumpers but I hope he is trying... it could make him into a first team all conference performer.
 


what in the world!

USAbasketball USA men come up short 76-74 versus Lithuania in World University Game quarterfinals. http://www.usabasketball.com/

Some more Europeans are looking for NBA contracts. Stinks!
 



First time in 20 attempts the US won't get a medal in the World University Games...
 


Great finish for Trevor

usabasketball USA men finish strong w 86-83 win over GER. MBwake had 21, Jenkins 15, J green 12 & Gibbs 11

Too bad it's for 5th and not gold.
 

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