Cuts for Team USA weren't easy, Gottfried says
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
The USA Pan American Games men's basketball team trimmed its final roster to 12 players on Tuesday. Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried, an assistant coach for the Pan Am team, said the decision last weekend to cut two of his own Bama players was hard.
The original list of 32 invited players was slashed to 14 on Sunday after three days of practice, and Crimson Tide juniors Richard Hendrix and Alonzo Gee were among the casualties. The tryouts have taken place at Haverford College, which is near Philadelphia.On Tuesday, the final cut cost Texas A&M power forward Josh Carter and Oregon forward Bryce Taylor a spot on the Team USA roster.
"All of the players played well," Gottfried said. "There really wasn't anybody that came up here and played poorly. The (selection) committee, chaired by (Syracuse coach) Jim Boeheim, had the task of selecting the team. We (coaches) had input but it was very minimal. It's just a matter of who they felt could fit together to have the best chance of winning gold in the Pan Am Games."
Team USA, which hasn't won gold in the Games since 1983, will practice for three days in Washington at the Verizon Center before leaving for Rio de Janiero, Brazil, where the men's basketball Pan Am Games will be held July 25-29.
Vanderbilt forward Shan Foster was the only Southeastern Conference player to make the roster after four other SEC players were cut. Those included Tennessee guard Chris Lofton, LSU forward Tasmin Mitchell, Hendrix and Gee.
"Shan really shot the ball well and I think he grabbed (the committee's) attention the way he shot the ball in the trials," Gottfried said. "Our players from Alabama did well. All 30 of the college players who came here did a very good job. It was very competitive. One thing you have to remember, too, is these kids, most of them, have never tried out for any team so it was a different experience for a lot of these guys."
The final roster includes Foster, Memphis forward Joey Dorsey, North Carolina guard Wayne Ellington, Maryland forward James Gist, Georgetown center Roy Hibbert, Oregon forward Maarty Leunen, Washington State guard Derrick Low, Virginia Commonwealth guard Eric Maynor, Michigan State guard Drew Neitzel, Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds, Washington State forward Kyle Weaver and Indiana power forward D.J. White, a former Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa star.
Gottfried said Hendrix and Gee were disappointed at not making the team but called the trials a learning experience.
"They were disappointed, but they both did very well," the Alabama coach said. "It wasn't a situation where they came up here and played poorly. I was proud of Alonzo and Richard. It could've easily been those two (selected) instead of two others."
Alabama will open basketball practice in mid-August in preparation for a four-game Canadian exhibition tour in Ottawa on Labor Day weekend, giving Gottfried little time to prepare for the season after returning from Rio de Janiero. He said point guard Ronald Steele has not been cleared to practice following April surgery on both knees and that he had not made a decision regarding Yamene Coleman.
The sophomore center from Wilcox County was arrested earlier this month after charging $180 worth of pizza to the wrong debit card.
"I'm going to evaluate it when all of the information is in hand," said Gottfried, who added he would talk to officials before leaving the country on Saturday. "Young people make mistakes. We all do. At the proper time, we'll figure out the right discipline for him. I want to be careful in what I say just yet. When we gather everything in, we'll move forward from that point."
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