Michigan State University Athletics
Valentine Makes U.S. Pan American Games Team
7/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Denzel Valentine was named to the U.S. Pan American Games Men's Basketball Team on Sunday after surviving the final cut. The 12-member squad will represent the United States at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, on July 21-25.
"I am greatly honored to make the U.S. Pan American Games Team," said Valentine. "First, thanks to my family, teammates, coaches and close friends for the motivation and support. I couldn't have done it without them. Second, thanks to the coaching staff and USA Basketball committee for selecting me and giving me an opportunity to represent the country in a positive way. I am going to work my hardest and take full advantage of the opportunity ahead and try to win a gold medal for our country."
Joining Valentine on the team are: Ron Baker (Wichita State/Scott City, Kan.); Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia/Atlanta, Ga.); Bobby Brown (Dongguan Leopards, China/Los Angeles, Calif); Ryan Hollins (Sacramento Kings/Pasadena, Calif.); Keith Langford (UNICS Kazan, Russia/Fort Worth, Texas); Shawn Long (Louisiana/Morgan City, La.); Taurean Prince (Baylor/San Antonio, Texas); Anthony Randolph (Lokomotiv-Kuban, Russia/ Pasadena, Calif.); Kaleb Tarczewski (Arizona/Claremont, N.H.); Romelo Trimble (Maryland/Upper Marlboro, Md.); and Damien Wilkins (Indios de Mayagüez, Puerto Rico/Orlando, Fla.).
Gonzaga's Mark Few will serve as head coach. Colorado's Tad Boyle and former NBA coach Mike Brown will assist Few.
"It's a group of hard-working guys who have done a great job in camp of really playing together and being unselfish," said Few. "They came into camp with a great attitude and mindset to really work, and now we've got to start formulating and playing to our strengths. This is a group that's got some versatility, and I think we should be able to play a couple different ways.
"I don't think I've ever in my whole life been put in a situation where you're choosing between 16 great guys. You could have made a call for any one of the guys on the list and it would have made perfect sense. We labored, and labored and labored over it for what we think we might need. That's how we got down to these 12," added Few on the final selection process.
"I would like our strength to be that we can defend in a variety of ways and at the same time attack you on the offensive end with a variety of different looks. I do think we're going to be really balanced. I don't think we're really weighted in one position, or one person really scoring the ball. I think we can hopefully get contributions from everybody in that regard."
Tryouts opened on July 7 with 21 hopefuls. On July 9, the list was trimmed to 16 finalists. Now that the roster has been cut to the final 12, the team will train July 13-16 at the Chicago Bulls practice facility.
The 2015 Pan American Games men's basketball competition will take place July 21-25 in Toronto, Canada. The U.S. men have been placed into Group A and will play all three of its preliminary round games at 9 p.m. EDT, including Venezuela on July 21 (9 p.m. EDT), Puerto Rico on July 22 (9 p.m. EDT) and Brazil on July 23 (9 p.m. EDT). Competing in Group B will be Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
As a junior in 2014-15, Valentine earned Third-Team All-Big Ten honors, while being named Co-Team MVP as voted on by the media. Known for his versatility, he was the only player in the Big Ten to rank in the Top 15 in scoring (12th, 14.5 ppg), rebounding (11th, 6.3 rpg) and assists (7th, 4.3 apg) in 2014-15. He ranked second on the Spartans in scoring, rebounding, and assists as was the only Spartan to start all 39 games. In the postseason, he earned a spot on the NCAA East Regional All-Tournament Team, helping MSU advance to the 2015 Final Four.
