Roster Announced for November 2021 USA Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team
- Date:
Nov 15, 2021
USA to Open 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Play in Mexico Versus Cuba on Nov. 28 and Mexico on Nov. 29
- November 2021 USA World Cup Qualifying Team Roster/Bios
- 2021-23 FIBA Americas World Cup Qualifying Schedule
Returning two players with previous USA World Cup Qualifying Team experience and featuring 11 athletes possessing NBA regular season experience, USA Basketball today announced its 12-man roster for the November 2021 USA World Cup Qualifying Team.
Selected for the November 2021 USA World Cup Qualifying Team were Jordan Bell (Santa Cruz Warriors/Oregon), Brian Bowen II (Iowa Wolves), Josh Gray (Long Island Nets/LSU), Shaq Harrison (Delaware Blue Coats/Tulsa), DaQuan Jeffries (College Park Skyhawks/Tulsa), BJ Johnson (Lakeland Magic/LaSalle), Orlando Johnson (free agent/UC Santa Barbara), Luke Kornet (Maine Celtics/Vanderbilt), Frank Mason III (South Bay Lakers/ Kansas), Chasson Randle (free agent/Stanford), Zavier Simpson (Oklahoma City Blue/Michigan) and Emanuel Terry (Stockton Kings/Lincoln Memorial).
Former NBA head coach Jim Boylen will serve as head coach of the USA Basketball Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team, and USA Basketball experienced coaches Ty Ellis and Othella Harrington will serve as assistant coaches.
The USA squad will train Nov. 20-25 at the University of Houston and will participate in the first competition window of 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying games, which will be played in a bubble format in Chihuahua, Mexico. The Americans will face Cuba on Nov. 28 and will meet host Mexico on Nov. 29. The full 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying schedule is available at https://www.usab.com/mens/wc-qualifying/schedule.aspx.
Mason and Randle return after playing with previous USA World Cup Qualifying teams. Randall represented the USA in the 2018 September and the 2018 November/December second-round games. The 6-foot-2 guard played in all four games, helped the USA to a 3-1 record, and averaged 21.3 minutes, 9.3 points and 1.5 assists a game, while shooting 45.0% from the field, 46.7% from 3-point (7-15 3pt FGs) and 66.7% from the foul line. Randle also won gold medals with the 2010 USA U17 World Cup Team and 2009 USA U16 National Team.
Mason suited up for the USA with the September 2018 USA World Cup Qualifying Team and helped the USA to a 2-0 record. He started in the USA's two games, averaged 18.0 minutes, a team second-best 11.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and a team-high 5.0 assists a game, while shooting 77.5%(9-12 FGs) from the field and 66.7% (2-3 3pt FGs).
Adding additional experience, Terry participated in the USA training camp for the February 2019 USA World Cup Qualifying Team.
Also owning USA Basketball experience are Bowen and Orlando Johnson. Bowen participated in the 2016 USA Basketball Men’s U18 National Team training camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado, while Orlando Johnson was a member of the 2011 USA World University Games Team that finished with a 7-1 record.
While all 12 USA athletes own prior G League experience, 11 have NBA regular season experience, including Bell (160 games with Golden State, Minnesota, Memphis and Washington), Bowen (12 games with Indiana), Gray (seven games with New Orleans and Phoenix), Harrison (173 games with Chicago, Denver, Phoenix and Utah), Jeffries (44 games with Houston and Sacramento), BJ Johnson (17 games with Atlanta, Orlando and Sacramento), Orlando Johnson (103 games with Indiana, New Orleans, Phoenix and Sacramento), Kornet (133 games with Boston, Chicago and New York), Mason (103 games with Milwaukee, Orlando and Sacramento), Randle (119 games with Golden State, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington) and Terry (three games with Miami and Phoenix).
Additionally, Bell as a member of Golden State Warriors was part of the 2018 NBA Championship Team.
Five players also boast of professional playing experience overseas, including Bowen (Sydney Kings-Australia), Gray (Changwon LG Sakers-South Korea), BJ Johnson (Brisbane Bullets-Australia), Orlando Johnson (Brisbane Bullets-Australia , Avtodor Saratov-Russia, BC Igokea-Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut-Lebanon, UNICS Kazan-Russia, TD Systems Baskonia-Spain and Barangay Ginebra Kings- Philippines) and Terry (Teksut Bandirma-Turkey, Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem-Israel and KK Crvena Zvezda- Serbia).
2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying
Featuring 16 national teams from North America, Central America, South American and the Caribbean, the 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournament for the Americas zone features four preliminary round groups, and each group consists of four teams. The top three finishing teams from each group will qualify for the second round. Following the second round, the three best finishing teams from each group, and the top fourth-placed team, will qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
The USA was drawn into Group D, and is joined by Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Group A consists of Argentina, Panama, Paraguay and Venezuela; Group B is made up of Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay; and Group C consists of Bahamas, Canada, Dominican Republic and U.S. Virgin Islands.
A total of 80 national teams from FIBA’s four regions will compete in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers over 15 months, looking to earn a qualifying berth into the 32-team FIBA World Cup competition that will be held Aug. 25-Sept. 10, 2023, in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup marks the first time multiple countries will host the event.
Under the FIBA World Cup qualifying format, two games per window will be played and a total of six windows will be held to qualify teams for the 2023 World Cup. Each competition window is nine days. The first-round competition windows dates are: Nov. 22-30, 2021; Feb. 21-March 1, 2022; and June 27-July 5, 2022; while the second-round dates are set for Aug. 22-30, 2022; Nov. 7-15, 2022; and Feb. 20-28, 2023.
Each FIBA zone will qualify a set number of teams for the 2023 World Cup. Japan and the Philippines automatically will qualify for the 2023 World Cup as host countries, and Indonesia automatically will qualify as a host if it is among the best eight teams out of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup. Additionally, the top five finishing teams in Africa; the top seven placing teams in the Americas; the top five or six finishing teams in the Asia/Oceania zone, depending on Indonesia’s results at the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup; and the top 12 finishing teams from Europe will qualify for the 2023 World Cup.
At the 2017-19 Americas World Cup Qualifying, the USA finished atop of the second round Group E, compiling a 10-2 overall record to qualify for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
