An already busy offseason for Texas Tech basketball coach Grant McCasland is about to take it up a notch or two.
Earlier this year, it was announced that McCasland would serve as an assistant coach for this year's U.S. team at the FIBA U18 America Cup, which will be held June 3-9 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. National team training camp, which will help narrow the 29 participating players to a 12-team roster for the tournament, begins this week in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
McCasland and Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry will serve as assistants for Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd's team at the event. Court coaches assisting with the early part of training camp include Coastal Carolina University's Justin Gray, Drake University's Ben McCollum, Saint Louis University's Josh Schertz and Dukes' John Scheyer.
This isn't McCasland's first time on Team USA. He served as the court coach for the U19 team at the 2021 World Cup. McCasland said Tuesday that he made a lot of friends and connections during his four days in the program at the time and wanted to do the same with a higher level of responsibility.
“Being able to be a part of something in less than a month is going to be great no matter what happens next,” McCasland said. Great basketball players. ”
The 29 players vying for a spot on the official team span recruiting classes from 2024 to 2026. Patrick Gomba, Tre Johnson and Mores Johnson Jr. are members of the 2024 class and have signed with their respective schools of choice: Duke, Texas and Illinois.
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In total, 23 players in the training camp have not yet decided to enroll in the school. Coach McCasland's staff focused on recruiting the 2025 and 2026 high school classes and focused on the transfer portal during his first two offseasons at the helm in Lubbock.
But that's at best secondary to McCasland's overall end goal for the experience. At the forefront is building relationships and representing the United States, and since its inception in 1990, the U18 America Cup has won the past six and 10 of 12.
“It's a really great opportunity,” McCasland said. “It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and at the moment it's going to be held over the next two summers. Hopefully this summer we'll have an under-18 team and next summer we'll have an under-19 team. That's what I'm saying. It's just the way I do it.'' Truly think of this as an opportunity to serve and love the people who are a part of American basketball. And how do we continue to build this and grow?
“What we want is to be the best basketball in the country…”
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