Wayns and Team USA earn silver medal

The United States 18-and-under men's basketball team earned a silver medal and a 4-1 record overall in the FIBA Americas U18 Tournament after Team USA fell to host Argentina Saturday.

The loss to Argentina was the only the second defeat for the U.S. U18 team in its 35-game history at the FIBA Americas tournament. In six tournaments, Team USA has won four gold, one silver, and one bronze medals.

(Greycat at Villanova by the Numbers has been following this tournament closely, so head there for his customary statistical analysis.)

Maalik Wayns, a Villanova commitment for 2009-2010, is a backup point guard on the American team.

Wayns and his teammates will qualify for the FIBA World Championship next year in New Zealand after placing in the top four of the eight-nation tournament in Formosa, Argentina.

Wayns was shut out in the gold-medal game, going 0-1 with 0 points, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers in 13 minutes (box score, PDF).

Wayns performed better against Canada in the semifinal, notching 7 points in 16 minutes on 3-9 shooting.

In group play, Wayns scored 8 points in 21 minutes in Team USA's win over Puerto Rico.

Wayns played perhaps his best game of the tournament in game 2 versus the Bahamas, where he scored 10 points in 17 minutes on 3-5 shooting from the field. Wayns added 3 assists and 2 steals, but committed 6 turnovers, a team high.

Wayns opened the tournament with 5 points in 12 minutes against Venezuela last Monday.

Overall, it was a decent performance for Wayns, whose play nonetheless demonstrated that he may not yet be at the same developmental level as his older USA teammate and Connecticut signee Kemba Walker, considered by many the top one-guard in the country for the 2008-2009 class.

Walker won the tournament-wide MVP award after scoring 21 in the loss to Argentina.

With one more year of high school before matriculation at "Guard U," however, Wayns may well prove to be as bright a star.

Wayns makes national U-18 team

Maalik Wayns, a Villanova commitment for the 2009-2010 season, was named to the final roster of the national under-18 team by USA Basketball today. Players are eligible if born on January 1, 1990 or later.

Wayns, a point guard from Philadelphia, joins 11 other stars on the national team, including Dominic Cheek, the shooting guard from Jersey City, N.J, who is now Villanova's top recruiting priority.

Wayns and Team USA will travel to Argentina for next week's FIBA Americas U18 Championship, slated for July 14-18 in Formosa. Four of the eight international teams there will advance to next year's FIBA World Championship in New Zealand.

Team USA will face Venezuela on July 14, the Bahamas on July 15, and Puerto Rico on July 16. The United States team will need to finish in the top two of that four-team pod to advance to the medal rounds on July 17-18 and to the world championship tournament next year.

Before leaving for South America, the team will practice three more times in Washington, D.C. Wayns and the team will practice at the Verizon Center today and tomorrow, and will conclude practice on Thursday on campus at Georgetown University, according to USA Basketball.

Team USA is coached by Davidson head coach Bob Mckillop. Georgetown's John Thompson III and VCU's Anthony Grant are assistants.

Player selection was made by a committee chaired by Syracuse chief Jim Boeheim and manned by several other high-profile collegiate coaches, including Tubby Smith, Fran Dunphy, Bill Self, Ernie Kent, and Tom Izzo.