July 8, 1999

TEMPE, Ariz. — Matt Carroll, who will be a freshman guard on the University of Notre Dame basketball team in 1999-2000, has been named as one of 12 member of the 1999 USA Basketball Men’s Junior World Championship team. The team will compete July 15-25 in the 16-team 1999 FIBA Men’s Junior World Championship in Portugal.

Carroll will enter Notre Dame in the fall after being named the Associated Press player of the year in Pennsylvania in both his junior and senior year at Hatboro Horsham High School in Horsham, Pennsylvania. He is the first player in state history to accomplish that feat.

Notre Dame forwad Troy Murphy, who was the 1999 BIG EAST rookie of the year, was one of 16 finalists for the team, but had to pull out of the trials after he was diagnosed with a hernia. He will undergo surgery on July 13 and will be out of basketball-related activivites for four weeks.

Also selected for the USA Men’s Junior World Championship Team were: Nick Collison (Iowa Falls HS/Iowa Falls, Iowa); Keyon Dooling (University of Missouri/Fort Lauderdale, Fla.); Adam Hall (Virginia/Katy, Texas); Casey Jacobsen (Glendora HS/Glendora, Calif.); Steve Lepore (Northwestern/Lakewood, Ohio); Steve Logan (Cincinnati/Cleveland, Ohio); Jason Parker (West Charlotte HS/ Charlotte, N.C.); Bobby Simmons (DePaul/Chicago, Ill.); Chris Williams (Virginia/Birmingham, Ala.); Lance Williams (DePaul /Chicago, Ill.) and Michael Wright (Arizona/Chicago, Ill.).

Arizona State University head coach Rob Evans is directing the 1999 USA Basketball Men’s Junior World Championship Team and assisting Evans is Penn State University (Pa.) head coach Jerry Dunn and Wake Forest University (N.C.) head coach Dave Odom.

“I like the athletic ability and versatility of this team. We can go a lot of different ways quicker, with shooters, or better ball handlers, and that’s important in a tournament like this,” said Evans. “I really like this team’s work ethic. They have worked extremely hard to get better over the last five days and have picked up on things very quickly. Our athletic ability will allow us to pick up full court and to apply defensive pressure in our half court defense.”

Seven team members — Carroll, Collison, Dooling, Hall, Lepore, Simmons, Wright were members of the gold medal winning 1998 USA Basketball Men’s Junior World Championship Qualifying Team that competed in the COPABA Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament in Santiago, Dominican Republic and qualified the U.S. for this year’s FIBA Junior World Championship with a 6-0 record. Those seven players accounted for 65.4 percent of the team’s scoring (407 of 622 points).

Additionally, Jacobsen was the leading scorer (24.0 ppg.) of the gold medal winning 1998 USA Basketball Men’s World Youth Games Team that posted a 6-0 record in Moscow, Russia; Collison, Jacobsen and Parker were members of the 1999 USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Select Team that defeated an International Select Team, 107-95, in the Nike Hoop Summit in Tampa, Fla.

Eight team members played collegiately in 1998-99, and five earned a spot on their respective conference’s all-freshman teams, while one was named his conference’s Freshman of the Year. Chris Williams was tagged as the Atlantic Coast Conference freshman of the year in 1999, while Dooling was named a member of the Big XII Conference all-freshman team; DePaul teammates Simmons and Lance Williams were tabbed for the Conference USA’s all-freshman team and were joined by Logan and University of Arizona’s Wright collected All-Rookie honors in the Pac-10.

Each of the other four players have signed national letters-of-intent to play collegiately in 1999-2000. Carroll will enroll at Notre Dame, Collison is bound for Kansas, Jacobsen is headed for Stanford and Parker will matriculate at the University of North Carolina.

The Sixth FIBA Men’s Junior World Championship will take place July 15-25 in Porto, Almada, Aveiro, Faro, and Lisbon, Portugal, and is open to players age 19 and under (born on or after Jan. 1, 1980). The United States tips off its preliminary round play in Group B on July 15 against China, then continues preliminary round play July 16 against defending Junior World Champion Greece and concludes preliminary round competition July 17 against Egypt. All of the USA’s preliminary round games will be held in Almada, Portugal. The first and second placed teams from each of the four preliminary round groups will qualify for the medal round quarterfinals, from which teams advance into the tournament semifinals and finals that will be held in Lisbon, Portugal.

In its five previous FIBA Men’s Junior World Championship appearances, the USA has compiled a 31-8 (.795) record that includes three gold medals and one silver medal. The USA finished seventh in 1995, and in 1979, 1983, and 1991, the U.S. brought home the gold, and returned with a silver medal in 1987.

For more on Matt Carroll check out USABasketball.com