May 13, 1999
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. University of Notre Dame forward Troy Murphy, who will be a sophomore in the fall, and guard Matt Carroll, who will be a freshman for the Irish next season, are among the 27 players who have been invited to the trials for the USA Basketball Men’s Junior World Championship team.
The trials will be held Thurs.-Sat., May 27-29 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the team will be announced on Sunday, May 30. At the same time, USA Basketball will be conducting trials with 35 players for the USA Basketball World University Games teams.
The 1999 USA Basketball Men’s Junior World Championship Team is open to players age 19 and under (born on or after January 1, 1980) and will compete in the FIBA Men’s Junior World Championship July 15-25 in Portugal.
The team will coached by Arizona State University head coach Rob Evans and will have training camp July 2-11 in Tempe, Ariz. Assisting Evans along the USA Basketball sidelines will be Penn State University (Pa.) head coach Jerry Dunn and Wake Forest University (N.C.) head coach Dave Odom.
Murphy was the 1999 BIG EAST rookie of the year following the 1998-99 season and led the Irish in scoring and rebounding at 19.2 points per game and 9.9 rebounds. Murphy scored 519 points in his rookie year to set the Irish freshmen record, previously held by Adrian Dantley with 511 in 1973-74. Murphy was named the BIG EAST rookie of the week eight times in his freshman season the second-highest mark in league history. He was the first freshman in BIG EAST history to lead the league in rebounding with 10.3 boards in conference play.
Carroll, from Horsham, Penn., and Hatboro-Horsham High School, was the first player in Pennsylvania history to be named the Associated Press player of the year for two seasons. He averaged 26.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and four assists per game as a senior. Carroll scored 2,667 points in his career, trailing only Kobe Bryant among the career scoring leaders in southeastern Pennsylvania and finished his career 13th in state history in scoring. Carroll recently played in the Magic Johnson Roundball Classic (scored 19 points) and the Captial Classic. He was a member of the United States Junior National Team last summer that helped this year’s United States team earn a place in the World Championship.