After three days of trials featuring 17 of the nation's top 19-and-unders competing at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., the player selections were made by the USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team Committee, chaired by Syracuse University head coach Jim Boeheim.
The 12 players will remain in Colorado Springs through June 25 to continue training for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship, which will be held July 2-12 in Auckland, New Zealand. Also selected to represent the United States, along with Curry, at the FIBA U19 World Championship were: DeAngelo Casto (Washington State), Ashton Gibbs (Pittsburgh), Gordon Hayward (Butler), Shelvin Mack (Butler), Darius Miller (Kentucky), Arnett Moultrie (UTEP), John Shurna (Northwestern), Tyshawn Taylor (Kansas), Howard Thompkins(Georgia), Klay Thompson (Washington State) and Terrico White (Mississippi).
"I think this is a well-balanced team. They'll have to get the job done as a team. They may not have a star-caliber player, but they have a lot of very good players. At this stage the U19 team looks like they will work very well together. All of the U19 trials participants played very hard throughout the trials. There has been no lack of effort, and that's a good sign," said Boeheim.
"We're a pretty good shooting team from the perimeter and we have some big guys who can shoot the ball, so I think that's going to be strength," said USA U19 National Team and Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon. "I'm concerned that we don't really have experienced point guards, but I think we've got some wings that can make some plays.
"Now at this point we've got our team and we've got to just mold it. We didn't do a lot of team stuff during these three days (of trials), but what we're now going to do is focus on defending as a team and then running our offense, and just trying to play unselfish, playing hard and playing smart at the same time."
Dixon is being assisted by collegiate head coaches Chris Lowery of Southern Illinois and Matt Painter of Purdue.
All 12 selected athletes recently completed their freshman year at a NCAA Division I school. Washington State University, with Casto and Thompson, and Butler University, with Hayward and Mack, are the only colleges with multiple players making the 12-man roster.
Nine athletes listed among their NCAA conference all-freshman squads following the 2008-09 season, including three who were named their conference's freshman of the year. Curry was named Big South Conference Freshman of the Year; Hayward was named Horizon League Conference Newcomer of the Year; and White was named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year. Also named to their respective all-freshman teams were: Casto (Pacific-10); Mack (Horizon League); Moultrie (Conference USA); Taylor (Big 12); Thompkins (SEC); and Thompson (Pacific-10).
Additionally, Hayward was named to the CBSSportsline.com Freshman All-America second team and to the FoxSports.com National All-Freshmen team; and White was named to the CBSSportsline.com Freshman All-America second team.
The 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship features 16 national teams comprised of athletes 19-years-old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1990) that qualified through their FIBA zone tournaments.