Memphis' Carney and Washington Invited to USA U21 Trials

Rodney Carney

Senior Rodney Carney and sophomore Darius Washington Jr., both members of the University of Memphis men's basketball team, have been invited to participate in the USA Basketball Men's U21 National Team Trials in late July.

Twenty-two of the nation's top players will vie for 12 spots in Dallas, Texas, July 21-23. The 12-member squad will look to defend the USA's gold medal at the 2005 FIBA U21 World Championship in Mar de Plata, Argentina, Aug. 5-14.

A 2005 All-Conference USA second team pick, Carney led the Tigers in scoring with a 16.0 average and was third on the squad with a 5.0 rebounding average. The Indianapolis, Ind., native finished second on the team lead with 76 three-pointers made and shot 77.3 percent from the free throw line. He was ranked among the Conference USA leaders in scoring.

This past year, the 6-foot-7 forward became the 40th player in Tiger history to reach the 1,000-point milestone. He is now ranked among the top 25 scorers in Memphis basketball history. Carney also moved into the No. 2 spot on the Tiger career three-pointers made chart, and trails only former teammate Anthony Rice.

Washington, the Conference USA's Freshman of the Year, was named to the CollegeInsider.com and Rivals.com National Freshman All-America teams. Also selected Conference USA's Diaper Dandy of the Year by ESPN.com/Dick Vitale, Washington earned All-C-USA third team honors, and was the only freshman in Conference USA to be on one of the league's three postseason teams.

The 6-foot-2 guard finished the 2004-05 season as the team's second-leading scorer with a 15.4 average, and led the squad with 144 assists and 63 steals. He shot 46 percent from the field, 39.5 percent from the arc and 73.3 percent from the foul line. The Winter Park, Fla., native was ranked among the Conference USA leaders in assists, steals, scoring and three-point field goal percentage.





Saint Joseph's University (Pa.) head coach Phil Martelli has been named as the USA team's head coach and acting as his assistants will be collegiate head coaches James `Bruiser' Flint from Drexel University (Pa.) and Dennis Felton from the University of Georgia.

Trials will be conducted at the Dallas Mavericks practice facility inside the American Airlines Center and the first Trials session will be held on Thursday, July 21 at 10:00 a.m. (all times local), followed by a 5:00 p.m. session that night. July 22 and 23 will again feature two-a-days with starting times at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Team finalists will remain in Dallas for the USA's July 24 - Aug. 1 training camp, which will feature a July 24 scrimmage against the Dallas Mavericks summer team at the Dr. Pepper Star Center in Frisco, Texas, near Dallas. The training camp will conclude with a pair of daily practices at the Dallas Mavericks practice facility at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on July 25 and July 26. The U.S. squad will then compete in the July 27-31 Global Games at the Dr. Pepper Star Center. The eventual 12-member USA team will be announced during the training camp.

Contested Aug. 5-14 in Cordoba and Mar del Plata, Argentina, the 2005 FIBA Men's U21 World Championship will consist of 12 national teams split into two groups for preliminary round-robin play. The top four teams in each group will advance to the medal quarterfinals, while the 5th and 6th place finishing teams in each group will compete for 9th-12th place.