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Weber and USA Basketball

Posted by: Paul Klee

Thursday, April 2, 2009 7:27 AM

Bruce Weber has wanted to get involved with USA Basketball again, and now he's been afforded the chance. Here are a few details of Weber's appointment to the 2009-12 men's junior national team committee, courtesy USA Basketball spokesperson Craig Miller.

- The committee's responsibilities include selecting coaches and college-aged players for the 2009 and 2011 World University Games, the 2009 and 2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championships, the 2010 and 2012 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championships and the 2011 Pan Am Games.

So this isn't a coaching position - "Normally during the period you're on the committee, you don't serve as a coach," Miller said - but that could change after 2012.

"I hope to coach down the road, if I had that opportunity with USA Basketball also," Weber said.

- The four coaches on the committee - Jim Boeheim (chair), Weber, Lorenzo Romar and Roy Williams - will get together during the Final Four in Detroit to start "identifying players and discussing potential coaches," Miller said. Can't imagine Roy Williams will be too involved at this point, as he has other things to take care of. Former Duke guard Jay Williams is the athlete representative.

- Weber actually was appointed to the committee by the NCAA and then approved by USA Basketball and UI grad Jerry Colangelo.

"His experience and his success and the respect others have for him are all critical components of his selection. And his willingness to be involved, because it is a commitment," Miller said.

He added that Weber "is representing a region," and you can see by the selections of Boeheim (Syracuse) Romar (Washington) and Williams (North Carolina) they try to cover the map.

- The 12-player rosters for these teams potentially could Illinois guys.

"I hope it becomes a positive thing that we can get some of our young guys involved," Weber said.

- On some other notes, I see UTEP coach Tony Barbee as the next coach at Memphis. He's still coaching, so I don't think it would happen until the Final Four weekend.

And I'm thinking Memphis assistants Josh Pastner and Orlando Antigua will go with John Calipari to Kentucky, which is a big deal. I've had three high-major assistants - one on the west coast, one in the Midwest and one in the SEC - tell me they think Kentucky is going to build a beast under Calipari. One guy said he expects it will surpass what Carolina has done over the past four years, in terms of bringing in legions of future pros and taking up permanent residence in the Final Four.

- Chat with you later.

pklee@news-gazette.com