NBA Scouts, College Coaches Flocking To Argentina For USA U17 Team

NBA Scouts, College Coaches Flocking To Argentina For USA U17 Team

Vernon Carey Jr. and Scottie Barnes are en route to Argentina with the USA U17 team, but even in South American they'll be watched closely by scouts.

Jun 29, 2018 by Adam Zagoria
Home Court: Vernon Carey Jr.

As a former Division I assistant coach and current high school assistant, Jimmy Carr is in a unique position to understand the inner workings of recruiting.

And so when Carr hears that a slew of high-major college coaches — as well as reps from nearly all 30 NBA teams — are headed to Argentina to watch the 2018 FIBA U17 World Cup, he totally understands why.

"Obviously, it shows more concern and effort and commitment in the recruiting process whenever you do something like this," said Carr, who coaches at University School, which features two players on the U17 team in class of 2019 big man Vernon Carey Jr and class of 2020 wing Scottie Barnes. "Some schools have been down there two years in a row. I think that makes great impact on the kids."

The USA men, four-time U17 gold medalists who will be looking to defend a 30-0 record at the event, open preliminary round play against China on Saturday, followed by Mali on Sunday and Serbia on Tuesday. All of the USA's games in the FIBA U17 World Cup will be streamed live on the USA Basketball Facebook page.

A who's who of college programs are either currently in Argentina, or soon will be, including Villanova, Kentucky, Kansas, Miami, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Cal, TCU, Arizona State, Georgia Tech, and Oklahoma.

And it's understandable why. The U17 roster is completely loaded with prospects, including the players ranked No. 2 (Carey), 5 (Isaiah Stewart), 18 (Wendell Moore) and 39 (Isaac Okoro) in the 2019 ESPN 100, as well as the players ranked 1 (Evan Mobley), 2 (Jalen Green), 3 (R.J. Hampton), 4 (Barnes), 8 (Jalen Suggs), 23 (Jeremy Roach) and 37 (Romeo Weems), in the 2020 ESPN 60.

"I was in Colorado for the training camp, and that is an unbelievably good team, like the most competitive team you ever want to see," Carr said. "They went hard every minute. Kids who got cut from that team are going to be like major college players. It's such a good team and they did such a good job putting it together, I was blown away by it."



Eight of the 12 finalists play on the Nike EYBL circuit and will be heading back to play in Peach Jam July 11-15 in North Augusta, South Carolina — streamed live on FloHoops — immediately following the World Championship.

In addition to Team USA, college coaches can also scout the international teams, just as many did recently at the FIBA U18 Americas Championship in St. Catharines, Ontario, where the USA beat Canada for the gold medal.

One DI assistant said he had a "nice list of international guys I am looking forward to seeing" in Argentina.

"As a college coach, it's smart to do this, invest at least one guy on your staff," Carr said of making the trip to South America. "The international teams may have younger kids and you make connections. Anytime you hustle like this, good things happen, if not directly the kid you're trying to get but it leads you to something else that's pretty good."

Carey, who is seeking his second straight gold medal in Argentina, has a top five now of Duke, Miami, North Carolina, Michigan State, and Kentucky and expects many of those schools to watch him in Argentina. The same goes for Barnes, who has yet to finalize a list but is being courted by Miami, Syracuse, Villanova, Kansas, North Carolina, and Louisville, among others.



Several of these players figure to be in the NBA in the next few years, too, so that explains why a slew of NBA international scouts are in Argentina.

"With the way the draft rules are changing, or the anticipated change, no one knows for sure '20 or '21, but the amount of information that they have to gather on this class or the following class is huge," Carr said, "so they have to get going with these classes."

Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who runs ZAGSBLOG.com and contributes to The New York Times. Follow Adam on Twitter.

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