Category Archives: USA Select “In The News”
TEAM USA RETURN FOR THE 4TH YEAR
TEAM USA RETURN FOR THE 4TH YEAR
AUTHOR: Clare Mackle
SEPTEMBER 3, 2019
We are delighted to announce that our friends at Team USA are returning to Edinburgh for the 4th year in a row! They are bringing 2 teams this year and will face off against an Under 23 Kings Select team and our Senior Men. The United States touring team will feature players who have recently graduated from playing college basketball in the States and who are hoping to possibly secure themselves a professional contract in Europe for next season. This is always a highlight of our preseason and we look forward to welcoming them back to Portobello. This will also be the first chance to get a look at the new Senior Men roster!
Game times are :
17:30 Kings Under 23 Select v Team USA Blue
19:30 Kings Senior Men v Team USA Red
Hewitt Taking His Game To The Next Level
Hewitt Taking His Game To The Next Level
8/29/2019 10:48:00 AM
For over 15 years, USA Select Basketball has developed and fostered contacts oversees for the purpose of helping generations of former collegiate players continue their careers by playing professionally in Europe. USA Select handpicks a group of individuals for their international tours and, this year, the 2019 edition will feature none other than former Whitman Blues sharpshooter Joey Hewitt.
Hewitt met his new teammates in North Carolina for an intense three days of practice and concluded the pre-tour training camp on Tuesday, Aug. 28. The squad is now in the midst of a 14-game, 21-day journey through England, Wales, Scotland and Norway.
Whitman coach Eric Bridgeland, Hewitt’s coach for four years, knows how well-deserving this opportunity is. “Joey is a pro, a special player. You don’t have the success our program has enjoyed without the special ones. Our whole family is excited for him.”
2019 USA Select Team @USASelectBBall
Credit: International Hoop Scout @hoop_scout
USA Select will play top-notch competition from the Welsh National Team to the three-time British Basketball League champion Leicester Raiders. But a Sept. 6 game at Loughborough University will have a special significance to Hewitt. Professional contracts are no guarantee, and should things not work out on the court, Hewitt has been accepted and will attend Loughborough in the fall of 2020 seeking his masters in sports psychology.
Hewitt had a sensational career at Whitman, suiting up for the Blues from 2015-19 and leaving as one of the program’s all-time greats. Hewitt was a three-time all-NWC selection and earned NABC and D3Hoops.com all-region honors as a junior and senior. He exited Whitman ranked in the top five in career points and three-pointers made.
It’s no rest for the weary for the young group of hopeful professionals. The tour tips off with the 2019 Howell Shield Elite Basketball Tournament, an eight-team tournament running from Aug. 30-Sept. 1.
Fans can follow USA Select Basketball and the tour on Twitter (@usaselectbball), Instagram (#usaselectbasketball) and Facebook (USA Select Basketball).
ADDITIONAL NOTES: Former Whitman players Austin Butler and Tim Howell will both begin a one-year masters program at the University of Essex in England while playing for the school’s professional team. Butler will be studying sports psychology and Howell sports administration…2019 graduate Jase Harrison will also be starting his post-grad education this fall in England, seeking his masters in sports psychology at the University of East London.
#GoWhitman
EAGLES TIP-OFF FIRST PRE-SEASON IN NEW HOME
EAGLES TIP-OFF FIRST PRE-SEASON IN NEW HOME
By DAN BLACK
on August 19, 2019
As the 2019-20 Newcastle Eagles BBL team signing announcements continue to roll-out ahead of our first full season in the Eagles Community Arena, we are excited to reveal the first pre-season games to be hosted in our new venue.
Three games will give you the chance to see our new squad in action before the new-format BBL season begins with the Cup Group Stage at home at the end of September.
On Tuesday 3 September we open the campaign warm-up as USA Select return to the UK for a weeknight exhibition before Friday night basketball is back with Worcester and Sheffield visiting Tyneside over the two weeks leading up to the season opener on September 20 against Cheshire Phoenix.
HOME – Tue 3 Sep 19:30 – Newcastle Eagles – VS -USA Select – Eagles Community Arena Pre-Season – GET TICKETS
HOME – Fri 6 Sep 19:30 – Newcastle Eagles – VS -Worcester Wolves – Eagles Community Arena Pre-Season – GET TICKETS
HOME – Fri 13 Sep 19:30 – Newcastle Eagles – VS -Sheffield Sharks – Eagles Community Arena Pre-Season – GET TICKETS
AWAY – Sun 15 Sep 16:00 – Sheffield Sharks – VS -Newcastle Eagles – EIS Sheffield Pre-Season
Tickets are on sale now from the all-new Newcastle Eagles Box Office for just £8 per person (reduced to £7 for our BBL season ticket holders when you login).
USA Select Tickets Now On Sale!
USA Select Tickets Now On Sale!
By Liam Brown
on August 14, 2019
Manchester Giants will take on USA Select in the traditional pre-season curtain raiser on 5th September 2019.
The match will take place at Platt Lane Complex, Yew Tree Rd, Manchester M14 7UU, with a 7pm tip off.
Due to the decreased capacity at Platt Lane, tickets are expected to sell out very quickly, with tickets available to purchase on the viewing balcony. Season ticket holders get this game included on their season ticket, and simply have to show up with their season ticket confirmation to be checked against our records.
It represents Giants’ fans first opportunity to get see Danny Byrne’s new look side in action, with new boys Tiel Daniels, Del’vin Dickerson, Edu Arqués, Phil Kelly-Brandreth and Jon Mulmore joining the returning cast of Ingus Bankevics, James Jones and Callum Jones.
We will be trialling a new bar code ticket system for this game, allowing fans to print tickets at home or bring on a mobile phone for scanning on entry. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail us at [email protected] and we will be happy to answer them. If there are any issues with your tickets, you can be simply checked against our records in the old way.
Kingston Panthers VS Usa Select
Kingston Panthers VS Usa Select
Whatever Happened To … former Valley Forge basketball standout Ryan Patton
Whatever Happened To … former Valley Forge basketball standout Ryan Patton
By Tim Rogers / Plain Dealer Reporter
on January 14, 2011 12:32 PM, updated August 23, 2013 3:14 AM
Some guys will go to great lengths to extend their basketball playing days.
Former Valley Forge and Youngstown State star Ryan Patton went farther than most. He went all the way to England, with a brief stint in Qatar.
Patton, who led Forge to a Division I regional final in 1997 and scored more than 800 points in just two high school seasons, is in his sixth year as a European professional and his playing career is not much different than it was in the United States.
He still is a terrific shooter and scorer.
“I always thought he would end up playing professionally somewhere,” said John Stavole, who coached Patton for two seasons after he transferred from Holy Name to Valley Forge. “If ‘gym-rat’ was in the dictionary, his picture would be there. He just loved to play. He was the kind of kid you loved to coach.”
Patton, 31, earned All-Ohio honors as a senior at Valley Forge and became just the second player in YSU history to score 1,000 points and have 400 assists before graduating in 2002.
The 6-0 guard plays for the Sheffield Sharks, the defending champions of the British Basketball League. The season lasts from September to May and teams play about twice a week. The Sharks, 30-6 one year ago, are in the BBL Championship Finals, which begin next week. Patton is averaging 18 points a game and is in the league’s top five in assists, 3-point shooting percentage and free throw percentage.
“I would have considered playing anywhere in Europe,” Patton said in an e-mail. “England was the first country that I played in. I played a short time in Qatar, but it’s beneficial to be in a country without a language barrier and I felt at home in England.”
Each BBL squad is permitted to have just three Americans on its roster.
“That puts a little added pressure on me to keep performing well,” he said. “It’s good to have played at the college level in the States because it was a pressured environment. We get treated well here, your accommodations and car are paid for and the English fans and management are very supportive.”
Soccer remains king in England but Patton said basketball’s status is improving.
“Basketball is not one of the top sports in the country so we don’t pull in the same crowds,” he said. “Our games are showing now on Sky sports, which will improve the profile and popularity of basketball in the UK. The Cup Championships and the finals always draw big crowds and a great atmosphere.”
Patton still spends his summers in Ohio and has begun running basketball camps at local schools.
“I’ll play as long as my body allows me to,” he said.
Spoken like a true gym rat.
– Tim Rogers