Courtesy of our friends at USA Basketball:
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Feb. 2, 2012) — Montverde Academy (Fla.) head coach Kevin Boyle will led the USA Junior National Select Team against the World Team in the 2012 Nike Hoop Summit, with DeMatha Catholic (Md.) head mentor Mike Jones serving as an assistant coach on the U.S. sideline.
The Nike Hoop Summit, the country’s premier annual basketball game for high-school age boys, features America’s top high school seniors playing against a World Select Team comprised of top international players 19-years-old or younger.
Nationally televised by Fox Sports Net and its regional affiliates, the 2012 Nike Hoop Summit will take place at 7 p.m. (PDT) on Saturday, April 7, 2012, at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore.
“It’s a great honor to be a part of USA Basketball,” Boyle said. “I have worked with Nike through sponsorship of my teams since 1988, and Nike and USA Basketball are first class organizations. The USA Basketball men’s program has done a tremendous job with success at all age levels, and I look forward to coaching this team.”
“I am extremely excited.” Jones said. “All of my experiences with USA Basketball in my career before now have been absolutely wonderful, and I’m looking forward to having another opportunity to represent my country in international competition.”
Portland area fans may remember USA assistant coach Jones from the 2010 Les Schwab Invitational when he lead DeMatha past Kyle Wiltjer’s Jesuit High School (Ore.) in the semifinals and on to the tournament title.
“I’ve known Coach Boyle for quite a few years, and I have always respected him and the way he has run his program,” Jones continued. “I’m definitely looking forward to implementing his plan and his system with our guys as we try to do the best job we can to prepare our team and to maintain the current win streak the USA is on. We want to make sure we represent our country the best we possibly can. I’m very much looking forward to it, and I’m extremely excited.”
Tickets for the 15th Annual Nike Hoop Summit are now on sale, with general admission $5 when purchased in advance and $10 on game day. Reserved courtside seating is $25 and $50, and tickets can be purchased through the Rose Quarter Ticket Office, by calling 877-789-ROSE (7673) or by visiting rosequarter.com or nikehoopsummit.com.
“Each and every year the Nike Hoop Summit is a very competitive contest between the U.S. and the World Team, and it’s always a challenge to build team chemistry in the three days we have to prepare,” said Sean Ford, USA Basketball Men’s National Team Director and non-voting chair of the USA Men’s Developmental National Team Committee. “The committee feels confident, however, that Kevin Boyle and Mike Jones have what it takes to get the 2012 U.S. team to play together and with discipline. Their tremendous amount of experience and success demonstrate what great coaches they are, and USA Basketball is fortunate to have their leadership.”
The 2012 USA Basketball Junior National Select Team roster will be selected by the USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team Committee and is expected to be announced in the next few weeks. The 2012 World Select Team is expected to be announced in March. The USA Junior National Select Team will feature 10 players, while the World Select Team is expected to consist of 11 players age 19-years-old or younger from FIBA’s five geographic zones: FIBA Africa, FIBA Americas, FIBA Asia, FIBA Europe and FIBA Oceania, with the approved sanctioning of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the world governing body of international basketball.
In addition to Ford, the USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team Committee includes: AAU appointees Ron Crawford and Boo Williams; National Federation of High Schools representatives Eric Flannery and John Olive; and athlete representative Kermit Holmes (1999 USA Pan American Games Team).
Kevin Boyle
Currently in his first season at Montverde Academy, Boyle has led his 2011-12 team to an 19-3 record (as of Jan. 31, 2012).
“Mike is an outstanding coach,” Boyle said of his USA assistant. “I have worked with him at various camps and clinics over the years. He is a student of the game and an excellent teacher. I look forward to working with him.”
He was hired at Montverde in April of 2011, after 23 seasons as the head coach at St. Patrick High School in New Jersey (1988-89 through 2010-11), where he compiled more than 400 wins.
In 2010-11, Boyle led St. Patrick to a 26-1 record after his team lost in the finals of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Non-Public B tournament, and he was named the 2011 Naismith National High School Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tipoff Club in March of 2011.
Under Boyle, the St. Patrick Celtics won the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions five times, and the program consistently ranked in the USA Today Super-25 for two decades.
Boyle has sent numerous players to the NBA, including current stars Samuel Dalembert of the Houston Rockets and Al Harrington of the Denver Nuggets, and according to a Jan. 15, 2009 article in the New Jersey Monthly, more than 75 percent of his players had gone on to play for NCAA Division I teams.
Following his team’s second consecutive New Jersey Tournament of Champions win in 2007, Boyle was selected as the Coach of the Year by USA Today.
Boyle, who was born in Clark, N.J., graduated from St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. He played two seasons at Seton Hall before finishing his playing career at St. Peter’s.
He started his coaching career St. Joseph’s Middle School in Roselle, N.J., and in 1989 made the move to St. Patrick.
Mike Jones
A member of three previous USA Basketball coaching staffs, Jones most recently helped the USA to a gold medal as an assistant coach for the 2011 USA Men’s U16 National Team, which wrapped up a 5-0 record at the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Cancun, Mexico.
In addition to acting as an assistant coach during the 2011-12 USA Basketball Men’s Development National Team’s two training camps (Oct. 9-10, 2010 and Oct. 15-16, 2011), Jones was an assistant coach for the 2004 USA Basketball Men’s Youth Development Festival East Team that finished 2-3 and collected a bronze medal.
“Coaching in the Nike Hoop Summit has been a goal for me,” Jones said. “In terms of amateur basketball, it’s close to being at the pinnacle of what I can achieve as a coach. Any time you get an opportunity to represent your country in any competition, you have to be excited about it, and I am.”
Jones currently is in his 10th season at the helm the DeMatha boys basketbal team, where he himself was a basketball player and high school student. He was hired as the interim coach in 2002-03 and given the head coach position in the following season (2003-04).
At the start of the 2011-12 season, Jones had compiled a 241-62 (.795 winning percentage) overall record as the head coach at DeMatha. Thus far in 2011-12, he has led his team to a 17-3 record this season (as of Jan. 31, 2012).
Six times (2004-05 through 2006-07 and 2008-09 through 2010-11) Jones has led the Stags to a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) league title.
During 2009-10, Jones surpassed the 200-win mark with the Stags, finishing the year with 205 victories.
Honored as the Washington Post All-Met Coach of the Year in 2004-05, Jones also helped DeMatha earn national recognition as the No. 2 ranked high school athletic program in the United States by Sports Illustrated in 2005 and 2007.
Many of Jones’ DeMatha alumni have graduated to compete in Division I college basketball, including Notre Dame sophomore Jerian Grant, Indiana sophomore Victor Oladipo and Georgetown freshman Mikael Hopkins. Prior to his transfer to Oak Hill Academy (Va.) in 2010-11, Jones also coached two-time USA Basketball gold medalist and Duke freshman Quinn Cook.
As a senior basketball player at DeMatha in 1991, Jones was the second-leading scorer on a team that went 30-0, one of two undefeated teams in school history. Jones helped DeMatha win the WCAC title, the City Title and the Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament before leaving for Old Dominion University on a scholarship.
A standout player at Old Dominion from 1991-92 through 1994-95, Jones was a member of the Colonial Athletic Association
All-Conference Team in his senior season, and he helped ODU to two trips to the NCAA Tournament (1992 and 1995).
Following his career at ODU, Jones tried out for several NBA teams, played professionally in the CBA and International Basketball Association, where he was first team all-league in 1997. He also played professionally in Finland in 1995-96 and Portugal in 1996-98.
About USA Basketball
Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA Basketball is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men’s and women’s basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the United States by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA sponsored international basketball competitions, as well as for some national competitions.
Since 2008, USA Basketball men’s and women’s teams have compiled a sterling 134-6 win-loss record in FIBA or FIBA Americas competitions. USA teams are the current men’s and women’s champions of the Olympics and the FIBA World Championships; FIBA women’s U19 world champions; the men’s and women’s title holders for the FIBA U17 World Championships; and the men’s and women’s U18 and U16 FIBA Americas champions. USA Basketball currently ranks No. 1 in all five of FIBA’s world ranking categories, including combined, men’s, women’s, boys and girls.
Connect with USA Basketball on facebook.com/usabasketball, twitter.com/usabasketball and www.youtube.com/therealusabasketball.
