Roberts Off USA Pan Am Team In Final Cut
7/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
July 25, 2003
ORLANDO, Fla. - Baylor forward Lawrence Roberts was not included on the official 12-man 2003 USA Men's Pan American Games Team, USA Basketball announced Friday following six days of training in Orlando, Fla.
Roberts, who will be a junior next season at Baylor, was one of 17 finalists that trained in Orlando and among the final four cut Friday. The 17 finalists were selected from among more than 50 athletes at tryouts last month in Colorado.
"This is definitely one of the toughest decisions I have ever faced," head coach Tom Izzo said. "We had so many players that could have made the team and probably deserved to make it but you can only have 12."
Selected for the USA team were: Andre Barrett (Seton Hall); Josh Childress (Stanford); Ike Diogu (Arizona State); Ben Gordon (Connecticut); Chuck Hayes (Kentucky); Chris Hill (Michigan State); Luke Jackson (Oregon); Arthur Johnson (Missouri); Brandon Mouton (Texas); Emeka Okafor (Connecticut); Rickey Paulding (Missouri); and Blake Stepp (Gonzaga).
Michigan State's Izzo is serving as head coach for the 2003 USA Basketball Men's Pan American Games Team and he is assisted by collegiate head coaches Lorenzo Romar from Washington and Quin Snyder from Missouri. The USA Pan American Games Team is preparing for the 2003 Pan American Games that will be played Aug. 2-6 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
In 2002-2003 Roberts led the Big 12 with 10 double-doubles in league games and was the leading rebounder in conference games (11.4 per game). He was named All-Big 12 for the second straight year after averaging 15.2 points and 10.4 rebounds, one of three Big 12 players to average a double-double on the year. In 2001-2002 Roberts set a Big 12 freshman scoring record with 498 points en route to being named a freshman All-American and to the Big 12 All-Freshman team.
