If you have not heard, Craig Brackins is spending part of his summer competing for USA in the World University Games. The competition is being held in Belgrade, Serbia, and it's a great chance for elite college basketball players to compete with some of the world's best at their age group.
Here's a rundown of USA's Roster:
| Number | Name | Class. | Position | School |
| #4 |
Talor Battle |
JR |
Guard |
Penn State |
| #5 |
Corey Fisher |
JR |
Guard |
Villanova |
| #6 |
Da'Sean Butler |
SR |
Forward |
West Virginia |
| #7 | Robbie Hummel | JR | Forward | Purdue |
| #8 | Evan Turner | JR | Guard | Ohio State |
| #9 | James Anderson | JR | Guard | Oklahoma State |
| #10 | Quincy Pondexter | SR | Forward | Washington |
| #11 | Lazar Hayward | SR | Forward | Marquette |
| #12 | Craig Brackins | JR | Forward | Iowa State |
| #13 | Trevor Booker | SR | Forward | Clemson |
| #14 | Jarvis Varnado | SR | Forward | Miss. State |
| #15 | Deon Thompson | SR | Forward | North Carolina |
The squad is coached by Wisconsin Coach, Bo Ryan.
The team has already arrived in Serbia, and played won an exhibition game against Canada 85-81. Brackins came off the bench, getting 4 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 18 minutes. Brackins went 1-4 from the field, and 2-2 from the charity stripe.
USA will play Serbia on Sunday at 2pm CST, and Russia on Monday at 11:30am CST. All of these, are an exhibition round-robin tournament prior to the World University Game.
The World University Games for the USA will start on July 3rd. The USA will play Finland on July 3rd at 1pm CST and will also play South Korea on July 4th at 1pm CST. Assuming the USA will advance (and that's a pretty safe bet), the 2nd round is July 6th and 7th, quarterfinals July 9th, semifinals July 10th, and the finals on July 11th.
The countries are formed into groups for the first round and do a round-robin in their group. The winner of each group moves into an 8 team tournament. The groups are as follows:
Group A: Serbia, Greece, Australia
Group B: Lithuania, Mexico, Romania, UAE
Group C: Canada, Italy, China
Group D: Japan, Ukraine, Bulgaria
Group E: Turkey, Portugal, Iran
Group F: Russia, Gabon, Israel, Brazil
Group G: Germany, Latvia, South Africa
Group H: USA, Finland, South Korea
It will be interesting, and we will update results as they come. I think this is a good chance for Craig to play against some meaningful competition, instead of the glorified pickup league known as the Capital City League. The USA typically does well in this type of an event, and I hope everyone on that team is enjoying their time there.
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