Syracuse basketball incoming freshman Sadiq White Jr. and two 2026 recruiting targets will vie for the USA Basketball U19 national team.
According to a press release on Tuesday, 33 players were selected to compete in a training camp that begins on June 14 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Among them are White and two 2026 five-star recruits, shooting guard Jordan Smith Jr. and point guard Deron Rippey Jr.
A huge congrats to Sadiq, Jordan and Deron! The 12-member roster is expected to be revealed before the U19 national team heads to the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup, which will take place from June 28 until July 6 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
As I noted in another recent column, on the Australian national team is another Orange incoming freshman, four-star combo guard Luke Fennell, who during the 2024-25 campaign competed for the South East Melbourne Phoenix in the National Basketball League ("NBL"), a professional league with teams in Australia and New Zealand.
There are 16 teams in this year's FIBA U19 World Cup. The event starts with group play. The United States, Australia, France and Cameroon are in Group D. Australia will kick off its Group D games by battling the United States on June 28.
White, a four-star forward out of the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and Fennell are part of the 'Cuse 2025 class at the prep level that is currently No. 10 nationally, per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite.
A Syracuse basketball commit and two recruits eye the USA Basketball U19 national team.
Those who are invited to the training camp include players who just finished their freshman year of college as well as members of the 2025 and 2026 high school classes. Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd will serve as the head coach of the U19 national team, and he will be assisted by Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland and Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry.
According to USA Basketball, the U19 national team has won the gold medal on eight occasions at the FIBA U19 World Cup, most recently in 2021.
Smith and Rippey are two of the top targets for the Orange in the 2026 cycle. The 'Cuse offered Smith in early May of 2023. In late August of that year, Syracuse basketball offered Rippey. Both have unofficially visited the Orange program.
Rippey is a standout at the Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J., while Smith is an All-American with St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Va.
Last weekend, amid an NCAA-permitted live period on the AAU circuit, Orange coaches were in attendance for various recruiting targets, including Rippey and Smith. They play for the New York-based New Heights in the Adidas 3SSB league and the Washington, D.C.-based Team Takeover in Nike's EYBL league, respectively.