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Following practices in Miami, Fla., and after additional training and five exhibition games in Brazil, the official 12-player USA Basketball Men's World Championship Qualifying Team was announced Sunday. The USA team consists of players who played last season professionally in the NBA Development League, Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and overseas.

The USA squad will compete Aug. 24-Sept. 4 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in the FIBA Americas Men's World Championship Qualifying Tournament. The top four finishing teams (in addition to Argentina who has already qualified by virtue of winning the 2004 Olympics) will earn their nation a qualifying berth in the 2006 FIBA World Championship that is being held in Japan.

Named to the USA team were: Jerome Beasley (Sioux Falls-CBA/North Dakota ‘03); Charlie Bell (Leche Rio-Spain/Michigan State ‘01); Adam Chubb (Ulsan Phoebus-Korea/Pennsylvania ‘04); Tyus Edney (Lottomatica Roma-Italy/UCLA ‘95); Noel Felix (Yakima-CBA/Fresno State ‘03); Lynn Greer (Dynamo Moscow-Russia/ Temple ‘02); Tang Hamilton (Fayetteville-NBA Development League/Mississippi State ‘01); Kris Lang (Unicaja Malaga-Spain/North Carolina ‘02); Aaron McGhee (Pusan KTF-Korea/Oklahoma ‘02); Marque Perry (Olympicos-Greece/Saint Louis ‘03); Alex Scales (Samsung-Korea/ Oregon ‘99); and Ron Slay (Asheville-NBA Development League/ Tennessee ‘03).

Head coach of the USA contingent is MO McHone, a former USA Basketball and CBA head coach. Named as his assistant coaches were former NBA great Dennis "DJ" Johnson, who was named Friday as head coach of the Austin Toros NBA Development League team after spending 2004-05 as head mentor of the D-League Florida Flame squad, and Joey Meyer, who was recently named head coach of the NBA Development League Tulsa 66ers after leading the D-League Asheville Altitude to league championships in 2004 and 2005.

"I like our big guys. We kept five big guys, five inside types. That's because when we went to Brazil we realized the necessity of having that many because of all the foul trouble we got into. Then we also made the decision to keep three point guards because when you're playing as many games in a row as we will you may need them. That kind of determined what our roster would look like," said McHone, who coached two previous USA Basketball teams and led them to gold and silver medal finishes.

"I'm real pleased with the team. We've had two great days here in Miami, we got a lot done and the attitudes have been great. I look forward to us going over and being very competitive.

"The selection process has been difficult because no one really jumped up at the position where we made our decision," continued McHone. "I guess versatility was what we leaned toward in the very end, offense-defense, three-four, the ability to play multiple positions was what it was all about."

The USA team features five players who in 2004-05 played professionally in Europe, three that were active in the Korean Basketball League (KBL), two from the NBA Development League and two who played in the the CBA.

Three team members boast of previous USA Basketball experience. Edney was a member of the 1994 USA Goodwill Games Team that captured bronze in St. Petersburg, Russia; Greer was a part of the 2001 USA World University Games Team that won bronze in Beijing, China; Lang, while a UNC Tar Heel, participated in the 1999 USA Basketball National Team Trials.

The USA participates in a four-team tournament in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and finished tied for second with a 1-2 record. The USA defeated Argentina (86-78), and fell to Canada (95-86) and Brazil (88-77). Continuing is training in Brazil, the U.S. dropped a pair of exhibition games against Brazil, falling 100-96 on Aug. 14 in São Paulo, and 91-78 on Aug. 16 in Brusque. The USA travels Aug. 22 to the Dominican Republic for its final training and will play Aug. 24-Sept. 4.

2005 FIBA Americas World Championship Qualifier

A total of 10 men's teams from North, South and Central Americas and the Caribbean will participate in the 2005 FIBA Americas World Championship Qualifying Tournament and the top four finishing teams, and Argentina which already qualified for the ‘06 Worlds by winning the 2004 Olympics, will earn a coveted qualification spot for the 2006 World Championship that will be held in Japan, Aug. 19-Sept. 3, 2006.

The 10 FIBA Americas World Championship Qualifying tournament's teams have been divided into two preliminary round groups of five teams each. Placed in preliminary round Group A with the United States were Brazil, Canada, Panama and Venezuela. Group B consists of Argentina, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Uruguay. The US opens preliminary play Aug. 24 against Panama, then plays Brazil on Aug. 25, Canada on Aug. 26, and caps preliminary play against Venezuela on Aug. 27.

The top four finishing teams from each preliminary group advance to the second round and will play the four other teams they have not previously faced. The top four ranked teams in the second round advance to the Sept. 3 semifinals. The winners of the semifinal games will play Sept. 4 in the gold medal game, the losers will meet in the bronze medal contest.

In FIBA Americas Olympic or World Championship qualifying events held since 1989, USA Basketball men's teams are 46-4 and have won gold in five of the six Tournament of the Americas it has sent teams to.

Currently owning a 28-game winning streak in FIBA Americas Olympic or World Championship Qualifying tournaments, USA squads featuring NBA players went 10-0 in the FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifiers in 2003 and again 1999. In 1997, featuring a team coached by McHone and made up of standouts from the CBA, the US won its last eight games to finish 8-1 and claim the gold medal. Again featuring a team of CBA players, the 1993 USA team won gold after finishing 6-1. The debut of the "Dream Team" in 1992 at the Americas Olympic Qualifying tournament saw the USA squad roll to a 6-0 mark to capture the title. In 1989, utilizing college players, the Americans finished 6-2 and in possession of the silver medal. The US, having already qualified for the 1996 Olympics as the host country, didn't field a team for the 1995 Tournament of the Americas and in 2001, with the US already qualified for the 2002 World Championship as the host country, an all-star team from the National Junior College Athletic Association competed.