USA Basketball's main focus this summer will be on trying to capture gold in the 31st edition of the summer Olympic Games in Rio.
The men's basketball team the USA is sending to Brazil includes one former Orange player in Carmelo Anthony and the Orange's head coach in Jim Boeheim, but Syracuse Orange fans may actually find more intrigue in the upcoming 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.
While the Olympics will show off Syracuse basketball past (Anthony) and present (Boeheim), the FIBA Americas tournament will potentially showcase Syracuse basketball's future.
This tournament, held from July 19-23 in Valdivia, Chile, will be the competition for one of the junior USA basketball teams, which will include several Syracuse basketball recruiting targets.
Among the players named to the 12-man roster are center Mohamed Bamba (Westtown School), shooting guard Hamidou Diallo (Putnam Science Academy), and point guards Matt Coleman (Oak Hill Academy) and Quade Green (Neumann-Goretti HS).
Green, Diallo and Bamba have long been on Syracuse's recruiting radar, while Coleman is a newer target, according to a recent report from Scout.com. All four of these players have multiple offers from major college basketball programs, but the Orange, who have yet to secure a commitment from a player in the Class of 2017, will be hoping to convince at least one of them to come to Central New York.
The U18 team will spend the rest of this week in Houston ahead of traveling to Chile to compete in the U18 world championships next week. The USA plays Puerto Rico in their first game on July 19, which can be seen on YouTube/FIBA.
Check out the video below to see highlights from their training camp this week: