Boyle named assistant for USA Basketball U19 team

7th year Colorado men’s basketball head coach Tad Boyle and Wake Forest’s Danny Manning have something in common. They both played for Kansas during the 1984-’85 season. John Calipari was an assistant coach for that Jayhawks squad. Wednesday it was announced the three will be reunited in Egypt this summer to lead the USA Basketball U19 team in the biennial 16-team FIBA World Championship.

“The last time the three of us were together on a basketball court was 1985 at the University of Kansas. That was 32 years ago.” Tad Boyle remarked. “So, it’s something I’m really looking forward to – learning and being around Coach Cal and Danny and representing our country. There is no greater honor.”

Boyle - who helped lead USA to a bronze medal at the 2015 Pan American Games - and Manning will serve as assistants to the 8th year Kentucky head coach. “I coached both Tad and Danny at the University of Kansas,” Calipari said in a statement. “I’m so proud of what they’ve become as coaches and as representatives of this game. I’m looking forward to reuniting and learning from both of these special coaches.”

The USA Basketball World Cup team has captured the last two FIBA U19 World Championships. Training camp to select the 12-member USA Basketball U19 squad will be held June 18-25 about two hours from Boulder at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Placed in Group D, the USA begins its quest for a FIBA World Championship three-peat on July 1 in a preliminary round game against Iran.