While the U.S. is out of the World Cup, let it be known that we’re still doing our thing in the sports we traditionally excel in. Team USA team won the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 championship on Wednesday night, narrowly edging Brazil 81-78.↵↵The U.S. got out 15-2 on Brazil thanks to a torrid start by Austin Rivers (the hero of the semifinals) and Duke signee Kyrie Irving., but Brazil battled back with a combination of some nice halfcourt pressure defense and the outstanding play of Brazilian big man Lucas Nogueira (more on him later).↵
2011 Recruit Quincy Miller: American Hero
↵↵While Irving was the best player on the court for the U.S., it was senior-to-be Quincy Miller sticking the game’s biggest shot. Tied at 78, Miller hit an absolute dagger 3-pointer for the U.S. with 25 seconds remaining. Recruiting aficionados are probably familiar with Miller, but if you’re the average hoops fan, this might be the first you’ve seen or heard of him. To YouTube!↵
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↵↵Rivals rates Miller as the No. 3 forward in the class of 2011 and the No. 8 player overall. Scout slots him as the top power forward in the class, but does list him as playing some small forward, too. (Michael Gilchrist, a UK commitment, is listed as the No. 1 small forward.) As far as who might land this great patriot, it appears to be wide open. Both Scout and Rivals list more than 10 schools in the running for his services.↵
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↵After the game, Miller posted this photo to Twitter, which I imagine has to be pretty unbelievable for anyone still in high school. ↵
↵↵Other than the outstanding performances by some of the U.S names we’ve already talked about, special attention should go to Lucas Nogueira for Brazil. (You can check out his bio, through Google Translation, here.) Nogueira is just 18, but at 7-feet tall, I imagine he’ll be on everyone’s radar after a night with 22 points and 14 rebounds. He didn’t flash a ton of perimeter skills, but he appeared to have a huge wing span and really outworked the U.S bigs. Eric Bossi, who covers recruiting for Rivals, posted to Twitter that Lucas Nogueira would likely be a top five 2011 player in the U.S., so bookmark this name for down the road in your mental rolodex.↵
↵↵Hoops heads looking for a fix this summer should fear not, because the U.S isn’t finished with international competition. With the U18 team taking gold, the U17 squad is up next. Their first game is against Argentina on Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET. Check out the full U17 schedule here. College hoops fans looking to scout future talent should keep tabs on Mike Gilchrist and Marquis Teague (UK), James McAdoo (North Carolina), Bradley Beal (Florida). Undecided highly touted recuirts like Quinn Cook (Rivals No. 20), Johnny O’Bryant (Rivals No. 24) and Tony Wroten (Rivals No. 25) are among the other players on the roster. All of this leads up to the U.S Senior National team, which begins play in Turkey on August 28.↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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