Initial Great Britain Under-20 Men’s Squad Released

By Sam Neter on June 7, 2017

Head Coach Andreas Kapoulas has named 21 players in his initial Great Britain Under-20 squad ahead of training camp in preparation for the Division B FIBA U20 Men European Championship in Oradea, Romania, later this summer.

Andre Arissol, Kyle Carey, Sam Idowu, and Josh Steel all return to the squad after competing at the European Championship last summer a year young, with the addition of a number of new faces.

EABL East Conference Player of the Year Amin Adamu receives his first National Team call up, along with Barking Abbey teammate Obi Agu and Reading’s Ali Sbai, whilst dual passport-holder Brennan Morris is the other completely new face; he is currently attending Loomis Chaffee School.

Moses Byekwaso and Harvey Barr return to the squad for a second shot after not making the final cut last summer, meanwhile, a number of other 1998 born players who played for the England Under-18s last summer will be hoping to make the step up; Josh Apple, RJ Eytle-Rock, Carl Wheatle, Luke Mitchell, and Henri Langton.

Barry University freshman Evan Walshe also gets a look in, and Charnwood’s Morgan Carter is the sole Wales representative.

Finally, four other 1997 borns, who are familiar with National Team duty having all been to European Championships before will aim to make their first Under-20 squad; Maine Freshman Danny Evans, Calvin Nevill-Kintu, Loughborough’s Alex Roberts and America All-East Conference Rookie, Akwasi Yeboah.

“We’re definitely excited about the group of players that we have selected and we look forward to going to camp at the end of June,” said Kapoulas.

“It’s a short preparation, leading to the European championship, so we need to maximise the time with our team and certainly having players returning from last summer will help this process.

“We have a lot of hard work ahead of us and we certainly feel that we have the ingredients to have a successful summer campaign. It’s important to focus on the process and make sure, together, we bond as a unit and get better.”

Details of when and where the training camp will take place were not included in the release.

GB Under-20 Initial Squad 2017

Amin Adamu, Barking Abbey/Kent Crusaders
Obi Agu, Barking Abbey/Kent Crusaders
Joshua Apple, Ipswich Basketball Club
Andre Arissol, Otero Junior College (USA)
Harvey Barr, Lake Region State College (USA)
Moses Byekwaso, Preston College (last team, did not play competitively this season)
Kyle Carey, Barry University (USA – transferred from University of Northern Colorado at end of season)
Morgan Carter, Charnwood College/Leicester Riders
Danny Evans, University of Maine (USA)
RJ Eytle-Rock, Barking Abbey/Kent Crusaders
Sam Idowu, St. Peter’s College (USA)
Calvin Nevill-Kintu, Vincennes University (USA – last team, did not play competitively this season)
Henri Langton, Charnwood College/Leicester Riders
Luke Mitchell, Nottingham Hoods
Brennan Morris, Loomis Chaffee School (USA)
Alex Roberts, Loughborough Student Riders
Ali Sbai, Reading Rockets
Josh Steel, University of Duquesne (USA) (last team, departed mid-season)
Evan Walshe, Barry University (USA)
Carl Wheatle, Angelico Biella (Italy)
Akwasi Yeboah, Stony Brook University (USA)

GB will open up their European Championship campaign on July 14 against the Netherlands in Romania. They are in Group B along with the aforementioned Netherlands, Slovak Republic, Russia, and Azerbaijan.

Notable absentees from the initial squad list include former EABL Player of the Year and Santa Clara commit Shaquille Walters, Weber State’s George Darling, Wake Forest freshman Sam Japhet-Mathias, and England Under-18 Dan Akin.

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