SYDNEY, Australia -- Utah center Andrew Bogut, expected to
be one of the top picks in the NBA draft, was included Wednesday on
the Australian squad for a World Championships basketball
qualifying series against New Zealand.
The 20-year-old Bogut, The Associated Press college player of
the year, was on Australia's 20-man roster for the FIBA Oceania
championship matches in New Zealand from Aug. 17-21.
Bogut, a 7-foot sophomore at Utah, last week also became the
first non-American to win the Wooden Award, judged by a panel of
more than 1,000 sports media members.
Also on the Australian squad will be Georgia Tech's Luke
Schenscher, Old Dominion's Alex Loughton, the Colonial Conference
player of the year, and former Chicago Bulls center Chris Anstey.
"The squad is a mix of the core players from the last Olympic
team and nine or 10 guys that we haven't seen in an international
context, but who've all been playing well in their environment,"
Australia's head coach Brian Goorjian said.
"We've got a lot of young developing guys that are being looked
at now -- young guys who are performing very well in college in the
United States and the kids who won a gold medal at the 2003
Under-19 world championships."
A squad for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the
2006 world championships in Japan would be selected after the
Oceania qualifying series, Goorjian said.
"I think 90 percent or even 100 percent will come out of this
group when we get to the Olympics in Beijing," he said. "There
may be someone who comes in off the radar, like Bogut did last
year, but we have included everyone who is currently on the radar
for the next four years."