Howard turns down U-19 invite.
He turns down U-19 World invite
USA Basketball unveiled a list Thursday of 28 players who will convene in Colorado Springs this month to try out for this summer’s United States U-19 World Championship team, which will compete in Cairo, Egypt, from July 1-9.
Marquette’s Markus Howard, who only turned 18 in March, was not among them, something of a surprise considering he spent the past two summers winning gold medals with the U-16 and U-17 squads.
But Howard’s non-inclusion was not an oversight or snub. In fact, Howard received a personal call from Sean Ford, the head of USA Basketball’s men’s programs, during which he was invited to try out for the U-19 team.
Howard — who led the nation in three-point field goal percentage at 54.7% in his first collegiate season — appreciated the gesture but declined.
“The past two summers playing for the U.S. team has been a privilege and an honor,” Howard told the Journal Sentinel on Friday. “I was fortunate I was able to have those opportunities, but this summer I just wanted to focus on being with my family and getting better at home . ...
“These past two summers I’ve been real busy playing with the U-16 and U-17 teams, just being gone for multiple months, being away from my family, not being able to experience the summer with them.
“Also just being able to focus on things for Marquette knowing this year is a big year for us and I just want to be able to work on the things I specifically need to work on so when I come back I’ll be better prepared to be able to focus on our team.”
Howard has been at home in Arizona since the end of the school year, working out 2-3 times per day in anticipation of next season. He does basketball work with his brothers, Desmond and Jordan, and weight trains under the guidance of his father, Chuck.
With national team requirements off his plate this summer, Howard plans to return to Marquette on July 2 to continue preparing for next season with his teammates and coaches.
Declining the national team invitation, though, means Howard won’t have the opportunity to play for Kentucky’s Hall of Fame head coach, John Calipari, who is heading the U-19 squad this summer.
“The way I look at it I play for a great coach in Coach Wojo,” Howard said, referring to MU’s Steve Wojciechowski. “I don’t think there’s any better than him, so to be able to learn under the tutelage of him for the summer then the rest of the year, I don’t think it gets any better than that.
“Coach Cal’s a great coach. It would be an honor to play for him on the U-19 team, but I just wanted to focus on what I had to do for Marquette and myself for the summer.”