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June 4, 2001
CHARLOTTESVILLE – University of Virginia men’s basketball player Roger Mason, Jr., is one of 16 finalists for the 2001 USA Basketball World University Games Team. Mason was named a finalist for the team after four training sessions at the June 1-3 USA Basketball Men’s Trials in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The final 12-member team will be selected during the team’s training camp which is scheduled for August 10-17 at the Denver Nuggets’ practice facility in Denver, Colo. The World University Games are scheduled to be held in Beijing, China, August 22 through September 1.
“It’s a great honor,” Mason said of being a finalist for the World University Games Team. “Any time you’re asked to represent your country is something that’s very special and I want to work hard to make the most of this opportunity. It’s something that, as a kid, you hope to have the opportunity to do. When you get put in that situation, you want to work as hard as you possibly can to make it and that’s what I want to do.”
Mason, a 6-5 guard from Silver Spring, Md., earned third-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors as a sophomore during the 2000-01 season. He led the Virginia team and was sixth in the ACC in scoring with an average of 15.7 points a game. He scored a career-high 30 points against Gonzaga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Mason established a UVa record and led the ACC last season by making 88.4 percent (122-138) of his free throw attempts. He shot 47.6 percent (146-307) from the field, including 44.2 percent (42-95) from three-point range, and he averaged 3.7 rebounds a game. He also had 72 assists, 33 steals and 14 blocked shots while averaging a team-high 32.0 minutes of playing time a game in 29 games.
Mason was a first-team All-State selection by the Richmond Times-Dispatch and by the Virginia Sports Information Directors Association. He was also a co-recipient of UVa’s Bill Gibson Cavalier of the Year Award.
The head coach of the USA World University Games Team is Jerry Dunn of Penn State. Dunn will be assisted by Rob Barnes of the University of Mississippi and Al Skinner of Boston College.
“I’m very excited about the finalists we have coming to training camp in Denver in August,” Dunn said. “It’s a very diverse group of guys. We have some interchangeable personnel who can do a lot of different things. One of the things I’m most impressed with are the personalities, in terms of being winners and guys who will be able to gel as a team.”
The other finalists for the USA Basketball World University Games Team include Maurice Baker (Oklahoma State), Antwain Barbour (Wabash Valley Community College), Andre Barrett (Seton Hall), Earl Barron (Memphis), Lonny Baxter (Maryland), Dan Dickau (Gonzaga), Juan Dixon (Maryland), Erwin Dudley (Alabama), Melvin Ely (Fresno State), Lynn Greer (Temple), Tahj Holden (Maryland), Chris Owens (Texas), Justin Reed (Mississippi), Tamar Slay (Marshall) and Tyler Smith (Penn State).