Kentucky MBB targets make cut at USA U16 National Training Camp

A total of 39 high school basketball prospects were invited to the Team USA U16 National Training Camp in Colorado Springs, CO, but as of Saturday afternoon, only 18 remain. Four of those 18 players hold scholarship offers from the Kentucky Wildcats.

That quartet includes five-star PF Cameron Boozer (No. 1 in the On3 Industry Ranking), five-star SF Koa Peat (No. 6), five-star SG Darryn Peterson (No. 8), and four-star PG Cayden Boozer (No. 23). All four have received offers from the Wildcats dating back to last summer. Peterson was the first from the ’25 class to hear from UK (he was offered in August 2022) while Peat earned his offer in late April. The Boozer twins, Cameron and Cayden, are the most recent to receive Kentucky offers, which they announced earlier this month.

These four will compete in the coming days in hopes of making the final 12-man roster to represent Team USA at the FIBA U16 Men’s Americas Championship, scheduled for June 5-11 in Merida, Mexico. The top four teams will advance to the 2024 FIBA U17 Men’s World Cup in Turkey.

The roster has been cut from 39 to 18. Now the USA Basketball u16 has to make its final roster.

Here are the storylines I’m watching as 18 players compete for 12 spots.

READ: https://t.co/bXvbsxSpC9 pic.twitter.com/s8IsceaBRF

— Jamie Shaw (@JamieShaw5) May 27, 2023

As for the remaining 14 high schoolers that qualified, the majority of them come from the class of 2026. Players must have been born after January 1, 2007, in order to qualify.

Along with the four players mentioned above, rounding out the new 18-man roster are Alijah Arenas (’26), AJ Dybantsa (’26), Jalen Haralson (’25), Isiah Harwell (’25), Caleb Holt (’26), JJ Mandaquit (’25), Brandon McCoy (’26), Jalen Montonati (’26), Chris Nwuli (’25), Jayden Quaintance (’25), Deron Rippey Jr. (’26), Tyran Stokes (’26), Jaden Toombs (’25), and Elijah Williams (’26).

Rising sophomores Dybantsa and Stokes — the latter hailing from Louisville — are two to keep an eye on in regard to future Kentucky targets. Quaintance, who is teammates on the AAU circuit with four-star ’25 PG Jasper Johnson (who holds an offer from UK), is another name to monitor moving forward as a potential target for the ‘Cats.

On3’s Jamie Shaw listed Cameron Boozer, Dybantsa, Peterson, Peat, and Quaintance as five of his seven top standouts from the first few days of training.

The Americans are 37-0 all-time at this competition, having won seven straight gold medals. No matter who ends up making the final cut, expect Team USA to continue its undefeated streak in Mexico — hopefully with plenty of Kentucky targets headlining the roster.