Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Bob McKillop To Coach USA Junior World Team

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 2, 2002) -- Ernie Kent, the University of
Oregon head coach who earned the 2002 Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the
Year honor, has been selected head coach of the 2002 USA Basketball Men's
Junior World Championship Qualifying Team, USA Basketball announced May 2.
Assisting Kent along the sidelines will be collegiate head coaches Bob
McKillop of Davidson College (N.C.) and Gary Waters of Rutgers University
(N.J.). The coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Men's
Senior National Team Committee and approved by USA Basketball's Executive
Committee. The Men's Collegiate Committee, chaired by Terry Holland,
University of Virginia athletic director emeritus, is also charged with the
player selection of the 2002 U.S. squad as well.

The USA will compete July 24-28 in Venezuela, in the 2002 COPABA
(Confederation of Pan American Basketball Associations) Men's Junior World
Championship Qualifying Tournament. Featuring eight teams from North,
South and Central America, and the Caribbean, the United States will
attempt to earn one of the Americas Zone's four qualifying spots for next
year's 2003 FIBA Junior World Championship that will be held in Malaysia
(city and dates TBD).

Finalists for the USA junior team will be selected following USA
Basketball's Junior National Team Trials May 31-June 2 at the U.S. Olympic
Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Eligibility for the 2002 USA
Basketball Men's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team is limited to
any male athlete who is a U.S. citizen and 18-years-old or younger (born on
or after Jan. 1, 1984).

Held every four years, the U.S. currently enjoys a 21-game winning streak
that dates back to the first COPABA Junior World Championship Qualifying
Tournament in 1990. Most recently, led by head coach Jim Boeheim (Syracuse
University, N.Y.) the USA finished a perfect 6-0 to win the gold medal at
the 1998 COPABA Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament in the
Dominican Republic. Under the hand of then University of Minnesota mentor
Clem Haskins, the U.S. compiled an 8-0 mark to claim top honors in
Argentina at the 1994 COPABA Junior World Championship Qualifying
Tournament. Ronnie Arrow of the University of South Alabama led the
Americans at the 1990 COPABA Junior Qualifying Tournament in Uruguay to the
gold medal with a 7-0 record.

In FIBA Junior World Championships, the USA finished 7-1 and claimed the
silver medal in 1999. Overall, the USA boasts of a 38-9 all-time record in
FIBA Junior World Championship competitions and has won three golds (1991,
1983, 1979) and two silver medals (1999 and 1987).

"It is a tremendous honor anytime you have the opportunity to represent
your country with the chance to win a gold medal," said Kent. USA
Basketball has done an outstanding job of being an ambassador for the
United States by traveling abroad and competing at the highest level. It is
a privilege for me to be appointed head coach of the national team, but
also an honor that I think speaks volumes about the success of our program.

"Both Bob's and Gary's success has been well-documented throughout their
careers. They are both excellent coaches who will provide leadership,
preparation and stability to whatever team we eventually put together."


Ernie Kent
Kent is making his second appearance on the sidelines with a USA Basketball
team. He was an assistant coach for the 2001 USA Basketball World
Championship for Young Men Team (players 21-years-old or younger) that won
the gold medal in Saitama, Japan and finished with an unblemished 8-0 record.

Completing his fifth season at Oregon in 2001-02, Kent led the Ducks to one
of the program's most successful seasons in its proud history. Compiling a
26-9 overall mark in 2001-02 and finishing ranked tied for sixth in the
2001-02 ESPN/USA Today final men's basketball poll, Kent has now compiled a
94-58 overall record for a 61.8 winning percentage in his five seasons in
Eugene.

The Ducks in 2001-02 rolled to a 26-9 overall mark and posted a 14-4 league
record to win the Pac-10 Conference title. Oregon's capturing of the 2002
Pacific-10 Conference regular season crown was the school's first outright
league title since 1939 when the Ducks also claimed the NCAA's first
postseason championship. Oregon, which finished a perfect 16-0 at home to
equal the school record set by the 1937-38 squad, advanced to the NCAA
tournament regional finals for the first time since 1960. The 26 wins were
third-most in school history and the most since 1945. For his coaching
efforts in 2002, Kent earned his first Pac-10 Coach of the Year honor, he
was selected by Basketball Times as its West Region Coach of the Year and
also garnered from the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA)
its District IX Coach of the Year honor.

Finishing 13-14 in his first season (1997-98) as the Ducks' mentor, Kent
led Oregon in his second season to a 19-13 mark and to the 1999 National
Invitational Tournament (NIT) Final Four. Year three saw Kent and the team
reach new heights of success. Finishing the 1999-2000 season 22-8, Oregon
recorded 22 victories for the first time since 1945 and earned an NCAA
Tournament berth marking the program's first back-to-back postseason
appearances in 23 years. Oregon in 1999-2000 boasted of 11 wins away from
home which were the most in 25 years and the squad also won more Pacific-10
Conference games (13) in one season than ever before. Losing the top three
scorers from the previous season, the Ducks in 2000-01 finished 14-14
overall, and among their victories was a shining 79-67 win on Feb. 1 over
eventual NCAA runner-up Arizona.

Prior to his arrival at Oregon, Kent was head coach at Saint Mary's College
in Moraga, Calif., from 1991-92 to 1996-97. Kent put together a 90-80
ledger in his six years at Saint Mary's and currently ranks second on the
all-time win chart. In 1996-97, he led his squad to a 23-8 mark and to a
berth in the NCAA Tournament. The tournament berth, the first at the school
since 1989, was the result of the Gaels' fourth conference title in school
history.

Kent served as an assistant at Stanford University (Calif.) under Mike
Montgomery for two years (1989-90 to 1990-91), helping the Cardinal advance
to the NIT both years and winning the NIT title in 1991. As an assistant
to Boyd Grant at Colorado State University (1987-88 to 1988-99), he aided
the Rams in their postseason bids in the 1988 NIT (advancing to the
semifinals) and 1989 NCAA Tournament after clinching the Western Athletic
Conference championship. From 1980 through 1987, Kent and his family lived
in Saudi Arabia where he coached the al-Khaleej Club in Sayhat for three
years, helping the team advance to the playoffs each year.

Kent began his coaching career at his alma mater Oregon in 1977 as the
freshman coach under Dick Harter and again assisted in 1979 as an
understudy to Jim Haney. In between, he coached Eugene's O'Hara Catholic
School for one season. A 1977 graduate of Oregon, as a player Kent helped
lead the Ducks to a No. 7 ranking as a junior and earned the Outstanding
Service Award for community service and picked up the March of Dimes
Outstanding Achievement Award. He completed his collegiate career
averaging 7.1 points and 1.8 rebounds.


Bob McKillop
"It is a terrific honor to be a part of representing our country in the
Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament. I am really looking
forward to working with Ernie Kent and Gary Waters," stated McKillop.

Gaining his first USA Basketball experience in 2000 when he served as a
court coach at the USA Basketball National Team Trials, McKillop returns in
2002 to assist along the U.S. sidelines following another successful season
at Davidson.

Finishing with a 21-10 record in 2001-02, the Wildcats tied for first in
the Southern Conference North Division regular season standings with an
11-5 mark. Winning the 2002 Southern Conference Tournament, Davidson
earned a No. 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament West Region, Davidson's highest
seed since the tournament began seeding the field in 1979. Facing Ohio
State in the NCAA Tournament first round, the Wildcats trailed by a single
point with 35.7 seconds remaining and eventually fell short (69-64) in its
upset bid.

McKillop is Davidson's all-time winningest coach having passed Lefty
Driesell for that honor during the 2000-01 season, and in 13 years (1989-90
to 2001-02) as the head coach at Davidson College he has compiled a 205-171
record for a 54.5 winning percentage. Rebuilding Davidson's program his
first four seasons, McKillop has strung together winning seasons in eight
of the last nine years (1993-94 through 2001-02) and compiled an impressive
166-97 record (.631 winning percentage) during that span. A four-time
Southern Conference Coach of the Year (1994, 1996, 1997, 2002), McKillop
has helped his squads to at least a share of four regular season conference
titles (1996, 1997, 1998, 2002) in the past seven years.

His 1993-94 Davidson squad closed the season with a 22-8 overall record,
including a 13-5 mark in Southern Conference play, which earned him his
first Southern Coach of the Year honor. McKillop's second conference Coach
of the Year honor came two year's later after his Wildcats posted a 25-5
record and finished a perfect 14-0 to win the 1996 Southern Conference
North regular season crown. In 1998 Davidson finished the season as the
Southern Conference North Division co-champions, captured the conference
tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. That NCAA appearance
marked Davidson's first NCAA berth since 1986.

A 1976 Hofstra University (N.Y.) Hall of Fame inductee, McKillop was the
squad's MVP as a senior in 1972. After one year as a free agent with the
Philadelphia 76ers, McKillop began his coaching career at Holy Trinity High
School (N.Y.) where he spent five years (1973-74 to 1977-78) as a head
coach and compiled an 86-25 record (.775 winning percentage). He then was
named as an assistant at Davidson for the 1978-79 season, and returned to
the high school ranks as the head coach at Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.).
Directing Long Island Lutheran's program from 1979-89, McKillop's teams
rolled to an overall record of 182-51 (.782 winning percentage). During
his two high school coaching stints, his teams recorded eight trips to the
New York State basketball tournament and won five state championships.


Gary Waters
Completing Kent's USA coaching staff is Waters, whose first involvement
with USA Basketball came last summer as a court coach at the 2001 USA
Basketball National Team Trials.

"I consider it an honor to have the opportunity to represent the United
States and Rutgers University with the Junior World Championship Qualifying
Team," said Waters. "USA Basketball is a terrific organization to be a
part of and I had a great experience last year when I was a court coach for
the 2001 USA Basketball Men's National Team Trials. I once again am
looking forward to interacting with so many talented young players, while
at the same time sharing ideas with a group of tremendous coaches."

Recently completing his first year as head coach at Rutgers, Waters enjoyed
success like he has in his previous coaching stints. Overall, in 27
(1974-75 through 2001-02) years in collegiate coaching, Waters' teams have
amassed 12 seasons of 20 wins or more, and have had just five losing
campaigns.

In 2001-02, his inaugural season at Rutgers, Waters guided the Scarlet
Knights to an 18-13 overall record and a berth in the NIT. The 18 wins tied
him with Tom Young (1973-74) and Bob Wenzel (1988-89) for the most wins by
a coach in his first season at Rutgers.

Named the 2002 Met Basketball Writers Association and District II Coach of
the Year by the USBWA, Waters' Knights in 2001-02 beat a school-record four
top 25 opponents, knocking off No. 24 Georgetown (Jan. 5), No. 17
Connecticut (Jan. 27), No. 14 Syracuse (Feb. 2) and No. 11 Miami (Feb. 17).
Other superlatives achieved under Waters' direction in his first season
included matching the school's longest Big East winning streak of three
with wins over West Virginia (Jan. 27), Syracuse (Jan. 30) and Connecticut
(Feb. 2), and his squad amassed an eight-game winning streak that spanned
late November to mid-December, Rutgers' longest since the 1988-1989 season.

Waters arrived at Rutgers following five successful seasons (1996-97 to
2000-01) as head coach at Kent State University (Ohio), where he compiled a
92-60 record (.605 winning percentage). In his last three seasons there,
he led Kent State to a 70-25 mark (.737 winning percentage), posting
records of 23-7 in 1998-99, 23-8 in 1999-2000 and 24-10 in 2000-01. The 23
wins posted by the 1997-98 and 1998-99 teams were a school record, eclipsed
by the 24 wins recorded by the 2000-01 team.

Kent State won the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship in 1998-99
and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. In
1999-2000, Kent State earned a bid to the NIT and advanced to the
quarterfinals. After winning its second MAC Tournament title in 2001, Kent
State earned a No. 13 seed in the West Regional of the NCAA Tournament and
posted one of the biggest upsets in that year's tournament, knocking off
No. 4 seed Indiana 77-73 before losing to Cincinnati in the second round.

Waters was named MAC Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2000, becoming just the
third coach to receive that honor in consecutive years in the 31-year
history of the award.

Waters took over at Kent State after seven seasons on the staff at Eastern
Michigan University, under Ben Braun, where he helped build a conference
contender. Waters served as the assistant head coach from 1989-90 to
1992-93, and was associate head coach for the final three seasons (1993-94
to 1995-96). During that time, the Eagles captured two MAC titles,
participated in the NCAA Tournament twice (1991, 1996), advanced to the
Sweet Sixteen once (1996), and earned one NIT berth (1995).

Prior to his tenure at Eastern Michigan, Waters spent 15 years at his alma
mater, Ferris State University (Mich.). He was the associate head coach
for three seasons (1986-87 to 1988-89), assistant head coach for eight
years (1978-79 to 1985-86) and was an assistant coach for four seasons
(1974-75 to 1977-78). During that time, Ferris State captured six Great
Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC) titles and qualified for
four NCAA Regional Tournaments.

As a player, Waters was an NAIA All-District selection at Ferris State. In
two years with the Bulldogs, he helped lead the team to a 47-10 record
(.825 winning percentage). Waters also was named to the All-GLIAC Team. He
played two seasons at Oakland (Mich.) Community College, receiving
All-America honorable mention, as well as all-region and all-conference
honors. In 1974 Waters received a tryout with the Detroit Pistons of the
NBA and also played with an international team in Spain that year.

The USA Basketball Men's Collegiate Committee, in addition to chair
Holland, consists of: NCAA appointees Jim Boeheim (head coach, Syracuse
University, N.Y.); Rob Evans (head coach, Arizona State University); Jim
O'Brien (head coach, Ohio State University) and Tubby Smith (head coach,
University of Kentucky); NABC appointee Oliver Purnell (head coach,
University of Dayton, Ohio); NAIA appointee Ralph Turner (head coach, Union
University, Tenn.); NJCAA appointee Dan Sparks (head coach, Vincennes
University, Ind.), and athlete representatives Steve Wojciechowski (1995
Junior World Championship team / assistant coach, Duke University, N.C.)
and A.J. Wynder (1995 Pan American Games team / head coach, Nassau
Community College, N.Y.).


2002 USA Men's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Ernie Kent, University of Oregon
Assistant Coach: Bob McKillop, Davidson College (N.C.)
Assistant Coach: Gary Waters, Rutgers University (N.J.)





2002 USA Men's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team Facts

Competition Dates: July 24-28
Competition Site: Venezuela

USA Basketball Junior National Team Trials: May 31-June 2 in Colorado
Springs, Colorado.

USA Head Coach: Ernie Kent (University of Oregon)
USA Assistant Coaches: Bob McKillop (Davidson College, N.C.) and Gary
Waters (Rutgers University, N.J.).
USA Team Members: Finalists for the USA junior team will be selected
following the May 31-June 2 USA Basketball Junior National Team Trials.