UK Basketball: Miller makes cut for USA squad

Darius Miller survived the final cut.
The University of Kentucky senior and former Mr. Basketball from Mason County was named to the World University Games team this morning.
Miller was on the U19 World Championship team that won a gold medal in 2009.
Miller joined Tim Abromaitis (Notre Dame), Marcus Denmon (Missouri), Ashton Gibbs (Pittsburgh), Draymond Green (Michigan State), JaMychal Green (Alabama), Scoop Jardine (Syracuse), John Jenkins (Vanderbilt), Orlando Johnson (UC Santa Barbara), Greg Mangano (Yale), Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota) and Ray McCallum (Detroit Mercy) on the 12-member team.
"I think your strengths are going to come out in competition, and we have some very good players," said USA and Purdue University coach Matt Painter who previously assisted the 2009 USA U19 World Championship Team to a gold medal. "I think we have some good point-guard play, some good, athletic wings that can shoot the basketball and then we have some good interior strength. So, I think we have balance. We do have some interchangeable parts, some guys at the three and four positions that can swing either way. We can play smaller and we can play bigger. It will depend on who we are playing against. I do think we can play a couple of different ways, and that's always a positive."
Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin and Butler’s Brad Stevens are Painter’s two assistant coaches.
Training for the team continues through Sunday with two-a-day workouts at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. The team departs for China on Aug. 8.
A exhibition game is planned against CBA¿team New Century in Huizho China on Aug. 11, before opening play in the tourney on Aug. 13.

Second scrimmage set at Yum Center

Because of public demand, a second scrimmage between former University of Kentucky players and the Dominican Republic National Team is set for Aug. 16 at the KFC¿Yum Center in Louisville.
The two squads will scrimmage each other at Rupp Arena on Aug. 15, a game that has been announced as a sell out.
Kentucky coach John Calipari announced on his twitter account this morning that retired Louisville coach Denny Crum “will be assisting with the (Kentucky) pros team for both games.”
Calipari added that John¿Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Rajon Rondo, Eric Bledsoe, Nazr Mohammed, Brandon Knight, Josh Harrellson and DeAndre Liggins are expected to compete for the pros team in the game at Louisville.
Presale tickets went on sale this morning through ticketmaster and other tickets will be available to the public on Friday. The cost is $35 for lower arena seats and $15 for those in the upper arena.¿Seats also are available in selected lower rows for $100 per person.