Oregon forward Maarty Leunen survived the U.S. Pan American Games team final cuts, but guard Bryce Taylor wasn’t as lucky.
Leunen, a Redmond, Ore. native, is one of three Pacific-10 Conference players to make the 12-member team, joining Washington State’s Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver.
Taylor and Texas A&M forward Josh Carter were the final two cuts as head coach Jay Wright announced team he would be taking with him to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil later this month.
“This was as difficult of a decision as any I’ve been involved in with USA Basketball. Every kid here could play on this team and we would be proud to take them to Brazil. We just had to decide do we want to play with some extra guards and some extra bigs and maybe not as many wings, and that’s really what it came down to,” Wright said in a USA Basketball press release.
The U.S. team, which was placed in Group A, opens the tournament July 25 against Uruguay before finishing the preliminary round July 26 against Panama and July 27 against Argentina.