Casto and Thompson make 12-man national team

THE ANNOUNCEMENT IS IN and Klay Thompson and DeAngelo Casto, who burst onto the national basketball scene as freshman at Washington State last season, are ready to take on the world.

USA Basketball spokesperson Craig Miller announced Thursday morning that Klay Thompson and DeAngelo Casto have been selected to play on the national under-19 team at the U19 World Championships.

The remainder of the U.S. roster is scheduled to be released later Thursday. The world tourney will be held July 2-12 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Thompson, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Ladera Ranch, Calif., and Casto, a 6-foot-8 power forward from Spokane, made the All-Freshman team in the Pacific-10 Conference last season.

Thompson averaged 12.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.9 steals. 2.1 turnovers and 33.1 minutes per game. He shot 42.1 percent from the field, including 41.2 percent on 3-pointers, and 90.3 percent at the free-throw line.

Casto, coming off the bench for the most part, averaged 4.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.2 blocked shots, 1.1 turnovers and 16.1 minutes. He shot 55.8 percent from the floor and 64.4 percent at the line.

Seventeen players tried out Tuesday through Thursday for the 12-man team. Workouts are being held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Washington State was the only school to initially have multiple student-athletes invited to the trials. After three members of the invited 17-member group withdrew, replacements from Butler and Pitt were tabbed to join the tryouts and eventually made the team.