Girard III named to USA Basketball pool

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

Joseph Girard III will try out for USA Basketball.

Share on Facebook

Save

GLENS FALLS — Well, are you really surprised?

Joseph Girard III, a sensational scorer and in-demand recruit, has been invited to participate in the training camp for the 2018 USA Basketball men’s U18 national team. The Glens Falls High School junior who averaged 50.0 points per game this past winter is one of 32 athletes to make up the team’s pool.

The training camp takes place from May 31 to June 2 in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the United States Olympic Training Center. Finalists for the team will be announced June 2, and another training session will take place from June 3 to June 8 before the team competes from June 10 to June 16 in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Men in St. Catharines, Canada.

Along with Girard III, the 32-player pool includes another name familiar to Capital Region basketball fans: Patrick McCaffery, the son of former Siena College men’s basketball head coach Fran McCaffery.

Patrick McCaffery has already committed to play his college basketball for his father at Iowa.

Meanwhile, Girard III has not committed yet to a Division I men’s basketball program. Girard III has scholarship offers from more than two dozen schools, including programs such as Duke and Michigan.

This past season, Girard III became the all-time leading scorer in New York high school boys’ basketball history. He also became the state’s first high school boy to score 3,000 career points.

In 2016, Kevin Huerter — a Shenendehowa graduate — played for the USA Basketball U18 team Girard III is trying out for this year. Huerter — who has declared for this year’s NBA draft, but has not signed with an agent — won a gold medal that year playing in Chile before winning a bronze medal in 2017 with the USA Basketball U19 team.