Yahoo Autos Stepinac's Boogie Fland aims to help Team USA extend gold medal run in FIBA World Cup
Team USA's U-17 basketball team is getting a boost from a local star.
Stepinac standout Boogie Fland is representing the stars and stripes at the FIBA U-17 Basketball World Cup in Málaga, Spain. The eight-day tournament began on Saturday and concludes with the medal matches on July 10.
"It's been a blessing," Fland said. "Having this current opportunity to represent my country, my family, where I come from — it doesn't get much better than this. Not many of us New Yorkers get a chance like this, so there's representation of New York basketball. There's still opportunities out here for us to do things that we love to do and to accomplish what we want to accomplish."
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Fland was one of 35 players to receive an invite to Team USA's training camp. He officially got word that he earned one of 12 roster spots last week.
"Honestly, it was the best thing I ever heard," Fland said. "I've been wanting to get a Team USA roster spot for a long time. It's a dream come true. All those hours I was putting in the gym and workouts, competing that week against the best of the best 35 to get my spot on the team, it's big. All the hard work has paid off."
Fland is in good company on a Team USA roster that's loaded with nationally ranked talent, like D.J. Wagner, ESPN's No. 1-ranked prospect in the Class of 2023. Consensus top-10, five-star rising seniors Ron Holland and Sean Stewart are also on the team.
He will also play alongside fellow CHSAA standout Ian Jackson of Cardinal Hayes, the No. 3-ranked prospect on ESPN's Class of 2024 rankings.
Cooper Flagg and Koa Peat, a pair of players ranked in the top three for the Class of 2025, also made the cut.
The 15-year-old Fland is one of the youngest players on this year's roster, and this opportunity will give him serious momentum heading into his junior year. He is a consensus five-star guard according to various recruiting services, and he's already amassed two-dozen Division I scholarship offers, with schools like Kansas, Michigan, Indiana, UCLA, Maryland and UConn in the mix.
There's a chance he'll attract even more suitors after this trip to Spain.
"It's a great experience for him," Stepinac coach Pat Massaroni said. "Great coaching staff and great exposure that he'll receive both on and off the court. I think he can springboard off of this. Rivals.com just moved him to No. 10 in the country. Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, UConn, UCLA all informed me that they're going to be out there to watch that team play.
"I'm assuming there's more that I just haven't spoken to, but this could really propel him to more offers he might receive moving forward, what doors this may open for him on both a local and national level, and just prepare him for the next level to take that jump from his sophomore year to junior year for us and for himself."
Fland won't be alone on this trip, as Stepinac teammate and rising sophomore Danny Carbuccia will also be competing but with the Dominican Republic's U-17 basketball team.
"I'm excited for Boogie, I'm excited for Danny," Massaroni said. "A.J. Griffin won a gold medal with the U-16 USA team, so hopefully this will be a great opportunity for them as well."
All eyes, though, will be on Team USA, which has won every single FIBA U-17 Basketball World Cup since the tournament's inception in 2010.
It will look to capture its sixth-straight gold medal, previously winning in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Team USA boasts a 37-0 record in this event. It won four out of five gold medal matches by 30 points or more, with exception to the 2014 finals, where it held off Team Australia for a 99-92 victory.
Team USA will begin group stage play against Mali, Slovenia and Lebanon to help determine seeding for the 16-team playoff. It opens up against Lebanon on Saturday, followed by Slovenia on Sunday, then Mali on Tuesday. The round of 16 starts on Wednesday.
The gold medal match, which is scheduled for July 10, coincides with Fland's birthday and while it would be a nice present, he's not looking too far ahead just yet.
"The tournament hasn't started, so the job's not done," Fland said. "Bringing home that gold medal is the No. 1 priority. I'm very determined. We're all very determined as a whole. We're ready to take on whatever challenges that come, whatever adversity we face and just bring home this gold."
Follow Eugene Rapay on Twitter at @erapay5 and on Instagram at @byeugenerapay.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Stepinac's Fland, Team USA aim for sixth gold medal at FIBA U-17 games
