April 13, 2005
WACO, Texas - Baylor's Aaron Bruce has been selected to the Australia national basketball squad, a 20-man team unveiled Wednesday that will compete throughout the summer.
Bruce's inclusion on the preliminary national squad is part of a youth movement of sorts for the Australian team known as the Boomers. The group includes seven players who played collegiate basketball in the NCAA last season, including 2005 Wooden Award winner Andrew Bogut of Utah.
"This is a great honor," Bruce said "It is any Australian kid's dream to grow up and represent his country, whether it's in sports or any other area. After the experience I've gained I feel that I'm ready to compete at the international senior level."
Bruce is no stranger to his country's national teams. He was a member of Australia's under-21 national team in 2004 and was part of the Australian junior national team that won the 2003 FIBA Junior World Championships in Greece. Included in that world championship run was a win over the United States in which Bruce led Australia with 25 points.
The 6-3 guard was a Freshman All-America and All-Big 12 selection following an exceptional freshman season in 2004-2005 at Baylor. He led the nation's freshman in scoring and set a new Big 12 freshman scoring record by averaging 18.2 points per game. Bruce ranked second in the Big 12 in scoring and was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year by various publications.
The Australian team, led by head coach Brian Goorjian, begins training camp in June. They will compete in tournaments in Japan and China leading up to the Oceania Championships, a best-of-three world championship qualification series against held in New Zealand in August. Bruce said he will return to Baylor next fall prior to his sophomore season.
"Based on Aaron's play and subsequent awards this past season, he is deserving of a spot on his national team," Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. "One of his goals is to make the Australian Olympic team and it brings Baylor's coaching staff great joy and satisfaction to help him get closer to achieving that goal."
2005 BOOMER SQUAD:
David Andersen (CSKA Moscow, Russia)
Chris Anstey (UNICS Kazan, Russia)
Stephen Black (Brisbane/Biella, Italy)
Andrew Bogut (University of Utah)
Aaron Bruce (Baylor University)
CJ Bruton (Sydney)
Jacob Holmes (Adelaide)
Daniel Kickert (St Mary's University)
Alex Loughton (Old Dominion University)
Sam Mackinnon (West Sydney)
Brett Maher (Adelaide/Besiktas, Turkey)
Steven Markovic (West Sydney)
Damian Martin (Loyola Marymount University)
Brad Newley (Townsville)
Matthew Nielsen (PAOK, Greece)
Damian Ryan (Air AV University)
Glen Saville (Wollongong)
Jason Smith (Sydney/Cibona Zagreb, Croatia)
Luke Schenscher (Georgia Tech University)
Mark Worthington (Metro State University)
