PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers guard Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.) will compete for the Puerto Rico U19 National Team this summer. Rosario will compete with Puerto Rico at the 23rd World Juniors Basketball Tournament in Douai, France (June 10-14), before traveling to Auckland, New Zealand for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship (July 2-12).
“Mike earned this opportunity,” said Rutgers head coach Fred Hill. “Not only did he perform exceptionally well on the court this past season, he also closed out the semester strong in the classroom. Combining our team trip to Spain with his competing for Puerto Rico, there’s no doubt that Mike is going to have a busy summer. The potential for growth, from both a personal and basketball standpoint, is significant.”
The World Juniors Basketball Tournament will feature national teams from six countries, including the United States, France, Australia, Lithuania and Canada. Puerto Rico will play the U.S. in its opening round game on Wednesday, June 10.
The 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship will feature 16 national squads. Puerto Rico will compete in Group A, along with Angola, Greece and Lithuania. The event, which is staged every two years as of 2007, has featured stars such as Vince Carter, Vlade Divac, Arvydas Sabonis, Toni Kukoc, Wang Zhi Zhi, Andrei Kirilenko and Paul Gasol.
Rosario and his Rutgers teammates just returned from Western Europe. The team traveled to Spain and the Canary Islands from May 23-31. The Scarlet Knights were a perfect 4-0 against foreign club teams on the excursion, which also featured cultural tours and sightseeing endeavors.
Rosario was named to the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team, the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Rookie of the Year, as well as a Freshman All-American by CollegeInsider.com and CollegeHoops.net in 2008-09. He set the Rutgers freshman all-time scoring mark with 517 points, and averaged 18.9 points-per-game in eight contests against nationally-ranked foes. He concluded the season ranked fifth nationally among the nation’s freshmen in scoring with 16.2 points-per-game. He shared Team M.V.P. honors with fellow rookie Gregory Echenique (Guatire, Venezuela), who played for his home nation of Venezuela in last summer’s FIBA U18 World Championship in Formosa, Argentina.
