Cummings Invited to USA Basketball Trials
5/7/1998 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
PITTSBURGH - University of Pittsburgh senior basketball player Vonteego Cummings, who established himself as one of the top players in the Big East Conference during the past two seasons, has been invited to the 1998 USA Basketball Men's National Team Trials.
Cummings (Thomson, Ga./Thomson H.S.) was one of 33 players invited to the trials, which will be held May 29-31 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. A 12-member team will be selected from the trials to compete in this year's Goodwill Games at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y., July 19- 24.
"This is a well-deserved honor for Vonteego," said Pittsburgh head coach Ralph Willard. "He is one of the premier players in the country headed into this season."
Cummings earned All-Big East honors for the second straight year after ranking third in the conference in scoring (19.5 ppg) and second in assists (6.1 avg.) and steals (2.2 avg.) last season. He was the only player to be ranked in the top three of each category.
As Pittsburgh's lone upperclassman on the youngest team in the Big East, Cummings played 40 (or more) minutes 17 times and set a conference record by averaging an amazing 40.1 minutes per game. He capped his exceptional junior season by scoring a career-high 37 points while playing all 50 minutes of the Panthers' double-overtime game against Villanova in the initial round of the Big East Tournament.