Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell's McNaughton, Badmus Gear Up for FIBA World Championship in Japan
6/29/2006 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
June 29, 2006
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Two-time First-Team All-Patriot League selection Chris McNaughton has been named to Germany's 15-man preliminary squad for the 2006 FIBA World Basketball Championship to be held in Japan beginning August 19.
The 2005-06 Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year, McNaughton is the Patriot League's all-time leader in field-goal percentage, scoring on 61.1 percent of his career attempts. A 2003-04 Patriot League All-Rookie selection, McNaughton will enter the 2006-07 campaign 37th all-time in Patriot League scoring with 1,158 points.
A native of Leuterhausen, Germany, McNaughton will be joined by West Virginia's Johannes Herber as the only two Division I student-athletes on the German preliminary roster.
McNaughton was named a Bucknell captain along with teammates Abe Badmus and Donald Brown for the upcoming 2006-07 season. The Bison are two-time defending Patriot League champions and have advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons, upsetting third-seeded Kansas in 2005 and knocking off eighth-seeded Arkansas this past spring. Bucknell became the first team in Patriot League history to record a perfect 14-0 record in League competition last season.
Germany's roster will eventually be trimmed to 12 players and will also include the Dallas Maverick's Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki will not join the team until it faces Canada in Hamburg, Germany on July 28.
Badmus is also expected to compete at the World Championship in Japan as a member of the Nigerian national team. Last summer Badmus helped Nigeria to a third-place finish at the FIBA Africa Cup, which qualified D'Tigers for this year's World Championship.
Badmus in 2006-07 will be in his fourth year as Bucknell's starting point guard. He is the 2005 Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year and has ranked among the league leaders in assists and steals in each of the last two seasons.
Abe Badmus is expected to be back with the Nigerian national team this summer in Japan.  |
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Twenty-four teams will converge in Sapporo, Sendai, Hamamatsu, Hiroshima and Saitama, Japan for the two-week tournament. The top four teams from four groups will advance from the preliminary round to the second round. Germany is in Group B with Angola, host Japan, New Zealand, Panama and Spain. Nigeria will compete in Group A along with Argentina, France, Lebanon, Serbia & Montenegro and Venezuela. The United States is in Group D with China, Italy, Puerto Rico, Senegal and Slovenia.
FIBA is French for Federation International de Basketball Amateur. The amateur distinction was dropped in 1986 but the organization decided to keep the "A." FIBA is an independent association and the governing world body of basketball. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. For more information go to www.fiba.com.
