MSU’s Valentine Could Represent Team USA in Toronto

On Thursday, USA Basketball announced in a series of tweets, the finalists for the 2015 basketball team for the Pan-Am games.

In that list of candidate guards Spartans fans will see the familiar @denzelval45 twitter handle of senior guard Denzel Valentine .

MLive's Kyle Austin reports cuts were made down to 16 after the third day of training camp. 21 players were originally brought to Pan-Am camp.

Valentine is quoted when speaking to Michigan State's athletic website: "I'm just looking forward to representing my country."

Valentine, 21, is one of nine guards and 16 total players in the final pool competing for a spot in the roster to play for Team USA in Toronto. The Games start July 21 for the men after the women's tournament concludes on the 20th. If all goes right, team USA will play five games in five days. They play Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Brazil in their preliminary games before the medal rounds.

Some notable names Valentine will be competing with for a roster spot are professionals Bobby Brown and Keith Langford, as well as tournament darling Fred VanVleet from Wichita State.

The final 12-man roster will be announced on July 15 after the finalists go through another mini-camp in the windy city using the Chicago Bulls facilities.