GoldandBlack.com: Team USA Opportunity for Boilermaker Pair

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (GoldandBlack.com) - Neither JaJuan Johnson nor Robbie Hummel know how they got the opportunity to try out for USA Basketball's World University Games team.

Both were just informed of their invitations one day by their coach, Matt Painter.

Both Boilermaker juniors, however, are thrilled the chance came their way.

"I was pretty excited," Johnson said. "When you see 'USA Basketball,' it's just a different feeling. Not a lot of people get to do this. To get an opportunity to try out for this team is pretty amazing."

Hummel and Johnson board a plane for Colorado Springs Tuesday. Three days of try-outs will be held from June 16-19. Those who make the team will remain in Colorado for training camp through the 28th before leaving for Serbia, where the Games will be played July 2-12 in Belgrade.

"Every kid that grows up playing basketball has grown up dreaming of playing on Team USA," Hummel said, "especially growing up seeing the Dream Team and some of the other teams that have played.

"It's big for anyone who's grown up playing basketball and to get the opportunity to play in something like this is really cool."

The two Purdue stars will be surrounded by familiar faces at the Olympic Training Center, a grand campus of athletic facilities tucked away in a neighborhood not far from Downtown Colorado Springs.

Try-outs will be a Big Ten reunion of sorts.

The team is to be coached by Wisconsin's Bo Ryan. Penn State's Talor Battle and Ohio State's Evan Turner are also trying out. Illinois' Mike Davis would have been, too, but he broke his ankle Tuesday.

Hummel and Johnson will also recognize Iowa State's Craig Brackins and Clemson's Trevor Booker, each of whom they played against in the non-conference portion of their freshman seasons. Washington's Quincy Pondexter, whose team Purdue knocked from the NCAA Tournament in March, is vying for a spot on the team, too.

Five of the 16 players initially invited to try out are from the Big Ten, more than any other conference.

"It just shows the Big Ten had some really good young players and ... a lot of very competitive teams," Johnson said. "I think we were just as strong as any other conference."

USA Basketball, historically, has carried 12 players on its World University Games roster.

If Hummel and Johnson are so fortunate as to make the team, they'll head to Belgrade, in the homeland of former teammate Nemanja Calasan.

"He wants us to stop by his parents house if we have the opportunity to make the team, for dinner," Johnson joked. "I don't know how that's going to go, but we'll see."