Jordan Bell named to USA World Cup Qualifying Team

February 15, 2022 – Current Fort Wayne Mad Ant forward Jordan Bell has been named to the 12-player Team USA World Cup Qualifying team, as announced today.

Bell is averaging 11.4 points, 9 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.4 blocks per game since joining the Mad Ants via trade on January 31. Included in that was the franchise's 10th triple double in history on February 10 when he scored 11 points with 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

The USA squad will open training camp Feb. 18 in Washington, D.C., and will participate in the second competition window of 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying games that will see the Americans face Puerto Rico (1-1) on Feb. 24 and Mexico (2-0) on Feb. 27. Both games will be played at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C.

Bell's Mad Ant teammate Justin Anderson competed with Team USA in the first competition window of 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying Games in November 2021.

Former NBA head coach Jim Boylen will continue to serve as head coach of the USA Basketball Men’s World Cup Qualifying team.

Selected for the February 2021 USA World Cup Qualifying Team, joining Bell, were Tarik Black (Grand Rapids Gold/Kansas), Brian Bowen II (Iowa Wolves), Langston Galloway (College Park Skyhawks/Saint Joseph’s), Jared Harper (Birmingham Squadron/Auburn), Joe Johnson (Free Agent/Arkansas), Juwan Morgan (Maine Celtics/Indiana), Matt Ryan (Grand Rapids Gold/Chattanooga), David Stockton (Memphis Hustle/Gonzaga), Rayjon Tucker (Wisconsin Herd/Little Rock), Paul Watson (Free Agent/Fresno State) and Justin Wright-Foreman (Birmingham Squadron /Hofstra).

2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying

Featuring 16 national teams from North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean, the 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournament for the Americas zone features four preliminary round groups, and each group consists of four teams. The top three teams from each group will qualify for the second round. Following the second round, the three top teams from each group, and the top fourth-placed team, will qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

The USA was drawn into Group D, and is joined by Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Group A consists of Argentina, Panama, Paraguay and Venezuela; Group B is made up of Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay; and Group C consists of Bahamas, Canada, Dominican Republic and U.S. Virgin Islands.

A total of 80 national teams from FIBA’s four regions will compete in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers over 15 months, looking to earn a qualifying berth into the 32-team FIBA World Cup competition that will be held Aug. 25-Sept. 10, 2023, in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup marks the first time multiple countries will host the event.

Under the FIBA World Cup qualifying format, two games per window will be played and a total of six windows will be held to qualify teams for the 2023 World Cup. Each competition window is nine days. The first-round competition windows dates were Nov. 22-30, 2021; Feb. 21-March 1, 2022; and June 27-July 5, 2022; while the second-round dates are set for Aug. 22-30, 2022; Nov. 7-15, 2022; and Feb. 20-28, 2023.

Each FIBA zone will qualify a set number of teams for the 2023 World Cup. Japan and the Philippines automatically will qualify for the 2023 World Cup as host countries, and Indonesia automatically will qualify as a host if it is among the best eight teams out of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup. Additionally, the top five teams in Africa; the top seven teams in the Americas; the top five or six teams in the Asia/Oceania zone, depending on Indonesia’s results at the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup; and the top 12 teams from Europe will qualify for the 2023 World Cup.