O’Neill is, in fact, the lone current collegian on the 23-player roster. The 21-year-old who starred last summer for the gold medal-winning U.S. U21 team is the youngest player to suit up for the senior team since the U.S. took a team comprised largely of collegians to Australia in 2002.
There’s some built-in familiarity. O’Neill’s college coach, John Danowski, is the head coach of the U.S. team. And while he might gravitate toward his former Duke teammates in Sowers and JT Giles-Harris, O’Neill said all the pros have made him feel welcome on and off the field in preparation for this tournament.
“I’m already comfortable here,” he said. “These guys are great to me.”
Playing for the U.S. also has given O’Neill the chance to move on quickly from his disappointing performance in the NCAA championship game, when he shot 1-for-9 in the Blue Devils’ 13-9 loss to Notre Dame.
“We want him to know that he is supposed to be here,” said Rob Pannell, who is playing in his third world championship. “He is meant to be here. He was chosen to be here. You saw why tonight.”
Pannell, 33, is the oldest player on the U.S. team and the leader of an offense that struggled to find its footing until O’Neill started stretching the field with his harrowing overhand shot.
“We see that every day in practice,” Pannell said. “We kind of all just laugh when he shoots the ball because he’s got a different kind of power behind it, a different velocity.”
Added Schreiber: “He might lead our team in shots and we’re comfortable with him doing that.”
That’s high praise and confidence from two of the most respected offensive players of their generation.
“As you get older, the better the players are around you and the easier it is to play,” said O’Neill, the nation’s leading scorer with 97 points as a junior at Duke this spring. “It’s so fun playing with guys who can pass at any time and are such skilled players. Any time you play with guys that good, it makes it easy for you.”
In addition to fending off friendly barbs about his barista abilities, O’Neill has been the occasional target of the U.S. team’s kangaroo court — a mock justice system where team members assess each other fines for faux pas.
“Yes, he’s the young guy. And he is particularly quiet and to himself,” Pannell said. “So we have to bring it out of him sometimes. It’s fun to see him come out of his shell a little bit.”