Goodwill hunting: Cager Calvin Booth may find spot on the 1998 Goodwill Games final roster


Friday, June 19, 1998	Goodwill hunting Cager Calvin Booth may find spot on the 1998 Goodwill Games final roster By TODD J. ENGEL Collegian Staff Writer When Calvin Booth travels to the University of Minnesota the week of July 6-12, some might say that he will be Goodwill hunting.
Penn State center Calvin Booth goes up for a shot against Minnesota earlier this year. Booth is one of three Big Ten players named as finalists for the 1998 Goodwill Games held in July. (Collegian Photo/Shawn Knapp - click for full size image)	Actually, Booth will not be treking through the woods in search live animals, nor will he be solving extensive mathematical equations for students at MIT. Booth will be hunting for a spot on the final roster of 1998 USA Basketball men's basketball Goodwill Games team. Minnesota basketball coach, Clem Haskins is the coach of the Goodwill Games team, and will ultimately have a say in who makes the team. The 1998 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, helped lead Penn State to a 19-13 record and a second place finish in the National Invitation Tournament in March at Madison Square Garden. Booth will be joined by two other Big Ten conference standouts, Indiana's A.J. Guyton and Minnesota's Quincy Lewis, who hope to take that next step. If Booth, who feels he has a good chance of making the final cut, is selected to represent the United States at the Games, the Garden is where he will playing. The US is slated to take on defending champion Puerto Rico at 1:45 p.m. on Sunday, July 19.
Jerry Dunn men’s basketball coach (Courtesy of Penn State)	"My chances (of making the roster) are pretty good," Booth said. "I just have to get in shape and be ready to play." At the team trials at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., Booth was on of two centers who advanced from a field of 33 to 17 players. Only 12 young men will be selected to play against the world's best amateurs July 19-24. Massachusetts' Lari Ketner also advanced to Minnesota. The 6-foot-11 tower finished last season among the nations elite in shot blocking, which Booth considers his forte. He tallied 140 blocks (4.375 per game) and averaged 11.8 points per game for the Nittany Lions. One person who is extremely pleased with Booth's honor and the long term benefits for him and the Penn State basketball program, is Lions' head coach Jerry Dunn. "It does two things," Dunn said. "First, it gives us (Penn State basketball) a great deal of visibility. It says, 'hey, any young man in the country can come here and get the same visibility as he would at a top-five school.'
*"I would be real positive for him to have that extra year. It’s another year of maturation, experience on the floor and play. All those things present a very positive year."* - Jerry Dunn, Penn State basketball coach	"It is also a tremendous benefit for Calvin in terms of exposure around the country, and at the next level." While Booth is at home in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, and Dunn is running basketball camps for kids at Penn State, the two will meet again when the final tryout is held in a few weeks. Dunn was in Colorado Springs supporting Booth and said he will be Minneapolis doing the same. He ultimately hopes to make the trip to New York to cheer on his star center. "It's an obligation," Dunn said. "You have to show the guy you're behind him and appreciate all the hard work he's done. It's important to me and I'm sure it's important to him." When all is said and done, the best thing to come out of this, Dunn said, is the experience Booth will have heading into next season as one of Penn State's leaders. "I would be real positive for him to have that extra year," Dunn said. "It's another year of maturation, experience on the floor and play. All those things present a very positive year."