Snap in action during the 2000 national tournament

Aug. 5, 2005

Former National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Player of the Year and National Tournament MVP Jimmie "Snap" Hunter is taking part in the USA Basketball Men's World Championship Qualifying Team Finalists set to tip off trials today, Friday, August 5, 2005, at the Miami Heat practice facility inside AmericanAirlines Arena. Trials will go through Tuesday, August 9, 2005.

Hunter, an early candidate for the 2000 NBA Draft, led Life University (Ga.) Running Eagles to their second consecutive NAIA National Championship in 2000. As a sophomore at Life, he was name MVP in all five tournaments in which Life participated. In 2000, with the NAIA championship game tied, Hunter hit the game-winning shot with 12 seconds left in regulation. "Every time I think about it, that I, hit the shot to win a national championship...," says Hunter. "It's something special."

Hunter earned First Team All-American honors, after leading the Running Eagles in scoring (22.1 ppg), steals (99) and blocked shots (63). Hunter scored 30 or more points eight times, scored a season-high 39 points, including 16 consecutive points, against The Masters College, making 14 of 25 attempts from the floor. During one five-game stretch, Hunter averaged 35.6 points per game and ranked second on the team in assists (112).

After he led the Running Eagles to the NAIA championship, Hunter turned professional. Following 19 games with the Gary Steelheads, he averaged 17.8 ppg after signing in February 2005, with Sebastiani Rieti in Italy. With Gary in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) he averaged 20.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg and 3.8 apg. He was named CBA All-Star when he was with the Rockford Lightning and spent part of the 2002-03 season with the Harlem Globetrotters team that played against U.S. college teams.

This week Hunter will be one of 16 professional basketball players participating in the trials with an eye on earning one of the final 12 roster spots on the 2005 USA Basketball World Championship Qualifying squad. Players participating in the trial played last season professionally in the CBA, NBA Development League or overseas. The USA team will compete August 24 to September 4, 2005, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in the FIBA Americas Men's World Championship Qualifying Tournament. The top four finishing teams will earn their nation a qualifying berth in the 2006 FIBA World Championship that is being held in Japan.