For all the speculation that Anthony Davis could end up earning a spot on Team USA for the upcoming London Summer Olympics, it seems highly unlikely that the future #1 draft pick will make the final cut. The same goes for several other former college players – for example, Fab Melo and Scott Machado – who have had to focus their time this offseason on the NBA Draft Combine and other local workout preparations rather than try out with their respective countries to make their Olympic squads. But Basketball Australia announced Friday afternoon that Matthew Dellavedova, St. Mary’s rising senior guard, has made the 12-man Aussie squad heading to London. The release notes that there’s “a strong possibility [Dellavedova] will be the only current college player to participate in the sport of men’s basketball at this year’s Games.” Dellavedova joins Patty Mills, another former St. Mary’s star, as lead guards for the ‘Boomers.’

Matthew Dellavedova, the reigning WCC Player of the Year, has qualified for Australia’s Olympic roster (St. Mary’s Athletics photo)

There are some other college players or recent graduates who did not get invited to the NBA Draft Combine that still have a chance to make their international homelands for the Olympics. Yahoo! Sports‘ Jeff Eisenberg detailed seven NCAAB players vying to make the Olympics, but all of those players have faced challenging training camps to qualify for their countries, and none have yet made their teams. Deividas Dulkys has a good shot to make the Lithuanian team, but he’s also a recent graduate of Florida State and won’t return to the college game. Dellavedova, on the other hand, has already notched his spot for the Aussies and will represent his country in the Olympics as part of his training regimen for his rising senior season at St. Mary’s.

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Quick…  see if you can name the only NCAA college basketball player to perform in the 2008 Olympics.  There’s obviously nobody on Team USA’s Redeem Team, and the rest of the world’s best players tend to move into their own pro leagues before coming stateside for the NBA, but if you said speedy Patty Mills from tiny St. Mary’s College in Moraga, CA, by way of Australia, you’d be correct.

Mills is arguably already the best college player you’ve never heard of, or if you’ve heard of, you’ve never actually seen play.  In a quarterfinal game where Team USA obliterated Australia 116-85, the 20-year old Mills established himself as one of the best players on the floor among perennial NBA all-stars.  How do we know this?  Well, ask Chris Paul: 

“He’s good.  Man, he’s fast. I read something that says he’s faster than me. They’re probably right.  He can move.”

Or Redeem Team head man Coach K:

“I’m glad my Duke team doesn’t play St. Mary’s.  He’s a great guard. He’ll be an NBA guard. I’m very, very impressed. He really has great quickness. And I love him defensively.  I’ve been a defensive coach my whole life and there aren’t very many people who stay with the guard, like right on him, when he has the ball, and if he’s beaten, he doesn’t retreat, he continues to play the play.  He’s got to be an extremely tough-minded kid. But as good as he is offensively, he’s got a chance to be a great defender. I think the kid has got a big-time future, quite frankly.”

For the tournament, the rising Gael sophomore averaged 14/2/2 on 52% shooting, including the eye-opening 20 pt, 2 asst, 3 steal performance against the Americans.  This comes on the heels of a mid-major all-american 15/3/4 rookie campaign that was largely ignored outside of the tiny bandboxes of the WCC.  St. Mary’s had its chance at a Davidson-like run, leading Miami (FL) at halftime of its opening round game, but quickly disintegrated in the second half under a barrage of threes by Miami’s Jack McClintock. 

With four of its top five players returning from a 25-6 team, Patty Mills and St. Mary’s could become the west-coast version of a name everyone will be paying attention to in next March’s brackets.  Channelling Stephen Curry and Davidson…