Sports

Lincoln’s Whitehead left off USA’s 16U National Team, but remains in program

Isaiah Whitehead experienced a first Sunday night and for once, the Coney Island phenom wasn’t thrilled with the result.

Lincoln’s 6-foot-4 freshman was left off the 2001 USA 16U National Team after five days of workouts in Colorado Springs, Colo. Coaches Don Showalter, Rich Gray and Mike Jones plus an additional seven-person committee selected 12 players out of the developmental camp’s 27 who will compete this month in the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Cancun, Mexico.

“It made me feel upset, but not that upset,” said Whitehead, who has already picked up scholarship offers from North Carolina, St. John’s, USC, Pittsburgh and Syracuse. “I can still make the team in October.”

Indeed, Showalter said, the entire 27 players will remain part of USA’s developmental program and Whitehead could make the U17 team a year from now. For instance, Kentucky recruit Michael Gilchrist didn’t play for the 16U team but did make the 17U club later.

Christ the King assistant and New Heights coach Jerrel Coakley, a volunteer assistant not involved in the selection process, was somewhat surprised Whitehead didn’t make the team. He said Whitehead performed well and shot the ball better as the game went on.

“He did what he was supposed to do to put himself in the best situation to make the team, but he came up short,” Coakley said.

Showalter, the 2009 USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year (who also coached at Mid-Prairie HS in Iowa), was impressed with Whitehead’s positive attitude, basketball IQ and attention to detail. He was one of the first players to start diving for loose balls in drills and felt he gave maximum effort. The one thing holding him back was the coach didn’t feel he had a true position, that he could swing between point guard and shooting guard. But the team was looking for defined roles.

“We weren’t sure his best position for us,” noted Showalter, who said point guards Larry Austin and Tyus Jones were picked ahead of Whitehead. “His attitude is tremendous, he worked really hard, he’s very coachable and he does a lot of things we really like. We felt there were some other guards with some different skill sets [that were better for us].”

An All-City third team selection by The Post, Whitehead was confident he performed well enough to make the team, though he said he got off to a slow start. If he could do it over again, Whitehead said he would’ve played with more intensity from the outset.

This could be considered the first setback for Whitehead, who helped Lincoln win Brooklyn AA, claim the Brooklyn borough title and reach the PSAL Class AA title game at Madison Square Garden. He was recently ranked 14th in the Class of 2014 by ESPN.

“I think it’s good for him,” his mother, Ericka Rambert, said. “He went out there, played against good players and he realized he’s not the best. It’s a good way to keep him grounded, motivate him and make him work even harder.”

True to form, Whitehead arrived home Monday, ate dinner and worked out for several hours at Lincoln. He has a big summer ahead with the Juice All-Stars that includes trips to Dallas and Las Vegas. Whitehead, though, can’t wait to go back to Colorado.

“It definitely hurt, but I got to get over it, come back in October and work harder,” he said.

zbraziller@nypost.com