• Jefferson, Sims celebrate July 4 as Team USA members

    Cory Jefferson and Odyssey SimsWhile most of us are celebrating Independence Day here in the United States, Baylor seniors Cory Jefferson and Odyssey Sims are in Russia preparing to don the red, white and blue as members of Team USA.

    Jefferson and Sims earned spots on the 12-member USA Basketball men’s and women’s teams, respectively, that will participate in the World University Games July 6-17 in Kazan, Russia. Jefferson is the seventh Baylor men’s basketball player (and the first since 2003) to play for USA Basketball. Sims is representing USA Basketball for the second time, having previously helped lead the U.S. to the gold medal at the 2011 World University Games.

    The pair joins a long line of Bears who have represented the United States in international play across a variety of sports, dating all the way back to Jack Robinson, who played on the 1948 USA Olympic men’s basketball team. Among the almost 30 Bears to have represented Team USA are baseball’s Pat Combs (1988) and Steve Smith (Team USA head coach, 2005), men’s basketball’s Terry Teagle (1979) and Brian Skinner (1995-96-97), women’s basketball’s Steffanie Blackmon (2003) and Alexis Prince (2012), volleyball’s Stevie Nicholas (2002), softball’s Whitney Canion (2011), and of course track and field stars such as Michael Johnson (1992-96-2000) and Jeremy Wariner (2004-08).

    If you want to see Jefferson and Sims in action, ESPNU and ESPN3 will be televising some of the games; see the full schedule here.

    Sic ’em, Bears — whether in green and gold or red, white and blue!