Mike Tisdale's participation in a USA Basketball training camp developed into something else: an invitation to another USA Basketball training camp.

There were 20 college players on the select team that trained with and against the national team last week in Las Vegas. Ten of those college guys will practice against the national team in New York City from Aug. 10-16. Tisdale said today he's one of them.

"It will be pretty much the same deal (in New York as it was in Las Vegas)," he said.

A few other items from the Illinois center today:

-He's at 253 pounds, a personal high.

"It (the added weight) definitely helped. Holding my position with those guys, playing defense and rebounding," Tisdale said. "Rebounding against Kevin Love's not easy. He's one of the best. It really helped me use it to my advantage."

The NBA forwards and centers faced included Brook Lopez, Greg Oden, JaVale McGee, Lamar Odom and Kevin Durant. Tisdale said some personnel commented on how his appearance has changed since he competed in tryouts for USA Basketball last summer.

 "They said I played well, I have a lot of skill. Again, a little bit of the weight thing. They said I look much bigger than I did last year when I was with USA Basketball and they're happy about that."

He added, ""Even some of the NBA guys were saying, 'This kid's put on quite a bit of weight, just since the season.' That gives me a little bit of confidence and hopefully I can keep going."

-Tisdale said the college team's purpose was to prepare the national team for the World Championships in Turkey in late August. He said his style of play - a big man that can shoot it - seemed to fit what they were looking for from the practice squad.

"The style they wanted us to play - and actually we practiced it - was the European style," he said. "That's what we were doing; we were helping them to win the gold against the other (international) teams. So they wanted some skilled big men that could shoot it from outside. So that's what we worked a lot on."

-In Las Vegas, Tisdale roomed with North Carolina forward Tyler Zeller, whose Heels will visit the Assembly Hall as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in December.

"We did a little preview of the game coming this year," Tisdale said.

-He's unsure of the other college players that will participate in the NYC training camp. USA Basketball today released the list of the NBA guys that will compete.

-Asked about what he learned at the training camp, Tisdale said, "Obviously I have a lot of improvements to make, a lot of things to do. But just giving me confidence and coming back here... the game was a lot faster over there. When I got back it seemed to have slowed down a little bit. I'm just hoping that will help during the season."

-Here's our Illinois basketball chat today.

PKlee_IlliniHQ