Senior Greg Mangano will be with some elite company this weekend. Mangano is one of 22 of the nation’s top collegiate athletes attending the 2011 USA Basketball Men’s World University Games Team training camp.

The camp, which starts on Friday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., will be used to select the 12-member team that will represent the USA at the 2011 World University Games men’s basketball competition Aug. 13-23 in Shenzhen, China.

“My goal is to make the team and be a valuable asset in the world games,” Mangano said. “I think my ability to stretch the floor and play away from the basket could be helpful to the team, especially playing with international rules.”

Since accepting the invitation to the camp in early June, Mangano, an Orange, Conn., native, has been working hard with the Yale strength coaches and training with teammates who remained in New Haven for the summer. He knows regardless of whether or not he makes Team USA, the camp will be a positive experience.

“The opportunity to play against some of the best players in the country will certainly benefit me as I prepare for my last season at Yale,” Mangano said.

One of those players is Notre Dame’s Tim Abromaitis, who hails from Unionville, Conn. Abromaitis and Mangano were teammates for the Connecticut Gold AAU team before college. Abromaitis’s older brother Jason played at Yale, graduating in 2007.

Mangano is coming off a season in which he finished ninth in the nation in blocked shots (3.0 per game) and 24th in rebounding (10.0 rpg.). He averaged 16.3 points and was a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection and earned all-district honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

Mangano led the Ivy League in rebounding and blocked shots and was second in scoring. He was the first Ivy player to average a double-double for the season since Harvard’s Kyle Snowden in 1995-96. His numbers were even more impressive in Ivy games where he averaged 18.6 points and 10.4 rebounds, which both led the league.

Mangano, a four-time Ivy League Player of the Week selection, was dominant on both ends of the floor. His 85 blocks were the most in a season in school history and the third most in Ivy history. In addition, his 51 blocks in league games were a new Ivy record. He scored 20 points or more in nine games this season, including tallying a career-high 30 in a victory at Dartmouth. He led the Bulldogs in rebounding in all but four games and grabbed a career-high 17 at Brown.

In addition, he became the first Yale player since Chris Dudley in 1986-87 to average a double-double for the season.

Mangano has already made one trip to China this offseason. He and his Yale teammates went 3-1 on a 10-day tour of Chengdu and Shanghai in late May. Mangano averaged 21.5 points in the four games.

Purdue University head coach Matt Painter is the head coach of the 2011 USA Men’s World University Games Team, while collegiate head coaches Cuonzo Martin of the University of Tennessee and Brad Stevens of Butler University will serve as assistant coaches.