You'll be hearing from the player who led a big upset of John Calipari's U-19 USA team

The star of the event is a name you're likely to hear a ton about before he ever gets to college

The biggest news over the weekend connected to college basketball was the failure of Kentucky coach John Calipari's Under-19 USA Basketball team. The Americans lost to Canada 99-87 in the FIBA World Cup semifinals Saturday, ending a 23-game winning streak for the U-19 team. It meant no gold medal in Egypt and marked the first loss for an amateur USA Basketball team in six years. 

The Canadian national team, led by 2019 talent R.J. Barrett (video below) beat Italy 79-60 for the gold Sunday. The United States won the bronze by beating Spain 96-72 in the consolation game -- an undeniable a disappointment. 

Any time Team USA doesn't finish on top, it sparks headlines. With Calipari involved, there's more talk. The roster (which Calipari did not pick; it's voted on by a separate board) was comprised of current college players (Kentucky's Hamidou Diallo, Oregon's Payton Pritchard, Purdue's Carsen Edwards) and five-star high school recruits (some courted by Calipari, like Cameron Reddish and Immanuel Quickley).

"I wish I had that game over from yesterday, again," Calipari said following the bronze-medal win. "Maybe Canada will redo that, but I don't think they will. But, I've learned. I've learned about myself as a coach and I watched other coaches coach and I learned some great stuff. This game, I'm proud of our guys. It's a hard game. You lose that game yesterday and really got outplayed, out-coached, everything, and you come back and play like we played. This guy here, Immanuel [Quickley], played out of his mind. He came like, OK, that's done, bounce back, let's play. This is a very hard game to play in, the third-place game. I thought our kids fought and played from the beginning. From the tip, they played well."

The loss fuels critics of Calipari's coaching acumen. But winding up on the wrong end of USA Basketball's first loss in six years results in disparagement -- particularly because Team USA's roster was viewed as the deepest and most talented in the 16-team field. 

Calipari was not afforded some players who likely would have assured the United States blowouts en route to gold. All those no-longer-freshmen just taken in the NBA Draft? Had any -- even one or two -- stayed in college, they would have been eligible. So no Lonzo Ball, Jayson Tatum, De'Aaron Fox, Dennis Smith Jr. While still talented, the U.S. is different from other countries because the best U-19 American players get drafted while those in other countries are practicing with their national teams. 

Then you've got freshmen-to-be who opted out, like Missouri's Michael Porter Jr., Arizona's DeAndre Ayton and Texas' Mohamed Bamba. Meanwhile, Canada essentially put its strongest roster possible on the floor -- players who are used to playing together. Speaking of Canada, Barrett's play was special. He is the next "next" player and naturally a recruiting target for Calipari -- and basically every program. The 2019 prospect had an eye-opening international moment of arrival, a 38-point barrage in burying the U.S. on his way to being named tournament MVP. And Barrett was that productive despite fouling out vs. the Americans. Going up against players two and three years older, he looked ready for start for a blueblood program now.