The 22-year-old Newcastle Eagles player, who is nicknamed "Big Tap", was born in Brooklyn, New York, but qualifies for Britain because his mother was born in London and has been called up for the first time by the coach Chris Finch.

 

He was ninth leading rebounder in the prestigious Conference USA last season, and fifth in offensive rebounds, joining Newcastle after graduating from the University of Houston.

 

Britain's captain Andrew Sullivan said: "It's great we have a guy out of the BBL who Chris views as a possible help to us.

 

"We want guys from our home country's league representing the team because they are players that fans here are watching week in week out.

"I have seen Tefari play and it will be hard work for him to make it because there will be other big guys who have been playing at a very high level this season.

 

"But then again the guy has hit 20 rebounds in a game and no matter what league you're playing in you can't argue with that sort of stat."

Toney won the BBL dunk contest at the National Indoor Arena in January and will hope to return to Birmingham with the Eagles, when the BBL finals take place May 2-3, and Finch believes that while the BBL Champions may be the favourites it is anyone's trophy for the taking.

Finch said: "It's hard to go against Newcastle but my gut feeling tells me that someone else will end up triumphing.

"The BBL gets a hard time some times, unnecessarily.

 

"It's a tough little league, I know it well.

 

"I know exactly what type of players succeed there and I hope in the future that they will have an even bigger role to develop players, not just for GB but in Europe and the USA too.

"Everybody who had potential was considered.

 

"We had some tough decisions to make with only 23 guys being named for the training squad."

 

Also called up for the first time is Australian-born Daryl Corletto (pictured), a British passport-holder.
 

The 27-year-old point guard, who plays for the Melbourne Tigers, represented Australia at under-18 and under-20 level but has never played for the senior team.

 

Sullivan believes the squad for this summer has so much quality in it that even his place in the team for the Game On At The O2 tournament and the EuroBasket finals in Poland cannot be guaranteed, but insists that is good for the sport.

It includes Chicago Bulls pair Luol Deng and Ben Gordon and Toronto Raptors Pops Mensah-Bonsu as well as Robert Archibald, Andy Betts and Joel Freeland, who play in top leagues in Greece and Spain.

Sullivan said: "The great thing is that when the programme started a few years ago there weren't that many people on Chris's list, good or bad.

 

"Chris was calling everyone who had ever been to a training camp before, but since then the quality has been getting better and better.

"Now, it is not just that we have got more guys to choose from but that we have got quality as well.

 

"We now have quality and quantity which is going up year after year.

"I have said that if I don't make it to the Europeans this year, or the Olympics in 2012, because someone else is better than me then the country is going in the right direction.

"It shouldn't be an easy ride for anyone.

 

"The last thing I want is to be 35 and Chris phoning me and persuading me to play for one more year.

 

"I would like to know I can retire and there will be players there to replace me straight away."