The 21-year-old senior point guard has won a spot on the Canadian national men's basketball team for its final qualifying tournament for the 2008 Beijing Games in China, unexpectedly earning the backup spot behind Jermaine Anderson.

"I feel great about it," Kepkay said Sunday, after the team was announced. "It has sunk in a little, but I guess it will sink in more when I put the jersey on and start playing."

Though he has played for his native country's junior development team, Kepkay has never played for its full national team. So it was quite a surprise that he beat out incumbent Ryan Bell in training camp in Toronto. Kepkay was scarcely on anyone's radar at the start of camp.

"Once we started playing and camp got past the first couple of days, I started getting more and more confident," Kepkay said, "and by the end of it, I wasn't as surprised as I would have been at the beginning. But I was still a little bit."

The Canadians will play a series of exhibition games against Lebanon and New Zealand in Canada over the next week, before playing two more against host Germany on July 9 and 11 and then the final Olympic qualifying tournament from July 14-20 in Athens, Greece. They must finish in the top three in the 12-team tournament to reach the Olympics.

After that, the Canadians will meet Team USA in an exhibition July 25 in Las Vegas at the conclusion of the Americans' pre-Olympic training camp.

Even if the Canadians qualify for the Olympics that begin Aug. 8, though, Kepkay's spot does not seem entirely secure.

The superstar after whom he models his game, fellow British Columbia native Steve Nash, has indicated that he does not plan to represent Canada at the Beijing Games, having given up the national team after signing with the NBA's Phoenix Suns in 2004. But coach Leo Rautins has not abandoned the possibility. Rautins said Nash could wind up on the team if it qualifies for Beijing, which could cost Kepkay his roster spot. In any case Utes coach Jim Boylen said it was "great news" for Kepkay.

"He did it by being a point guard. Did it by running the show and distributing the ball and communicating. . . . He did it by doing all the things I've been asking him to do since I got here."

mcl@sltrib.com