Mario Chalmers spent his summer vacation doing what he likes to do most: Play basketball, of course.

“It (summer) was very busy, but it was good. Any chance I get to go out and improve my skills and represent Kansas, I’ll do it,” said Chalmers, KU’s 6-foot-1 junior combo guard from Anchorage, Alaska.

Chalmers spent June working various camps in Kansas and also attended the Steve Nash Skills Academy for guards June 28 to July 2 in Union, N.J.

He continued to work camps and play pick-up ball while attending summer school during July, while also trying out for the U.S. Pan American Games team in Haverford, Pa.

In early August, Chalmers was a camp counselor at the Adidas Nations Basketball Experience in New Orleans, where he ran drills with, and played organized games against, some of the top players in the country.

“I think I may be more of a complete player now. I picked up a couple skills from the NBA guys (at the Nash and Adidas camps), stuff I came back with and used on my own to maybe add to my game,” Chalmers said.

Of the Nash camp, Chalmers noted: “I learned a lot of point-guard skills I can use here or teach to the point guards who run the show.”

Adidas “was a camp to get a little bit of exposure, to try to get confidence and get myself playing better against some of the top players in the country, just to have fun.”

Adidas attendees included D.J. Augustin, Darren Collison, Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon.

Chalmers’ only summer disappointment came at the Pan Am Trials. Considered a strong candidate to make the U.S. team, Chalmers instead was one of 16 players cut.

The selection committee chose guards Eric Maynor (VCU), Drew Neitzel (Michigan State), Derrick Low (Washington State) and Scottie Reynolds, who plays for Pan Am head coach Jay Wright at Villanova.

“When I first heard I got cut, I was sad at first. I really wanted to make the team. Then I was angry,” Chalmers said. “But I looked at it as an opportunity for me to come back and work on what I didn’t do so well, and that was shooting the ball.

“I came back and worked on that, just try to get ready for the next game.”

Chalmers – he hit 49.1 percent of his shots, including 40.4 percent of his threes his sophomore season at KU -clanged most of his outside-shot attempts at the Trials.

“It just wouldn’t go in,” Chalmers said. “No excuses or anything. It wasn’t my day. It wasn’t my week.”

He was unable to make the team on reputation alone.

“That’s why I got invited to the camp,” Chalmers said, referring to his past performances, “but it’s not about what you’ve done in the past. It’s about what you do when you are at the camp. And at the camp, I did not have a good shooting performance.

“I wasn’t upset at anybody but myself because I think I could have done a little more to prepare for it.”

The U.S. went 2-3 without Chalmers and could muster only a fifth-place finish in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I mean I think I could have helped, but they picked the players they thought were best for the team,” Chalmers said. “I wished them luck when they went down there. I was rooting for them.”

All Chalmers can do now is look ahead.

“It’s motivation,” he said of getting cut. “At the same time you’ve got to shrug it off and not worry about it. It’s in the past. We’ve got a big season coming up. We’ve got to focus on this season.”

KU returns all but Julian Wright off last year’s 33-5 team and adds scholarship players Cole Aldrich and Tyrel Reed.

“My motivation is trying to get past the Elite Eight. We got there last year. We want to focus on getting farther and winning a national championship,” Chalmers said.