NONTHABURI (FIBA U18 Asian Championship 2018) – The games are getting the tighter and the action is getting more and more intense as the tournament progresses through the Quarterfinals stage. Fans were treated to good games in Day 5, climaxing in an epic clash between China and Korea.

Today was a good day.

Here are five takeaways from Day 5 of the FIBA U18 Asian Championship 2018: 

1. There’ll be a new champion in town

Iran put up a great effort against New Zealand but were unable to take the newcomers down. This ultimately means that the defending champs are out of the running, leaving the throne up for grabs.

Semifinalists China have had the most success in this tournament with 11 titles, including 3 in this past decade. The Philippines have won it all since 1982, while newcomers Australia and New Zealand are aiming to win it all in their first try at FIBA U18 Asia.

2. Height reins supreme

They say height isn’t everything, but in this tournament, height has done its damage. China and Australia are the two tallest squads on average at 6’6” and both have made their way to the Semi-Finals. New Zealand are a tad bit shorter at 6’5” and even though the Philippines are the shortest team in the Semis at 6’4”, they combo of Sotto and Edu makes them feel a lot taller.

The teams that advanced to the Semi-Finals today all used their height to their advantage and it paid off grandly.

3. New Zealand Goes as Flynn Cameron Goes

New Zealand have plenty of good players whether it’s James Moors or Maxwell Darling or Kruz Perrott-Hunt, but it seems like they will go as far as their leader Flynn Cameron takes them. When Cameron is at his best, he penetrates and creates for the whole team and everyone gets in rhythm as they did in today’s win against a very strong Iran team.

If opposing teams can contain Cameron, New Zealand will struggle trying to get their offense going.

4. China is fun to watch

Team China in 2018 is just something else. They play at a breakneck pace. They start attacking further away from the basket. Most significantly might be their uncharacteristic “swagger” that they have displayed over the past 5 days.

Wang Quanze understandably brings some “American” flavor to the team, but it’s not just him. Guo Haowen has been wrecking up the defense, averaging 19.6 points, and he’s also made it look like lots and lots of fun. He celebrates dagger threes and he tries to emphatically dunk on opposing players. It was just to fun to watch Haowen trade blows with Hyunjung Lee in the epic Korea vs China game that we just can’t wait to see more of him.

5. Hyunjung Lee is destined for greatness

As the buzzer sounded merely seconds after Hyungjung Lee nailed a meaningless three-pointer, you could help but feel a little bit sorry for the youngster. He had just carried his foul-ridden team on his back and nearly got them out of an 18-point deficit against China and he was thisclose to succeeding.

You can feel that this game will only make him stronger – and a stronger Hyungjung Lee is a very, very scary Hyunjung Lee. He's been averaging 28.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 3.0 steals per game while shooting 48.7% from the field. Just imagine how much more fun it'll be to watch him as he gets even better.

FIBA