BEIRUT (Lebanon) - The FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by NIKE was updated following the results of the FIBA Basketball World Cup on September 16, 2019, resulting in some changes across the table in the Asia-Oceania region. Taking a look at the current rankings in the region might provide a clearer picture of what to expect at the upcoming FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers which tips off next year.

FIBA Asia Cup 2017 champions Australia maintain their status as the top-ranked team in the region, maintaining a large margin from the pack with their 4^th place finish in China. Australia leads the way with 673.6 points, followed by Iran (443.7), New Zealand (425.5), China (390.9), and Korea (359.5) to round up the top 5 of Asia-Oceania.

Korea moved up only two spots in the latest rankings update, but it was enough to have an advantage over Philippines who stayed put in the rankings with 352.5 points to rank at 6^th place.

With the lone exception of New Zealand, all of the top 6 teams in the rankings have won the FIBA Asia Cup at least once. All of them should be expected to be heavyweight contenders for the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 title.

The biggest leapers in the rankings are the Tall Blacks who jumped ahead 14 spots in the FIBA World Ranking to claim 3^rd place seat in Asia-Oceania region. Jordan and Japan also took huge strides forward with their impressive performances, going up 12 and 10 spots in the rankings to finish at 7^th and 8^th in Asia-Oceania, respectively.

On the other hand, Syria took the largest dip after the update. By dropping down 11 spots in the World Rankings, Syria are now the 20^th ranked team in Asia. The other notable fallers in Asia are India (-7 spots) and Malaysia (-6 spots). This leaves Malaysia as the lowest ranked team that will be playing at the the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers at 26^th place in the region.

Guam, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia appear to be on the rise among the teams hoping to barge into FIBA Asia Cup 2021 after missing the 2017 edition. Guam is the highest ranked team among the group of 8 teams that have proceeded through the Pre-Qualifiers round, placed at a highly threatening 12^th place among all teams in the Asia-Oceania region. Indonesia are a couple of spots behind at 16^th even after a drop from the recent update. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia made a huge 10 spot leap in the ranking, placing themselves as a team to not underestimate at the Qualifiers.

With the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers set to play the first games soon in February 2020, will the results conform with the recent rankings? or will there be upsets on the way?

FIBA