BEIRUT (Lebanon) - After the end of the First Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers, only two of the 12 teams have perfect records - Australia and New Zealand.

This spells the level of quality of both the Boomers and the Tall Blacks in the Qualifiers this year, as during the 2019 Asian Qualifiers, none of the teams headed into the Second Round without a loss.

Now, as the level of competition takes a spike in this next phase, will either of these teams be able to keep their win streak alive at least through Window 4?

Here are a couple of reasons why the Boomers and the Tall Blacks can do it.

The records speaks for themselves

It seems a bit like running in circles to say that both teams can remain undefeated because they’re undefeated… but until someone beats them, the confidence of being an undefeated team can play to their advantage.

As mentioned above, neither team has lost in the Asian Qualifiers. Over the past 3 years in FIBA Asia competitions, the Tall Blacks and the Boomers have three combined losses. Two of those losses are to each other with New Zealand beating Australia in the Asia Cup Qualifiers and vice versa at the Asia Cup. The other loss was New Zealand’s defeat to Asia Cup Finalists Lebanon in the Group Phase.

Both teams have proven that they will find ways to win with whichever roster they put out on the court and even though there might be some close shaves, they eventually find a win to close things out.

Home sweet home

The games will get a bit tougher here in the Second Round as the competition has already eliminated the last placed teams in each group. However, the schedule is favorable for both New Zealand and Australia to maintain their undefeated records in Window 4, even as they go up against tough competitions.

The Tall Blacks are set for a tough game against Jordan, an opponent they had recently faced in the third-place game of the Asia Cup. It took a heroic clutch shooting performance from Tohi Smith-Milner for New Zealand come away with the win. The advantage for New Zealand here in the game on August 29 is that they’ll be playing at home in Auckland.

Aside from New Zealand getting the boost of playing in front of their fans, Jordan also have struggled playing away games in this Asian Qualifiers. While Jordan has an impressive win over Lebanon and are coming off a nice run at the Asia Cup, their past two losses in the Asian Qualifiers have come in away games to both Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

Similarly, Australia’s big match of the window is on the second gameday as they are set to face Iran on August 29. And like New Zealand, the Boomers will be playing at home when they take on Team Melli in Bendigo.

Though Iran were one of the teams to beat Australia in the 2019 Asian Qualifiers, that win came at home. Iran have also had some issues playing away games as of late with surprise losses to Syria and Kazakhstan not too long ago.

Continuity

The strength of both these teams does not only come from the talent of their stars, but also how consistently they’ve been playing with each other.

For the Boomers, Asia Cup 2022 All-Star Five member Mitch McCarron is suiting up for Australia for the third time this summer along with Samson Froling. Through this stretch, they have gone undefeated in 8 games and aiming to make it 10. Throw in Olympic medalist Nick Kay and other  players who have been a part of the Asian Qualifiers and you have a squad that knows what they have to do to win in these windows.

The Tall Blacks have yet to announce their final roster, but there are a lot of familiar pieces moving forward as far as their preliminary roster and training camp roster goes. There are the likes of Flynn Cameron, Taki Fahrensohn, and Jordan Hunt returning from Asia Cup while Dion Prewster and Ethan Rusbatch have played a large part of the previous Asian Qualifier windows.

Added firepower

As stated, the Second Round of the Asian Qualifiers means that the stakes are getting higher. And with higher stakes, teams are more keen to add firepower to their teams to clinch early World Cup qualification.

New Zealand have already announced that Isaac Fotu, Shea Ili, and Reuben Te Rangi will all be playing this window. Of the three, only Asia Cup 2017 All-Star Five member Ili has played so far in the 2023 Asian Qualifiers with 10 points in 20.6 minutes in Window 3. Fotu played in most of the 2019 Asian Qualifiers and in both previous World Cups, while Te Rangi was also a key part of Asia Cup 2017 and the 2019 Asian Qualifiers.

Not a bad way to load up the team for the Second Round.

The Boomers are already 100 percent clear on who will be playing in this Window after being one of the first teams to announce their final roster. The main stars from Asia Cup and previous windows are there as mentioned above, but some interesting additions for this window includes NBA Draft pick Luke Travers and former NCAA standout and NBL champion Dejan Vasiljevic.

FIBA