MANILA (Enzo Flojo's Asia on my Mind) - Korea have always been a traditional powerhouse in Asian basketball, and they showed this again after they swept their last six assignments to take home their first ever FIBA Asia U16 championship this past weekend. The highlight, of course, of their historic run was a huge upset of heavy favorites and defending champions China, and they capped it off by humbling the erstwhile undefeated Chinese Taipei team in the Final.

This made up for the team’s recent heartbreaks in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship in Changsha-Hunan and the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship for Women in Wuhan.

Save for their lone defeat to China in the first round, the Korean boys were pretty dominant throughout the U16 tournament, winning a total of eight games and by an average margin of 15.8 points. They outclassed Iraq, India, Thailand, Bahrain, and Lebanon, and were able to pull out close wins over title contenders Philippines (second round), China (Semi-Finals), and Chinese Taipei (Final).

It was also a great way for the team to bounce back after they were eliminated in the previous FIBA Asia U16 Championship in Tehran, Iran. Korea were undefeated in the first round of that tournament before they absorbed two losses in the second round and were knocked out by Japan in the Quarter-Finals.

One kid who played in that competition was then 14-year-old Yang Jae-Min (1.98m/6ft 6in), seen by many Korean hoop nuts as the next big thing. Yang was part of Korea’s supporting cast in 2013, but, now two years the wiser, he was thrust into a leadership role for their team’s 2015 iteration. Yang didn’t disappoint as he was consistently among the team’s leaders in scoring and rebounding. He grew a couple of inches, too, which made him a match-up nightmare for many of Korea’s foes. In all, Yang led Korea with 16.0 points per game, hitting 1.6 triples per outing. He also grabbed 6.0 rebounds, handed out 3.7 assists, and stole the ball 1.8 times per contest. Without a doubt, he is one of the guys to watch in the next few years, and it will be interesting to see if he can develop into another star for Korea’s men’s team alongside former youth team standouts like Lee Jong-Hyun and Choi Jun-Yong.

Other promising talents from this golden Korean roster are Shin Min-Suk (1.97m/6ft 6in), Lee Jung-Hyun (1.85m/6ft 1in), and Lee Hyun-Jung (1.92m/6ft 4in). Shin was solid all throughout the tournament as Korea’s top man in the middle. He normed a near-double-double line of 15.7 points and 8.3 rebounds while also forcing opposing big men to extend their defense because of his outside shooting. Shin hit 1.6 triples per outing. Speaking out outside shooting, both Lees constantly punctured the hoop from the perimeter. Lee Jung-Hyun and Lee Hyun-Jung paired up to hit 4.0 triples per contest en route to a combined 26.6 points per game. With crips ball movement and deadly sniping, this Korean team was just very difficult to handle for most teams at this level.

The future certainly looks secure for Korean hoops as these youngsters are poised to grow into the roles that will eventually be vacated by veterans like Yang Dong-Geun, Cho Sung-Min, and Kim Tae-Sul.

Enzo Flojo

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article. MANILA (Enzo Flojo's Asia on my Mind) - The Quarter-Finals of the 2015 FIBA Asia U16 Championship will commence on the morrow, and only eight teams remain in contention for the 2016 FIBA World U17 Festival in Spain.