Hoop Summit, BioSteel show Rana has tough calls for Canada at U19
REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Roy Rana has some tough choices coming up over the next two and a half months as he tries to put together his Canada team for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017.
As two big-time high school basketball showcases in North America showed, Rana has an embarrassment of riches from which to choose as he prepares to coach at his third U19 spectacle.
Five Canadians players participated for the World Select Team in last week’s Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Oregon where the United States Team won 98-87. And then Rana returned home to Canada in time to watch the third edition of the annual BioSteel All-Canadian Game, featuring the top 24 Canadian in high school.
BioSteel All Canadian Basketball Game: Team Red 153, Team White 135: https://t.co/z08M7noljX pic.twitter.com/yNf43OiiYF
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 11, 2017
Canada have qualified for their sixth straight U19 tournament but have never finished in the top four, losing in the Quarter-Finals in the last two editions. But they have established themselves as the absolute number two in FIBA Americas with losses to the United States in the last two FIBA U18 Americas Championship title games and falling to the Americans in the FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2016 final.
But expectations in the land of the Maple Leaf are growing as the country begins to produce more and more high level talent. And what has traditionally been only a matter for the United States, Canada now will have some serious competition for the 12 spots on the youth national team.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker, RJ Barrett, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lindell Wigginton were all selected to play at the Hoop Summit and then Luguentz Dort was a last-minute replacement when Australian Angus Glover tore his ACL in practice.
In the Hoop Summit, Wigginton and Alexander-Walker struggled from the floor in the game, combining for 7-of-23 from the field in scoring 11 and 10 points respectively with Wigginton dishing 7 assists. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 11 points while Barrett had 9 points despite being two years younger than the rest of the competition. And Dort picked up 4 points and 1 rebound in 7 minutes.
Barrett, Gilgeous-Alexander and Wigginton all sat out of the BioSteel All-Canadian Game while Alexander-Walker had 19 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Dort meanwhile showed what he can do with a huge co-MVP performance for the winning Red Team with 30 points on 12-of-16 shots, 3 assists and 1 steal in 22 minutes.
Dort has seen his stock rise drastically this season, playing high school basketball in Florida and garnering attention from some major colleges. The Montreal native reminds one of an NFL linebacker with his strong body and excellent quickness and athleticism. The 1999-born guard has never played for Canada but is making a serious charge to gain a spot in Rana’s team for Cairo from 1-9 July, when Canada will take on Japan, Mali and Spain in Group C.
Rana will not have an easy choice as he looks at his impressive pool of players. Many of his players have become real leaders on their high school teams - with many of those teams being in the United States. From the sheer number of players, Rana will have to leave more than a few talented guys off the team, guys who he believes may perhaps not accept a lesser role on the team in favor of a glue guy who is all-in even if he’s on the bench nearly the whole tournament.
Canada are absolutely loaded with guards and wings with the likes of the aforementioned quintet as well as Emmanuel Akot, Jahvon Blair, Ignas Brazdeikis, Marcus Carr, Christian David, Junior Farquhar, Quincy Guerrier, Abu Kigab, Noah Kirkwood, Jaelin Llewellyn, Andrew Nembhard, Stefan Smith and Howard Washington.
All of them have their strong characteristics and could help the team. One thing that could make the difference is past experience in the national team - either at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2016 or FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2016.
While the Canadians have an abundance of guards and wings, they are a bit weaker in terms of high level low post players.
Simi Shittu is probably their most physically advanced big man though he struggles at times with the ball in his hands. O'Shae Brissett is a great talent but he likes to play on the wings as well. And Danilo Djuricic is a long guy who can shoot from the outside as well. And the group of Grant Shephard, Anthony Longpre and Josip Vrankic while solid will not really strike fear into opposing teams’ coaches.
There are a couple of other bigs that Rana could call on. Jaden Bediako is a 2000-born center who went to both the U17 global and U18 continental competitions last summer and is making strides in high school in Canada. And Shameil Stevenson is another possibility as an undersized big. There are also Brandon John and the United States-based trio of Kaosi Ezeagu, Brandon Kenyon and Alex Christie who haven’t been on national teams in the past but have some good size if Rana feels he needs it and they could convince him to take them.
The Canadian coach's choices may be cut before he even gets a chance to put together his team. Gilgeous-Alexander is bound for the University of Kentucky and may decide to head to Lexington early to get a jump on his place with the Wildcats. The same may be the case for Brissett who is heading to Syracuse University.
Even if both of those guys say no to Canada, Rana will have an embarrassment of riches that compares only to the United States.
David Hein
FIBA
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