REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - If there's ever been a time for New Zealand to knock off mighty Australia and qualify over them for the FIBA U19 World Championship, then next week would be the time.

The format for the FIBA Oceania U19 Qualification for Men and Women has been changed with the 10 nations broken down into two five-team pools and the top two of each group reaching the Semi-Finals. Australia are in Pool A and New Zealand in Group B and, not to take anything away from American Samoa, Tahiti, hosts Fiji or any of the other nations participating, but it would be an absolute shock if New Zealand don't take on Australia in the men's final on December 6 in Suva.

And the winner of that game would gain the final spot at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship.

That means New Zealand only have to beat Australia in a one-off game. In the last three FIBA Oceania U19 qualifiers, New Zealand have been swept 3-0 in a sole showdown of those two Oceania powers.

The Juniors Tall Blacks have never actually qualified for the FIBA U19 Worlds. The only time New Zealand played in the tournament was when they hosted it in 2009 while Australia have played in all 11 tournaments since 1979 including winning the title in 2003 on the back of Andrew Bogut.

Some consider Australia legitimate podium contenders at the 2015 FIBA U19 Worlds if they bring all their top talent. Ben Simmons, Thon Maker and Jonah Bolden would be a huge boost to an already strong group headed by many of the leaders of Australia's run to second place at the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship - Isaac Humphries, Dejan Vasiljevic, Tom Wilson and Harry Froling.

But Humphries, Vasiljevic and Co. first must get past New Zealand in Fiji.

New Zealand actually come into these qualifiers manned with a team that would be capable of at least challenging the Emus in a best-of-three set. The country is seeing the emergence of an exciting group of young talent, many of whom head to Fiji with the hopes of playing next summer at the U19 Worlds.

Two members of the Junior Tall Blacks have already gained experience with New Zealand's senior side.

The 16-year-old Tai Wynyard is a hugely talented power forward who is nearing the end of a huge 2014, which saw him play at the Jordan Brand Classic in New York City, attend the Nike All-Asia Camp in China, play with the Tall Blacks against Korea and being the second to last cut before the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Wynyard - the son of six-time wood-chopping world champion Jason Wynyard - also played in an exhibition game for the New Zealand Breakers in the Australian NBL league, collecting 12 points and nine rebounds in 15 minutes against the Adelaide 36ers.

Another of the Junior Tall Blacks' leaders will be 18-year-old Izayah Mauriohooho Le'afa, who went on tour with the senior New Zealand team in 2013 and was being considered for the 2014 FIBA World Cup side until the quick point guard went down with another concussion - an issue he's been dealing with over the past two years.

Another name to watch at the qualifiers will be combo guard Dane Brooks, who has shown an ability to finish at the rim and also has experience in the New Zealand NBL.

Looking at the size of Humphries and Froling for Australia, a crucial player for New Zealand coach Judd Flavell will be Matt Freeman, who was also at the Nike All-Asia Camp with Wynyard and also went to the 2014 Adidas Nations.

Besides the 2.00m Wynyard and the 2.04m 16-year-old Freeman, the only other player taller than 2 meters is 2.04m Sam Timmins.

Timmins and fellow 17-year-old Joe Cook-Green are teammates at Otago high school and representative of the emergence of basketball in the south part of the South Island as the team won the 2014 Secondary School National title in October - knocking off Freeman and the big-name Westlake school from basketball hotbed Auckland. It was the first time a South Island team won the crown since 2000.

One of the reasons for Otago's emergence was native son Mark Dickel's return to the area and running the Otago Basketball Academy.

Despite all the talent that the Junior Tall Blacks do have, they definitely could have used two bigs who are in colleges in the United States - Jack Salt at the University of Virginia and Gus Riley at Bryant University.

Flavell may be missing those two players, but the coach still has plenty of weapons at his disposal and with the new format, New Zealand only have to be better than Australia in one game. The stars are definitely aligned better than they’ve ever been for the Junior Tall Blacks. Now the question is if they can take advantage of them.

David Hein

FIBA

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