19/07/2018
David Hein's Eye on the Future
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United States show they are still the class at U17 World Cup

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - All the talk coming into the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018 was if anybody could finally take down the United States. Well, Jalen Green, Vernon Carey Jr. and co. showed the rest of the world that they are still far from that.

Canada dusted off their competition en route to their showdown with the States in the Semi-Finals in Argentina, and France dominated their way to their date with the Americans in the Final. But both were dismantled by Don Showalter's relentless, unselfish group of stars. And the United States improved to 37-0 all-time in the U17 World Cup with five straight titles dating back to 2010.

The United States' performance in Santa Fe exhibited that the world still has quite a bit of catching up to do. It also gave the global basketball fans a glimpse at even more of the elite talent that will without a doubt leave their mark on the NBA in the not-so-distant future.

For those who didn't follow the U17 World Cup that closely or would like a refresher course, here a brief rundown.

While the United States, Canada and France went undefeated in the Group Phase, Group A was full of thrills as Puerto Rico, Australia and Turkey all went 2-1 - with three of the games in the group decided by two points. Puerto Rico ended up on top followed by Australia and Turkey.

The Round of 16 did not really have any surprises - other than perhaps Turkey knocking off Serbia by 19 points. Montenegro, who had already won two games in the group stage of their maiden journey to the U17 World Cup, eliminated the hosts Argentina while Croatia struggled to get past Egypt.

In the Quarter-Finals, Puerto Rico continued their magic, knocking off Montenegro while Canada won a battle with Australia and France and United States both eased through to the final four.

France's superstar trio of Malcolm Cazalon, Killian Hayes and Theo Maledon needed every one of their combined 51 points  to fend off Puerto Rico 78-73 (after combining for 74 in an 86-70 win over Turkey in the Quarter-Finals) in the dramatic second Semi-Final, which was preceded by the United States blasting Canada by 49 points.

The feel good story of the Puerto Ricans finished with them beating Canada in the 3rd Place Game for a spot on the podium - in their first trip to the Semis. Canada were left empty-handed after finally getting past the Quarters for the first time since taking second in 2010.

The final was anything but dramatic as United States led by nine points after 10 minutes and the half-time score was 45-25 en route to a 95-52 walkover of France.

The Classification Phase did see the other debutants New Zealand pick up their first win - a triumph over China - while 15-year-old Mali big man Oumar Ballo shattered the rebound record by 10 in grabbing 32 boards to go with 32 points in a thrilling 110-108 triple overtime loss to Dominican Republic - just the second game in the competition's history to go to three extra sessions.

But the message of this tournament was dominance - complete and utter dominance on the part of the United States. Their closest contest was the 32-point blowout of Serbia in the final group game.   Of their 37 wins in the U17 World Cup history, 23 of them have been by at least 35 points - six of them coming in Argentina. Showalter's team’s average winning margin in Santa Fe was 52.3 points.

Their leading scorer was Jalen Green, who was ranked 13th overall with 15.7 points per game. The 2002-born star talent showed what he is capable of by scoring 21 points in less than five minutes in the USA's Quarter-Finals win over Croatia. But the Americans' rotation went 12 players deep, with every player averaging at least 4.3 points and nine of them collecting at least 8.4 points a game. And they all shared the load on defense with six players grabbing 1.6 steals or more.

Green was named MVP and Vernon Carey Jr. joined him on the All-Star Five - along with Ballo, the French star Hayes and Puerto Rico’s Andre Curbelo. But no one could have argued about putting Isaiah Stewart in that group or De’Vion Harmon or Scottie Barnes among other impressive Americans. 

Many of the players from this USA team will be playing in the NBA - just like past U17 USA teams. Five of the 12 players from the 2016 team were selected in the first 15 picks of the  2018 NBA Draft and a sixth went in the second round. Eleven of the 12 USA players from the 2010 U17 World Cup were at least drafted. Six players from 2012 have already appeared in the NBA and eight  players from the 2014 team have made the NBA already. All told, that is 31 of 48 total players before the tournament started and some of those others are just finishing college or still in it.

Once again, Don Showalter proved masterful in his ability to get his superstar players - all of them are alpha dogs on their high school teams - to check their ego at the doors of USA Basketball camp and play for the collective unit.

Put that ultimate team unity attitude together with the amazing athleticism, depth and talent of the Americans and it doesn’t look like the world will be beating the United States at the U17 World Cup any time soon.

We are two years away from the sixth edition of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup and the question already is if the world can finally knock off the United States. Well, we know how the past five editions have turned out.

David Hein

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.

David Hein

David Hein

Walk into the media tribune of any major basketball event and there's a good chance you will come across David Hein. Having covered dozens of FIBA events, including numerous women's and youth events, there are few players Dave doesn't know about, and few players who don't know him. His sporting curiosity means he is always looking to unearth something new and a little bit special. David Hein's Eye on the Future is a weekly column digging out the freshest basketball talent worldwide and assessing what the basketball landscape will look like a couple of years down the line.