REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - The stakes may be higher in the Second Round of FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers, but that did not stop many coaches from giving youngsters their first taste of action with the senior national team during the games in September.

Ante Zizic, 21 years, Croatia

Croatia are fighting for their World Cup lives and were hoping that 21-year-old NBA center Zizic could help them in crucial games against Lithuania and Poland. Zizic debuted with a couple of strong showings - 6 points, 4 rebounds and 1 block against Lithuania and 13 points and 8 rebounds versus Poland - but they were not enough as Croatia lost both games.  Croatia's other 21-year-old NBA center Ivica Zubac debuted in the third window and could not match his performance from earlier in the summer as he averaged 8.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in September.

Ville Tahvanainen, 18 years, Finland

Finland find themselves in a dogfight for a World Cup spot in Group K - even with Russia with a 4-4 record in third and fourth places - but Henrik Dettmann added in the fourth window what will likely be another part of Finland's future national team in Ville Tahvanainen. The 18-year-old starred this summer for Finland at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2018, helping the team barely avoid relegation to Division B. He averaged a second-best 22.3 points a game, including 35 points against Greece in the crucial Classification 13-14 game while hitting 8 three-pointers. He had three other games with 6 three-pointers in the tournament. In the window, Tahvanainen totalled 2 points, 2 assists and 1 rebound in 15 minutes of playing time against Bosnia and Herzegovina and France. Tahvanainen's U18 running mate Mikael Jantunen made his senior national team debut in the third window and he averaged 3.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in the September Qualifiers.

Ognjen Carapic, 20 years, Montenegro

Carapic made his senior debut in the fourth window and averaged 1.5 points, 1.0 steals and 0.5 rebounds in 9.0 minutes. The guard deserves special recognition for what he did for Montenegro at the youth level in his career. After failing to avoid relegation at the FIBA U16 European Championship in 2013, Carapic got Montenegro back up to Division A the next summer by winning the U16 Division B title. The same thing happened at the U18 level as he could not keep Montenegro in Division A in 2015 and then won the U18 Division B crown in 2016. That same summer, Carapic helped Montenegro win the U20 Division B crown as well.

Gregor Glas, 17 years; Jurij Macura, 18 years; Aljaz Bratec, 20  years - Slovenia

Slovenia came into the window missing half of their FIBA EuroBasket 2017-winning team and they face a massive challenge to qualify for the World Cup. So head coach Radoslav Trifunovic decided to give some exposure to the country's next generation. In the road game against Latvia, 17-year-old Glas - who was named to the All-Star Five at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2018, Division B - played 34 seconds without picking up any stats while the 20-year-old Bratec - who has played for Helios Domzale in the Basketball Champions League - picked up 2 fouls in 12 seconds of action. And against Turkey at home, the 18-year-old Macura grabbed 1 rebounds in 59 seconds on the court.

Mihkel Kirves, 21 years, Estonia

Estonia youngsters continue to get great experience in the European Qualifiers and there were five players 21 years or younger in the fourth window for the Baltic side. The 21-year-old Kirves was the latest to make his debut and he averaged 1.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 12.0 minutes a game.

Those were the European youngsters who made their national team debut in September. With some teams being close to elimination, it wouldn't be a surprise if more youngsters get their first bow in the fifth window in November and December.

David Hein

FIBA

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