Noumea (New Caledonia) - New Zealand Men's U17 squad may have all the reasons and motivating factors to focus its whole attention in finally clinching the Oceania championship crown.

But Head Coach Aaron Fearne would rather let their game do the talking than promising a Gold Medal in the regional basketball conclave among 17-and-under cagers in New Caledonia.

"I never sit down and say we have to win; we have to do this; we have to do that form a results point of view. For me, it’s always process-driven and it will be no different with this group," he said, refusing to vow any definite finish from his wards.

Hence, Fearne just assured a never-ending fight from the Junior Tall Blacks regardless of who are the opponents on their way. NZ is in a tough Group A with familiar rival Australia, Guam, and Samoa.

In the 2017 edition of FIBA U17 Oceania championship, NZ suffered a 55-93 shellacking from tormentor Australia in the gold medal match, making it a must-vengeance bid to cap off some unfinished business.
Fearne, however, refused to consider it so as the Kiwis will be just out for a gritty fight as always.

"We’ll be a typical New Zealand team that will play very hard, play for one another. The guys have been extremely attentive to instruction and made huge improvements. They are all willing learners and are all great kids and enjoyable to coach – I like that," added Fearne.

Make no mistake though, the Junior Tall Blacks had enough tools and preparation prior to this tournament to whip them out to into an able and ready challenger to the Boomers' reign.

"The guys have been great and our training has been awesome," Fearne reiterated.

"We are continuing to review what we went over in April and add a couple more little things and just define what we do, define roles, culture, and style of play."

What makes NZ also unpredictable is its balanced roster which would take care of the way they would progress in the tournament.

And the rest will follow.

"To play hard, play for one another. To defend at a high level, move the ball, move each other offensively and play with great passion. Those would be my expectations and when it comes to results they will depend on those things," Fearne said.

"You are playing for your country, and your parents, and yourself and teammates. We desperately want to go out there and play really hard and get after it defensively and give everything that we’ve got. That’s all I’ve ever asked of the teams I’ve coached."  he concluded.

FIBA