Australia doing all they can for success at U17 Worlds

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - When news came down that Australia named their 12-man roster for the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship, the first thought was… already? The next thought was… that might be a big reason why Australia go far in this tournament.

Basketball Australia's announcement came five weeks before national federations are required to give their 16-man shortlist to tournament officials. It was also six weeks before the list of 12 is due.

And Australia head coach Mark Watkins named his 12 players more than seven weeks before the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship tips off on June 23 in Zaragoza.

Those 12 players also have already gone through a couple of days of tryouts to make the team, as Watkins brought together 16 players to battle for the 12 spots.

Australia will come into the tournament on the back of consecutive final appearances - losing in both the title game in 2012 and 2014 to the United States. And the hopes are just as high this time around.

My expectations are always set high. After making the final in 2014 the hunger is there to beat the USA and win a gold medal – Watkins

The Australians will also really have had a chance to build some chemistry. They will head to China from May 11-25 for some preparation games and they also have another warm-up tournament in Toulouse, France from June 13-19.

This is nothing new for the Australians, who always put together their teams early for the youth World Championships. And you have to say their efforts have been rewarded with the two second placed U17 Worlds finishes.

A quintet of the Australians on the final roster has already played a high level national team tournament. Mate Colina, Callum Dalton, Sam Froling, Tom Fullarton and Kyle Zunic competed for Australia at the 2016 Albert Schweitzer Tournament - a global biennial U18 event held in Germany in late March and early April that gave those players an invaluable experience.

That tournament showed that other nations are taking Australia’s lead.

China sent a team made up entirely of 1999-born players to Mannheim, Germany – competing against players a year older than them. It was the third time in a row that China sent a team made up of predominantly 17-year-olds to the Albert Schweitzer Tournament as preparation for the U17 Worlds.

And China's plans have also proven successful as they finished seventh at all three U17 Worlds. The Asian giants are looking to finally win a Quarter-Final game in Zaragoza and the core from Mannheim will likely play a major role in their chances.

Egypt, who have never finished better than 11th at the U17 Worlds, included nine players born in either 1999 or 2000 in their Albert Schweitzer Tournament debut with the clear intention of giving their young players the chance of battling against major European nations and other countries ahead of the U17 Worlds.

Other teams are not quite as far - to put it mildly.

Hosts Spain, for example, still have not named a head coach for their team at the competition.

And there is the United States, who will enter the U17 Worlds with a 23-game winning streak and three undefeated titles.

But USA head coach Don Showalter really deserves respect for the job he has done each time in building the Americans into a unit, especially since the players didn’t come together until so late in the process.

This summer, for example, Showalter and his coaching staff with hold tryouts for the USA team starting at the tip off of their training camp on June 11. That will be 38 days after Showalter’s Australian counterpart Watkins had already named his final 12-man roster.

And that is just the Americans going through the tryout – likely to last a couple of days before Showalter picks his team, with the list of 12 due to the organisers by June 15.

Other obligations in the United States keep Showalter from bringing together his team earlier - limitations not present in Australia. Watkins and the coaches Down Under have learned to take advantage of their situation and have set their U17 Worlds roster - already.

David Hein

FIBA

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