ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) - Can Australia finish the story?
That's arguably the biggest question fans and pundits alike are asking, now that the Crocs are headed to the FIBA U16 Asia Cup 2025 Final looking to achieve what no other team has done in this competition.
Just in case you're wondering, the Aussies are gunning to bag home the coveted gold medal for an unprecedented fourth successive time, which if they do would make them the first to ever accomplish as much.
There should be no denying how gratifying it would be for the entire program per se should they write their names in the tournament's history books also as its winningest, as no one has won four championships.
Presently, they're tied with China for the most number of crowns at three.
And this is where it gets interesting: Australia are bidding to achieve all the aforementioned goals against the former dynasty as the two storied sides will meet in the titular bout on Sunday at the MBank Arena.
It could be recalled that Team Dragon won the meet's first three editions, then came the Crocs' ongoing dominion which began in 2017 after beating the East Asian powerhouse in convincing fashion, 91-67, in the Final.
Years later and the two find themselves in a rematch after taking care of their respective assignments in the Semi-Finals Saturday - China stunned New Zealand before Australia ran roughshod over Japan to set up the duel.
Game time is set at 19:00 local time, serving as the nightcap of a busy quadruple-header offering in the 2025 festivities' culminating day which begins with a pair of Classification Round matches.
Action commences at 11:30 with a meeting between Chinese Taipei and Bahrain for seventh place, followed by a tussle featuring Iran and Korea - champions of the 2015 edition - at 14:00 in a battle for fifth.
And prior to the Final, 2023 runners-up New Zealand and Japan will duke it out for the bronze in the Third-Place Game set at 16:30 in a clash between teams that have captured the said medal twice each in the past.
FIBA