REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - The two stories about the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018 draw for teams involved are one: who else do we have in our group; and two: how long can we avoid the four-time undefeated reigning champions United States in the knockout stages.

The Americans will come into the fifth biennial U17 World Cup with a 30-game winning streak and four straight perfect runs to the title. And USA head coach Don Showalter's next group of future stars will start the 2018 edition in Group B along with the second-placed team from the up-coming FIBA U16 Asian Championship, Mali and Serbia.

That will be a good group for USA to get ready for the Round of 16 and onwards. First off, it is to be expected that they will be athletically dominant compared to the Asian team - even if Australia or New Zealand were to take second place. And that will get the first game jitters out of the way.

Then the Americans will take on one of the few teams in the tournament that might be physically superior to them - especially down low - that being Mali. The African U16 champions have Oumar Ballo, a 2002-born baby Shaq at 6ft 10in (2.08m); as well as N'Faly Dante, who stands 7ft 0in (2.13m) and did not play at the U16 tournament last summer but made a name for himself playing in the United States. Dante played at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2016 as a 14-year-old.

Veja lances do '20 N'faly Dante no @SJITHoops @HoopMajor

@Nfalydante @sunrisehoops pic.twitter.com/6Aeg3SM9Hf

— HS Basketball BR (@HSBasketballBR) February 3, 2018

And Serbia will be a fundamentally strong team that also has some good talent and will test the Americans' ability to play against good systems by a team that can deal with their press.

The knockout stage is a matter of how the other groups shake out.

First off, here the other groups. Group A has the FIBA U16 Asian Championship champion, Puerto Rico, Turkey and Dominican Republic. Group C includes Canada, the third place team from Asia, Egypt and Montenegro. And Croatia, France, hosts Argentina and the fourth placed Asian team make up Group D.

Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic have squared off in the FIBA U16 Americas Championship the last two editions, and that will be a hotly contested battle of simiiar styles. Turkey meanwhile took second at the U17 World Cup two years ago and knocked off Latvia and Lithuania at last summer's U16 continental tournament to get a return ticket.

Most summers one could argue that China is the favorite to win the FIBA U16 Asian Championship - having won three of the four tournaments. But Australia and New Zealand are playing in Asia this time around and Australia have shown they can be very strong at the level in the past - taking second place at the U17 World Cup in 2012 and 2014. And this Australia team has Tamuri Wigness.

Canada probably will enter Group C as the nominal favorites, easing to the U16 Americas final last summer despite missing two of their best players. Montenegro will be strong as the U16 European runners-up, though they will not have the home fans as they did last summer. Egypt eased to the African final last summer since Angola was missing from the competition.

Group D will have hosts Argentina bringing some good crowds to the games - as the country has really shown a lot of commitment to hosting youth competition over the years. The fourth placed team from Asia could face a tough time in this group.

The group also will see a re-match of the U16 European Semi-Finals between Croatia and eventual champs France. The French might have the best guard duo in the tournament with Killian Hayes and Theo Maledon, plus they will be adding the dynamic Tom Digbeu to the team. The one thing that could keep them from seriously challenging the Americans would be a lack of quality low post players.

But France may have figured out by then a different way to beat the United States - given that they could avoid playing the Americans until the Final should both teams win their respective groups. The Group D winner could face the Group A winner in the Semi-Finals - meaning there is a possibility of a third USA-Australia title game.

Those North American fans hoping for a USA-Canada Final must hope that one of them does not win their group. Canada would then shift over to the other half of the bracket if they finish second in Group C - possibly having to face the Group A winner in the Quarter-Finals.

Sure, we still don't know four of the 16 teams in the field - with the FIBA U16 Asian Championship right around the corner. But the roadmap to the July 8 Final is laid out. And the teams can all think about which other countries are in their groups - and how long they can avoid the United States.

David Hein

FIBA

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