I assume he got a promise to be drafted

Aussies had a tough opener in a tough pool.

NZ and mali turned their pool upside down with surprise wins

Next game vs mali gonna be very important for NZ

Aus should book a win vs Cameroon

The fact NZ defeating Argentina wasn't a major upset is testament to this golden generation of NZ basketballers on this team. FIBA's power rankings confirms this - NZ was ranked 9th and Argentina 10th.

While the NZ U18's lost to Australia by 60 last year, only 4 NZers who played in the final are on the U19 squad - and only two are in the rotation. Comparably, 9 of the Aussies who played in the final are on this U19 squad (with Siulepa, Kuany and Dickenson being added since).

Of the 7 who played 10+ minutes, two are from last year's U18 (Isaac, Hopoi), they've been bolstered by 4 U17's who came 4th at the World Champs (Ball, Jones, Crate, Goodman who took All Star 5 honours) and Halaifonua (DNP'd the U18 Asia Cup final). Of note is that Jackson Ball led the team in scoring with crucial free throws in the fourth - Ball barely played the U18's and at 17, qualifies for the next U19 WC in 2027.

Very intrigued to see how well NZ do. They should beat Mali which should confirm a top-2 finish, and would mean NZ avoids Australia and USA until the semifinals. Pool A is paired up with Pool C (who look far weaker in talent than Pool D).

Pretty sure pool A is paired against pool B. But i might have misunderstood...


https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-u19-basketball-world-cup-2025/competition-system

Statement on the Israel vs. Jordan game that was scheduled for June 29

LAUSANNE (Switzerland) - FIBA was informed by the Jordan Basketball Federation of its decision not to participate in the game Israel-Jordan of the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025 scheduled for today, Sunday June 29, 2025. The game will not take place and will be forfeited in favour of Israel.

Ah, I can clarify my earlier statement. Pool A will pair with Pool B for the round of 16. For the quarters though, it'll be the top teams in Pool A playing off against the top teams in Pool C (if they make it that far of course).

NZ lock in first place in Pool A with a statement win over Mali. While the Mali U19 team could outrun all of the NZ team, Mali couldn't finish a basket in the mid-range/key and gave up a number of unforced turnovers. With first place locked in, its possible the NZ team look to use their bench for the Serbia game (particularly the guard line, with Jones/Isaac playing big minutes in both games).

Australia/France will be a curious matchup for the round of 16. Whoever wins will be in the opposite half to the US but have a quarterfinal against Slovenia/Canada. Whoever loses will be in the same half as the US but have a NZ quarterfinal matchup. I'm assuming both Aus/France will win their round of 16 against a very weak Pool C.

Whoops, meant Germany/Canada in my earlier post.

Hey pyro, it's still not necessarily pool c that NZ will play.

If they win their round of 26 game they play the winner of game 30 which is 2nd in pool C versus 3rd in pool D

Count our lucky stars Cameroon dunked on our hoop, up 6 with 4 seconds left.

All time brain fart gift away from being 0-2

Won in Double OT!! Would have expected an easier game against Cameroon.

That own goal dunk from Cameroon was unbelievable. Don't recall seeing anything like it. Especially late in the game. It's not like they just switched ends.

I watched the highlights package, it looked like a cracking game. Daniel's certainly looking the goods. Like the amount hard work done by number 14, his box out, screening and D looked great.

Relying on an own-goal and clutch shooting to beat the #34 ranked side doesn't bode well.

Billy Bob it was 40 seconds left

Fat fingers!

What head coaching experience does the head coach actually have?

The team is all over the place, basic things not being done. Looks like the team has never played together before.

Didnt advance the ball after a time out with 17 seconds left and nearly resulted in a turnover. Crazy.

When did NZ become stronger in NT junior boys program than Australia? Anyone want to take responsiblity for it?

Was Indy Cotton missing through injury?

Inability to shoot the ball. Let's take a runner or a floater. A jump shot almost non-existant.

Roman bricks are making a comeback in Switzerland.

If they can make top 8 would be an absolute win.

For all the hype Dash Daniels was getting pre-WC, 17 year old Jackson Ball is currently leading NZ in scoring in a double-digit lead over Serbia in the third.

Jackson Ball is an elite talent and if he's smart with his career path could become one of NZ's all time greats

Bracket is set for the U19 WC.

NZ plays China today (at a mildly friendly time of 9:45pm NZT) and the winner would face the winner of Switzerland/France. NZ/Serbia was a foul-fest (59 total fouls called) where both of Goodman/Halaifouna fouling out midway through the fourth led to the Serbia comeback.

Meanwhile Australia plays Dominican Republic (at an unfriendly time of 3:30am AEST) and the winner to face Serbia/Germany.

What was Dominican Republic ranking before the tournament do you know Pyro?

A very weak pool so should be an easy one i would think

It's looking likely nz gave aust in the quarterfinals

Furphy is looking like our best player by far. Daniels has been very underwhelming for the hype.

Roman man childing as best he can. Open court great, half court not being able to create , go left etc he's not getting away with what he’s used to.

The replacement for Rocco has been very good also

What's interesting is all four teams in Pool C were ranked 13-16 in the pre-tournament Power Rankings.

Based on the pre-tournament power rankings - the Round of 16 looks like this:

New Zealand (9) vs China (11)
Switzerland (15) vs France (5)

Mali (12) vs Canada (6)
Jordan (16) vs USA (1)

Argentina (10) vs Slovenia (7)
Israel (13) vs Cameroon (8)

Serbia (3) vs Germany (2)
Dominican Republic (14) vs Australia (4)

So on those power rankings, Australia went from the Group of Death to the Bracket Quarter of Death.

Didn't the home country do well in terms of who they drew in their pool! Purely random, of course. LOL

If the losers all go straight into the 9-16 classification rounds, then it's amazing to think that either the 2 or 3 seed will be playing in that classification.

3rd ranked Serbia only won a single game and that was versus NZ when they had nothing to play for!

So their 3rd ranking was a bit generous? I only watched the game v NZ, so what went wrong for them in the other games that they lost?

Good bigs, very strong inside but terrible shooting

So the final 8 matchups are (with rankings as per PyroCross above)

USA (1) v Canada (6)
Germany (2) v Australia (4)
NZ (9) v Switzerland (15)
Slovenia (7) v Israel (13)

I expect USA to beat Canada (& anybody else)

Hard to know whether Australia can win - they only beat Dominican Republic by 10 in a game that seemed to have little defense played, based on the combined points of 202. They will NEED tough defense against Germany.

NZ v Switzerland could be interesting. Switzerland have been a surprise and have the home crowd, while NZ have been good for stretches in the games I've seen but suffered from 2nd-half yips to let the opposition take over the game.

Slovenia SHOULD have the talent over Israel who have also been a real surprise, but ... I could see an upset if Slovenia loses focus.

I think the Germans have Steinbeck playing for them, absolute beast at either end. Might have name spelled wrong. Got a massive offer to go to college in the US, played the top league in Germany all season.

I was disappointed by NZ's second half, where an insistence on shooting bigs over driving to the basket (and finding free throw opportunities) led to two Chinese runs; the second almost cost NZ the game in the fourth. Halaifouna was disappointing - I'm concerned about his hands to receive passes in the low post and in drives into the key. Plumtree has needed to play more minutes this tournament and proved why vs China - energy and constant drives to the basket.

I didn't expect Switzerland to defeat France. Will be interesting to see the home-town effect. Fortunate that every game bar one has been at a somewhat friendly time for NZ audiences - will be a 6am start but its certainly better than a start at 1am/3am as has been the case for the other matches.

Sadly, while I like NZ's team and their play, I can’t see them beating Switzerland.

10.30 tonight Australia v Germany, I believe.

Poor start, 28-14 at 1/4

Sweet baby Jesus, this commentary is horrible.

"Australia and New Zealand recently played the Tasmanian throwdown."

"Jacob Furphy's brother Johnny recently won an NBA title with Indiana."

We getting whooped early

Germany look good first Q. We don't look
At there level. Are these boys overhyped?

Not looking good...
Yes, overrated. Probably just 3-4 guys go on to nbl.(after college)


Semis?
slovenia vs germany
usa vs nz

Down by 19 at the half. Australia only look good when they pass the ball around, to much iso. German point guard is a beauty.

The 7? American name?

0 jack Kayil, eight assists at the half. Yes the commentator has been average.

Germany much better organised.

Emus - dont know how Brogan got selected, let alone starting. The team always looks unorganised and out of control whenever he is on the court, and he cant create, play off 2 feet, or hit a mid range jump shot.

Dickeson is a slight better PG version of Brogan, but more in control. Should be starting.

Roman is essentially a 2 guard. The only player who can create his own shot. However is playing as a 4 and it means the team is woefully undersized when he is on, especially without a dominate centre.

Whitbourn is the best centre and should be starting and playing most minutes, only played 6 mins first half.


Furphy is the obvious 2 guard, but is being blanketed and no one can create anything for him, or able to use him to create for slipping bigs. Probably needs to run some point and put Roman into a 2 guard.

Daniels has been embarrassed by Anderson. Doesnt get a of the ball in the offense as they guards are dribbling around. In this team is really a bench guy.

Fennell is a bit of wild card, good stuff, dumb stuff, but needs more minutes, played less than 5. Need his offence.


Dickeson, Furphy, Roman, Whitbourn - missing a decent 4 spot. The other bigs are very ordinary, cant hold position, cant make free throws. Team is fundamentally flawed.
Subs rotation, Daniels, Fennell.

The not blocking out the free throw shooter - coaches decision - cost them 2 points already, surprise, surprise.

The lack of ball pressure on close outs is disappointing.

3/8 from the free throw line, is just typical of this team. What are they being taught?

Nice comeback emus...

Down just 7pts

Game on, 7 points in it at 3/4. Fennel lighting it up

forunately Daniels and Brogan got 4th fouls in the 3rd quarter, and the above happened.

Whitbourn hit the court and was fantastic as centre. Adair backed him up in the 4 spot, no more small ball.

Daniels off 1st play, let Roman play the 3.

When Brogan had sill fouls and got his 4th, Dickenson got into the back. Instant change, offence run for Furphy for an open 3 to get him into the game. Then Roman injures his shoulder and Fennel gets into the game and starts to take over. He is much better defender than Daniels as well.

Back to 7, last quarter.

2 missed layups...

roman back into the 4 spot, get smashed on the glass instantly.

'Ballhog brogan'

Dickeson is +8, and Brogan is -19.
This coach has no feel for the game at all.

Great example of a game effect of poor player rotations and roles upon a game.

Takes off the players who got them back into the game with 4 mins to go and it turns to complete rubbish again.

I dont know why they need 3 tall skinny shot blockers, who cant do anything else.

Roman is terrible for the team in the 4 spot, not for a lack of him trying.

5th is probably a pass, 8th and he doesn't come back.

I do agree Hooping, I don't know the players well but even the last game I thought Whitbourn looked the key in the five spot. Nice fight back but never really looked a chance. Big Steinbeck from Germany must be exhausted after coming of around 50 game season in bbl and champions league, all at that age of 19.

Furphy and Roman taking 41 of the 76 shots.

Free throws 8 from 17 at 47%.

NZ looked very sloppy for most of the game vs switz. Threes not dropping at all but managed to tighten their D in the second half and take it comfortably in the end.

Hayden Jones and halaifonua with excellent games at both ends led the way

Unfortunately they come up against usa again the the semis

Tough draw for topping their pool

Definitely a game of two halves for NZ. Was a game decided by second-chance points today - Switzerland struggled to rebound. Despite NZ's poor 3p% (I believe it was 1/13 at one stage) and FT%, we were up double figures on the basis of Halaifonua finishing second-chance looks and Hayden Jones doing the things that set his old man apart.

Shout out to Lachlan Crate as well with his Swiss army knife game and length finding baseline driving opportunities that proved critical when Switzerland were looking for a run. NZ certainly don't have the problems that Aus have with being undersized - 6 of the top 8 in the rotation are 6'7' or taller, including Hayden Jones playing PG at 6'7' in some lineups.

Can't complain about playing USA in the semi's - both teams topped their pools and two pools have to play one another at this stage. What's slightly helpful is that half of the NZ team have already played half the US team in the U17 WC last year - so there will be familiarity. NZ lost by 80 last year, here's hoping for a margin less than half of that win tomorrow morning.

I'm very happy with that result, PC.

Now for the 3rd-4th playoff - how do you think they’ll go against Slovenia?

The Junior Tall Blacks having multiple players and staff involved in the NZ NBL really helped.

Another tournament another Aussie men's team early exit monstered by a Euro team. We are so focussed on the US pathway and athleticism and metrics that we overfocus on these things vs the skills and executing them under pressure. FFS could we get some euro nouse into our programme somewhere given inevitably we come up against a euro power and style in the tournament elimination games. We need to stop measuring success by how many people we have at the end of rosters in the US and win some medals.

I agree BNG, Aussie point guard thought he was an nba player, doesn't see to many players on the court.

Fully agree, BnG - been saying that on here for years!

Obviously our KPIs don't match those of the execs in BA

Well said BnG.

I don't think there are any KPIs being set over at BA.

Get a grip people. Without RZ we were so undersized. We got spanked on the boards by 20. Hence why we struggled against the taller Cameroon earlier in the tournament.

You could slot Henshall and Zikarsky into the team and then maybe they dont lose to Germany. The trend I find more concerning is that we just dont seem to have a lot of inside players coming through. Zikarsky moves the needle at under 19 level but I dont see him developing to be much better than Luke Schensher. We need a Bogut.

Henshall is 21yo, so he's not eligible for the tournament.

Interesting point above by BNG. Why is the focus still so much on atheleticism in the age of Jokic and Doncic? Why does Australia consistenly produce poor shooters? Why are we slipping further behind in the rankings, mainly being overtaken vby Euro countries. Something is wrong in our coachinng focus, I would agree.

Emus bigs are useless on the perimeter. If they could hit some shots, they could've actually beaten Germany.

I assume Brogan was last player selected?

He looked outclassed at both ends, and should have been benched in the first quarter to teach him that ball-watching and sloppy 'd' just don’t cut it at that level.

Israeli's need some new shorts - spending half the game adjusting em

NZ were down by 30 points before they realised their threes weren't dropping and they needed to work off some cuts to the hoop

US incredibly talented though and shooting was through the roof

Will be an interesting scoreline versus Germany in the final

Hopefully the kiwis can recover and put in a good performance for 3/4 playoff

Agree with Kolzee - the first quarter in particular was a shocker as a NZ supporter, where we both insisted on 3-pointers and then turned the ball over in the front court (enabling US to fast break to add 2 points to the lead). NZ did okay when going north-south off misses (though the US did go 50% from 3, compared to NZ being 16%).

Looking at the various results, I would say Canada/Australia more accurately represents the 3rd/4th best teams in the tournament, and NZ/Slovenia the 5th/6th. Would've been fascinating if Australia did lose to France and beat Switzerland in the R16 - would've set-up an Australia/NZ matchup in the quarters that would've been very intriguing, particularly based on the analyses above. Could Australia have stopped NZ's tall, deep roster?

That being said, NZ have a chance at third. Then again, I would've said that at the U17 (facing a team for the second time who we beat in pool play? Lost by 20 in the 3rd place playoff). Slovenia had similar results to NZ vs Argentina and China.

I think if NZ adjust quickly enough if their threes aren't falling they've got a good chance of scoring enough to win. But they can't keep chucking them up.

Then on D they've got to keep their bigs out of foul trouble. Very similar to their last pool game they need to wall up otherwise they'll be whistled off the court and opposition bigs will cause carnage

This is where I do wonder if starting Lachlan Crate over Jackson Ball may provide multiple options on the scoring front (particularly in short corner drives or north-south attacks at the rim). Ball's definitely a LaMelo-type who wants to initiate his own shot wherever possible. He's had open looks - but he's cold.

Agree on the foul trouble front. While meaningless in the overall group result, needless fouls on both Hopoi and Halaifonua were costly in the fourth of the Serbia game.

Was a little disappointing to wake up to a fourth place result, however looking at the stats, losing Oscar Goodman in the fourth minute would've played a significant part (particularly given Halaifonua was in foul trouble and another sub-25% performance from 3).

NZ have done well and finishing ahead of Australia is a good achievement.

Zikarsky withdrawing was a big loss as most of the teams have a least or 2 genuine bigs and they can play.

Australia need to look at their program further.

I noticed Damian Cotter was one of the Assistants and he just seem to sit back very relaxed and casual.He has certainly put on weight since being in the NBA.

Australia had its chances against Canada but the same issues keep coming up in Australian basketball right now - we dont have enough size inside, and we are average shooters at best. Luke Fennel was the only guy who looked like an above average shot. We do have some talented guys but long term the Boomers need consistent big men and shooters. Period.