2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championship

[JGX]

Canada officially announced their team--the one change from the list that was circulated in June is that James Wagner comes in for Emanuel Akot.

http://basketball.ca/en/news-article/slug-00sqwd

[mojo13]

Canadian team is very strong at guard / wings..


"We have Jordan Henry, Javohn Henry-Blair, Lindell Wigginton and Shai Alexander as PG options.

Wigginton is the highest ranked of the three (36th and rising on Rivals; offers from Arizona and Louisville, among others), but might be more of a combo guard.

Alexander (fresh off his tour with the senior team) is likely to see a lot of minutes, but maybe at SG.

Henry was a backup point on our U19 team last year (as one of the youngest guys on the team) and is a true PG. He is only 5'9", and did not impress me that much from last summer. If Wigginton or Alexander can play point, that may be the best route.

I don't know much about Henry-Blair. I think he made training camp for the U16s a couple summers ago, but did not make the team.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker is listed as a guard, but with his size (6'6"), and given the strength at guard and lack of options up front, I can see him playing SF.

Abu Kigab, also 6'6", probably also sees a lot of minutes at SF, or even at PF if they have to play small. (like Henry, he was an underager on the U19 team last year). From what I recall from last summer, he is athletic but does not have a refined offensive game.

Oshae Brissett (6'8") figures to start at PF. Fringe top 100 guy, recently offered by Syracuse.

Where we are lacking is at C. Three guys listed at 6'9" or above were among the 18 at training camp in early June. None of them made the team. Instead, we brought in Shephard and Bediako from the U17 team. These guys barely played for the U17s, but they make the U18s? I thought Shi-ttu might get a chance to play up. Maybe he wasn't available.

Brissett or Joseph Vranik (6'8") may have to play some C.

Solid team, with five ranked guys (Wigginton, Alexander, Alexander-Walker, Brissett, and Kigab). Undersized, but should still be contender (or even favorite) for silver.

Only missing notable guys I can think of are Washington, Marcus Carr, and Christian David (injured)."


Note: Credit to another poster (frumble) on the Real Gm boards as I don't know this team as well.

[JGX]

Nate Darling is a good player too, even though he's not as highly ranked as some of the others. Played well at a high level in the US the last three years. I think Shepherd and Bediako were named to the team back in June so their U17 performance wouldn't have had any bearing on it, frontcourt is definitely the weaker point of the team though.

USVI roster on the tournament website listing just eight players...if that's accurate, the big absence is Jahmiah Simmons, who was on the all-tournament team at last year's Centrobasket and is committed to play at Arkansas State next year where USVI coach Jareem Dowling is an assistant. They still have major-conference recruit Nicolas Claxton on their roster.

[locdogjr]

Hope these games will be on the FIBA youtube channel, FIBA really needs to use that method of promoting basketball as much as possible.

Canada looks good, Mojo broke it down well, exciting for me personally because there are two Maritimers on the team!
Of course America.

Are there any other extremely strong teams or highly ranked players that I should make a point of watching from other countries?

[JGX]

USVI roster on the tournament website listing just eight players...if that's accurate, the big absence is Jahmiah Simmons, who was on the all-tournament team at last year's Centrobasket and is committed to play at Arkansas State next year where USVI coach Jareem Dowling is an assistant. They still have major-conference recruit Nicolas Claxton on their roster.

USVI roster has been updated to include a full twelve players, including Simmons.

Talented Puerto Rico team (Christian Negron, Ethan Thompson) giving the US some early trouble.

[carlo]

USA comfortably ahead +20 at ht, after a couple of spurts in Q2, but sometimes losing intensity. Porter imo is at really high level, Allen a beast inside but can't shoot ft. Puerto Rico made some good plays in attack but has already committed as many as 18 turnovers.

[carlo]

Despite big win, less defensive pressure from US team let Puerto Rico score 44 pts in 2n half.
Good overall effort of US boys, all went on the score board, Porter, Fultz, Bamba and Allen top performers. USA shot over 52% FG but was just 1/8 from 3pt-line.
Negron and Thompson impressive for PUR, Leandro Allende dnp.

[carlo]

Streaming became unwatchable here, but Argentina-Canada game is over, +34 for Canadian team towards the end of Q3. Argentina stayed in the game for one quarter, then was overwhelmed by the quickness and athleticism of Canadian boys. Nickeal Walker on top and a really fine surprise (to me) besides Wigginton and Brissett. Canada has shot (and hit) a lot from 3-pt line.

[JGX]

Chile beat USVI 68-45 in the last game, USVI took 72 shots and maybe six of them were good shots. Sets up probably a decisive game between Puerto Rico and Chile tomorrow night.

[carlo]

Canada wins over Dominican Republic 87-74, in a game dominated in the 1st half, while DR played a better 2nd half closing with a partial of 47-46. Too many errors in attack by Canada (how many missed dunks!). Oshae Brissett top scored for Canada and finished with an impressive double-double. Nickeil Walker and Jahvon Blair were also good contributors, for DR Figueroa best scorer and excellent at FT.

[mojo13]

Canada wins over Dominican Republic 87-74, in a game dominated in the 1st half, while DR played a better 2nd half closing with a partial of 47-46. Too many errors in attack by Canada (how many missed dunks!). Oshae Brissett top scored for Canada and finished with an impressive double-double. Nickeil Walker and Jahvon Blair were also good contributors, for DR Figueroa best scorer and excellent at FT.

Not a pretty game to watch. Sloppy on both sides, lots of TOs, lots of missed dunks and layups by both sides. Shooting by both teams was pretty bad.

Canada needs to play better if it wants the Silver. They seemed much better yesterday vs Argentina so maybe this was just an off game.

[JGX]

Brutal game between Brazil and Argentina, 61 total fouls, Brazil wins and qualifies for the WC despite shooting 2-22 from three and 20-42 from the line. This will be only the second time Argentina has missed a U19/Junior WC, with 1987 the other one.

[carlo]

Canada trailing vs Brazil at ht 31-26. Rough and physical game with Brazil destroying Canada on rebounding. Michael Uchendu (Bra) has 10 pts and 10 reb. Canada still looks the better team in terms of talent but has got very poor contribution from its backcourt, Brissett tops all scorers with 12.

[mojo13]

Canada trailing vs Brazil at ht 31-26. Rough and physical game with Brazil destroying Canada on rebounding. Michael Uchendu (Bra) has 10 pts and 10 reb. Canada still looks the better team in terms of talent but has got very poor contribution from its backcourt, Brissett tops all scorers with 12.

Excellent turnaround by Canada. Brazil couldn't handle Canada's big and athletic guards once they finally found their groove and Canada was able to fix their big disadvantage by the 2nd half.

Story of rebounding if you ask me. After being outrebounded by Brazil by 20+ in the first half (16 Off Bds for BRA in the half!), Canada fixed that issue and held them off the boards in the 2nd. Might have been even in the 2nd which is amazing after how brutally BRA was killing them on the boards in the 1st.

If we play the USA they are going to kill us inside. Per usual.

[carlo]

Canadians reacted with a great 2nd half playing the way they know and closed the game 74-58. With Walker, Wigginton and Alexander (double-double with 12 assists) waking up after the intermission, the game turned to a fine show especially in 3rd quarter. Brazilians were forced to 32 turnovers (with 17 steals by Canada) and bettered Canadian team just on rebounding.