Five takeaways from the Group Phase of U16 Asian Championship 2022

DOHA (Qatar) - We are now preparing to move on to the next stage of the FIBA U16 Asian Championship 2016 after 3 days of exciting action from the brightest of youngsters in Asia and Oceania.

Now that we’ve all had the chance to see these teams a bit more in detail, let’s go through so observations from these games.

Here are five takeaways from the Group Phase of the U16 Asian Championship!

1. Crocs still on top

Australia have been by far the best team in the competition. The Crocs went undefeated through the previous edition of the competition and this generation of talents is carrying on the dominating tradition proudly.

Australia are averaging the most points (95.7 per game) with the best efficiency (51.5 percent field goal shooting) as well as being the best three-point shooting team (32.2 percent). Their average margin of victory at 57.4 points per game is unrivaled.

It will be tough for any of the teams ahead to find an answer for Rocco Zikarsky, star of the tournament so far. Even if they do, the rest of the squad should be more than ready to step up in production.

If Australia extends their all-time record in the U16 Asian Championship to 11-0 by the end of this competition, don’t be surprised.

2. Year of the big men

The “Big Men” in basketball are not extinct just yet, at least here in Qatar. While the position is not played as traditionally as in the past, the big men at the U16 Asian Championship have been shining brightly against the competition.

The aforementioned Zikarsky has been averaging 14.7 points and 13.0 rebounds while shooting 68.6 percent from the floor for the Crocs. The 2.17M (7’1”) center has also been playing only 18.0 minutes per game.

Fellow seven-footer, Julius Halaifonua from New Zealand, has also been one of the best players in the competition. The 16-year-old has recorded a double-double in each of his games and is averaging 19.0 points and 13.5 rebounds while converting 81.0 percent of his shots.

Even for a team without any seven-foot talents like Japan, it’s their bigger players that are shouldering the bulk of the offensive load for the team in power forwards Leon Watanabe and Yuto Kawashima.

3. Yuto Kawashima is Japan’s star in the making

Let’s do a quick test here about these two players’ performances playing in the U16 Asian Championship.

Player A: 22.8 points, 12.6 rebounds, 1.3 steals per game on 52.8 percent shooting
Player B: 20.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals per game on 51.7 percent shooting

One of these players is Rui Hachimura. If you have a hard time deciding which player is Hachimura, that just emphasizes how impressive Yuto Kawashima has been in the early stages of this competition. The two are even of similar height with Rui listed at 2.05M (6’9”) and Kawashima listed at 2.00M (6’7”).

(By the way, Hachimura is Player A and Kawashima is Player B)

Obviously, these are two different players and directly comparing Kawashima to the NBA rising star might be unfair, but it seems safe to say that Kawashima is on the right path to be a very good player for Japan down the road. At the very least, we haven’t seen a player on Japan’s U16 squad in the past that has posted these kind of numbers since Hachimura. So, that’s a good start.

4. Is Amini on track to be the best scorer in U16 Asian Championship history?

Through the Group Phase of the competition, Iran’s Mohamad Amini is leading all scorers with 27.0 points per contest. If he can maintain his scoring throughout the rest of the entire competition, Amini can go down as the best scorer in the history of the competition.

The current top 5 all-time scorers in the U16 Asian Championship are:

Player	National Team	Year	Points per game
Mahipal Singh	India	2013	25.0
Abdullah Abdullah	Iraq	2015	24.3
Salim Alaaeddine	Lebanon	2015	23.3
Matin Aghajanpour	Iran	2018	23.2
Loh Shee Weng	Malaysia	2009	22.9

 

And it’s not too farfetched to see Amini keeping this performance up. In his two games, Amini has score 25 and 29 points, both in efficient fashion, shooting 50 percent and getting to the free-throw line for an average of 13.0 attempts per game.

5. History in the making?

Now that we’re done with the Group Phase, we’re seeing a clearer picture that there might be some history in the making. Obviously, there’s still a lot of basketball to be played, but knowing what’s at stake for some of these teams will certainly add some spice in watching them play.

History is already made for Australia and they are just adding onto the pages of their chapter as their undefeated run through the U16 Asian Championship continues to roll. Currently at a record of 8-0 all-time in the competition, the Crocs certainly want to make it 11-0 by the time they leave Qatar.

Other teams that are one more win away from making history are India and Iran.

Should India be able to beat Indonesia in the Qualification to Quarter-Finals, it will be the first ever Quarter-Finals for the South Asian country. The Indian youngsters have been upbeat and impressive through the Group Phase and should be impressive to follow in the upcoming days.

Iran have experienced some success in the competition, finishing third in the 2009 and inaugural edition. However, they have never qualified for the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup. If they can win in their next game against either New Zealand or Kuwait, they will secure a spot to play in Malaga for this year’s competition.

FIBA