MIES (Switzerland) - It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. That is especially true in basketball.
Another good one for the sport is, "If he's good enough, he's old enough."
At the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in Piraeus, Riga, San Juan and Valencia, those two aphorisms will come into play.
After looking over each roster with a fine-tooth comb, we've found the tallest, shortest, youngest and oldest players at the OQTs.
Youngest players at the OQTs
November 24, 2008 - the date of birth of the youngest player on any roster in the OQT field, Mexico's Adrien Isaac Porras.
A 2.10m (6'11") power forward, Porras is just 16 years old, and he's not the only Mexico national team player at the OQT that's still a young teen. Karim Lopez, a 2.01m (6'7") forward of Spanish side Joventut, turned 17 on Apr 12, 2007.
Finland also have a 17-year-old in Mikko Muurinen, whose father Kimmo Muurinen played for Finland and his mother, Jenni Laaksonen, did as well.
The youngsters on these rosters are good, including Juan Nunez, the 1.91m (6'3") point guard of Spain who won the U16 EuroBasket in 2019 and U20 EuroBasket in 2022 before being named MVP of the competition. He was also just selected in the second round of the NBA Draft. Nunez only turned 20 on June 4.
Oldest players at the OQTs
With age comes wisdom and these veterans have it all.
Two-time Olympian Marcelinho Huertas, Brazil's living legend of a point guard coming off a Basketball Champions League MVP season with Lenovo Tenerife, retains the honor of oldest player in the field. The third most senior player is Spain's Rudy Fernandez, one of the most decorated players in international hoops history, a five-time Olympian and two-time FIBA Basketball World Cup winner.
Others that have made their marks in national team basketball are Mexico''s point guard Paul Stoll, Dominican Republic's Victor Liz, the Philippines' Japeth Aguilar and Côte d'Ivoire's Solo Diabate.
Tallest players at the OQTs
There are plenty of skyscrapers at the OQTs with some teams having more than one.
The tallest are Omar Oraby of Egypt and Kai Sotto of the Philippines, a 22-year-old who is already very good and is still just scratching the surface of his potential. Danko Brankovic and Ivica Zubac are towering pivots of Croatia. In addition to Oraby, Egypt have Anas Mahmoud, whose athleticism makes him play even taller. One HUGE reason why the Bahamas have a chance to win the OQT in Valencia is their double-double machine DeAndre Ayton, one of four players on the list at 2.13m (7'0").
Shortest players at the OQTs
Some of the most dynamic players in the OQTs will be the floor generals.
The shortest of them all, Childe Dundao, led Angola in scoring at the World Cup and is a constant spark on defense.
Meanwhile Yago Santos has improved so much that he's capable of putting Brazil on his back and carrying them to wins, like he did by hitting six 3-pointers against Cote d'Ivoire at the World Cup and dishing out 10 assists in an upset of Canada.
It's hard to imagine Mexico having climbed in the FIBA World Ranking to No. 25 without Paul Stoll pulling the strings with his passing and long-range shooting.
Puerto Rico's Tremont Waters led the Boricuas with an eye-popping 20.3 points and 9.2 assists per game at the World Cup and was even third in rebounds at 4.0 per contest.
FIBA