5 Group Phase takeaways from #FIBAU18Asia

BENGALURU (FIBA U18 Women's Asian Championship 2018) – The group phase has concluded with the final day of preliminary round action seeing some stunning upsets, revelations and even a few validations. 

Here are five key takeaways from group phase of the FIBA U18 Women's Asian Championship:

1) Australia's Achilles heel: Before Australia's stunning loss to Korea today, the side was averaging around 101 ppg. Against Korea though, the Gems were restricted to a paltry 62. And why was that? The answer lies in Korea exposing a serious flaw in Australia's offensive arsenal- its outside shooting. 3/24 (12.5%) from downtown is not a statistic that a team of Australia's caliber will be proud of. Korea's zone defense and relentless boxing out worked like a charm. Other title contenders like China and Japan would have sat up and taken notice of this basic yet supremely effective defensive strategy. 

2) Korea's Big Three: Forward Jihyun Park (in pic), Leeseul Shin and guard Sohee Lee, all average in the double digits when it comes to scoring. Today, against Australia, the trio was on the floor for the entire 40 minutes, and scored 49 of Korea's 63 total points.  In other words, Korea's success in the crucial knockout stages may be inextricably tied to the continued production of its 'Big Three'. 

3) China a better outside shooting team than Australia? These are two teams that prefer banging down low. So there really isn't much separating the two title contenders when it comes to rebounding or points in the paint. That leaves one crucial aspect- outside shooting, in which China (25.3%), has fared slightly better than Australia (18%). This isn't a large variation, but as we get into the knockout rounds, a few makes or misses can be the difference between holding the champion's trophy and finishing outside the medals bracket. 

4) Status Quo for Indonesia and Malaysia:  Well, there's nothing wrong with some wishful thinking is there? For far too long, we have been seeing East Asian teams (China, Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei) reach the decisive stages of almost every women's continental event. This time the two remaining Asian sides in Division A were Indonesia and Malaysia, but they failed to punch above their weight. Other FIBA Asia sub-zones still have a lot of catching up to do.

5) India earns Division B 'Favorites' Tag: India had been rattled by injuries to its two top performers from the U16 Asian Championship last year. Prior to the start of this Championship, when we saw key starting center Pushpa Kumar too sitting out the first game with ankle issues, doubts started to form. Iran giving a real scare to the hosts in the opener didn't help matters. But with India going on to hammer Guam and Singapore, coupled with rivals Hong Kong and Kazakhstan dropping games, the hosts have staked claim to the 'favorites' tag.

 FIBA