MIES (Switzerland) - Andrew Bogut is one of Australia's greatest basketball players in history. The three-time Olympian played in two FIBA Basketball World Cups; he became the fifth Aussie to win an NBA title in 2015 among his 14 seasons in the league; and in May 2025 he will be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame. But in 2003, Bogut stamped his legacy on the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup with two of the greatest games in the competition's history.
Australia went to Thessaloniki for the World Championship for Junior Men - as the tournament was then called - hoping to reach the podium for the second time in Greece after finishing second in Athens in 1995. And Bogut was a big reason why the Emus had high hopes.
He averaged 26.7 points and 19.7 rebounds in three first group stage games, including games of 25 points and 24 rebounds versus Argentina and 33 points and 25 rebounds against Korea. The latter broke the record for the most boards in a single U19 World Cup game. in the first game of the Quarter-Finals Round, Bogut was held in check by the Lithuanian trio of Linas Kleiza, Paulius Jankunas and Darius Silinskis with 16 points on 6 of 19 shots and 8 rebounds, both his tournament lows in a 96-87 loss for Australia.
Bogut had 18 points and 12 rebounds against Puerto Rico and finished the second group stage with 22 points and 18 rebounds in a big 106-85 victory over USA, who could have afforded a 7-point loss and still advance to the Semi-Finals instead of Australia. But it was the Oceania powers who reached the top four.
Waiting in the Semi-Finals were Croatia, winners of the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2002. This was a special matchup for Bogut, who was born in Melbourne in 1984 to parents who migrated from Croatia in the 1970s. His father is from Osijek and his mother from Karlovac. Bogut was raised Croatian in Australia with Croatian music, food, items on the wall, art and language at home. His grandparents even spoke exclusively Croatian with him and his sister when they babysat.
Croatia was also the homeland of Bogut's basketball idol growing up, Toni Kukoc, who won three NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls alongside another of his favorite players, Luc Longley - the first Australian to play in the NBA.
Croatia's frontline consisted of Drago Pasalic, Damir Markota and Marko Banic with Marko Tomas on the wings to help in the post a bit as well. But they were no match for an ultra-motivated Bogut. After an even first quarter, Australia took over in the second stanza and led 49-35 at the break. And the score was 75-53 after three quarters en route to a 97-84 victory for the Emus.
Andrew Bogut already had 21 points and 17 rebounds in the first half and ended up with 39 points on 14 of 22 shots and 11 of 13 free throws to go with 25 rebounds. Bogut broke the U19 World Cup record for most points in a Semi-Final - a mark still standing in 2025 neared only by RJ Barrett's 38 points against USA in 2017. It was also the second time in the tournament that Bogut grabbed 25 rebounds - still a single game record in U19 World Cup history. And his efficiency of 54 in the game ranks second-best in U19 World Cup history behind only his 55 efficiency against Korea a week earlier.
Bogut and co. were ready to make history a night later against Lithuania - with whom they had a score to settle after the quarter-final group stage loss.
The Australian star was in beast mode from the beginning with 10 points in the first quarter as Australia led 35-25 after 10 minutes. The Emus did not take the foot off the gas in the second period with a 36-25 second quarter and the lead was 71-50 at the break, and Bogut already had 21 points and 10 rebounds - both more than he totalled in the first game against the Lithuanians.
The second half didn't look that much better for Lithuania and Australia ran away with a record-setting 126-92 victory. The Emus blew away the record for the most points in a final - the previous best being 94 by Spain in 1999 and a mark still standing in 2025 - and it was the biggest winning margin of 34 points in history as well - besting the previous mark of 18 points (91-73 for Greece versus Australia in 1995) and another record still on the books.
Bogut finished with a Final record 35 points - topping the 33 points by Greece's Efthimios Rentzias in 1995 - on 11 of 17 shots and 12 of 17 free throws to go with 14 rebounds and a 41 efficiency. Steven Markovic for his part scored 30 points in the blowout win.
Australia had worked their way to the top of the world for their first global title and Bogut ended up being the easy Most Valuable Player choice, averaging 26.3 points, 17.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 blocks for an efficiency of 36.1.
Bogut years later would say the title run in Greece was crucial for his future success and one of his favorite memories.
"It set the path for the journey that I went on, put my name out there in the world, and it's one of the most successful junior runs of an Australian team probably ever," Bogut told the Australian outlet The West Australian. "It will always have a special place in my heart, just knowing where we came from, with a lot of bumps and bruises we had along the way."
He continued: "It was just a joy to be in that environment. It was a group that predominantly came through the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) together — most of the guys on that team had been together for 18 months. We went through good and bad, and fights, and going at each other at training. So it was just an awesome moment to the last team standing and earn a championship for little old Australia."
Bogut later that year would attend the University of Utah in the United States and one year later would play for the Boomers at the 2004 Olympics back in Greece - playing in Athens as a 19-year-old. In 2005, Bogut would be selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft and make his debut in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks - playing alongside his idol Toni Kukoc.
After all the highs and lows in his career, Bogut looked back on the tournament in Thessaloniki and told The West Australian: “It was probably the last time the purest basketball, for me, was played. Once you get to professional ranks, there’s a whole lot of other things that come into play like money, stats and all that kind of stuff."
Bogut's performance will be remembered forever as possibly the greatest two nights in FIBA U19 World Cup history.
FIBA