From champions to MVPs, the FIBA U16 Asian Championship class of 2011 was stacked

NHA TRANG (Vietnam) - We recently discussed the talent and potential of the FIBA U16 Asian Championship class of 2015. While those promising prospects are currently shining brightly in their own regards, it's time to acknowledge the star-studded class of 2011 as well.

From NBA draftees to club champions to league MVPs to senior national team regulars, the group of players from the 2011 edition of the competition have possibly exceeded the lofty expectations previously set for them.

Zh-ampions

China had no trouble going through the competition undefeated in Nha Trang. This was quite easily done with Zhou Qi as the star of the team. It was impressive enough that Zhou was second in points scored on average at 17.6 points per game in the competition and that’s even before considering his unbelievable performance in the championship game against Korea.

In the title game, Zhou dropped a triple-double of 43 points, 19 points, and 12 blocks while shooting 16-26 from the floor and 11-13 from the free-throw line. Korea, as a team, scored 52 points in the entire game.

Zhou went on to accomplish much, much more over the years both in club and national team competitions.

In 2015, he was named the CBA Rookie of the Year and then made his Asia Cup debut. He had plenty of impactful games in the tournament and was named to the All-Star Five of Asia Cup 2015 after hoisting the championship trophy.

In 2016, he was drafted by the Houston Rockets with the 43^rd pick and later won the FIBA Asia Champions Cup with China Kashgar.

After becoming a CBA champion and being named the CBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2017, Zhou finally went on to make his NBA debut.

Now at the age of 24, Zhou is one of China’s biggest stars. He still has room for improvement, which is a scary thought considering how good he already is right now.

Feeding the ball to Zhou in Nha Trang was Zhao Jiwei. While Zhao might not have exploded into being a big-time star like Zhou, he’s done pretty well for himself.

Zhao was the second leading scorer on the team with 10.1 points per game and nearly led the team in assists in each game.

Though he didn’t go on to be as decorated as Zhou with individual awards, Zhao also managed to help his club win a CBA title in 2018. He’s also gone on to be a key part of the senior national team. Zhao was also on the Asia Cup 2015 title team and has also been on both the Olympics 2016 and World Cup 2016 teams as well.

All Heo the next generation

Korea didn’t stand much of a chance in the Final with Zhou Qi playing the way he was playing for China. Whatever chance Korea had in that game, Heo Hoon was doing his all to seize it for his team.

Heo was limited to only 2 points in their previous encounter in the second round, but he turned it around for a team-leading 16 points in the championship game. It was far from enough as mentioned, but Heo surely put in as much as he had to end up with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 4 blocks.

 

There has always been plenty of expectation and pressure piled on Heo Hoon, as the second son of legendary Korean player and coach Hur Jae. So far, he’s doing pretty well in making his old man proud.

Hoon has already established himself as a key part of the senior men’s national team, playing through most of the World Cup Qualifiers and the World Cup itself. Fans are still craving for more from the point guard at the national team level and his performance with his club in Korea are quite convincing. In the most recent season, Heo Hoon was named the regular season MVP after leading the league in assists with 7.2 per game. He was also second in scoring among Korean-born players with 14.9 points per game. His season highlight was when he set the KBL’s all-time single game assists record with 24 dimes to go with 21 points - also the first ever 20-20 game in league history.

Baby Baba-Boom

Yudai Baba is one of the most currently talked about names in Asia basketball after playing in the NBA G-League last year and getting signed to play in Australia’s NBL this season.

However, Baba has always been quite the performer, going all the way back to this U16 Asian Championship in 2011. The high-flying forward was the second leading scorer on the team and his average of 14.3 points per game ranked him in the top 10 among all players.

In the third-place game against the Philippines, Baba might not have led the team in scoring but he made up for it by dominating the boards. To go with his 17 points scored, Baba grabbed 13 rebounds while also swatting away 8 blocks.

 

The Toyama native has continued to get better and better, moving his way up into the senior national team and solidifying himself as a star. His numbers have gradually gone up from playing in Asia Cup 2017 to the World Cup Qualifiers to World Cup 2019. Fans are expecting him to keep on improving, whenever the next chance to watch him play for the Akatsuki Five will be.

Baba has also excelled at the club level and will be playing for Melbourne United in Australia next season. Even before that, Baba stood out with Alvark Tokyo in Japan’s B-League by racking up championships (2) and individual awards (Rookie of the Year, Finals MVP) before starting his journey overseas.

If you already weren’t keeping your eyes on Baba ever since back in 2011 (which you totally should have been doing), you might as well start doing that now.

Go Go, Isaac

The Philippines were loaded and balanced in scoring at the U16 Asian Championship in 2011 with five players averaging more than 9 points per game. There was not much room in the rotation for Isaac Go, who scored the least amount of points on the team at the tournament on the way to a 4^th-placed finish.

However, of all the players from that batch, it was Go who was first to make his debut on the senior men’s national team at the first window of the Asia Cup Qualifiers. Though he was unable to score against Indonesia, he brought in 7 boards on the way to a win.

Go is also looking forward to a lengthy career in the Philippines Basketball Association (PBA) after being selected with the first overall pick in the special “Gilas Draft”.

Winning with Vincent

Indonesia have only played in the U16 Asian Championship only twice and their highest finish ever - 7^th-place - was at this particular competition in 2011.

“Timnas” were able to score key victories over Qatar and Saudi Arabia (twice!!!) on their way to a history final standing. A large part of why they were able to do so was because they had their big man down low, Vincent Kosahsih.

The 2.03M (6’8”) center scored a personal tournament-high of 20 points against Saudi Arabia and then put in 12 points against Qatar, both resulting in close wins. He’d finish with an average of 10.8 points per contest, second highest on the team.

Currently, he is expected to be the main man in the paint for Indonesia heading into the future. Kosasih displayed that potential in his first major FIBA competition during the first window of the Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers, averaging 4.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He had a solid outing of 4 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks against the Philippines and fans are hoping that is something he will be able to gain confidence from.

One in a Billion

Satnam’s situation was pretty unique. There aren’t many players that get the chance to play in two U16 Asian Championships. There are probably even less that also have the opportunity to have played on the senior national team in between that span.

Yet here we were at the U16 Asian Championship 2011, about to witness Satnam Singh play in for a second time in the competition, just a month after he made his senior national team debut at Asia Cup 2011.

Though India’s youth national team struggled and finished at 10^th-place that year, Satnam went on a scoring rampage.

After scoring 34 points combined in his first four games, Satnam exploded for 41 points against Korea. The next game, he dropped 32 points against Iraq. Satnam scored more than half of India’s entire point total in three of the last 4 games games to average 30.8 points per contest. He ended up as the tournament’s leading scorer with 19.6 points per game.

From there, Satnam has gone on to be the first Indian player ever to be drafted in the NBA. He’s also played professionally in Canada and the G-League as well.

Additionally, Satnam has continued to be a part of the senior national team. He’s played in three Asia Cups and was one of the better players for India at the World Cup Qualifiers. In 6 games, Satnam averaged 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per contest.

Surge of Saad

The results of U16 Asian Championship 2011 was probably not the way Qatar had hoped it would turn out. Nonetheless, the competition did give fans their first glimpse of Qatar’s future star, Abdulrahman Saad.

The guard had only turned 15 a couple of months prior to the tournament, but that didn’t stop him from putting up solid scoring numbers to average 16.0 points per game. This included 23 points against Vietnam which was crucial to getting them a 59-58 win to close out the tournament.

Saad has maintained his level of stardom as he progressed, whether it was at the U18 Asian Championship in 2014 (27.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game) or with the senior national team at the Asia Cup. Through the World Cup Qualifiers, he was one of the more productive players for Qatar with 16.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.

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