Germany Under 17 should win the tournament based on how they performed at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament (3rd; Beat USA, Lost to the Emus by 20 points in a respectable showing considering their youth).

What I can't believe is that they finished 11th at the 2009 FIBA Under 16 European Basketball Championships. Perhaps they were missing their top players or something?

Whilst I do think Germany will be very tough, I don't think they can win it despite the hometown advantage.

Spain for mine should be favoured, along with Russia and even Poland. Spain has had a good lead in with some good wins over tough opposition including Argentina, and the Russians recorded a very convincing win over USA.

However at this age group, anything can happen.

FIBA U17 World Championships Preview: http://linky.com.au/gb4rt

The Aussies take on Poland in their first game at 11:45pm AEST (12:15am in Adelaide) tonight, and you can follow the live stats online through the official tournament website here: http://linky.com.au/14n9h

Go Aussies!

The Aussies had a tough intro to international basketball. After leading 22-16 with 8 mins to g oin the second quarter Poland went on a 22-3 run to blow the game out. The Aussies came back strong in the third quarter to trail by just 7 at the last break, but couldnt maintain the intensity and Poland blew them away with a 16-6 last quarter to win by 71-54.

Only NSW centre Andrija Dumovic got anything going offensively (the team shot 30% and 4/22 from 3), scoring 20 points including 2/4 from deep. He only had 4 rebounds though as we were smashed 49-33 on the boards.

The team only shot 4/22 from 3, and couldnt score inside over Karnowski, the big 6'11 Polish centre.

The Aussies play Canada tonight, who narrowly lost to hosts Germany, so this is a must win game for our hopes of going to the final eight.

Yeah - tough initiation on the world stage. Fingers crossed for their next game.

Dan Carlin Shot 1/9 not great shooting display from him

Australians finding the going tough. Lost to Canada 68-76. Norton led the way with 15 points.

Scores were tied with around 4 minutes to go but Canada overpowered the Aussies down the stretch. Huge rebounding differences between the 2 teams.

Aussies realistically now need to win their remaining games to make it through to the top 8 round, starting with Korea tonight.

The Aussies has finally recorded their first win of the WC's in overcoming Korea 84-70.

Andrija Dumovic led the way with 25 and 10, Daniel Hill had 14 (4/6 3PT), Mitchell Norton 14 points and Owen Odigie 10 points.

The Australians next play host Germany on Friday 7 July at 3:00am (AEST).

BA Recap: http://linky.com.au/mm0it

The Aussies are on the rise and have now won two straight games following a close 4 point win over tournament hosts Germany (62-58).

Norton once again led the Aussies with 13 points, Hill had 11 points, whilst Carlin and Odigie both had 10 points each in the low scoring affair.

The Aussies led by 6 after the first quarter, but it was an 18-9 second quarter that put them ahead for good. Germany won both the last 2 quarters but could not claw their way back into the lead as the Aussies desperately hung on for the win.

Australia next face Spain to round off the preliminaries. A win will see Australia qualify for the quarter finals in 3rd position in their group.

That's great news, hopefully they can overcome Spain - a top eight finish would be good achievement. Out of interest, amazingly Poland beat Germany (off the top of my head) 99-33!!

Australia had Germany down for most of the game. They had a 22 point lead in the third quarter. Hill played a great game. He did not handle the Germans´ half court press well, but all of his points came in the second half when Australia really struggled. Carlin was impressive but battled foul trouble the whole game. Molloy did not play him much in the fourth quarter but he had an impact on Defence when he was on the court and a nice put back Dunk.

In the crowd was John Calapari, Jim Callhoun, Bruce Pearl and other big name college coaches. Also Mount Gambier Pioneer/ Gold Coast Roller Andre Lafleur was there.

@Paul with 3 minutes to go in the third Australia had Germany down 46 to 24. So it looked as if it was going to be a repeat of the Poland game for Germany.

Andrew LaFleur is on the UConn coaching staff as well.

Poland are the only undefeated team remaining in Australia's group, whilst USA and Lithuania are undefeated in the other group.

And yes, Poland absolutely smashed Germany!

Lithuania lost already to the USA by 36. They will probably finish second in their group though.

The Aussies have come from behind to steal a thrilling 2 point win over Spain on the buzzer! Owen Odigie was the hero, sinking a mid range jumper on the buzzer to send his team into the quarter finals!

Norton had 13 points, Hill, Chircu and Dumovic all had 11 each, whilst Dumovic also had 11 rebounds.

We finish 4th as a result of tying with Canada and Germany. This means we face USA in the quarter finals who to date remain undefeated in the tournament.

We have a very good record against the USA in junior quarter finals, having thrashed them in 1997 and 2003, but this would be a famous victory against a US team that has been dominating.

Australia will take on the United States at 12:45am Saturday July 10 AEST.

The Quarter Final will be shown live on www.fibatv.com.

Well Done Boys.
What a shame we didn't finish head of Germany after beating them.
Good Luck against the USA

Don't forget the game is tonight in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Let's hope the Aussies can negate the USA's athleticism and come away with a famous victory!

Young Croc, Mitch Norton is now leading the team in scoring and STILL leading the World Champs in fouls :)

Go you little Townsvillean!!!

The Aussies lost to the USA in their quarter final early this morning, going down 70-105.

The USA were far too athletic and deep for the Aussies, and it didn't help that they also fired from long range, led by outstanding shooting guard Bradley Beal, who led all scorers with 25 points - including 7-of-9 shooting from three point range.

Dyson was Australia's top-scorer, nailing 16 points on 6/11 shooting including 3/6 from downtown. Carlin, Gilmore and Chircu had 9 points each in the loss.

Australia will now face China, with the winner of this game earning the right to play off for 5th spot.

Congratulations to Australia's referee representative Philip Haines on being selected to referee a Quarter-Final and progress into a Semi-Final match.

Best of luck for a great game and good luck for final selections!

And Australia just defeated China 68-66 to now play off for 5th. SA/Central Districts lad Daniel Carlin top scoring for Australia with a handy day out with 16 points and 5 rebounds.

Finish on a high boys and get that last Win!

After beating China, the Aussies lost to Serbia in the playoff for 5th spot, going down 64-74.

Best for the Aussies was Carlin, nailing 27 points. Norton was the only other Aussie to hit double figues with 10 points.

Great effort!

Canada won the Bronze medal after beating Lithuania 83-81, whilst the USA powered over Poland to win the gold 111-80.