Tough I wanted the Philippines to be grouped with Australia and China.

My concern is who can we actually bring to these games? NBL season will be in action.

@470

http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/how-to-qualify

http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/competition-system

@481

The Asia Cup is more of a pre-requisite for the World Cup qualifiers. The do or die match between Guam and Taiwan a few days ago was important because if Guam won, they would have been able to be part of the WC qualifiers. If you noticed, only the 16 teams that qualified for the Asia Cup have a chance to qualify for the World Cup. 

Regional cups are also important for the rankings.

http://www.fiba.basketball/documents/rankingmen/howitworks

Victories in the Asia Cup are worth more than victories in a WC qualifier.  

Group A and Be seem far stronger than C and D.

6 teams plus Japan and Phillipines will get through. This also acts as intial qualifying for the next Asia cup so there's a lot going on

This draw makes no sense. Why is Australia versing teams from their Asian zone.

We seem to always avoid the Middle Eastern teams. Is it just me or is this draw rigged?

I know Fiba Asia is run by the Middle East countries.

Asia is always split into east and west zones due to travel distance.

Oh, I got my draws mixed up lol. I had a closer look and it is the World Cup qualifies not the Asia Cup draw. The Asia Cup draw will be announced soon.

Sucks Fiba postponed the men's tournament to July 2022 when the woman are playing in a safe bubble in Jordan. It’s the woman’s 3rd Asia Cup. Crazy the men have only played one Asia Cup in 2017.

So top 8 qualify?

Tier 0: automatic qualification

Philippines
Japan

Tier 1

Australia
New Zealand

Then 4 more:

Iran
Korea
China?
Lebanon?
Jordan?

Being in one of the toughest groups makes it more interesting. I think our players need that test in Asia. This should be like try-outs for fringe Boomers, especially young players. Get to know the system. Hopefully we have the same coach for these games and the major tournaments. It makes the transition easier to the A-team for these fringe players, to understand the system and establish a role.

Any NBLers that expect to make the next World Cup or Olympics need to commit and impress. In the previous qualifiers it was Creek, Kay, Goulding and Sobey who made it to a major tournament. All were impressive in the qualifiers. The other major standout for me was McCarron, a bit unlucky to miss out.

As for matchups, Japan vs China. Interesting. Japan and Australia have a chance to make it tougher again for China to qualify, although there is a generous number of spots in Asia so you really need to suck to not qualify.

It's only disappointing Australia didn't get matched up with Philippines. Maybe we will face them in the next round.

I'm not sure how fringe boomers in the NBL would go about impressing in the qualifiers when there is a good chance they won’t be able to play. Some games are during the season, which is an issue in normal times. With quarantine requirements, participation of NBL players seems a stretch...

@rjd

If we follow the same format for the 2019 WC qualifiers, we won't be able to face teams in Group B. 

In the second round, Group A will be mixed with Group C while Group B will be mixed with Group D. 

@489

Kazakhstan is actually regressing and their best players are not getting any younger. Jordan and Lebanon, to me, are the contenders for the last spot.

Jordan has a lot of great players, especially Al-Dwairi, also known as Ahmet Düveriolu, one of the main bigs in Fenerbache! Coach Obradovich even started the guy in the finals in 2016/2017.

Lebanon and Jordan also looked great in their ACQ games. Both teams were undefeated in their groups, Jordan also swept Kazakhstan in their group. 

I worry NBL players wont be able to play as well, which may put us in the unenviable position of being the best basketball country in the region by 1000 miles yet not qualifying. We wont be able to trot out COE kids against China and Japan and expect to win easy. As far as the NBL is concerned though, I hope they see that one of their primary goals is to develop Australian basketball and therefore they make the concessions necessary. If they start thinking 'too much' like the NBA we might be in trouble. I love the NBL but if it needs to be postppned to guarantee a world cup berth (and therefore possible Olympic qualification on that world cup standing) then the NBL needs to allow it.

I think it would be an insult to the competition to assume we could beat China and Japan with NBL DPs and NBL1 players. China and Japan aren't world powers but they're not glorified social teams either.

If we don't have NBL players that changes the dynamic substantially.

Surely we will have NBL players competing

Above;

"I think it would be an insult to the competition to assume we could beat China and Japan with NBL DPs and NBL1 players. China and Japan aren't world powers but they're not glorified social teams either."
Neither are our NBL DP's and the best of the NBL1 players.

Anyway, if we are worried, why not just take the best Aussie in each team or one Aussie starter from each team. Every club suffers equally and the Boomer's pride is maintained. There's your main rotation and it hardly matters who fills the roster out. Kick it to me.

I think a dedicated Team A Taiwan with a naturalized player can potentially upset a rebuilding China, Team B Japan, or even become favorites/competitive against a D/C team from Australia. You can call me crazy, but they did beat Guam. Although Guam was not in their best form, I considered them a team B of Guam, but they did still have Tai Wesley and Galloway. 

I was one of the many people who counted them out against Guam, but their performances changed my view. 

Also, it is important to acknowledge that the Taiwan lineup we saw against Guam was not their most capable lineup. 

Taiwan has a problem with their pro league situation right now. Imagine if there were 3 other NBLs in Australia. That is the situation Taiwan is having right now, which is hindering their ability to field the best lineup. 

The one we recently saw was probably like a B team from Taiwan as well, and like Guam, they did not have all of their key players. 

Yes, they did get outclassed by Japan and China in the ACQ, but their roster at that time was not as good as the roster they fielded against Guam. In the ACQ, it was more like their C team, which was why I also counted them out against Guam because I thought they were sending the same roster for their final games.

Agreed, I thought Guam were going to send out their main roster but thanks to travel restrictions some players couldn't make the game like Ross who plays for West Adelaide in NBL1 Central.

Taiwan needs to address their basketball league. Just have your division 1 Men’s NBL league. I know Taiwan wouldn’t have the size but their strongest team they could put out would be decent. They need to get replacement player for Quincy Davis. Decent American who plays in Taiwan.

@Giocontigers

It is nice for you to remember Quincy, hehe.

Taiwan will always be remembered for their legendary upset against China in 2013 in the quarterfinals. That China team was the Gold favorites at that time, especially with a younger Yi, European Coach and etc. I never could have imagined them pulling it off and BTW, the game was not a close match but a huge victory for Taiwan (18 Pts).

I'd like to see an all-NBL squad, and if we have that then I am extremely confident we win our group. If not.. well... it's hard to say. I think these games are too important to mess around with.

If they fielded that pool of talent they wouldn't have an issue against a strong lineup of any of the Asian sides.

I'm sure the NBL will have a break. NBL fixtures are always silly because they have rounds which I disagree on. Rounds are stupid for basketball.

I know past NBL seasons they had bye rounds so then all NBL players could represent their countries. New Zealand counts too guys.

I just hope that all teams will bring out their best lineups in November. If they are not able to, they should at least do their best to form the most competitive team that they can offer.

We don't want to see teams lose because of their ability to put out a roster. We all deserve the right to see a team win because of their quality, rather than because of a weaker/depleted opponent.

Guam vs Taiwan is a prime example of this, where both teams have many constraints and are robbing them and all of us of seeing a clear winner. 

I don't mind upsets. In fact, I love upsets, especially when both teams are at their strongest. For example, plenty of my countrymen celebrated the near upset of Serbia in the OQT, but personally, as much as I was happy with the performance, it is very easy to say that oh Jokic was not there or oh Bjelica did not play, etc. 

Compare that to the Czechs beating Canada and Greece. Now that is something that all basketball fans can truly appreciate and enjoy.

Including Australia (3); the average FIBA rank is 53.

Removing Australia, it would be, 56.

Removing Australia, Iran (22), New Zealand (25), China (28), Korea (29),

the 11 remaining teams have an average FIBA rank of 67.

Should be some quality hoops action.

Standard in Asia is low. Only good teams are the powerhouse countries like China, Japan, Iran, Phillipines. Then adding the two Oceania teams does make Fiba Asia a better standard.

When I looked through the past Asia Cup results, China has dominated since they joined. Phillipines were good early days but they did have a few allow the way. Feel bad for Guam they won't be allowed to participate in the World Cup qualifiers.

Qatar use tI be good but they stuffed up in their group. If Qatar was in the other group with Bahrain and India. Qatar would of qualified?

Hiccups*

think you mis-read my sarcasm.

Besides Australia, and once upon a time briefly, New Zealand - none of these countries matter on the world stage, evidenced by their current FIBA rank, and their long history of being irrelevant in the money end of international play.

You can't call Japan (35) or Philippines (31) "powerhouses" lol.

You don't see the Olympics adding 24 lanes in the 100 metre finals, specifically reserved for Asians, Caucasians, all the nations that are genetically pre-disposed to suck at sprint events...

I get FIBA's trying to out-do soccer at being a "world game" but it really isn't.

I'm sure true hoops fans would prefer to see more access for nations within the Americas, more spots for the nations that can actually hoop like the Euros, and fostering more growth in African countries - where soccer is King, and the teams actually have the potential to stop sucking eventually.

What even is the point of aiming to "promote' non suckyness from the lower tier Asian countries? We all know Qatar, Indonesia, Bahrain won't ever improve from where they are. The mid-tier ones like Japan and Philippines are enthusiastic - but you can't win games based on that.

Further, in soccer, due to the nature of the game, you can, very occassionally see legitimate upsets/Cinderella stories in tournament play.

Additionally, one sided soccer matches, aren't as gruesome to watch as 110-35 basketball games.

I agree, asian needs to do heaps of work. I just wish the NBA could become international league and not just be an American League with their boring culture. London would be a great place for a NBA franchise after covid. Basketball needs to open up but there's too much work and money to make it possible.

At least in football it doesn’t cost much for players to play. All you need is one ball with players. Be great if Australia could have a NBA team but the travel is way too far. If Australia was close like Canada then you could easily see Australia have a team. Aussie’s would be stronger then Canada.

@Giacontigers

Early knockoff and already on the beers?

There are some of us that don't actually particularly like the style of play that the NBA offers and also, don't want to become even further Americanised.

re: "none of these countries matter on the world stage, evidenced by their current FIBA rank, and their long history of being irrelevant in the money end of international play", referring to countries other than Aust and NZ.

Doesn't that pretty well describe Aust and NZ 30 years ago?

@Travis 2nd Best

I don't blame you for thinking this way. In fact, it is perfectly sensible. Australia is way better and if you guys are thinking of gold medals, we Asians are just thinking of being a respectable team on the world stage or potentially upsetting teams.

I don't know why you reacted that way, but it is okay. People are free to have their own opinions and I think there is nothing wrong with supporting your respective teams.

Personally I would enjoy watching the WC Asian Qualifiers games and yes I am exposed to the Euroleague, NBA and etc but as a Asian I genuinely enjoy watching FIBA asia games.

For example, Japan's women's team is very good, and recently they are the silver medalists in the Olympics.

I am not saying that one day Asia will be in the Men's Final or etc, but I never thought that there would be a Rui Hachimura either. I am just saying that teams can improve. Hopefully they will all improve enough to be a respectable world team.

I don't have any huge expectations for any Asian team, and BTW, there are all kinds of hoops fans. I think differently but that doesn't make me any less of a hoop fan than you or anybody else. 

In response to Travis, I am not sure what you're proposing, that FIBA ignores Asian basketball because it is inferior?

You have to look at the Olympics and World Cup and ask what is the purpose of these games? Is it just to assert who the best basketball nations are and put them in order, or is it also to share and grow the game across the planet?

Exposing lesser teams to higher competition always improves the standard of basketball in the lesser nations. Always. World basketball has exploded since the Dream Team gave us all a pantsing some 30 years ago. That is an opportunity the Asian teams deserve as much as we did, even if they're "genetically predisposed to suck"

If the 2 or 3 better Asian teams making it means the 7th or 8th best European side doesn't, and if it means that there are a few easy beats in the world cup, then so be it. We cannot claim to be a world game and exclude portions of the world that we think aren't where we'd like them to be.

As for their ability to improve, do they really need to improve to justify their representation in a fair and balanced world tournament? I'll admit, I am surprised China is not yet any good after all the money they've invested and the hundreds of millions who play the game. But their take on basketball has every right to compete for a shot at being represented.