India's U18 Asia Cup 2024 Campaign: Five Takeaways
India's U18 Asia Cup 2024 Campaign: Five Takeaways
The Indian boys basketball team finished 8th in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup, matching its performance from 2016. Here are five takeaways from the side’s performance.
The Indian boys basketball team finished 8th in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2024, matching its performance from 2016.
Here are five takeaways from the side’s performance:
#5 India’s improvement from game to game
The main positive for India was its ability to bounce back from a historic 72-point loss against Korea in the opening game, and still reach the quarterfinals. It not only shows the resilience of the U18 cagers, but also Head Coach Scott Flemming’s clarity in identifying weaknesses and correcting them before the next game.
#4 No Deep Bench
Across the five games India played, four players averaged 20+ minutes per game (mpg), with captain Lavish clocking in 33.9 mpg. Lavish’s time on court was the fourth highest across all players in the tournament. Compare this with eventual champions Australia - whose most relied-on player - Jacob Furphy was on the floor for 23.8 mpg - which is only 25th on the overall list.
No doubt, India’s over-reliance on its starting guards, and its shorter 7-8 player rotation - was a result of constantly having to play catch-up against superior teams. But this also led to the side appearing visibly fatigued towards the later stages of the competition.
For a country of 1.4 billion people, it is remarkable that we are unable to find 12 high-quality players - each an ‘All-Star’ in his/her own right.
#3 India’s ‘non-intimidating’ defense
India’s defense has always been solid without being spectacular. Against fast-cutting teams like Korea and Japan, we struggle to stay between the man and the basket, while in the interior - our defensive rebounding has been inconsistent (12th among 16 teams).
#2 Lacking China’s size, and Japan/Korea’s Quickness
One of the unique problems of Indian basketball is that we neither have the size of a country like China, nor the speed, quickness, and outside shooting of Japan or Korea. This puts us at a disadvantage against every elite Asia/Oceania team - for we are simply unable to counter their strengths.
#1 High turnovers
Turnovers are by far the biggest problem for Indian basketball - across all age groups and both genders. At the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2024 - India averaged 23.4 turnovers per game, which was the third worst overall, and worst among the 12 knockout teams. Read more about how India’s turnover woes can be tackled.
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