Six key takeaways from U20 Championships Day 2

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• Box Scores: Day 1 at the Australian Championships‍
• How to watch Ballarat 2026 U20 Championships live

We're only two days into the Under 20 Australian Junior Championships in Ballarat but already we've seen some standout performances, unreal highlights, nail-biting clashes, upsets and several teams separate themselves from the competition early.

As the tournament starts to heat up, let's take a look at some key takeaways from the second day of action at Selkirk Stadium.

• Box Scores: Day 1 at the Australian Championships
• Box Scores: Day 2 at the Australian Championships

NSW title defence up and running... JUST

The defending women's champions in New South Wales experienced a rare loss to open the tournament against the home team Victoria, getting their title defence off to a rocky start.

It looked as though that rocky start may continue against a tough South Australian side as Tom Garlepp's side trailed their opponents for most of the game until some late game heroics to steal a 56-55 win to earn their first win.

It was the usual suspects leading the way for NSW with Jessie-May Hall (15 points) and Ruby Perkins (14 points) steering their team to a comeback victory. But still, after their first loss against Victoria, unless other results go their way, it seems the Blues are destined for a semi-finals match-up with last year's grand final opponents in Queensland.

Jump shot Jai adding to his game

We all know Victorian guard Jai Fa'ale is a superstar on the rise but the talented young guard is continuing to improve his game.

Already boasting an elite ability to attack the rim, both in transition and off pick and roll play, an area of improvement for the youngster that has been identified is his jumpshot.

Even though he only went 2-from-8 from the three-point line in Victoria's win over Queensland, the two he did hit were off the dribble after shedding his primary defender. In his 27-point performance, Fa'ale looked a class above and if he can continue to improve from the perimeter, the sky is the ceiling.

Legends everywhere

One of the best things about attending national championship tournaments is seeing all the basketball legends around the venue.

From Cal Bruton coaching the ACT women, to Anthony and Sarah Petrie watching daughter Emma represent Queensland (as much as wearing the maroon must burn Petrie who is a Tenterfield product), Scott McGregor also watching his son play for Queensland, Adelaide 36ers championship player Jason Williams as an assistant coach for the South Australia men, Tom Garlepp coaching the NSW women, Luke Kendell in attendance - the list goes on and on.

But it's not just basketball legends, former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie is in town watching his son play for SA.

Victoria women running red-hot

Trying to get back to championship contention after losing in the semi-finals last year, the Victorian women are the clear standouts to tip-off the tournament.

Victoria started the tournament with arguably an upset over the defending champions in New South Wales before a dominant outing against ACT, winning 111-47 to remain undefeated after two games.

Not only that, but Victoria are deep with six players scoring in double figures in their 64-point victory.

It seems the trend this tournament with the Victorian men also looking like the gold medal favourites.

One of the favourites escape with a victory

South Australia came into the championships as one of the favourites to take out the gold medal in the men's competition but they hit a major challenge on Wednesday when they faced Victoria Navy - allegedly the state's 'second' team - even though Navy took out the title last year.

SA struggled to fend-off Navy, and trailed by two points at the major break before a 25-14 third quarter gave them the boost they needed to stay undefeated.

However, Navy still fought back, winning the fourth quarter to put an almighty scare into SA, who fought tooth and nail to record a 90-85 win.

Isaac Riddle had 19 points off the bench for SA.

WA a legitimate challenger

Western Australia seems like a state on the rise when it comes to competing at the business end of national championship tournaments.

After WA Metro went all the way to the semi-final in the 2025 under-18 championships, the state looks like a genuine contender in the men's under-20s tournament in Ballarat having only just fallen to Victoria on opening day before destroying Tasmania on day two.

Considering how Victoria easily dispatched Queensland, it appears WA are a genuine challenger, especially heading into the crossovers later in the week.