Why Australia is a world basketball superpower

• Basketball Australia General Manager of the CoE and Performance Pathways, Peter Lonergan, was the special guest on episode four of 'Cut to the Jase'
• Australia won six FIBA Asia Cups within six months this year and a FIBA U19 Women's World Cup silver
• Jason Cadee is a former Boomer and Emus (national under-19s) guard

After the recent success Australian teams have had on the national stage and the players we are producing, to me, there's no doubt we're right on the heels of the best European countries and the USA in terms of development.

We just completed an incredible year on the world stage with six FIBA Asia Cup wins, of course with the Boomers and Opals and then the 3x3 teams but more importantly, our under-16 boys and girls sides. Not to mention the Aussie Gems who went close to beating the USA for gold at the FIBA Under-19 World Cup in July.

Then you look at the rising stars we are producing.

Sitaya Fagan, Roman Siulepa, Jacob Furphy, Luke Fennell and more - all who are going to some of the biggest programs in the college basketball landscape.

Then even the likes of younger WA star Luke Paul, who recently dominated the FIBA U16 Men's Asia Cup to lead the Crocs to gold, showed he is another Aussie superstar of the future.

I think all of that definitely shows we're on the heels of the best national programs in the world. You're seeing it in just the amount of kids we are having put in that top echelon around the world.

We've just always had such a great pathways program where people can develop, it was there when we I was younger, a lot of it was built around the AIS, now the CoE. But I think it also falls back to the states and the governing bodies there and the programs we put in place.

There's probably more, maybe even too many touch points for juniors now in different places with all the people that love basketball are now trying to be involved in it than when I was younger. But I think those programs and how they help kids develop, I truly do think for such a small country in the landscape of the world, basketball scene, we do a very good job of it.

I think that's a big reason why our juniors go to these tournaments basically ready to, not only compete, but also putting themselves in chances to win and we also spoke about the the girls team that went away and finished second - it's just a true representation of the programs we have in place that help kids develop.

I was one that came through and saw a lot of special talents that were 14, 15, 16 and they were the best players in the state but by 17, 18 they were not even in state team squads.

You also wouldn’t be seen in a national team until under-19s in the Emus and Gems team.

There is a big difference in that development now because you have so many touch points in the international game from a young age starting at under-15s, under-16s and under-17s now.

I just think we are starting to show, and those younger touch points, it's almost allowing Australians to show how good our juniors are, where maybe in prior years you weren't seeing them until they were 17, 18, 19.

So it's exciting but it's also a whole new world for these kids to navigate.

As these juniors are going through the processes to reach the next level, I think it's going to involve putting the right people around you to help you navigate some of it, because I just think it's somewhere you could get lost in very quickly.

Luckily we have some pretty good people around that I think can help, especially those who are down at the CoE with great people like Peter Lonergan involved and the others who are involved in all these junior national teams.

It's been a great year for Australian basketball, we already were a world power in basketball, but this has taken it even further and I think it shows to the best nationals around the world one thing.

We are coming!

Jason Cadee is a columnist and contributor for basketball.com.au and host of the Cut to the Jase podcast. He played 15 years and 424 games in the NBL and won a Commonwealth Games and FIBA Asia Cup gold medal with the Boomers.