Australia unleashes its biggest teen weapon – elite size

• ‍2003 World Champion U19 Emus 22 years later‍
• How Australian Emus under-19 men's players performed at the FIBA World Cup in Switzerland‍
• Every player at the 2026 U18 National C'ships

Centre of Excellence 17-year-old centre Ahmet Yahya Basaran stands 214cm, and he is the clearest answer to what Australian U18 Emus coach Luke Brennan meant when he said he had deliberately leaned into positional size.

Brennan has named his 12 for the FIBA U18 Asia Cup in Ahmedabad, India. Australia opens against Thailand on Thursday, August 13, 2026.

The squad averages 197.8cm. Five of the 12 stand 200cm or taller.

Brennan ran a four-day camp before cutting the group, and he has been plain about what he was cutting for.

"One of the things that I asked of the group in camp was that they play the right way and compete in everything that they do," Brennan said.

"My biggest take away after the four days in camp was we've got a super competitive bunch and the guys just went after it.

"It made selection really difficult because there were so many talented athletes who all played the right way.

"My primary objective was to hold the players accountable to the things that we're expecting as a team and we deliberately leaned into athleticism and positional size and that's the modern game of basketball.

"We wanted to imprint the non-negotiables on the defensive side. If we execute at a high standard, we will get stops which will allow us to get out and run and attack."

Size and athleticism first, defence as the entry fee.

Basaran was the standout at this year's Australian Under-18 Championships he averaged 13.3 points for Victoria Metro on 57.7 per cent shooting, and he did not attempt a single three-pointer across seven games.

Ten of the 12 played an Australian national championship this year, and between the two tournaments they are not hard to place.

Six were at the Under-18s.

Will Hamilton, 17, was the highest scorer of that group and the sixth-highest of the entire tournament, averaging 17.78 points across nine games for Victoria Country at 45.7 per cent from the field and 81.1 per cent from the line.

Antonio Henry Browne, 16, was eighth at 16.57 a game for NSW Metro, and he shot 88.5 per cent from the charity stripe, the best mark of the six.

John Aryang, 17, went at 12.78 a game for WA Metro across nine games at 53.9 per cent.

Riak Akhuar, 16, and Josh Timothy McCann, 17, both averaged 8.29 for Victoria Metro, Akhuar the more efficient at 51.9 per cent, McCann the higher-volume shooter with 31 three-point attempts.

Four more came out of the National Under-20 Championships in Ballarat.

Bailey Hanson, 18, was the best scorer on the best team there, and he left as MVP, averaging 19.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists for New South Wales.

Harry Cook, 18, is a 208cm forward from Brisbane, a Brisbane Capitals junior who has since moved to the Centre of Excellence, debuted for Australia at the Oceania Championships in December and played the Basketball Without Borders camp in Los Angeles at NBA All-Star Weekend. He came off the bench for Queensland in Ballarat and still produced 24 points and 18 rebounds in a close loss to Tasmania.

Marley Sam, 17, was one of the smallest players of that week and one of the most difficult to contain, an unstoppable offensive force for a highly successful Western Australian side. At 178cm he is the shortest man in this squad by 13cm.

Jai Fa'ale, 17, was also among the Ballarat standouts. He is a Victorian guard at the Centre of Excellence averaging 19.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists in NBL1 while helping the CoE to a 13-3 record. He turns 18 on August 15, two days into the tournament.

Isaac Riddle, 18, is a 203cm Victorian forward who was at the FIBA U17 Oceania Cup, starring in the opening win against Fiji in Samoa. Curtis Evic, 18, stands 205cm.

Six of the 12 are Victorians. Four are at the Centre of Excellence.

"Having exposure to the Boomers program I can start to incorporate some of the values and the things that Adam Caporn values up at the Boomers level to make the transition seamless if the players get the opportunity," Brennan said.

"I think when you think of Australians in general, we're tough, we're hardworking. We really celebrate mateship and doing things as a collective rather than individually.

"So when you look at that on a basketball court, we want teams and players that are unselfish, that do things together, whether it's offensively just sharing the ball, making the right play, defensively selling out for each other, competing and playing hard.

"The task at hand is to get these guys in the right spots and then it's their job to use their natural talent to go and gain an advantage and make the right plays."

Australia is drawn with Thailand, the Philippines and Chinese Taipei.

Every game streams live and free on FIBA's YouTube channel.