FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2023: Who to watch - inc Boozer, Quiñones, Lopez, Kemm
FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2023 tips off on June 5 and here is a breakdown of the tournament and some of players to watch, including Cameron Boozer, Felipe Quiñones, Karim Lopez and Junior Kemm.
FIBA Americas hoops fans and observers will turn their eyes to Yucatan, Mexico starting on Monday June 5 with the start of the FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2023. The four teams who reach the Semi-Finals will also book their tickets to the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024, which will be played in Turkey next summer.
The United States have never lost a game at the U16 Americas competition, going a perfect 37-0 with seven titles going back to the inaugural edition in 2009.
The only two teams to have ever reached the Final and face the USA were Argentina (2009, 2011, 2013, 2021) and Canada (2015, 2017, 2019). The only times another country besides those three broke through to the podium were Puerto Rico taking third place in 2017 and Dominican Republic accomplishing the same feat two years later - both times banishing Argentina to fourth place. And Venezuela remains the only other nation to reach the Semi-Finals - finishing fourth in 2009.
Brazil finished fifth in all five of their previous appearances and will be hungry to finally make their U17 World Cup debut, getting it done the same summer that the country returns to the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup for the first time in 10 years. Mexico are hosting the tournament and have never produced a finish better than 6th. And Uruguay made the U16 Americas event for the third time after taking 6th place in 2013 as hosts and 8th in 2019.
Format for the competition is two groups of four teams and each plays the other three teams in the group. All four reach the Quarter-Finals with group crossover - so Group A winner plays fourth place from Group B, A2 vs B3, A3 vs B2 and B1 vs A4.
The four winners of the Quarter-Finals not only reach the Semi-Finals but also book tickets to the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024.
Let’s briefly meet the teams and find out who are some of the top players to watch.
Argentina
The leader of the team will be Ivan Pratto - Argentina’s 6-10 center who actually played at the last U16 Americas in Mexico in 2021 as a 14-year-old and collected 13 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists in 36 minutes over 4 games. Pratto, who plays in Italy for Argentina legend Luis Scola’s Varese club, also picked up 4 points and 5 rebounds at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022.
Argentina’s main players will be a quintet playing abroad. The biggest name is actually Scola’s son - Tomas Scola, who is also with Varese and is still a bit further from a top prospect.
Two other teammates playing together in Europe are Filipe Minzer and Marco Pacifico Cantarelli at Casademont Zaragoza in Spain. Minzer played a solid role in Zaragoza reaching the first place game of the Adidas Next Generation Tournament in Zagreb this season and also played at the Spanish U18 junior championship in May and finished with 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals against Valencia. The lefty guard Minzer dominated at the Spanish U16 cadet championship with 18.8 points, 13.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Pacifico appeared in one game in the fourth division EBA and picked up 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in the Spanish U16 championship.
The other name to watch is Tyler Kropp from Olentangy Liberty HS in Ohio, who is a 6-8 athletic forward who can shoot from deep and also attack the basket.
Brazil
Brazil might have the best player in the tournament not from USA or Canada with Junior Kemm. The guard playing for Stella Azzurra in Italy has great athleticism and a great motor and plays with a lot of creativity of offense. Defensively he is a game changer with quickness.
Patrick Otey is a good sized forward who can shoot from the outside and get to the basket a bit while fellow US-based Isaiah Santos is a guard who likes to get to the basket with decent range.
Yet another US-based Francesco Borio (Vicentini) really crashed the offensive glass at the FIBA U15 South American Championship 2021 along with Fabricio Freitas. There is also a Spain-based trio of Pedro Rodrigues, Pedro Lucas and Mathias Alessanco. And Matheus Monteiro is a point guard who can score and handles the ball well.
Canada
Canada will have extra motivation after failing to reach the Final in 2021 and finishing third - the same result as the FIBA U18 Americas Championship 2022. Paul Osaruyi, Jordan Charles, Godson Okokoh and Kamai Samuels should be leading figures on the team while Phoenyx Wyse impressed during preparations and Elijah Patterson was one of the MVPs at the Biosteel Future’s Game. Caleb Roberts is another name who could shine.
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic have only missed out on the Semi-Finals once in their four previous appearances and will be hungry to get back to the U17 World Cup again.
Manuel Castro was one of the leaders of the team at the FIBA U15 CentroBasket Championship 2022 while Richard Fernandez showed he can score - 22.6 points per game - and Jhon Estrella and Eliel Ulloa give the team good depth of strong talent. Ulloa is also one of a trio from Santiago along with Welbinson Gomez and Wenson Torres. Diego Brito from Montverde Academy is new to the team and could be a major factor with his pace and decision making.
Mexico
Another of the top names outside the USA and Canada will be Karim Lopez, who will face high pressure and expectations at the same time as Mexico host the event and hope to reach the U17 World Cup for the first time. Lopez shined at the Adidas Next Generation Tournament Finals in May in Kaunas, averaging 14.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.3 blocks despite being two years younger than the competition. Lopez collected nearly a double-double of 15.2 points and 9.8 rebounds at the FIBA U15 CentroBasket Championship 2022.
Lopez will have some helps as Angel Escarcega plays in USA for Foothills Christian and Edgar Grande is another name to watch.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico have missed out on the last two U17 World Cups and have a stacked team that will be disappointed if it doesn’t reach the Semi-Finals. The 2008-born Felipe Quiñones is one of the most anticipated players in the tournament after he played with Real Madrid at the Spanish U14 Mini-Copa and won the MVP award. The guard, who ended up playing at IMG Academy, can do it all - drive, shoot, play tough defense. After dominating at the FIBA U15 CentroBasket Championship 2022 (18.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.4 steals) Quiñones now hopes to lead Puerto Rico back to the world stage as one of the country’s biggest prospects.
And he will have plenty of help. While Quiñones turned 15 in January, James Rivera will not celebrate his 15th birthday until December 25. Yet the 6-10 forward has a sweet shot and will most likely really help the Puerto Ricans in many ways. Richard Rosa is a great one-on-one player on offense but also can make an impact on defense while Mason Santiago is a walking double-double who works hard in the paint and on the boards. Vincent Stewart is another player to watch as the 6-9 forward can shoot from the outside as well as play around the basket.
Uruguay
Uruguay did not play at the U16 Americas in 2021 but are back and would love to make it to the U17 World Cup for the first time. But it will not be easy. They do have a solid prospect in Valentin Curbelo from Stella Azzurra in Italy.
Uruguay also have a pair of players plying their trade in Spain with Conrado Heilmann from Valencia and Ismael Suarez of Fuenlabrada. Heilmann averaged 8.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in the Spanish U16 cadet championship. Suarez meanwhile was born in Spain and is representing his father’s homeland. Suarez played with Real Madrid in the Infant B, Infant A and Cadet B ranks before moving to Fuenlabrada in 2021, and he will be making his Uruguayan national team debut in the tournament.
USA
The USA team will be tough to beat for sure - mainly due to their sheer physical and athleticism dominance. But there is some serious talent on this squad. The main man will be Cameron Boozer - one of the twin sons of former NBA star Carlos Boozer - while Cayden Boozer is not far behind at all. Koa Peat showed at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 that he can dominate against older competition and now he faces his own age group.
AJ Dybantsa is just a walking thrill machine waiting to wow you at both ends of the floor. Darryn Peterson is a polished perimeter player who will excel thanks to his good size and great feel for the game. JJ Mandaquit is a Hawaii native who also has Filipino roots and recently played for Fil-Nation Select at the 2023 Smart-National Basketball Training Center finals.
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