Glory For Canada, U19 Wins Gold at FIBA

Canadian Basketball garnering hype

U19 Canadian Men's Basketball Team

By Josh De Jesus

This past weekend, the FIBA U19 Basketball World Championship concluded with a dominating 79-60 victory by Canada over Italy. The Canadian basketball team has R.J Barrett to thank for his consistent execution in their games. The 17-year-old guard scored 18 points and had 12 rebounds in their finals appearance against Italy. R.J Barrett also scored an outstanding 38 points against Canada’s rival, the USA basketball team, handing the USA’s first defeat in the tournament since 2012. R.J Barrett averaged 21.6 points per game which is the highest average in the tournament. Barrett, who is only 17 and played with players two years his elder, is now considered the best player in his age. His name being all over the FIBA tournament, Barrett is sure to attract attention to him when colleges approach him with offers to join their basketball programs. With his performance, Barrett secured the tournament MVP. R.J Barrett is looking at a bright future.

The same could also be said for the state of Canadian basketball. This is the first time that Canada has won a FIBA tournament in any division. First place has been in the sights for the Canadian men’s basketball team. Their closest finish to first prior to the 2017 FIBA U19 tournament was in 2010 when Canada’s U17 team placed third. Canada has produced talent that made it to the NBA such as Andrew Wiggins (who was on the 2010 U17 team) and Tristan Thompson (who won the 2016 NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers). With Canada winning the FIBA U19 Basketball World Championship, Canadian basketball players have a better chance to sign with a NCAA college basketball team.  Canada’s progress as a force in basketball keeps rising and rising.

Andrew Wiggins

Tristan Thompson

The basketball community in Canada is growing and becoming stronger, and the coach of the U19 basketball team, Coach Rana, knows it. "We go into every tournament thinking we have a legitimate shot to win a medal and now seeing we've had this success, that we can win it all, means that our expectations have risen." Look out world, Canadian basketball is the real deal.