Canada U19 national team coach Roy Rana expects this summer's FIBA U19 World Championship promises to be incredibly exciting after he got a taste of the talent level while in charge of the winning World Select Team at last weekend's 2013 Nike Hoop Summit. Rana guided the World team to a 112-98 win over a team of the best U19 players from the United States, marking the first time that the international team won back-to-back games. "It's been phenomenal. Any time you get a chance to work with that type of talent, it's very, very special and something I never envisioned happening. I just had a lot of fun with it," said Rana, who coached the World team for the third straight spring and improved the internationals' record in the annual event to 5-11. The World side included five players who could appear at the FIBA U19 World Championship taking place in Prague from 27 June to 7 July: Canada's Andrew Wiggins, Sergey Karasev of Russia, Tomas Dimsa of Lithuania, Argentina's Gabriel Deck and Dante Exum of Australia - the last two who were All-Tournament Team members of the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship. "If all five of those guys are in Prague, that tournament will just be incredibly exciting," said Rana, whose Canada team will square off against Spain, Croatia and Korea in Group A in Prague. "They are five of the best players in the world at their age group. Those five guys could challenge for who is the best player in the tournament."

As expected Argentina Guard Manu Ginobli will not play for his country at the 2013 FIBA Americas qualifying zone. The news is great for Canadian basketball fans as Canada will most likely have to go through Argentina and/or Brazil to earn a spot in the upcoming 2014 World Cup to be hosted by Spain. Ginobli has not ruled playing in the Basketball World Cup if the Argentinians qualify.

The field for the 2013 Jack Donohue International Classic is complete. Canadian fans will get an opportunity to see Canada's next generation of players, which is being touted as the "Golden Era" of Canadian Basketball. Canada's Senior Men's National team will host the national teams from Jamaica, Ukraine, Israel. The tournament, to be played August 9-12 2013, will be an excellent preparation for Team Canada just before they head off to Caracas, Venezuela for the 2013 FIBA Americas Qualifiers. The last time Team Canada played on home soil was in 2011 when they defeated the Belgium National Team 79-74 in Toronto and 74-69 in Hamilton, Ontario. The games will be the beginning of a new era for the Senior Men's national team, lots of changes have happened at the top and withing the organization, the talent is proven, from the NBA, to the NCAA, CIS and down some the toughest pro-leagues in Europe. Head Coach Jay Triano and his coaching staff will certainly have some tough decisions to make come regarding their roster.

Like FIFA, FIBA will now qualify teams for the World Cup and Olympics through a separate system. This separate system includes new qualification windows throughout the year (as in soccer). The windows: February, June, September and November. Weird, because three of those months are during the NBA season. FIFA international qualification works because FIFA is dominant and all of the other leagues adjust to allow players to return to their national teams for qualification. FIBA isn't in that spot. The NBA is not likely to adjust its schedule to have multi-week breaks during November and February where players can go off to play a few games of international ball, and June is certainly out of the question for a) players in the NBA Finals, b) prospects preparing for the draft and c) free agents to be hesitant to risk their contracts.

By the time the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup tips off in Spain, former Puerto Rico international Jerome Alfred Mincy will see a number of players trying to close the gap on his personal record of having featured the most times in FIBA's flagship event over the last three decades. During his 16-year international career, Mincy played in five FIBA World Championships (1986, 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002) which earlier this year became the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Barring injuries, the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup should also be the fourth time playing in basketball's leading international tournament for Brazil's Leandrinho Barbosa, Anderson Varejão, Tiago Splitter, Alex Garcia and Guilherme Giovannoni; Argentinean great Luis Scola; the Angolan duo of Joaquim Gomes and Eduardo Mingas; Tall Blacks captain Kirk Penney; Puerto Rico's Carlos Arroyo; Lebanon legend Fadi El Khatib and China’s Wei Liu. All have featured at the last three editions (2002, 2006 and 2010).

We've seen the push from FIBA over the past two yearss and now the Secretary-general Patrick Baumann is set to put together a proposal will look at getting 3x3 Basketball at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Three-on-three, the game played in driveways, on playgrounds and around the country during the annual Gus Macker tournaments, debuted in the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. FIBA wants to create a comprehensive ranking system that would determine the best three-on-three teams in the world. FIBA already has a three-on-three world tour and world championship, but Baumann welcomed all three-on-three tournaments, such as Gus Macker and Hoop It Up, into the fold as long as those tournaments adhered to FIBA rules, including the registration of players in a database to chart wins and losses.

Whenever Marial Shayok has a basketball question, the Canadian talent knows he can call his family – and any number of choices for that matter. Shayok laughs at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship when he talks about the backyard games of his youth as his father played college and professional basketball and his older sister and brother are both playing college hoops in the United States. “The backyard games were really fun. My brother is still the best out of all of us. My sister used to be, but it’s probably my brother now,” said Shayok. “But my dad still thinks he can beat all of us.” Shayok’s father Makur was born in Sudan but played at the University of Dayton from 1990 to 1992 before a professional career overseas. Marial’s sister Yar Shayok is in her final season at Detroit Mercy and was an all-conference player, while his brother Shayok Shayok just finished his freshman season at Bradley University.

The United States of America thumping of Canada is a reminder of just how far a part the two countries are when it comes to the sport of basketball. Point guard Tyus Jones hammered 22 points and dished out 6 assists while Justice Winslow rapped up a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds as Team USA qualified for the semifinals with a 113-59 win over Canada. Three other US players scored in double figures with Joel Berry managing 15. Jabari Parker put up 10 points with 8 rebounds while Jahlil Okafor also scored 10. Canada were paced by 17 points from Justin Jackson while Tyrell Bellot-Green ended the night with 12. No other Canadian managed above 6 points in a game where they shot only 34 percent from the two point range, made 2 of the 18 three point attempts, and converted only 7-of-12 from the free throw line. Canada will play against China in the 5-8 classification games. When it comes to world championships or international competition your only hope is to avoid the USA until the finals and hope and pray that the basketball Gods somehow, someway let you stay within single digits. The Canadians, placed in a tough group B, finished with a respectable 3-2 record in pool play with victories against Lithuania, Argentina and South Korea, while dropping games to Croatia and Spain. Canada put together a solid squad of players many of will garner some attention and serious consideration for legit NCAA basketball looks while the USA team is projecting out the next NBA megastar.

Kevin Durant's resume is stacked up to the ceiling. KD has led the NBA in scoring, won a NBA All-Star MVP, added 1st Team-All NBA to list and led the USA to the 2010 FIBA World championship at the tender age of 23. Besides an NBA Title the only one other thing missing is the Olympic experience: This summer, you’ll get to participate in your first Olympics. What are your expectations for London? Durant: I’ll be very happy to go to the Olympics. It’s something every basketball player dreams about since childhood. I’ll be very proud to represent my country in that competition and I’ll give my best to help the team reach the gold medal.

Kevin Zabo continue his hot play with a team-high 18 points and Marial Shayok put together another solid effort with 14 points as Canada improved to 2-1 with 80-76 victory over Argentina at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championships. 15-year old Justin Jackson (Toronto, Eastern Commerce) showed flashes of brilliance with a 14 point, seven rebound effort in his third straight start for Team Canada. Jackson, who is drawing similar comparisons to Canadian Phenom Andrew Wiggins, who also boosted his stock on the international level as 15-year old, was good on 4-of-7 shots including one deep ball in 29 minutes, his most of the tournament. Patrick Steeves buried a game deciding three-pointer with 53 seconds left and then made one foul shot with 3.8 seconds left to make it 78-76. He missed the second but Shayok got the offensive rebound and put-back to decide the game. Canada will battle 2-1 Spain, tomorrow in a game which will most likely decided the second spot in group B.