The Crocs have touched down in Türkiye ahead of the FIBA U17 World Cup, running from June 27 to July 5.
Preparation for Saturday's opening match against Serbia is underway, as the Crocs will aim to set the group stage alight early.
Group D will consist of Australia, Serbia, Cote d'Ivoire and Venezuela, with Serbia rising as the biggest contender to challenge the Crocs, having won the U16 EuroBasket tournament.
16 teams are competing at the U17 World Cup, spread across four groups of four. Every team is guaranteed to advance past the group phase, with the group standings used to seed the elimination bracket.
In the Round of 16, matchups are decided by a cross-over system, where top seeds face lower seeds from opposing groups.
Winning teams progress through the Quarter Finals and Semi Finals to compete for the gold. Meanwhile, losing teams enter consolation brackets to play out their final rankings from 5th to 16th place.
The fixtures for the Crocs group stage matchups are as follows:
| DATE | GAME | TIME (AEST) |
| 27 June | AUS V SRB | 9:45 pm |
| 28 June | CIV V AUS | 7:30 pm |
| 1 July | VEN V AUS | 12:30 am |
As history has it, the Crocs have had some success at FIBA U17 World Cups in the past, with the best results dating back to 2012 and 2014 when Australia’s Under 17’s claimed silver.
However, there has been a drop-off in the highest finish across the past four FIBA U17 Men’s World Cups, being sixth and the most recent result being 15th place in 2024.
Aiming to avenge the disappointing 2024 performance, the majority of the group selected have been building momentum, claiming gold at the FIBA U16 Asia Cup and FIBA U17 Oceania Cup in 2025.
This year the Crocs are taking an experienced roster featuring many Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence (CoE) representatives as well as top promising talent from across the country.
The Crocs will head to Türkiye with one change to the selected squad, with West Australian Alex Edwards replacing the injured Isaiah Jorgenson.
 |
|
| Riak Akhuar | Alex Edwards |
| John Aryang | William Hamilton |
| Ahmet Yahya Basaran | Alexander Mabbott |
| Antonio Browne | Josh McCann |
| Lucas Byrne | Luke Paul |
| Tom Dammers | Andrew Watene |
| Head Coach |
| Greg Vanderjagt |
Where to watch: All Group Stage and Round of 16 games are available to watch Live on FIBA YouTube.
The Final Phase Games (Quarter Finals, Semi Finals, Finals) are available on Courtside 1891.
