Boomers' big test in World Cup opener

After weeks and months of build-up and anticipation, the FIBA World Cup is finally here.

Australia tips off its campaign tonight at 6pm AEST on Friday night, against a Lauri Markkanen Finland side, and will be hoping to emerge with the best possible start from what looms as a tough group.

The clash will be Finland’s first appearance at a World Cup since 2014, however the presence of reigning NBA Most Improved Player and 2023 All-Star Markkanen gives it the potential to be something of a banana peel game for the Boomers.

Ryan Broekhoff was a member of Australia’s 2014 World Cup squad, and offered a unique insight into the Finnish side on NBL Today: World Cup Edition.

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“Coach Tuovi was an assistant coach of mine at Besiktas. I think we went through about three coaches that season and he was the assistant to the former Finnish national team coach Henrik Dettmann,” Broekhoff said.

“The style they brought in, I was very excited to be a part of because it was just run and gun. It was very high tempo, it was high threes [which] obviously suited myself.

“The Finnish team in years past, that’s been their MO. It’s run up and down, get a bunch of threes, try and get hot and blow a team off the court with shooting.

“They’ve got some young players coming through that look pretty exciting, but it’s all around Markkanen, that’s the big key around the game and how the Aussies can stop him.”

At seven-feet tall and a genuine outside threat, Markkanen has established himself as one of the more unique matchups in the NBA landscape, and Broekhoff believes containing the star forward will be a group effort – but has earmarked reigning NBL MVP Xavier Cooks as the likely main matchup. 

“I’m sure they’re going to throw multiple players at him, but Cooks seems to be the best physical matchup for him. We’ll probably see Matisse [Thybulle] on him at times, but with Markkanen’s size and ability to score down low, it doesn’t really suit Matisse.

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“It’s going to be multiple bodies, we’ll probably see some double-teams thrown at him to say someone else has got to beat us. With the Finnish team you send a double you’d better have rotations.”

While Markkanen is undoubtedly the major offensive threat in this run and gun Finnish side, he’s certainly not the only player who can take control of the game.

23-year-old forward Mikael Jantunen played alongside Chris Goulding with Paris Basketball in France’s LNB Pro A this past season, while Sasu Salin has put together an impressive European career over the past 15 years.

Both Broekhoff and podcast co-host Peter Hooley have earmarked an emerging collegiate star as one to watch for tonight’s opposition though.

“One guy I want everyone to keep an eye on is Miro Little; he’s a 19-year-old, a freshman at Baylor and they’re expecting this to be a breakout tournament for him,” Hooley said.

“He’s going to get a lot of minutes at the point guard spot, he played the two last warmup games and had seven dimes each.

“He does a little bit of everything. Good size, good athlete, can shoot the ball alright, it’ll be a good matchup and a good test.

“He seems to get them in the flow and get them in rhythm so taking him out of the game and limiting his influence will be a real key.”

The Boomers’ clash against Finland will commence at 6pm AEST, live on ESPN.