Basketball: Tall Blacks relish challenge

Dillon Boucher. Photo / Getty Images

A tough build-up should mean the Tall Blacks are as ready for this year's basketball world championship as they were when they finished fourth in 2002, says coaching staff member Dillon Boucher.

The Tall Blacks, ranked 13th in the world, will play three tournaments in August before the 24-team world championships in Turkey.

Basketball New Zealand chief executive Tim Hamilton confirmed they would play Iran, Turkey and Serbia in Turkey on August 6-8 before heading to Slovenia to play Slovenia, Russia and Serbia on August 13-15.

They next head to Croatia for a tournament involving Croatia, Russia and Jordan on August 20-22 before returning for Turkey for the start of the world championship on August 28.

All the teams the Tall Blacks play will feature at the world championship and they rank between five and 21 in the world bar the 38th-ranked Jordanians.

Boucher, who played in the 2002 team, said the schedule would be exactly what the Tall Blacks needed.

"I look at this itinerary and it's very similar to what we did in 2002," said Boucher, who will be an assistant to Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic.

"One thing Tab Baldwin made sure of in 2002 was that we got a good hard schedule and it's exactly what we've got here."

The Tall Blacks squad of 12 will be selected after trials in Auckland from July 23-25.

- NZPA