The 30th edition of the biennial Albert Schweitzer Tournament was a long time coming but we are finally here! The 2024 AST will run from March 30 to April 6.

The U18 invitational tournament started in 1958 with eight teams and from 1965 to 1989 took place every two years (besides 1965 with 12 or 16 teams). After a four year break, the AST started back up in 1993 and took back on the bienniel status starting in 1994 and going until 2018. It was a 16-team field except for 12 teams in 1994 and 2002, and the participating teams dropped back to 12 again in 2016.

The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic and attempts to hold it in 2022 were also unsuccessful due to the on-going pandemic. But the show can go on for 2024, which will be the first time that United States is not in the field.

The Americans have a record 10 titles followed by Italy with four (the last in 2014) while Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain and Yugoslavia all have won two crowns. Germany have claimed the last two AST trophies.

Okay - let’s meet the teams …

Australia

Australia will be bringing a team made up solely of 2006 players, topped by one of the best players in the entire tournament, 2.20m center Rocco Zikarsky. In addition to Rocco, the team will include seven players from FIBA U17 Oceania Championship 2023 winning team - Roman Siulepa, Jack Whitbourn, Jacob Furphy, Emmett Adair, Cooper Rowlings, Ned Renfree and Che Brogan.

Rocco Zikarsky is one of the most highly-touted center prospects in the world. He played in 27 games in the Australian top league NBL with Brisbane Bullets, averaging 3.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in less than 8 minutes per game. After winning the title at the FIBA U16 Asian Championship 2022, Zikarsky dominated at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 as the fifth-top scorer and number one shot-blocker.

Roman Siulepa is another of Australia’s top elite talents, having played last season with the South West Metro Pirates in the Australian second division NBL1 and putting up strong production. He was also with Zikarsky on the U16 Asian and U17 World Cup teams and he was the MVP of the U20 Australian Nationals Championships last month despite Queensland losing to Victoria in the final. In total, six players on the team in Mannheim were in that U20 final. His teammates were Cooper Rowlings and Mason Honeyman while Jack Whitbourn, Luke Fennell and Ned Renfree were with Victoria.

Whitbourn averaged a double-double (11.6 point and 11.4 rebounds) at the U17 Oceanian Championship and has committed to University of California-Riverside. Fennell participated alongside with Siulepa in the Basketball Without Borders Global camp last month.

Honeyman is the son of Aaron Honeyman, whose No. 4 is retired by the Southern Districts Spartans and also played four seasons with the Brisbane Bullets - as one of the best scorers and playmakers seen in Queensland state.

The other player to play at both the U16 Oceania and U17 World Cup alongside Zikarsky and Siulepa was Jacob Furphy. The guard from Tasmania was also at the BWB Global camp last month after being named the MVP of the BWB Asia camp in 2023.

China

China will bring a team with the clear goal of preparing it for the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024, which will be the country’s first appearance in the competition since 2018. Head coach Li Xiaoyong and his assistant Branko Maksimovic have named 16 players born in 2007 and one each from 2006 and 2008 in their preliminary roster.

Eight of those players He Wenwei, Wang Ziheng, Li Yuezhou, Zhang Boyuan, Fu Wenhao, Liu Li, Feng Xirui and Wang Hongze were on the China team that defeated Iran 62-56 in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA U16 Asian Championship 2023 to qualify for this summer’s U17 World Cup.

The 2.03m forward Zhang led the team in scoring with 20.5 points while 47.1 percent on three-pointers, hitting 2.7 triples a game. The octet also includes the team’s top assist man, He, who had 3.7 assists and 9.0 points.

Czechia

The team includes four players who were a year younger but played at the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2023 - Daniel Duhajsky, Viktor Ivanek, Jan Matusik, Matyas Pomezny and Jakub Simonek.

Duhajsky, Pomezny and Ivanek had been at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2022, Division B as well while Daniel Sertic, Nikos Koulisianis, Lukas Smazak and Michael Prokysek played at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023, Division B.

The shooting guard Jakub Simonek has already played 28 games in the Czech NBL top flight, averaging 1.6 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 9 minutes per contest - even though he wont turn 18 until during the tournament.

Sebastian Kremen played last season at the Youth Basketball Champions League with BA Nymburk.

Daniel Sertic is one of the leaders of the 2007-born generation with a strong FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023, Division B. The power forward is currently playing in Italy for Brescia’s youth team.

Lukas Smazak, who played on the 2023 U16 national team, nearly recorded a triple-double of 35 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists against Litomerice for Snakes Ostrava in the Czech U19 league in late January.

Egypt

Egypt come to Mannheim having had a preliminary roster of 19 players and a real mix between 2006 and 2007-born players - 12 from the older group and seven born in 2007 or 2008. The 2006 generation would be using the AST as preparation for the FIBA U18 AfroBasket 2024. While the seven youngsters all played at the FIBA U16 AfroBasket 2023 and helped the country qualify for the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024.

Mohammed Hussin will be the biggest name - and would challenge anyone even from Europe in this tournament for the most experience on the international stage. The guard averaged 4.6 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists as a 16-year-old at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022. Later that summer Hussin collected 3.1 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists at the FIBA U18 AfroBasket 2022, including 9 points and 4 assists in the Final - an 81-54 win over Madagascar. Last summer he contributed 3.2 points and 1.3 assists as a 17-year-old at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023. Hussin could still play this summer at his second U18 AfroBasket and then next summer at his second U19 World Cup.

The seven players from the U16 AfroBasket last summer included on the roster are Ali Assran, Omar Elsisi, Mohamed Shahin, Omar Soudy, Ahmed Rezkallah and Omar Zayed - all born in 2007 - as well as 2008 talent Rami Malek.

Soudy, who averaged 10.4 points and 8.4 rebounds at last summer’s U16 AfroBasket, is a 2.08m center who has already made in-roads with the Egyptian Superleague team Al Ahly Cairo pro team, averaging 2.0 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in the Arab Club Championship last October despite having just turned 16.

Germany U17

The 14-player preliminary roster includes seven players who helped Germany finish fifth at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023 to reach the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 - the first time the country qualified for the cadet world tournament after it hosted the event in 2010. Those seven players are: Julis Baumer, Nevio Bennefeld, Tom Brüggemann, Ivan Crnjac, Marko Petric, Kenan Reinhart and Jervis Scheffs. Head coach Dirk Bauermann will be missing the country’s top three players from the generation: Mathieu Grujicic, Declan Duru and Davi Remagen.

Scheffs will be coming to Mannheim on a real high as well as ratiopharm ulm teammate Milo Murray after the duo helped Ulm win the Adidas Next Generation Tournament Dubai this past weekend. Scheffs averaged 13.8 points and 5.0 rebounds in the event, including 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in the first-place game as Ulm became the first German club to win an ANGT qualifier.

Crnjac has played this season with Fraport Skyliners ProB team and U19 team Eintracht Frankfurt. The forward put on a performance for the ages in the 2023 U16 JBBL Final with 41 points and 9 rebounds only to lose 93-85 to ALBA BERLIN and Mathieu Grujicic, who had 52 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 7 steals.

Baumer and Clemens Sokolov come into the tournament having just faced off in the first round of the U19 NBBL playoffs with Ludwigsburg and Baumer beating Sokolov’s Tornados Franken from Nürnberg 2-1 in the series.

The 2.03m big man Aron Stazic is actually Austrian and plays for BC Vienna in the top flight, averaging 3.6 points and 3.4 rebounds in 19 minutes per game, including a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double against Eisenstadt in mid-January. Stazic’s father Stjepan Stazic played professionally in Italy, France, Russia, Greece, Spain and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1997 as a 19-year-old, he signed with Italian champion and European powers Benetton Treviso - a milestone for Austrian basketball. In 2000, he helped Limoges to the French title and the Korac Cup. Stazic suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in June 2001 - three months before he was supposed to fly to New York and participate in the New York Knicks training camp. He could have become the first Austrian in the NBA. He returned to Austria in 2009 and in 2010 he and his brother Petar Stazic took over the BC Vienna club and turned them into Austrian champions. Stjepan played with Vienna until 2020. Aron Stazic’s mother meanwhile hails from Germany - hence Aron lining up for Germany in Mannheim.

Marko Petric is one of the top 2008-born talents in the country - and the only one who played last summer a year younger at the U16 EuroBasket team. His father Marin Petric, who was born in Zadar, Croatia, played six years in German Bundesliga for Levekusen, Bamberg, Düsseldorf and Trier. He served as a youth coach with Ulm in 2019 and Marko started playing with the club. Marko stayed there until last off-season when he moved to Vechta. His father became the sports director at his former club Giants Düsseldorf. Marko actually played with Croatian U14 and U15 national teams (including in January 2023) before deciding officially to play for Germany last summer. Petric has split this season with various teams for Vechta: 4 games in the third division ProB, the fifth division 2. Regionalliga, the U19 NBBL, the U16 JBBL (including the team’s 160-155 aggregate loss to ALBA BERLIN in the first round of the JBBL playoffs.

Another 2008-born player is Lukas Klein, who will come to the tournament disappointed about losing in the first round of the U16 JBBL playoffs with Bayer Leverkusen to Porsche BBA Ludwigsburg. He averaged 22.3 points and 13.8 rebounds a game this season.

The third 2008-born player on the preliminary roster is Killian Dück, who advanced to the second round of the JBBL playoffs with FC Bayern Munich, knocking off Giessen and will next face last season’s surprising finalists RheinStars Köln (Cologne). The center has picked up 17.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks this season.

The youngest player for the team might be the biggest talent - 2009-born Fabian Kayser from Soest/Paderborn Baskets. The 2.00m guard was named the U16 JBBL Rookie of the Year 2023 with Uni Baskets Paderborn. This season he has dominated the JBBL with 29.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 3.3 steals with Paderborn, who are still alive in the playoffs. Kayser also has played in the NBBL and the 2. Regionalliga fifth division.

Germany U18

The 14-man preliminary roster for Alan Ibrahimagic’s U18 Germany team features five players - Christian Anderson, Jack Kayil, Roy Krupnikas, Eric Reibe and Hannes Steinbach - who helped Germany finish third at the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2023 - the country’s first podium in the competition’s history. Anderson, Kayil, Krupnikas and Reibe were also on the Germany team that won the title at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2022, Division B to get Germany back to Division A.

Anderson is one of the most exciting names in German basketball for the future. He moved from Germany to the United States when he was 5 years old and didn’t return until his call-up for the youth national team. Anderson plays at US high school powerhouse Oak Hill Academy and is committed to attend University of Michigan.

Kayil made headlines this summer when he moved from ALBA BERLIN to RASTA Vechta but he has already played major minutes in the ProB team. Krupnikas also made headlines this summer as he left ROSTOCK SEAWOLVES - and Germany - to sign with French talent development powerhouse LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. Reibe for his part went the other direction and departed ratiopharm ulm for the United States and college prep institution Bullis in Potomac, Maryland.

Also on the U16 2022 roster were Jordan Müller, Jonas Zilinskas, Amon Dörries and Nico Kodjoe.

Müller and Zilinskas both made history last weekend as they helped ratiopharm ulm win the ANGT Dubai title to qualify for the ANGT Finals at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in May. Ulm became the first German club to win an ANGT qualifier.

Kodjoe meanwhile has a fascinating story with the acting pair of Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Ari Parker as parents. Nico Kodjoe also played for Rolling Loud of the Overtime Elite Series.

Greece

Greece will be missing some of their top players as they compete in the Albert Schweitzer Tournament at the same time that the country’s two most dominant clubs Olympiacos Piraeus and Panathinaikos Athens are playing at the ANGT Paris. Speaking of the ANGT, most of the main players on this Greek roster have already played this season in the U18 club competition.

Eleftherios Liotopoulos competed in the ANGT for the third season as he played all three times for the Next Generation select team - in 2021-22 and 2022-23 in Patras and this season in Podgorica. Liotopoulos helped the Next Generation team reach the ANGT Podgorica first place game and he collected 23 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in the loss to Real Madrid. For the tournament the DEKA Thessaloniki point gurard averaged 19.5 points with 3.2 three-pointers made, 3.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.2 steals and a PIR of 21.2 to be named to the All-Tournament Team.

Liotopoulos two summers ago helped Greece reach the Semi-Finals of the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2022. It was the first time Hellas reached the top four since taking third in 2013 - with the generation of Georgios Papagiannis, Vasilis Charalampopoulos, Vasilis Mouratos, Antonios Koniaris and Dimitrios Flionis.

Also on the 2022 team with Liotopoulos were Filippos Tsachtsiras, who stood out for Aris Thessaloniki at the ANGT Dubai with 18.0 points and 6.8 rebounds, Ioannis Komnianidis of YMCA and Stefanos Spartalis, who plays with Olympiacos and is included on both the ANGT and AST rosters. So it’s unclear if he will be in Paris or Mannheim.

Vasileios Kazamias was Tsachtsiras’ teammate with Aris and picked up 11.8 poitns and 4.5 assists in Dubai. He also played a major role for Greece at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023.

Also on that Greece team was 2007-born shooting guard Nikolas Sermpezis, who played at the ANGT Podgorica with FC Bayern Munich.

Panagiotis Pagonis, who plays for Milon, also played in Podgorica for the Next Generation team and averaged 14 points and 6.5 rebounds. Giannos Xanthopoulos, who plays for EFAOZ, was Pagonis’ teammate on the Next Generation team. And Alexandros Alexakis was on the Next Generation Dubai select team. The guard plays with Peristeri.

Also in Dubai was Konstantinos Chantzis, who plays for Proteas Sximatariou but was a guest player for Dubai Falcons Academy.

Italy

Italy come to Mannheim thinking ahead to a FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2024 for which they have enough talent to finish in the top five and get to the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup. That is the goal for the 2006-born players but there are also four 2007-born talents who will be main players for the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 in Turkey.

The U18 team this summer will be headed by the likes of Samuele Miccoli from Milan, the Venice duo of Pietro Iannuzzi and Federico Natale as well as Tomasso D’Arcangeli and Axel Piccirilli from Stellazzurra Rome.

Theo Airhienbuwa from ScaligeraBasket Verona and Elisee Assui of Varese teamed up together for the Next Generation Dubai at the ANGT Dubai. And Charles Atamah competed for Orange Bassano at the 2022-23 ANGT Patras.

And Stefano Saccoccia of Napoli showed at the ANGT Podgorica that he can light it up with 20.5 points as a guest player for Reyer.

A major core of the U17 team this summer will comprise of star talent Maikcol Perez of Bassano, the Milan duo of Diego Garavaglia and 2.17m giant Luigi Suigo as well as Brian Angeletti from Bassano.

Japan

Japan’s roster for Mannheim could have been different had the country been able to beat Philippines back on September 22 at the FIBA U16 AsiaCup 2023. But a 64-59 loss in the Quarter-Finals - despite holding a 10-point lead late in the third quarter -meant Japan would not qualify for the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024. So head coach Alejandro Martinez has a team predominantly filled with 2006-born players looking ahead to this summer’s FIBA U18 AsiaCup 2024 with the hope of reaching the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025.

Teruchika Naito and Leon Watanabe are familar faces for international basketball fans, having played at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 - at age 16 - and the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023 - at age 17. The forwards, who also played at the FIBA U16 AsianCup 2022, will be two of the leaders this summer at the U18 AsianCup 2024

Just like Watanabe, Teruchika Naito also played at all three of those competitions the last two summers.

Riku Segawa gained some valuable experience last month as he participated in the BWB Global Camp in Indianapolis. The point guard played for the team that won the event.

While 10 of the 13 players on the preliminary roster were 2006-born, Martinez also is bringing three younger players - three that the world has already seen at the FIBA U16 Asian Championship 2023: 2007-born Ginga Sembo, 2008-born Kenichiro Benedict and Chusonjakku Shiritani, who was born on April 29, 2009.

Sembo and Benedict both scored more than 12 points per game and Benedict added 9.7 rebounds per game plus 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks a contest. Shiritani meanwhile chipped in 6.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.7 steals as the second youngest player of the entire competition at 14 years and just under 5 months.

And don’t forget to watch Shutatsu Taira as a good shooter.

Serbia

Serbia will come to Mannheim with a loaded team if you look at the 14-man preliminary roster that Vule Avdalovic has put together as the country looks to defend their FIBA U18 EuroBasket title this summer in Tampere, Finland.

The team will feature two players who are already U18 European champions as Mitar Bosnjakovic and Andrej Kostic both were part of the Serbian team that won the crown last season as the only two younger generation players.

Bosnjakovic has plenty of hardware already. He also won the FIBA U16 European Challenger 2021 and helped Real Madrid to win the 2023 Adidas Next Generation Tournament title. He was a leader on this season’s team, standing out with 18 points and 9 rebounds in a tough win over Next Generation Team Podgorica in the ANGT Podgorica first place game. And Bosnjakovic was part of the Serbia team that finished fifth at the U17 World Cup.

Kostic meanwhile shined at this season’s ANGT Belgrade with 24.3 points and 7.8 rebounds for a Crvena Zvezda Belgrade team that lacked in talent. The 2007-born Petar Radovic was also with Zvezda in the event but on loan from Borac.

The team also includes one of the most dynamic point guards on the continent - well, sort of - as Savo Drezgic is playing this season with the DME Academy in United States. The Partizan Belgrade playmaker returned to Europe for the ANGT Belgrade and made the ANGT Belgrade All-Tournament Team for a second straight edition as he produced 19.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.8 steals, 8.5 fouls drawn and a 32.5 PIR. He already debuted for Zeljko Obradovic’s pro Partizan last season in the ABA Adriatic League.

Fellow Partizan player Aleksa Dimitrijevic is considered one of the club’s best bigs produced since Nikola Milutinov. And Stefan Plisnic is listed at Dynamic but plays there because Partizan did not qualify for the Serbian U19 league this season.

Aleksa Stanojevic - the son of former EuroLeague player Jovo Stanojevic - was named to the ANGT Belgrade All-Tournament Team as he was playing for the Next Generation select team. The big who plays for Joker collected 15.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 2.2 blocks for a 23.5 average index rating.

Ognjen Srzentic is an enticing 2007-born playmaking forward who is making big strides with Mega Belgrade while he played together at the ANGT Belgrade with Aleksandar Vojinovic - on loan from Vojvodina. Aleksa Vlajic from Dynamic and Marko Tofoski from Radnicki will be coming to Mannheim after played together as invitee players for the Dubai Falcons Academy at the ANGT Dubai.

Slovenia

This Slovenia team will be missing one of the country’s top talents as Urban Kroflic of Mega Belgrade will not play. He had been injured ahead of the ANGT Belgrade and head coach Tomaz Fartek will not have him in Mannheim. Still, Slovenia has a core of players that really knows one another.

Vit Hrabar from Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz will be one of the absolute leaders of this team with his past experience at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2022 and FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2023. Hrabar was a year younger on the U18 team last summer as were two others who will be in Mannheim.

Bine Plut has already gotten playing time in Slovenia’s top league with Krka Novo Mesto. As has Mark Padjen with Ilirija Ljubljana.

Hrabar and Padjen will reunite with five other teammates from the U16 team in 2022.

Maj Dolinsek, who plays in Germany with IBAM Munich, was the third pillar to the team behind Kroflic and Hrabar while Triglav Kranj’s Filip Petkovski was the primary point guard. Also part of the team were Ian Lazarevski, Lovro Lapajne and Zak Smrekar, the latter who played with SC Derby as a guest player at the ANGT Podgorica.

Lazarevski, who raised some eyebrows by moving from Mega to Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana where he plays with Lapajne - both being joined by two other 2007-born players from last summer’s U16 team: Marko Sanabor, who has already played 4 games with Kranj in the top flight, and Leon Jereb.

One other name of note is Martin Tonejc, who played with Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana at the ANGT Podgorica.

Türkiye

This will be an important competition for Türkiye as the country is preparing a team that hopes to shine this summer as they host the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024. All 20 players on the preliminary roster were born in 2007, meaning this is a primary chance to show coach Hasan Özmeric that they are ready for this summer’s tournament.

Among the 20 players are seven who played at last summer’s FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023, where they finished a disappointing 10th place, having lost to Lithuania in the Round of 16. The septet are Ahmet Aydin, Cengiz Coskun, Mert Kocagozoglu, Kaan Onat, Aldin Türkoglu, Deniz Urunlu and Derin Can Ustun.

Coach Özmeric will be hoping to find some players who can step up this summer as there were really only two top players from last summer’s U16 team. Derin Can Ustun averaged 15.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.3 steals while Kaan Onat collected 15.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.9 steals. No other Turkish player had more than 7.7 points last summer.

Ustun left Bahcesehir last season to join Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and shined at the ANGT Podgorica. Onat meanwhile is dominating for Anadolu Efes Istanbul in the Turkish U19 league with 14.6 points per game, 5.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists. He is also playing for Efes’ youth team Istanbul Anka Spor in the Turkish third division TB2L.

Coskun has gotten into one Turkish top flight game and one FIBA Europe Cup contest with Bahcesehir, which is also where Aydin plays as well as the all-around forward Yavuz Kara. Kocagozoglu moved from Bahcesehir to Efes and is also playing with Onat in the third division and U19 league along with Türkoglu and Omer Can as well.

Urunlu is playing for Fenerbahce in the U19 league. His teammate is the 2008-born Omer Ziyaettin, who has already appeared in three games for the pro team in March, picking up a combined 9 points with 3 three-pointers, 1 rebound and 1 assist in 20 minutes.

Bursaspor have two players in the preliminary roster: Mete Pacaci and Osman Nurveren - the former being a guard who can contribute in many ways and the latter being a 2.09m center.

Tofas meanwhile has two players as well, Emirhan Serbest and Enes Akmani, both playing in the U19 league and for Gemlik in the Turkish third division.

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