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For many countries in the FIBA U19 World Cup that begins Saturday, it’s more about the collective. Many top juniors from Australia, which will open against Lloyd’s USA Basketball team at 8:15 a.m. Saturday, play almost year-round together with the same coach.

French players mostly do the same thing, Lloyd said.

“A lot of their core guys play together at their national institute,� Lloyd said. “They’re definitely gonna have an advantage and a familiarity with each other.�

Even in other countries where players split off to different clubs most of the year, they often come together every summer for long national training camps, sometimes practicing for a month, and sometimes up to three times a day.

Kharchenkov, who committed to the Wildcats earlier this month, has spent each of the past three summers and was listed as one of the “10 best talents� in the U19 event (which also opined that “Unfortunately for European basketball, Kharchenkov has already chosen to leave the Old Continent to accept Arizona’s offer in the NCAA.�)

But Kharchenkov is continuing to play a reserve role for Bayern Munich in the German playoffs and was not listed on the final 12-player German roster on FIBA’s official U19 World Cup website.

Making sense of all the roster developments, and trying to find out what other countries might look like, has been partly up to UA assistant coach Rem Bakamus, who joined the USA staff as an advance scout and special assistant.

In one sense, the fact that other countries play more often together at least means Bakamus has plenty of material to form a scouting report. He said the Australians mostly play together on a second-division NBL team in Australia, for example.

“A lot of these (players were in) U18s and a good chunk of them will be playing for U19s,� Bakamus said of other U19 teams. “So we go back and watch them, and if it’s the same head coach, watch their play style. It’s just getting ahead and understanding, ‘Are we gonna have to double the post? Are we gonna have to do whatever?’�

The only issue here is that when Bakamus was watching old video of those other countries last week, the USA players had been together less than a week at that point.

USA Basketball opened training camp just two weeks before the FIBA U19 World Cup began, with a long travel day to Switzerland in between, a much shorter preparation window than many other teams.

The Americans also have a bisected carryover from last summer, too: While USA qualified for the U19 World Cup by winning gold in the U18 AmeriCup last summer, only five of the U18 players are on the U19 roster, while incoming UA freshman Koa Peat and other U19 players were at the U17 World Cup in 2024.

Australia “had lot of the same guys from the U18s, and France has already played a friendly game versus Serbia. They had their roster picked,� Bakamus said last week in Colorado Springs. “We’re just getting underway with training camp, so I’d say there’s a disadvantage to it.

“Also, coach (Lloyd) doesn’t treat this just like ‘Hey, go out there and hoop.’ We’re installing everything.�

The World Cup schedule might not give the Americans much breathing room, either. USA will start with three-group play games against Australia, France and Cameroon in what is being called the “Group of Death.� had USA No. 1, Australia No. 4, France No. 5 and Cameroon No. 8.

Then it’s to the bracketed “knockout phase� in which USA could wind up facing highly regarded teams from Germany (ranked No. 2), Serbia (3) or Canada (6).

In all, there’s a pretty good chance the USA won’t enjoy the complete romp Lloyd experienced in the 2024 AmeriCup, when his U18 team won all six of its games by an average of 42.7 points.

“There’s probably a handful of teams that realistically can win a gold medal and we’re hoping to be one of those,� Lloyd said. “The competition is really tough. It’s definitely the toughest international competition for USA youth basketball.�

But there are also some advantages for Lloyd and the Americans. For one thing, they should have motivation pretty well covered: USA didn’t even medal the last time the U19 World Cup was played in 2023, finishing fourth.

“We are kind of the Redeem Team,� . “We will go out there with vengeance and hopefully go out there and win the World Cup.�

Peat has his own personal motivation, too: If he can help USA win the U19 event, he will become the first American to win four junior national team golds, having already won two at the U17 World Cups and one in the U16 Americas Championship.

More than anything, USA has this going for it: The highest-rated collection of talent in the field.

Of the U19 players, ESPN says BYU-bound AJ Dybantsa is one of four contenders to become the No. 1 NBA pick in 2026, and included Peat (18) and Duke-bound forward Nik Khamenia (13) in solid first-round range in its early list of 60 NBA Draft prospects for 2026, with Michigan center Morez Johnson (33) also a potential first-round pick.

In addition, the USA’s U19 roster has several potential 2027 NBA lottery picks on the roster, including forward Tyran Stokes, forward Caleb Holt and guard Brandon McCoy.

“What’s really unique about this particular year is that some of the players are really elite,� said Sean Ford, USA Basketball’s national team director. “A lot of those other countries have been together for several years, which can be a challenge for us to overcome.

“But at the same time, sometimes they are who they are, and we’re a team that can continue to get better during the tournament.�