Tall Blacks enter the unknown

No-one really knows what to expect from this new Fiba Basketball World Cup qualifying system.

The Tall Blacks get their

14-month quest for a spot at the

2019 World Cup in China under way at TSB Bank Arena in Wellington tonight with a match against South Korea.

They then fly to Hong Kong tomorrow night for a match against them, while there will be at least 10 more matches after that by February 2019 before they know if they have qualified or not.

Previously, the team qualified via the Oceania Championships tournament, so the extended qualification programme has thrown up plenty of conundrums for Paul Henare and his coaching staff to try and get their heads around.

‘‘We’ll learn from all these experiences, both good and bad, in this particular window and hopefully do it better in February when we’re in China and Korea and same again in June and July,’’ Henare said yesterday.

Given these games fall during the club season, Henare has a fine balancing act to perform with managing his players physically, especially Europe-based players Tai and Corey Webster, and Isaac Fotu.

Under Fiba rules, the clubs have to make them available for selection, but the same applies in football with Fifa World Cup qualifying and football clubs just get around that by saying their players are injured and can’t travel.

Henare has a vested interest in keeping the players healthy given he is also the New Zealand Breakers coach, with half of the

12-man roster for tonight’s game supplied by his club team.

For the other six players, it would be about sending them back to their clubs in decent condition.

The travel involved in playing these matches has already taken its toll on South Korea.

They arrived on Tuesday afternoon, but at their pre-match press conference yesterday their coach, Hur Jae, said through a translator that his side were struggling with jetlag.

Jae did have better news on the player availability front, with influential centre Kim Jong Kyu overcoming an ankle injury to make the trip to Wellington, although he said he was not yet 100 per cent fit, which might limit his minutes tonight. Additionally, forward Lee Seung Hyun has been given temporary leave from military service to play the game.

Tall Blacks captain Mika Vukona said they had a lot of respect for Korea, who beat a young Tall Blacks team twice at the Asia Cup.

‘‘The guys involved in the Asia Cup have been able to give us some pointers. Obviously they’re a welldrilled team. They’re all excellent shooters across the board.

‘‘They’re a team that moves really well without the ball and we’re expecting a physical game from them also.’’

The expectations of a physical encounter were echoed by their Korean counterparts.