Basketball: Brighter qualifying prospects for Tall Blacks

Tall Blacks forward Thomas Abercrombie leaps above Boomers centre Andrew Bogut and guard Chris Goulding. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Tall Blacks' hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics were dealt a heavy blow on Tuesday night, but their future qualifying prospects look much brighter.

An 89-79 defeat at the hands of the Australian Boomers saw Australia qualify for the Olympics, and left the Tall Blacks set to fight for their last lifeline in June and July 2016 at one of three six-team tournaments, with the winner of each tournament booking their spot at the Rio games.

Despite the tough battle on their hands to make the 2016 edition, the future qualifying route for the Olympics is set to result in a huge boon for New Zealand basketball.

No longer will the Tall Blacks have to battle solely against the impressive Australians, with FIBA president Horacio Muratore confirming to the New Zealand Herald that New Zealand and Australia will move into the Asian qualifying zone from the 2017 qualifying cycle onwards.

The move will prove hugely beneficial to not only the Tall Blacks' chances of qualifying, but also for the growth of the game as a whole in New Zealand, with the Tall Blacks set to play six home and six away games in the qualifying process.

That news means far more opportunities for New Zealand fans to see the Tall Blacks play on home soil, while the 12 games on offer will provide more revenue for Basketball New Zealand, and a greater chance for the squad to integrate, improve and showcase themselves on the world stage.

The Tall Blacks are currently ranked 21st in the world - a ranking which would place them fourth in the Asian confederation behind Australia (11th), China (14th) and Iran (17th).

Add in the improvement of promising young talent going off to college basketball - such as Tai Wynyard, Sam Timmins and Matt Freeman - and the Tall Blacks could find themselves in a much better scenario to snare one of the Asian qualifying spots for both the World Cup and the Olympics.

The same move to the Asian qualifying circuit applies for the Tall Ferns and age-group sides - with the Tall Ferns set to especially benefit from the change after again being outclassed by the Australian Opals in their qualifying series.

With the Ferns having never come close to toppling the Opals in the 31-year history of the FIBA Oceania Women's Championship, they will no longer have to solely match themselves against the world's second best side to qualify.

Instead, the change will give their promising young group of players the chance to get a decent amount of games in against similar quality opposition, and increase their shot of making it to the biggest tournaments in women's basketball.