HAMAMATSU (FIBA World Championship) - Australia go into their opening game at the FIBA World Championship with new-found confidence after playing well in the Stankovic Cup.

The Australians, without several players in Japan for a variety of reasons, struggled in the Al Ramsey Shield against New Zealand, splitting that four-game series with Tall Blacks winning the competition on points difference.

But in the Stankovic Cup played in Nanjing, European champions Greece beat Australia but the Boomers upset France before losing narrowly to China.

"It¡¯s been a short period of time together with this group," said Goorjian, who does not have Matthew Nielsen, Chris Anstey, Glen Saville or David Andersen for the FIBA World Championship.

Basketball Australia balked at the insurance fee for Nielsen's insurance policy asked by his Lithuanian club, Lieutvos Rytas, while Anstey injured his knee in the New Zealand series.

Andersen failed to fully recover from double-leg break suffered earlier this year in a game with CSKA Moscow.

Saville, a sharpshooter on the Olympic team two years ago who plays for the Wollongong Hawks in Australia's NBL, has a long-term knee injury.

"We¡¯d never played with this group at that level (in the Stankovic Cup)," Goorjian said.

"If we can play at that level, and I think that is something a young group needs to do to believe in themselves. I think what we got out of that win (against France) was a little bit of belief.

"We rolled into the next night and lost by a couple to China but I think when you look at those three games, from where we were coming into this tournament, we¡¯re on a grade going up.

"We played Greece to eight points, beat France and played China who played the game much more serious (than Greece and France) and we played them basket for basket so we come into this (World Championship) feeling much better than we did."

The return of point guard CJ Bruton helped the Boomers. Bruton missed most of the build-up in a failed attempt to win a contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs had asked Bruton to try out but opted not to give him a contract.

Brazil have emerged as one the favourites to reach the podium and possibly win a gold medal.

Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Varejao are coming off very impressive seasons in the NBA, and the team is still riding high after last year's FIBA Americas Championship title.

"We have players who are doing well in the NBA and I hope they can do the same for the national team," said Brazil center Tiago Splitter. "The other players who play in Europe or Brazil, they also play at a high level so it will be great to show how our basketball is growing."

Turkey v Lithuania

HAMAMATSU (FIBA World Championship) - The EuroBasket 2003 gold-medal triumph may seem like a long time ago for Lithuania fans but there are still players from that team who will take the court on Saturday against Turkey.

One is Arvydas Macijauskas, who is unrecognizable both in physical appearance and play.

The best shooter in Europe in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 campaigns, Macijauskas opted for a season in the NBA and rarely played with New Orleans.

He has returned to Europe for next season with Olympiacos and in Hamamatsu, Macijauskas - he is now wearing a beard - will hope to rediscover that golden shooting stroke.

Short of confidence, he may not start against Turkey with Antanas Sireika possibly opting for Simas Jasaitis.

Big center Robertas Javtokas should start, along with Linas Kleiza, Ksystof Lavrinovic and Giedrius Gustas.

For those wondering about the legendary Sarunas Jasikevicius, the hero of their gold medal team in 2003 and the player who led a stunning fightback against Team USA at the 2004 Olympics, he is in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers and focusing on that career, and his new marriage.

Turkey have a young team that looks much hungrier than the side that crashed out of EuroBasket 2006 in the elimination round.

Serkan Erdogan was a doubt before the tournament with a knee injury but has played and so far, been a reliable scorer for coach Bogdan Tanjevic - the Serbo-Montenegrin boss who famously won the 1999 European title in charge off Italy.

Ibrahim Kutluay is a veteran who will be prominent but much of the attention is turned on the likes of Ersan Ilyasova, a player who can slot in at small or power forward.

Ilyasova was outstanding for the U20 team this summer in Izmir, where Turkey won the silver medal, and was rewarded with most valuable player award.

Cenk Akyol is another promising youngster who should get minutes against the Lithuanians.
Mehmet Okur and Hedo Turkoglu are taking the summer off because of injuries.

Greece v Qatar

Hamamatsu (FIBA World Championship) - Greece have the look of world beaters going into their first game in Japan against Qatar but center Lazaros Papadopolous has warned his team-mates not to get carried away.

"We have to manage our success," he said.

The way Greece has played since their magnificent run at EuroBasket 2005, when they came from behind to beat Russia in the quarter-final, then stunned France in a semi with a late fightback before cruising past Germany in the gold medal game, suggests they can go very far.

Panagiotis Yannakis' team was full of unselfish players last year in Belgrade and with the addition of Olympiacos big man Sofoklis Schortsianitis, they look positively frightening.

"The confidence comes from last year¡¯s success, but the team is maturing and also there is a special compliment - a lot of teams who admire us," Papadopolous said.

"That means that finally, the national team of Greece has a basketball identity."

Indeed, after a victory over France this summer, their point guard Tony Parker remarked that Greece were a model team, one that even Les Bleus should try to emulate.

Greece have excellent guards in Theo Papaloukas, Dimitrios Diamantidis, Nikos Zisis and Vasileios Spanoulis.

And they boast frontline players Michail Kakiouzis, Konstantinos Tsartsaris, Antonios Fotsis and Dimosthenis Ntikoudis.

Yannakis has an embarrassment of riches.

And Greece will not catch Qatar by surprise, that's for sure.

Qatar coach Joey Stiebing said: "They defend, and I¡¯m a defensive oriented coach.

"They don¡¯t really have any weaknesses. I think everyone else is looking up at Greece. I think they¡¯ll be the guys who come out on top and the next three will be pretty even."

Qatar have are not expected to advance from the group, but they are capable of beating anyone an any given day.

It's a big ask going up against Greece, though.

One player who will have to do battle with the Greek big men, Mohammed Saleem, talked about the opponents.

"They are European champions, a tough, big-time basketball team," Saleem said.

"But we already know that. We¡¯re going to do our best, scout these guys, try to contain them and take their keys away.

"But in the back of my mind, we have to be more focused, play a more complete game because these guys are good. We have to rebound, defend, everything. It starts from the warm-ups, even before the warm-ups. It has to be complete, from A to Z."