A lot of summer competitions are nice but not particularly relevant, but it will be very interesting to see how two incoming SLU players, Cody Ellis and Christian Salecich, do at the FIBA U19 World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. The first game for the Emus, as the Australian youth team is called, is at 5 p.m. on Thursday in Auckland, which, if I’m doing my math right, means it will be at midnight on Wednesday here. (That is, at the very end of Wednesday, or the very start of Thursday.)

From what I can tell, you can watch the games on the FIBA website for $8 (for the whole tournament), though it’s unclear to me if you can watch the first round games live. From the quarterfinals on, all the games are live. For the truly dedicated among you, you may have to poke around. And in any case, you may not want to watch them live, since it will be from midnight to 2 a.m. for the first two games. The last first-round game, against Syria, tips at a more reasonable 6 p.m. St. Louis time. (Again, assuming I’m doing the math right.)

From a Q and A with Australian coach Marty Clarke on the FIBA website:

What are a couple players to keep an eye on when watching this tournament?

I think Brock Motum is one player, Cody Ellis is another guy. Matt Dellavedova and Ryan Broekhoff are two Melbourne kids, two Victorian kids. They’ve shown that they’re good internationally and they’ve been guys who have been in the program a long time. Those would be the four guys I’d probably pick out. Jorden Page, depending on, he’s injured at the moment, so he may or may not play in this tournament, he’s certainly a guy who’s exciting to watch and exciting to follow as a player.

 Meanwhile, at the Four Nations Tournament, an event leading up to the worlds, the Emus finished first, beating Spain in the final. Ellis, the team’s vice captain (?), made the event’s All Star Five. Ellis had 13 points in the final win over Spain.

And if you want more on the other games at the tournament, go here. The links up above on the players’ names will give you their game-by-game stats.