Canada has several talented younger players in the pipeline, such as Andrew Wiggins and Myck Kabongo, but they are not part of this summer's qualifying team.

"I would love to have Andrew and Kabongo in but what people have to realize is … with almost all of our kids going into the first year of university, we almost have to write them off," said Leo Rautins. "Unless they’re straight 4.0 students and have taken a class somewhere along the way, we’re not getting them.

"All the NCAA coaches are terrified of their kids not qualifying (academically) … so it’s almost a guarantee you’re not going to get them."