TEHRAN (2015 FIBA U19 World Championship) - Iran enter the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship looking to take the next step in the development in basketball in the country.

Head coach Farzad Koohian believes his team will benefit greatly from appearing at the competition, where the Asian powers have been drawn into Group A with the United States, Croatia and Egypt.

"It's great for this generation to participate in the best level tournament in the world and compare themselves with world class top teams," said Koohian.

“But to reach development, we should find a way to make [the players] top adult players."

Koohian took over the reins of the team from Milos Pejic, who guided Iran to an undefeated run until the final of the 2014 FIBA Asia U18 Championship before losing in the Final to China.

"We learned [at the FIBA Asia U18s] that we need to work more and try to develop our performance," he recalled.

The coach said he wants his team to be characterised by hustle and effort on the defensive end, as well as being a real team.

"All teammates must help the others to do their best," he went on.

Iran will be playing at the FIBA U19 World Championship, which runs from 27 June-5 July in Heraklion (Crete), Greece, for the second time in a row.

In 2013, Iran beat Argentina in the Preliminary Round as well as in the 11th-Place Game. They also played against top nations such as Spain, Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and Brazil.

Even though one of Iran's top players from 2013 will be back this summer - Mohammad Yousofvand - Koohian refused to buy too much into the experience learned from Prague two summers ago.

"Each tournament is a new story because of players changing in teams. And we cannot compare any cup with the past," he warned.

In 2013, Yousofvand averaged 6.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals while shooting 61 percent from the field as a 17-year-old. Since then, he has become a leader in the Iranian Super League with Takmash Qazvin.

After averaging 15.4 points and 10.0 rebounds at last summer's FIBA Asia's U18 Championship, Yousofvan entered his fourth season as a professional in Iran. And he averaged 10.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals for Qazvin, including a monster 32-point, 14-rebound, four-steal and four-block game against Samen last December.

Point guard Mahyar Mehr will be key to Iran's chances in Greece as well, and the playmaker got into four Super League games for Mahram Tehran.

When asked what he expects from Yousofvand and Mehr, Koohian said: "We expect all of our players to do their best and play with their heart and do exactly what we want from them."

FIBA