LAS PALMAS (FIBA Basketball World Cup/FIBA Oceania Championship) - There was a lot of frustration and disappointment for Australia when they lost in the closing seconds to Turkey at the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

The Round of 16 exit meant that the Boomers had come up well short of their pre-tournament aim to fight for a medal.

There was a look of exasperation on the faces of coach Andrej Lemanis and all of the youngsters in the squad, and for the veterans like Brad Newley, players champing at the bit to have some success in a major international basketball tournament.

Australia, even without injured guard Pat Mills, had a great chance of advancing to the Quarter-Finals but lost to the Turks, 65-64.

Even so, there were plenty of good times for Australia at the World Cup.

And rest assured, the setback did not ruin anyone's life.

"You wake up the next day and you move onto your club and you can forget about it," Newley said to FIBA.com.

"That’s the lucky thing that we have (in our profession)."

For Newley, that meant going back to Gran Canaria and playing for one of the greatest coaches in Spanish basketball history, Aito Garcia.

Garcia took the reins of the team after a spell at the helm of Cajasol Sevilla.

He was the coach of Spain's silver-medal winning side at the 2008 Olympics.

"He’s a very good coach. He’s had a lot of success in his career. 

"One thing is that I am learning a lot of things from him that I haven’t previously seen before so, he’s a teacher and sometimes that’s a good thing. It’s enjoyable."

Once the season comes to an end, Newley can again turn his attention to Australia and that is something that he is already looking forward to doing.

He loves getting together with his "good mates" and playing for the country.

Newley also wants  to help make sure that Australia win the FIBA Oceania Championship and qualify for the 2016 Olympics.

"Rio is my biggest goal," he said. 

"I want to get there.

"I'll be 31 years old and I’m one of the veterans of the team and I want to be a leader of that team. 

"It’s a very exciting group (of players) that we have now."

New Zealand revealed themselves to be a talented, exciting team at the World Cup and got just as far as Australia did, the Round of 16.

It took a huge effort from Lithuania to defeat the Tall Blacks, 76-71.

The Kiwis had some terrific players and plenty of desire.

They squad will only become more formidable if Steven Adams of the Oklahoma City Thunder joins them this summer.

"New Zealand get better every year," Newley said. 

"They’ve got Adams now, an inside presence, and a couple of other guys popping up around the place so, this off season is very big for us when we have our qualification."

FIBA