After a nearly 20-month absence from action, the Japan men's basketball team is back with a big attraction in Yuta Tabuse, and is trying to move on to the next level with the one-time phenom.

Tabuse played in exhibition games with the national team in 1998, when he was at Noshiro Technical High School in Akita Prefecture, but would make his debut with the top squad if he makes the cut for the upcoming FIBA East Asia Championship in Komaki, Aichi Pref., in June.

(He had played on the Under-21 national team in 2001.)