Just days after Adelaide 36ers star Brad Newley was drafted by the NBA’s Houston Rockets, another young Australian looks to be firmly in the sights of American scouts.

Seven-foot Australian centre Andrew Ogilvy, who is a freshman at Vanderbilt University in the US, is currently ranked as the possible 20th pick in the next NBA Draft in 2008 by the NBA Draftnet website.

The unofficial site tracks likely pro prospects and ranks them according to the predicted position they would be selected by NBA teams in a Mock Draft.

Ogilvy is currently ranked 20th for the 2008 NBA Draft, placing him just outside one of the coveted Lottery picks but inside the first round.

The New South Wales big man leaves on Tuesday with the Australian Under 19 men’s basketball team, the Emus, as they prepare for their World Championship campaign.

Ogilvy and the Emus will contest a four nation pre-World Championship tournament in Caceras, four hours south-west of Madrid, against France, China and Spain before continuing on to Serbia.

There they will contest the 2007 FIBA World Championship for Under 19 men in Novi Sad, Serbia, from July 12 to 22.

The world championships always attract flocks of NBA and European scouts, meaning Ogilvy will have every chance to improve his Draft potential.

Two members of the Emus team that won the 2003 world title, Andrew Bogut and Newley, have since been drafted to the NBA.

The Emus preliminary round games are against Turkey at 4:30am AEST on Friday July 13, Nigeria at 11:45pm AEST on Friday 13 July, and Canada at 8:30pm AEST on Saturday July 14.