Hoops

U17 World Championships for Women

#166 - you are right about the Oceania appointments but that group tends to run parallel to the World's program. In the past it has been used as both a development tour (many of this year's Gems went there when identified as top age 16's from memory) and also a way to keep perimeter players involved (they may not be part of the core group for the World's but BA wants them to stay involved in some way?).

Good list #167. Would think you can scratch Lono and his assistants (Tomley and Fillipou) from that list - don't know that BA would ask them to back up so quickly (regardless of where they finished).

I've heard a Bairstow whisper and Turton was high on the list for a while. Personally, I think they'd both do an outstanding job (I've had the opportunity to see them both work with teams in tournaments and they are excellent - Bairstow just in front) as would Pitchard although I suspect you can rule him out if he is taking the team to Oceania.

Dont know the Vic guys and its possibly hard to judge with the talent they have at their disposal. Simpson went very close to getting rolled by an under-strength (but Pritchard-coached) SA team at the 20's 2 years ago (with Cambage and 4 other AIS girls in his group) while Pollock (6 Aus squad members) went within a possession of getting rolled by Qld Sth (3)at 18's this year. Do you get style points for winning at Nationals?

Cant see how Dalton could do the job along with the Flames gig. Ditto for Herbert/(team formerly known as Lynx).

So by my reckoning that list is now:
Pollock
Lucas
Simpson
Bairstow
Turton

Forget about trying to guess the players! Anybody heard anything about the permanent coach for this group?

Phil Brown was there as an interim measure and I have heard some talk of him getting the gig through to the Worlds but its a big ask for somebody to run teh AIs program (including the upcoming WNBL season), be an Assistant to the Opals (in a World Championship year) AND run the Gems program as well.

Who else is out there?

Defensive guards will never get selected as points shot is the only stat that seems to get looked at.I congratulate those in the team ,and was wondering if others have players they think were close to selection or should be looked at.IMO the point from QLD sth who was great at last years school nationals and fom looking over many years the guard from SA country.Dont know her name but she might have been Cap.Always played great D over many years at classic and other sturt games

Defensive guards will never get selected as points shot is the only stat that seems to get looked at.I congratulate those in the team ,and was wondering if others have players they think were close to selection or should be looked at.IMO the point from QLD sth who was great at last years school nationals and fom looking over many years the guard from SA country.Dont know her name but she might have been Cap.Always played great D over many years at classic and other sturt games

Defensive guards will never get selected as points shot is the only stat that seems to get looked at.I congratulate those in the team ,and was wondering if others have players they think were close to selection or should be looked at.IMO the point from QLD sth who was great at last years school nationals and fom looking over many years the guard from SA country.Dont know her name but she might have been Cap.Always played great D over many years at classic and other sturt games

Maybe Lono in his review to BA should let them know his offence revolved around Tippet and Roberts (fair enough), but didnt pick anyone who could shoot the lights out.
Also that he couldnt get girls to guard perimeter which was a standout in games against sides that had a team that could shoot the ball.
Hopefully someone learns from this

Australia has pummeled Spain 74-48 to take 7th spot at the inaugural U17 World Championships for women.

Roberts scored a game-high 25 points and had 14 rebounds, and was well supported by Tippett with 14 and Blicavs with 10.

Australia comprehensively won the rebound count 52-21 and this paved the way for the big win to round off the tournament.

Final standings:

1. USA
2. France
3. China
4. Belgium
5. Japan
6. Russia
7. Australia
8. Spain

Chinese player Meng Li was named tournament MVP.

Gretel Tippett was ranked 4th in scoring, with Roberts 7th. Tippett was 7th for rebounding and Roberts 9th. Tippett was 8th for blocked shots, but 5th for turnovers. Tippett tied for 1st with 3 double-doubles, whilst Roberts had 2. Roberts ranked 4th for FG %.

Australia lost by 3 points to Japan overnight, meaning Australia will now play for 7th position against Spain.

Gretel Tippett was a shining light leading all scoers with a massive double-double of 34 points and 16 rebounds to go with 4 assists and 2 blocks. Next best for the Aussies was Blicavs with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, and Mijovic with 16 points. No other Aussies scored in double figures.

Japan shot Australia down, much like Belgium did, from the perimeter, nailing 13/24 from long range. Australia had a 47-33 rebound avantage but this time were able to limit their turnovers to just 10 for the game.

Australia lost to France in the quarter final overnight, going down 59-69.

Tippett top-scored for the Aussies with 17 points, Talbot had 10 points, and no other Aussie scored in double-digits.

Australia now play against Japan, with the winner earning the right to play-off for 5th spot.

Aussie Aussie Aussie - as I had hoped I had clearly indicated - I was trying to have a freindly dig at the wording (I know its an SA site, I know their is a bias here towards SA kids, both positive and negative) - obviously didn't come off that way so my apologies.

Unfortunately this thread seems to have split into two camps.

Camp 1 - blind support for the kids who are over there doing their best (no argument from me about the fact that all the girls are doing their best and earned their selection).

Camp 2 - those who see opportunities for improvement or alternative paths (unfortunately there are some in this camp whose alterative path is simply Player X is hopeless! - not necessary or productive) who tend to be derided by the residents of Camp 1 as somehow being 'unpatriotic'.

I've said numerous times before that it is hard to argue with he success of the current Australian system - but I am also a person who believes there are ALWAYS opporuntities for improvements.

I'm involved in this area in basketball and other sports and on a philosphical level - am trying to work out how a sport can do this better.

There are girls in this team (history suggests) whose international career will finish at the end of this tournament. That is not a criticism of those kids, it is not to say there positions are unwarranted, it is not to say that it is a bad thing - as other posters have said, they are many, many Australian singlets ahead of most posters on here. It is ismply the way our pathways work. Roughly 50% of the Gems team which went away last year was not present at the initial gathering of the group when first brought together (after U16's Nationals) - is this simply the way it has to be or is it soemthing which can be improved?

My questions are simple - is there a better way to do this and if so, what is it? AND - if I was coaching there what could be done to improve the team's performance (the tone of some of the posts). Nothing personal against the team, the coaches or the staff. Just some (hopefully) interesting discussion.

Australia play France tonight in order to qualify for the medal rounds...

So what was the expectation?.....if losing means under control ,I say Well Done

I think some of the coaching and game time is questionable, I don't think the selections are. I can't think of another girl in SA better or works harder than these 3, if you can you are probably biaised. We are lucky to have 3 SA girls representing SA.

And here I was thinking it was an Australian team - didn't realise all the players had to come from SA :). Would not your last statement indicate maybe there are better players out there? Just having a dig!

It appears game plan is to give it to the bigs and forget the rest.Point guards appear to be struggling with minimal assissts and points .The turnovers do not surprise some as ,like others i believe the best 2 point gaurds are back here in Aus.And yes thats just my opinion and not slamming team just an opinion.Only players with licence to shoot are (1 from NSW) and (1 From Vic).Good family history on one and very popular with the coach the other .wow Belgium 37 3 point attempts to aussies 5

Some people on this forum need to build a bridge and get over it...

3rd in their pool and a quarter-final against France may not be a bad outcome IF they can get past France. That would give them a semi-final against Belgium which would seem to be a better option than a possible match-up against the US.

At any tournament you will have players sitting for extedned periods of time (Russ Hinder was famously once told by Goorjian that 'we'll take you but you're not going to get any time'). So the minutes distribution is about what i would have expected.

What worries me is our apparent inability to shut down the three - surely with the size we have inside any tough two is better than being bombed out of games as we now have been twice by China and Belgium.

Australia lost to Belgium in their final group game overnight, going down 61-67.

Taylor Roberts led all scorers with 23 points and 14 rebounds and was supported by Gretel Tippett with 16 points and 10 rebounds - both girls racking up double-doubles. However no other Aussies scored in double digits in the loss.

The Aussies shot a better percentage from the field than Belgium but were a woeful 56% from the free throw line (14/25). They also had a 48-27 rebound advantage and could not capitilise as they turned it over 25 times to just 12 for the Belgians.

Australia are scheduled to face France in their quarter final contest. The winner would face either Belgium or Japan in the semi-final.

Australia thrashed basketball minnows Mali overnight, winning 88-39.

The Aussies had a good spread of scorers with 5 reaching double digits. Roberts led the way with 17 (7/7 FG), Tippett had 16, Blicavs 14, Bunton 13 and Thompson with 10 and 11 rebounds.

The Aussies next face a Belgium team that beat China and Spain but were upset by Argentina. China play European champions Spain in their last game. If the Aussies beat Belgium and Spain beat China, the Aussies will top their group. If China beat Spain and the Aussies beat Belgium, we finish 2nd. If we lose to Belgium, we will finish 3rd in the group.

#749 - you raise some interesting points - unfortunately your thorugh analysis has overlooked one of the squad members - Qld Sth had three players in the 20.

AWM - don't think anybody's shown 'issues', just raised some discussion.

The better the girls go the better everybody in Australian basketball looks so I dont think there'll be too many 'death-riding' the girls.

Good win overnight agaisnt Argentina. Next up we face Mali and then Belgium to round off the preliminary group stage. Two wins and we can finish as high as 1st or worst as 2nd in group.

Stop all this "tall poppy syndrome"
Stop bagging kids, should be proud we have 3 SAC kids in Australian side.
Tough loss to China, couldnt sustain for 4 quarters.
Good luck against Argentina

Australia lost to China overnight as outlined by another post, going down 75-92.

Roberts led the Aussies with 14, Tippett had 13 and Blicavs 12 for the Aussies.

They have a 1-1 record and next play against Argentina.

How about we stop being whinging farks and start supporting all Australian girls...

I hope every kid that made this side does well, even for the 30 seconds they play..after all it will be 30 seconds more than I have ever spent in the green and gold...and probably some other posters...

I know its not Basketball but this might interest a feww people. IN a quick review its about last years , superbowl winning Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, he fell off his Motocycle and got several facial fractures.
Heres the link
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2480830

Australia faced European champions Spain first up early this morning and had a major battle on their hands.

Spain was in front 57-54 with 2:21 left in what was a tight content with little separating the teams all the way. However Gretel Tippett’s basket with 1:13 left to play proved the difference, as Spain could'nt score again as the Aussies prevailed 58-57.

Tippett and Roberts (9reb) scored 13 each, whilst Mijovic had 11 points.

Australia next play China in the wee hours of Sunday morning. China won their fist game easily against Argentina.