Hoops

What happened to SA Teams at Junior Classic?

Having 3 identities-- Does that mean you're Trisexual or Tripolar?

Just read this threat and a few comments

Kids to develop at different rates and if more effort was put into developing coaches then we would have a better opportunity at developing more players.

Picking kids early for SASI/ITC programs is just a joke. These kids are usually either tall for age or have bigger body bulk. By 16/18s they are usually not to be seen

Finally too many coaches become obsessed with height or specific players. They see one or two players as the key to their team and build their game around them. The vicious circle begins with those two kids growing in confidence and others not being given a chance or indeed not even notice.

The coach that did not notice his big man not getting the ball, probably did not notice what other kids were doing either (unless they were the select few).

OK - my 2 cents worth was put up in another posting on the subject of Classic and as I stated then "not many interstate teams would fair well against the Vics as this years groups that made it are very strong"
Next year may be different but we can all bitch about that when the time comes.

CONGRATULATIONS again to all who participated

overall rating of this years classic - 8.5/10
1.5 deduction for inconsistent reffing

To responders ...

1. Grammer/grammar - yeah, hit the button too soon !! LOL

2. I watched many Bulleen games

I'm not getting in on the refs debate - just don't go there, that is a normal complaint from any competition or tournament - yawn.

My other general observation is - the SA teams just don't quite get enough of that tough competition at the top.

In looking at results from SA District - your "power" teams seem to only get a few competitive games each season and only when they play each other - the rest of the games are pretty one sided results.

In VJBL we have a similar issue across the Championship division - but at least half way through the season the pools are split into top half and bottom half - so for half the season there are no easy games.

There's nothing like tough close games to keep a team improving and able to play at the very top level (which the Classic certainly is) - I suspect that is one of the elements involved here.

Just a VicObserver's observation ...

Totally disagree with Vic refs being brilliant - my opinion they were terrible this year! So suprised at that as prior to Classics I did hold them in the highest regard! What they called and didn't call changed from qtr to qtr! One minute body was good next it wasn't, no hands then all hands allowed it was just down right confusing! As I said I have always felt they ref the game the way it should but this week has left me wondering what has changed over there!

Mimas44, What barriers do you see that prevent kids from entering the sport, and what can be done to grow the sport to double its size?

I think the main thing is to move forward. Some of these anchors holding the sport back need to be cut.

With around 400,000 people living in Country SA and about 1,100,000 in Metro, one would expect around 27% of all registrations to be Country and 73% Metro if participation rates were about the same. Obviously, if Country and Metro playing numbers are about the same, then participation rates in Metro are significantly lower.

I would expect that country people are more likely to participate in sport and so some natural bias is expected. The Country leagues are probably more centred around summer due to the footy and netball demands.

If the participation rate is lower in metro, then the aim should be to increase participation to make the elite point of the pyramid better. We should be looking at get more kids into the sport for the benefit of everyone, not putting up barriers to entry.

I see 2 points on why Vics are getting better results.

1: Massive numbers to chose from

2: Superior facilities

I agree with "Jack Toft" and BSA need to stop penny pinching and get a new direction in promoting basketball within SA.
Bigger facilities and more kids.
Do you know that SA Country has more registered players(senior/junior) than Metro?

I see 2 points on why Vics are getting better results.

1: Massive numbers to chose from

2: Superior facilities

I agree with "Jack Toft" and BSA need to stop penny pinching and get a new direction in promoting basketball within SA.
Bigger facilities and more kids.
Do you know that SA Country has more registered players(senior/junior) than Metro?

It's not all about height ...

In the Under 18 men, North Bears (Sydney) should have won it (twice !) and were way shorter than the Melbourne Tigers. But the Bears had a gun guard who could shoot the lights out and penetrate the paint - #10, sorry don't know his name. The Tigers certainly used their height, but only just got away with it.

In the Under 18 women, Norwood and Sturt were easily had the tallest teams in the tournament. The two grand finalists, Melbourne and Bulleen, barely have one 5 man each ... but they win out through superior skills, especially in offensive execution and then shooting to finish off.

To be fair, it's tough to travel interstate - I watched both Sturt and Norwood play Bulleen, and they both seriously ran out of steam in the second half.

You need a balanced team in height, but able to run the floor and work as a team at both ends. And as others point out, it helps to develop the basic skills young but then you need to keep the kids in the sport.

A Vic observer.

#475

bingo.

The Vics have a larger population to draw from, and yes height does have some influence, but the play style of Vic teams is different and as far as organization is concerned, SA needs to start pulling in the same direction instead of the current setup