Hoops

2012 Opals Squad Named

Aw. Seems Jarry is some kinda supa being from somewhere else ^ , and some are not taking Phillips ^
You're pretty good at it.

TMK, I don't disagree with anything you have said about Harrower. It's just that IMO, despite all of those deficiencies she is still better than any of our other options. It's officially the end of the era in which we had more world class PGs than we knew what to do with, and unfortunately the young replacements have yet to step up and fill the void.

I expect MacLeod to play plenty of minutes because she is tough and can reliably stick the outside shot, and that is going to be important to stop defences collapsing onto LJ, Liz & Suzy.

IMO height is something we just have to live without for now at the PG spot. The closest thing we have to a tall one is Veal, but I just don't think she is quite at the level of some of our other options.
The rest of the world is not exactly stacked with tall PGs so I wouldn't get too hung up on that aspect. Bird, Harding, Montgomery and Whalen are all 5'9 or under (and those are listed heights - we all know what those are worth).

"dan care to match us up with team USA and where we can get an advantage."

Maybe Penny Taylor at the 3. Possibly LJ at the 4 if she is fit & firing (that's a big if). That is all. We have quality at the 5 spots but theirs is better, and I don't even want to think about the guard positions.

Bottom line: we're screwed against the USA. They have awesome players at every position and far more importantly, depth. That's where they will get us, as always. We can usually put 5 quality players on the floor and genuinely compete with them, but as soon as we go to our bench we take a big step down in class, and they don't take any.

What we really need to concern ourselves with is not finishing 5th again. That was disgraceful. There is no reason we shouldn't come home with the silver this year given our personnel and the extensive preparation together that we will have. My opinion of our head coach is not high, however, so it is far from a given. What we must NOT do is commit the monumental screw-up we did in the worlds by throwing everything we had at the USA in the preliminary round. The second thing we must do is keep the big picture in mind and not run Harrower, Taylor & Jackson into the ground by the end of the first week.

In the gold medal game, if we make it, well anything is possible on the night. If we play at our best and they have a poor one then yeah we could get it. Realistically though I think that if we played them a dozen times we'd win one. Hopefully that 1 in 12 comes on the right night.

TMK,

Yes - Richards' place is obviously doubtful due to her health (and a history of health issues).

Re: 4 point guards, I don't consider Phillips to be a PG. To me she is a 2 that can handle the ball, but she is not really a playmaker. I have her in there at the 2 spot because our only other 2 is Snell. (O'Hea can also fill in at 2 but I worry about her quickness there at international level)

I am a huge Jarry fan and left her out only because I think Penny & Jenna take care of the 3 spot.

I'm not 100% happy with my Francis pick but my rationale is that we need extra depth at the 4 to give LJ as much rest as possible through the tournament. (Then again maybe I should just face the reality that Carrie will run her into the ground regardless and use the spot for the best possible player rather than going by positions!)

I agree that Tolo is better than Francis but she is effective only within about 2' of the basket, and we already have Batkovic & Cambage in the team who are a level above. No way could I justify a 3rd centre unless they are versatile, and Tolo unfortunately is as un-versatile as they come.

Who else could replace Francis in my team? As I mentioned before my #1 option would be Cox. Very smart, can play inside/outside, and is all hustle. #2 option would be Jarry. Hodges (Summerton) would be after that in my order.

If Harrower is healthy then she must play IMO. That's why I'm taking 3 PG's - to allow Kristi lots of bench time and to cover us if she breaks down. But she is still a class above everyone else when it comes to running a team at the moment.

The guard spots are in a sad state for the Opals atm, unfortunately. It's a shame because we have never been stronger from 3-5.

Mine first instinct is exactly the same 12 as Camel 31.

The one change I'd be tempted to make is Cox for Francis/Bishop. Cox is more of a tweener, but also has a more rounded game, very high basketball iq and is all hustle. In the end though I think I'd probably stick with the original 12 purely because we need to nurse Jackson through as much as possible, and that means having added depth at the 4 spot.

The squad also has way too many point guards. Tess Madgen should feel pretty ripped off, and I also would have liked to see Steph Cumming in there. Neither would make it to London but they're the future wings for this team.

Cambage Batkovic
Jackson Bishop Francis
Taylor O'Hea
Snell Phillips
Harrower Richards Macleod

I say it , so it must be so.

Massive squad....

Will be their last shot at it with Jackson/Taylor and Harrower..

Now or never ladies....

Also Graf better bring her A game

Link: http://basketball.net.au/index.php?id=302&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2342&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1&cHash=09e5f57a53

Was busy earlier hence the data dump...

A very strong squad overall. Let's hope that fitness and availability prevail for a good crack at gold.

Wonder when the men's squad will be announced?

Any News on Brad at NBA draft?