Hoops

2017 FIBA Asia Cup - 20/08 GF Australia vs Iran

dat green uniform

There's apparently a story behind it that no one wants to tell.

What argument is there against Ogilvy though? Lemanis consistently doesn't even select him in extended squads when it seems that he would be ahead of someone like Hodgson for this tournament

You can easily argue that the competition was weak, but in the past we've seen Boomers teams with far superior talent play mediocre ball as they play down to the level of their weak opponents, or they play dysfunctional ball, especially at the start of a tournament, as they lack time playing together. The team obviously played better ball later in the tournament, but they didn't ever look lost.

Lemanis made this team function from the get-go, with intensity and unselfishness, as they all appeared to be on the same page. This was basically a team of role players that absolutely dominated the tournament.

I was disappointed that we'd need to send basically a C-team of role players -- without any real star players -- to the Asia Cup, but watching them play was surprisingly entertaining as Lemanis ran an appealing brand of team basketball. I'm looking forward to see this team gel more for the upcoming qualifiers -- and presumably the Commonwealth Games next April -- with hopefully players like Goulding/Lisch/Andersen able to be injected into the group for extra firepower.

Margins (there's that word again) of victory:

16
41
40
26
27
23

It's not tall poppy syndrome.

They had one training session before the tournament and weren't worried in any game. Why? Basic fact - the opposition.

Tall poppy syndrome alive and well!!

Easy to recognise those that suffer from this as they set impossibly high standards for others and low standards for themselves.

Overestimating Lemanis. Opposition was pathetic.

I have to agree with rjd here. Lemanis has taken a team of NBL roleplayers and made them a dominant force. Anyone (and especially Melbourne United fans) know that having a dominant team takes more than having the right players, and Lemanis made the pieces fit and work together seamlessly in record time.

It is great to see Australian basketball on the international stage, no matter what the competition. Our national teams play with a level of comradarie, selflessness, and grit that is iconic, and that, I believe, will one day put us an Olympic podium.

There may not be a single player from the Asia Cup team that ever makes a world cup or olympics, but what they've added to the Boomers is the continuity of the Boomers' culture and standards. On paper they could have been the most underwhelming Boomers' team ever, but their results say otherwise and they should be proud.

Ogilvy stole 2 lunches, 1 beef, 1 chicken.

"Someone please tell us the backstory to the Lemanis AJ beef instead of just constantly alluding to it."

Agreed, won't someone take a pork at it?

Someone please tell us the backstory to the Lemanis AJ beef instead of just constantly alluding to it.

If Lemanis ever grows a brain AJ Ogilvy would have been the starter in this tournament and is also better than any of the other players named

Mathiang would come before Hodgson or Brandt.
Landale also might sneak in there.

Yes. They are not the world's best teams.

No. A SEABL All Stars team would not win this.

Possibly a chance to beat the 4 weakest teams at best. Korea, Iran and New Zealand would thrash them.

Honestly how close do you think a SEABL All Star team would get to what was essentially an NBL All Star team?

It's great pats on the back and all that but it's still just a mickey mouse tournament featuring a third string Boomers side hidden away on Pay TV.

All that might go some way to explaining the lack on interest.

Of course, further to my own question, there is Thon Maker, but he is not the bruiser/foul soak type centre I was thinking of, but would give us some very different looks.

Hard otherwise to see anyone from this team breaking into the WC/Olympic team.

By the way, I have to say that there has been not enough love for this team in this forum. I know the Asia Cup isn't such a high standard and that this is basically our C team, but these guys deserve plenty of praise for the way that they played. They totally dominated. This was a team that some people were claiming was "the worst Boomers team ever" prior to the tournament. We lost borderline A-teamers Andersen, Goulding, and Lisch that were expected to play.

They had one training camp and no practice games, yet they played like a cohesive unit. They showed improvement throughout the tournament, which hopefully serves us well into qualifiers.

They played an entertaining style of game with unselfish play, constant ball movement and intensity that an international tournaments requires. They just got the job done without fuss, as a team. In the past we have seen far superior talented Boomers teams play a far poorer brand of basketball. Lemanis did yet another great job with this crew.

Just thinking through the Aussie Centre stocks and if Bogut never plays for the Boomers again (a realistic possibility despite his stated intention to play on) and Andersen retires, there has to be a prospect Brandt or Hodgson get a chance as injury insurance playing behind Baynes. I can't see Maric or Jawai getting another gig and Motum and Bairstow play different roles. Anyone I am missing?

There is not nearly as much depth in the Boomers at the Centre position anymore. All of the other positions pretty much select themselves from NBA players and past Boomers.

Creek still looks out of control at times vs. Asia Cup opponenets just like in NBL. What is with the no looks passes that go out of bounds/turned over? Argh!

Who from this team might be able to play a role in the A team if injury strikes us?

I know he played out of the second unit, often against weaker competition, but McCarron continued to impress me with what he provided each time he was injected into the game. I could see him playing a role much like Lisch in Rio. By the way, he went for a reasonably modest looking 9.8ppg (FG%=64%, 3pt%=58%), 4.3rpg, 1.3apg, in 19.5mpg, although in that time the team averaged +16.

The other player who might be able to play a role is Creek, although I think we'd have to be crippled with injuries/unavailabilities to see a situation where he'd get meaningful minutes in an A team. How does his game translate against elite international competition?

With the qualifiers...
Who comes into the team? Who gets cut?

This Boomers team was very evenly spread, so I assume the explanation for nobody in the all-tournament 5 was that they stole votes from each other. Although Creek seemed like the obvious selection as the Australian representative in the 5.

Local hero El Khatib was always going to be in the 5. Also Haddidi was the main MVP candidate. I'm not sure if the 5 is selected by position C-2F-2G, but if it is, it leaves two forwards and a guard. Ili deserves selection, so that leaves 2 forwards. Creek was unlucky to be rated below both Oh and Jamshidi here, although the latter put up some very impressive numbers, albeit in 10 minutes more per game than Creek.

Lol

QBL allstar 10 aussies would be:

Tom Jervis, Shaun Bruce, Lucas Walker, Mitch Young, Damon Heuir, Alex Loughton, Todd Blanchfield, Matt Kenyon, Josh Wilcher and Izzy Tueta.

That team would have been competitive too!

just out of interest - who would be the SEABL allstar 10 aussies?

Stats show other teams had no nbl players and they lost by a lot

Cadee problem isn't offence, though he can be quiet with good defender on him it's the other end of the court he struggles.

Did Andersen fly home early? He wasn't at the medal ceremony, only eleven players on the podium.

"When are our next matches?"

In November when the 2019 World Cup qualifers begin. It will be a bit boring with our group having two of the three teams who were in our group at the Asia Cup. The other team in our group are the Philippines.

24 November 2017 Chinese Taipei-Australia
27 November 2017 Australia-Japan

BA yet to reveal which stadiums are hosting our home games.

Its kind of laughable that the Australian team had no one make the all tournament starting 5. Not sure how often a team that wins a tournament doesnt get a single player into the 5.

Matt - was thinking the same thing last night. I would say a SEABL team would be champions as well, but obviously with smaller margins of victory.

#1 Anon Poster it's typical of most basketball fans. They only know NBL & NBA and nothing about the rest of the world, yet still feel qualified to make comments on here when they no SFA. But also the bookmakers had no idea - before the tourney began you could've got $3.20 on Aus winning - LOL! Although the markets were shallow so max bet would be super low.

My favourite comment was the SF one about NZ being good value at $5. Bwahahahaha!

I wonder how an Australian SEABL all stars side would have gone at the 2017 Asia cup. Rule for All stars is they can't of played 1-minute of NBL and all local not SEABL imports. I reckon the SEABL All stars would have pushed Iran hard, maybe win. And playing tall blacks c team would have been close to..

So NBL are basically champions of Asia. and not even the best NBL twelve played. Let that sink in. NBL baby, it's all fun.

Newley 18, Kickert 14, Creek 12, Brandt 10.

Brandt 8 boards, Kickert and Hodgson 6 (inc 5 offensive).

Cadee with 8 assists.

Consistent tournament for Creek, unlucky not to get an all-tournament team spot.


South Korea meanwhile got the bronze over NZ.

Australia have powered their way to the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup undefeated, accounting for Iran 79-56 in the championship game.

A c team against a bunch of b teams.

An impressive 17 point lead at the half, building momentum towards the end of the 2nd.

There was a very shaky stretch after the strong start which saw Newley deciding to start playing some decent ball in the tournament. Reminders of the Boomers issues handling Sabonis with the way Hadidi dominated at one point, but at the half Hadidi looks way too out of shape to handle the pace of the Boomers style of game. Hadidi has received some favourable calls to stay out of serious foul trouble, but I like the way the team is staying aggressive against him. The whole team looking well drilled and confident, maintaining motion off the ball and moving the ball well. If the team again wins by 20+, Lemanis has to gain a lot of credit for making this Australia C team without any real stars such a dominant force in the tournament.

inb4 gold

Reckon Aussie will win this my mate went to Iran and he reckons they havent hear of basketball there

With Portland trading away both miller and Fernandez how does this affect pattys future next summer?

Will they resign him and will he get more meaningfull minutes this season or will they let him go in free agency?