Boomers squad 2005:

David Andersen (CSKA, Italy),
Chris Anstey (Unics, Russia),
Stephen Black (Brisbane/Laurenta, Italy),
Andrew Bogut (Utah),
Aaron Bruce (Baylor University),
CJ Bruton (Sydney),
Jacob Holmes (Adelaide),
Daniel Kickert (St. Mary's University),
Alex Loughton (Old Dominion University),
Sam Mackinnon (West Sydney),
Brett Maher (Adelaide/Besiktas, Turkey),
Steven Markovic (West Sydney),
Damian Martin (Loyola Marymount University),
Brad Newley (Townsville),
Matthew Nielsen (PAOK, Greece),
Damian Ryan (Air AV University),
Glen Saville (Wollongong),
Jason Smith (Sydney/Cibona Zagreb, Croatia),
Luke Schenscher (Georgia Tech),
Mark Worthington (Metro State University).

Staff: Brian Goorjian

Anyone else heard of Aaron Bruce and Mark Worthington?

I thought Maher had retired from the Boomers.

Notable omissions Rillie, Dwight and Cattalini. Catt could well be still recovering from injury.

It's very focussed on young players which can only be good.

Well done to Jacob.

now that this squad has been announced, does it mean there is no chance of shane heal un-retiring, again??? With boy-goorj as coach, its not completley unlikely...is it?

The Cat should be in the squad, even if he is recovering from injury.

With all the young guys in there, guys like Oscar and Luke Kendall could have had a shot.

Thank God Tony Ronaldson's name isn't on there.

Kendall ahead of Markovic even. Have a look at some of Kendall's statlines from last season before he got injured, and on a stacked team -- pretty impressive.

I like Markovic, but Kendall has that extra height needed at international level. I don't know much about some of the college players apart from what I've read in SLAM.

Good to see Dwight not in there. He's past it. Had a shocker this year. Maybe MacKinnon should have gone the same way.

Starting 5

PG - Black
SG - Newley
SF - Nielsen
PF - Bogut
C - Anstey

I think its good to have some 'young' guys .. but a couple of the college boys havent had much form since their u/21 rep. days.

See Damian Martin (4.3pts/29.1 mins/game) 6ft2" .. might struggle . Good passer , but we have a number of pg/sg who CAN score !
Rillie would be a better choice here.. and what ever happened to Frank Drmic ?
Aaron Bruce is a good choice though .. seems to be a good defensive player (we need some) and can shoot the ball well too .

If someone wants to research the height of this team .. ill think youll find we are a little 'short' on numbers in the 4 spot.
That is unless you play Bogut/Anderson/Anstey/Schenser in rotation in 4 spot rather than 5 ??.. Loughton seems to be the only genuine 4 in the team (worthington maybe too?? 6'8)

Aaron Bruce is from Horsham, and I beleive was ranked very highly among this years freshman class?? Surprised there is no Rillie, would his age be a factor?

CJ shouldnt be there, Stephen black is too undersised for the boomers but could be good in the closing minutes if we are down a few. Sam Mac is a has been and no way should be on the list, Cat definately should be, he would smash sam mckinnon in all areas.
9/20 come from the NBL.
7/20 college players.
Very young squad, only good for the future.

My bad .. i totally missed Kickert at 6'10 .. a good 4 spot ..

Re Rillie's age .. he is young enough to poll so well this yr in the NBL POW .. he has to be good enough !

I love Cat ... but i dont think he'll be around for the next Olympics.. Having said that he is better than Sammy Mac!!

Re: Dwight ... while a sook .. could teach the kids how to be a landlord !

Wothington plays for the Div II College team Metro State for Denver University, coached by some dude called Mike Dunlap.

Here is some info:

Junior Season (2003-04)

Worthington was twice named Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Player-of-the-Week...At the end of the season, he was named to the RMAC Second Team All-East Division... Earned one RMAC top Individual Performer nomination during the 2003-04 season... Played in all 35 games for the Roadrunners, starting 22 of them... Third on the team with a field goal percentage of .513... Led the team with his 3-point percentage of .500... Averaged 11.7 points per game with a season total of 411... First on the 'Runners in both free throw attempts and free throws made with 169 and 111, respectively... Gained a total of 141 rebounds during the season, fourth most on the team... Worthington finished with 57 steals and 11 blocked shots... Played 765 minutes, fourth most of the Roadrunners.

Sophomore Season (2002-03)

Fourth on the team in scoring with 232 points (7.0 per game)... Grabbed 119 rebounds (3.6 per game), third highest on the squad... Played in each of the Roadrunners' 33 games, starting in nine... Averaged 20.2 minutes per game and competed in 667 total minutes throughout the season... Blocked 10 shots, which was third-highest on the team... Tallied 25 assists and 24 steals... Went 45-for-72 from the free-thow line (.625)... Worthington contributed a season-high 15 points against CU-Colorado Springs on January 3, 2003... Blocked a season-high four shots against Holy Names College on November 30, 2002.

Freshman Season (2001-02)

Saw a lot of playing time in his first season as a Roadrunner, playing in 32 games and starting nine... Went 10-for-15 from the field, including four three-pointers en route to scoring a career-high 24 points against Adams State... Shot well from the field, making 44 of 100 shots (44.0 percent)... Showed good range from beyond the arc by hitting 18 three-pointers (38.3 percent)... Worthington's strength off the boards led to 60 rebounds on the season, 28 of which came on the offensive end... Worthington's best all-around game was against Rocky Mountain College, when he scored 15 points, seven rebounds, four steals, and blocked three shots.

Australind Senior High Schoool

Worthington graduated from Australind Senior High School in 2000... He lists playing small forward for the school basketball team... Named to the All-Australian Team... Worthington's high school team also won the Australian Championship.

Dr D... who's backin Gorg? or does no one want to be his assistant. ha ha ha!

Pg - S.Black/CJ.Bruton
Sg - B.Maher/J.Smith
Sf - G.Saville/M.Nielsen
Pf - A.Bogut/D.Andersen
C - C.Anstey/L.Schenscher

It will be intersting to see how these established players mix with the plethora of young college players. As for the assistant coach, no news on basketball.net just yet

"plethora" Dr D, that's a pretty big word... you really a Dr?

but squad not lookin bad. Interesting that many of the squad playing overseas, does this suggest something about the Australian program...

Isn't Joyce his assistant again.

FoxSports has Joyce as the assistant coach in their article.

Plethora was obviously word of the day on his calendar!
Mahersy wsill be feeling old in that team wouldn't he!
Jacob's going to have to lift his game if he's a chance. If he can find his game that resembles his start to last season he may be in with a chance!

JB & ITA, dont be jealous. i can rephrase if you'd like

"It will be intersting to see how these established players mix with the plethora of young college players"

(in keeping with the direction of maturity over the past week becomes)

"i reckon all da younga ballers wid da hella old ballas is gonna be weird how dey mix 'n stuff, like, youse all know, coz der is lots of straight out ballers, dat is still not old."

Cat should be in, and who's this Bogut dude?

Dr D... see now people understand you yo.

not every1 has a dickshunary.

but to bring the maturity back up...

cheers coach k and TR for your research on Joyce making a$$... if you keep it up you'll be able to put "Dr" in front of your name like Drunkenstein.

Jus playin Dr D ;)

im sorry doc, newley is very promising but not a national team starter. especially if he is going to carry on leading leagues in turnovers.

if he was a great player he would not have that many turnovers no matter what team he played in. and jealous, what of? a freaky looking praying mantus who thinks his shit doesn't stink when he returns to abl, i dont think so. his turnovers have unfortunately come about because he has got too far ahead of himself too early, its amazing how a couple of awards can change a person. dont get me wrong though the boy has talent and can make it but in his case it is all mental from here. great players can make any adjustment neccessary, i will allow him the first game or two but by the third is 8 turnovers still acceptable for an up and coming superstar? i think not. nice try anyway anon.

Hmmm so are they saying that jacob is a better option that Cat?

I think not!

Joe Mayo, have you seen Newley tear up NBL? Who cares what his stats are in ABL? I'm pretty sure Goorjian and the NBA scouts don't.

The amount of natural talent, athleticism and agressiveness the kid has will see him compete and star at international level.

Andrew Gaze said he is the most exciting player Australia has seen since..... Andrew Gaze. Who am I to argue with the Great One?

So Crosswhite is officially out of the picture?

With all the college players he picked, bit of a surprise he didn't pick Sam Harris (7'3 giant from Tasmania who won gold two years ago).

Statman, with the next Olympic games another 3 years away, YES Jacob is the better option. Imagine the type of player he will develop into in 3 years time. As for Cat, i doubt he needs more splinters to go with his opening ceremony home video's. Let's face it, Gorj never ran him anyway... whats that... no Medal in Athens? hmmm

The Youth policy is a good one but whoever it was the got excited and put Newley in the starting line-up... relax. The kid is good but his ego doesn't need any more fuel.

How many T/O's will he have this week? Who cares, i'm willing to bet he'll score 50 before the season is out.

If we are talkin three years time, I would put him in my starting 5.

Who else are you going to run at the 2 or 3?

Mackinnon or Saville? Mahersy may be getting on a bit by then.

Jacob would have to make massive strides in the next 12-18 months to even be considered for a starting spot in 3 years time. With Maher, Smith, Saville, Neilsen and even Bogut occupying 2 and 3 spots, would be very hard for him to jump ahead of that bunch. Add the college kid's to that list, and Newley if he continues to develop...

doc i have seen him tear it up in nbl all i was doing in my last post was responding to anons post about fiiting in with his new team and if he was a great player he would have no trouble. i never said he wont make it. all im sayibg is that he could be a great player but he is not just, well on his way though.

maher and bogut startin at 3????? im not even gonna go there...

I jusr realised that in 3 years time all these 'kids' will either be in the NBA, in Europe, or owning the floor back here!

Maher or Smith would start at the 2. Bogut has range, why wouldn't you play him outside a little bit to draw the bigger guys away from the basket. Then you throw Neilsen in the post, get some miss matches working. Im not saying Bogut is a 3 man, but he is another option.

I think Aussie Boomers Coach should be Phil Smyth again and assistant Gaze and also have 2 coaches for every position like 2 for centre 2 for pf/sf 2 for pg/sg