The USA and Spain are stronger than us.

We are on par with France, Japan, Canada, Belgium and Turkey.

France have issues with guards also. No more Dumerc.
Epoupa the only other real quality option at pg and young 22y.o johannes at sg.
The others are now 34y.o and older with few descent replacements available.
Plenty of forwards and post players to choose from though.

You'd think brondello will choose..

Mitchell, Talbot, George-Mercury
Allen-WNBA
Cambage-Best Center
Mansfield-Best performing pg at Asia champs
Cumming-Best performing sg at Asia champs
Blicavs-Best performing forward after Griffin at Asia
Ohea-great 3 pt shooter

=
Mitchell/Mansfield
Ohea/Cumming
Talbot/Allen
Blicavs/George
Cambage/Tolo

Leaves 2 spots.
Vets Ebzery and Bishop?
Or 2 young players possibly. Wallace and Smith.

Is O'Hea even in the running anymore? She wasn't around for Asia Cup under the new leadership... I say it's time to move on, especially as she couldn't land a spot on a struggling Seattle side.

The Opals aren't in the position they used to be in, and I wouldn't be all too shocked if we don't medal in Worlds.

As for style of play. Brondello preaches as a defensive specialist but her Phoenix and Russian teams beg otherwise. Both teams are heavy on pick and roll, pick and pop. She overwhelmingly chooses age over building young talent. She has her favourites, so really same ol' same in that regard.

I'm all for the young ones stepping up.

Worlds 2018
In
5'7 Mansfield 89
5'10 Cole 92 or 5'10 Ebzery 90 or 5'10 Garrick 92
5'10 Whitcomb 88 (naturalised spot)
5'10 Cumming 90
5'11 Wallace 96
6'2 Talbot 94
6'2 Allen 92
6'2 Blicavs 93
6'4 Smith 96
6'5 Tolo 89
6'5 Bunton 93
6'8 Cambage 91

Emerging young guns could potentially replace some of the above before 2020 Olympics.

Out
5'5 Mitchell 85
5'7 Lavey 93
5'8 Phillips 85
5'11 Snell 81
6'1 Ohea 87
6'1 Jarry 91
6'2 Kunek 91
6'3 Hodges 83
6'4 George 89
6'4 Burton 89
6'4 Batkovic 80

Commonwealth games not considered a major tournament smh

It's clearly not being considered when you look at the u16 selections for Asia.
if we go front court heavy (4-5 bigs), we might see a repeat of what happened at u19s against Japan.

I think for Asian tournaments the style of play has to be reconsidered.

Thought Russia would be one of the top teams but they were upset at eurobasket by a great passing Greek side.

USA clear favourites.
The other 2 medals are up for grabs between 5-6 teams.

"It's clearly not being considered when you look at the u16 selections for Asia.
if we go front court heavy (4-5 bigs), we might see a repeat of what happened at u19s against Japan.

I think for Asian tournaments the style of play has to be reconsidered."

Genius - let's roll out the midgets in Asian qualifying.

We will dominate in Asia, particularly in women's. Why would we want to go small - madness.

Dominate in Asia?

We lost to Japan at Asia Cup.
We lost to Japan at u19 worlds.
We won university games against Japan.

Domination = winning 3 of 3 not 1 of 3

"USA clear favourites.
The other 2 medals are up for grabs between 5-6 teams."

Spain is pretty clearly a level above others right now for silver.

I reckon she'll run the same system she and Olaf run everywhere else with the Opals.

Cambage will play the Griner role.
I have no idea who we have running the Taurasi role.
The other 3 spots are perimeter or mid-range filler as those two play a two man game with the ball.

Spains post is terrible without lyttle.
Ndour plays few minutes and Gil, Nichols and Sanchez arent that great.

Guards/forwards however.... very deep.
Torrens, Cruz, xargay, Romero, salvadores.
Enormous amount of young talent coming through too.

I disagree about the importance of Lyttle. She has been well on the decline for a couple years now and they've managed just fine. She's very replaceable. As you mentioned, their guards and forwards are incredibly talented and deep though. Plus they have a really good coach and staff.

Canada is a programme really coming along quite nicely. I'm impressed by their rise, and a bit envious as it feels the Opals have stalled.

Spain have few post prospects. Ndour is the only young one.
Who replaces Lyttle and the other older 3 or so 6'3 post players?


Currently Canada have a lot of fringe WNBA players, but no stand out players.
Achonwa, Alexander, Weisner, Fields, Hamblin, Ekunwe, Bulgak, Grant-Allen.

Young guns.
Nurse, Hill, Colley, Crozon.

Vets
Langlois, Ayim, Plouffe sisters.

A good team but no better than Australia on paper.

"Currently Canada have a lot of fringe WNBA players, but no stand out players."

Sort of like Australia... but Canada has even more fringe players to offer. I'd gladly exchange George for any of those listed fringe WNBA post players.

"A good team but no better than Australia on paper."

It's not meant so much about the team on paper, it's the huge leaps in development they've made in a short amount of time, as compared to what BA hasn't accomplished...

The post players for u16s shouldn't be your traditional big 6'3-6'4 5s that stand under the basket.
Should be going slightly smaller. 6'2+ mobile/agile pfs are the ones needed in Asia.


Same at senior level.
George and Tolo will no longer be effective at the 4.

Smaller quicker forwards who can stretch the floor and handle the ball a bit are the way to go. Blicavs and Griffin Etc.
The guards also need to be much quicker and be better defensively.

George was never effective at the 4, nor was Hodges... and I expect both will go to World Cup.

Brondello has never coached anything but her two-man game, and seeing as we need her husband to coach instead of the BA appointed assistants because her system is so important, I can't see there being anything else besides her two-man game.

The two-man game you speak of is actually Olaf's system not "her's". So she doesn't even have her own system just using her husband's.

Wnbl mate...
International game much quicker.

Funny..

Sure.. she has speed, length and height which we want.

But
Not a great defender
Not a great rebounder
Not a scorer
Can't shoot

Not sure why she hasn't made the transition to netball as gs or gk and made some $$$$$

Wallace > Wehrung > Clydesdale > Lavey

Hurst got anything left in her? An outside chance?

"Not sure why she hasn't made the transition to netball as gs or gk and made some $$$$$"

presumably because she can't shoot and can't defend

"Hurst got anything left in her? An outside chance?"

a real chance I reckon considering who the coach is. might not be the worst pick either it's not like there is great competition at that spot. she is playing wnbl this season right? so we will see how she stacks up against the elite point guards like clydesdale

Clydesdale = no deal

Uni games showed that.

"Agreed - George was hopeless playing at the 4 next to Batkovic in Townsville in those championship wins. Think she finished second in the league MVP one year & led the WNBL in rebounding the next year. But she was putrid."

Good thing international competition is so much more like the WNBL than the WNBA or her play in Rio. Those WNBL accolades will serve so well in Spain next year!

Take your pick...

Listed pretty much every vet, fringe player and young prospect.
(None younger than 97 / 20y.o)


5'5 Hurst 83 - Canberra
5'5 Mitchell 85 - Phoenix
5'6 Toddhunter 88 - Dandenong
5'7 Mansfield 89 - Overseas
5'7 Romeo 89 - Overseas
5'10 Ebzery 90 - Sydney
5'11 Madgen 90 - Overseas
5'10 Cole 92 - Melbourne
5'10 Seekamp 92 - Adelaide
5'8 Lavey 93 - Dandenong
5'10 Clydesdale 93 - Adelaide
5'7 Panousis 95 - Adelaide
5'10 Wehrung 95 - Canberra
5'7 Nakkasoglu 95 - Florida
5'6 Mangakahia 95 - Syracuse
5'6 Reid 96 - Buffalo
5'10 Antoniadou 96 - Dandenong
5'11 Wallace 96 - Baylor
5'9 Tupaea 97 - Sydney

Pgs that is...

Of the young ones.
Wallace, Wehrung, Clydesdale, Mangakahia would be my top 4 to trial/develop over the next 4-5 years.

Panousis, Nakkasoglu, Reid, Antoniadou I don't see making the next step.


Another few years and we shall see what
Rocci, Conti, Elsworthy, Tessari can do.
Also a whole bunch of 00 and 01 athletes but they won't enter the fray until 2024 and beyond.

I'm in the camp of folks who don't think the NCAA system develops talent all that well so I'm curious to see how our American collegiate players turn out this cycle.

Smith and Wallace have turned out pretty well.
Both knocking on the door for worlds.

The ones to watch at college this year are

Smith-Stanford (Jnr)
Wallace-Baylor (Snr)
Horvat-UCLA (Fresh)
Bibby-Mississipi State (Fresh)
Maley-Oregon (Fresh)
Yaeger-Oregon (Soph)
Froling-SMU (Snr)
Sharp-Wake Forest (Soph)
Mangakahia-Syracuse (Soph)
Brewster-Utah State (Jnr)
Nakkasoglu-Florida (Jnr)

"Good thing international competition is so much more like the WNBL than the WNBA or her play in Rio. Those WNBL accolades will serve so well in Spain next year."

Thanks Brendan. I guess that's why we took Burton to Rio and left Batkovic home because of 'international play' and we could challenge the U.S only to get bounced in the QFs. Let's pick the best athletes and not the best basketballers again.

Antoniadou didn't really get a good chance at Florida state either. Not sure why she chose that program with the elite guards in front of her.
Hopefully gets more minutes.

Mangakahia is the real unknown.
Left for junior college and was rated number 1 pg in juco. I think she was injured last season and signed with a rebuilding Syracuse program this season.
Not sure if she'll see gametime as a sophomore but it'll be interesting to see if her ranking proves true at the next level. NCAA div 1?

Nakkasoglu just can't defend. Now, being in a much better conference will definitely slow her point production.

Brewster is very well rounded. Possibly a backup or 3rd string sg for the opals in time.

Yaeger, not sure she'll get many minutes behind Ionescu and bando.

Nakkasoglu ultimately wasn't chosen for the Turkish side last year.
This years eurobasket team had 2 young pgs behind Alben.

I'm not sure she can make either international side now.

That's a great question hoopie,
This is where BA should be having invitational camps through the year to look at these players . See their skill sets , those in college should not be judged on their stat line , as the difference between conferences can be huge, plus the position on teams also , Alex Sharp is a perfect example , plays for Wake Forest, they are in a good conference but the team as a whole struggles , she took out MVP because she was the best on her entire team , that got her to uni games yet she barely took to the crt
Panousis the same scenario ( minus MVP)
Unless BA put these college players up against those who chose to stay here then they really can't get a true indication of where they are at and what is lacking and needs working on

Instead of having kids up at the institute full time the cost involved in that could be better spent working with a much larger pool of players throughout the year IMO

Japan hold camps multiple times every year for senior women which creates competition to keep your spot. Not just juniors go to camps for identification.
They put emphasis on dribbling, passing and shooting as they have very few post players that are big enough to impact the game under the basket.
They also all play in the same league and know each other very well And so gel together. Easier to get players together to train when there all located in one small country bar one player.

We don't put development in ball handling or passing.
The smaller private training programs are where the best handlers come from.

^ and to top it all off, Japan has a coach actually in Japan.

Our u16 camp of 18 players will be reduced down to the final 12 this week.

In comparison, The Japanese chosen roster has been together since April and have already had 6 training sessions together.

6 months prep for Japan.
1 month for Australia.

Looks like a bunch of fast 'midgets' again with the tallest player being 6'0.

"Thanks Brendan. I guess that's why we took Burton to Rio and left Batkovic home because of 'international play' and we could challenge the U.S only to get bounced in the QFs. Let's pick the best athletes and not the best basketballers again."

That has nothing at all to do with incomprehensibly sticking with aging tweeners who have years of resume fodder not being able to play at the international level still making the side. Burton won't make it either, since that's your only go-to reply to the need to drop these players.

You're also out of your mind if you think taking Batkovic was going to save from that Opal's Rio implosion.

Look Batkovic isn't blameless in this either. She took herself out of Opals consideration for everything BUT the Olympics. Opals aren't heads above everyone else for second best in the world anymore. Mighn't even medal in 2018, it's up for grabs. BA and Brondello need to rebuild a culture where everyone buys in for everything (usual caveat of previous professional basketball committments). No more skipping tournaments you don't feel worthy of your time, no more naming captains who skip training camps when they aren't playing elsewhere, cut out Liz's dramatics.

Ahhhh, #Anon548 we can agree on getting rid of the ageing tweeners, but have a read back through this thread, it encourages playing a raft of new ones so we can compete in Asia.

We can disagree on Batkovic saving the Opals in Rio. Did you watch the games? Australia had no inside presence when Cambage sat, Batkovic would have been perfect in that role, and struggled again to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Whether you like her or not, Batkovic knows how to score.

Australia looked much more dangerous in Rio when Tolo was playing alongside Cambage and we weren't playing small ball.

Now all of a sudden, we need to get rid of one of our strengths and go with undersized forwards. Cmon

it's a chess match.

We go with size, they go with speed.
Our height helps us on offense but it works against us on defense (depending on what teams we face.)

Just watch the uni games semi final and final.
Our bigs dominated on offense and rebounds but they ran rings around us at the other end.
6'5 on 5'11 and 6'3 on 5'11.

We can go big which has its advantages and disadvantages
We can match them and go small and quick.
We can take both big and slow and small and quick.

But ultimately we are looking for a mix of size and speed with the ability to shoot, dribble, rebound and block shots. Unfortunately few players have this skill set.
Basically someone like candace Parker.

3 guard lineups with small pfs who can play on the perimeter drawing the defense out and opening up space for the centres to work.

Smith can come in at pf to go bigger and Blicavs and Talbot can be pushed back to sf.


5'11 Wallace
5'10 Whitcomb
5'11 Cumming
6'2 Blicavs
6'8 Cambage

5'7 Mansfield
5'10 Ebzery
5'11 Garrick
6'2 Talbot
6'5 Tolo

6'4 Smith
6'5 Bunton

The uni games team is a bollocks reference point as we sent a 3rd string team. Amazed by the idiotic pontificatiing going on here.

Yep amazing and sad.

3rd string team In the age bracket or opals in general?

"Did you watch the games? Australia had no inside presence when Cambage sat..."

Their best game, by leaps and bounds, was against France.... when Cambage sat with foul trouble.

^ agreed

Who was playing when Cambage was on the bench?

Tolo and Burton

Mitchell looking to cement her spot in the opals with some really nice performances in the WNBA finals.