much better team than Asia cup and should be an improvement on pre Olympic qualifying.

Need a good showing, losses to China, Japan etc.
We've been terrible in the last year, want to see massive improvement.

When is Wallace healthy?

You would think this will also be the team for tokyo providing all stay healthy. This will be a good test.

I hope Wallace replaces Seekamp, not sure where she'll get the playing time. Nbl1 maybe. Would have to kill it in the first 3 months.

Wallace was drafted. If she reports to training camp and plays well in the first half of WNBA, she has every chance.

I don't think Atlanta will bring her in.

Wnba starts in may, Tokyo training in June.
Not happening. It's nbl1 for 3 months or no hope of Olympics.

I'd be taking Kunek if they don’t qualify for 3x3 and id also be taking griffin, pushing out Mitchell.
Smith has shown glimpses, so too Magbegor but still neither ready for big minutes. George is a liability on d, so too Mitchell and Seekamp.

Ebzery goes back to sRrting like at WC. Choice of Seekamp, Lavey, Wallace, Mangakahia as backup. All 4 should be healthy by June-July.

No pgs beyond what's on the list and who’s injured.

Lavey has not impressed this season

Yes, we need pgs and sgs desperately.

Not ready by a long shot.

Tier 1
Mitchell / Ebzery / Seekamp - current opals pgs.

Tier 2
Wallace / Mangakahia - unproven but on the fringe
Lavey / Tupaea / Mansfield / Clydesdale - had chances but failed to capitalise. Some Injured at times of comp.

Tier 3
Rocci / Heal / Conti / Reid / Scanlon - some signs they can get to the senior international stage

Tier 4
Tessari / Elsworthy / Cubillo - doesn't look likely they’ll make the jump this early on.

But a sg...

Heal is also a sg. she is just trapped in a pg size body. Her last 2 games 54 points 1 assist.

Losing Jenna is a big blow for both the Opals & Flyers

Kunek busy during that time?

Good question! Kunek is in great form atm

Blicavs is in the squad of 20. Kunek is not she is playing 3x3 like Cole Garrick Froling

I don't think 3x3 is at the same time as Olympic qualifiers though.

Player G eFG% TS% FTAr% 3PAr% %PIP %2CP ORB% DRB% TRB% ASS/TOV TOV% USG% GameSc
S. Blicavs 15 51.4 53.6 12.6 32.2 44.4 11.1 5.8 15.3 10.6 0.9 7.9 20.7 10.4
A. Kunek 15 50 55.9 37.4 32 43.6 11.1 3.2 9.5 6.7 1.1 11.5 26 12.1


Similar players. Alice has a higher usage rate (26% v 20%) as she is one of the main creators on her team. Sara is a 4th/5th option on her team and spaces the floor well and plays within the system.
Sara rebounds better and is a better defender. Sara's role on a team like the opals scales well with what she is currently doing. Alice is a good player although wouldn't be asked to create and would be a lower usage player with the Opals.

The powers that be probably knew about the Alice injury before the decision was made.

^ Same weekend as O'Hea's injury where Sara was named as a replacement a few days later.

Cole was in the last camp to this current one.

Olaf now the assistant?, wow what a disgrace. Left aus to coach Russia and failed dismally despite having a very good team, now back again. Should go to someone else imo.

So, 3 AC's now, or has he replaced Goriss?

Goriss still listed with chambers and lucas

Lucas gone

Lavey or Mansfield, oh geez...

Lavey in for Seekamp
Blicavs for Ohea



Mitchell / Ebzery / Lavey
Talbot / Nicholson
Allen / Blicavs
George / Smith / Magbegor
Cambage / Tolo

Surely not our squad come Tokyo.

If Mitchell doesn't perform or smith / Magbegor. I think we will see griffin come in for one of them.
Ebzery promoted to starting pg, like WC and hope Wallace is fit n ready.
A healthy Ohea will push out Blicavs more so than Nicholson imo.

It has been a year since last acl for Wallace, so she should be at full fitness in the next month (March) or so if everything went to plan.
A good Nbl1 stArt could see her with a shot.

Nbl1 mid April start, Tokyo late July.
1/2 April, May, June, 1/4 July. That's a good solid 12+ games.

That will depend on Mitchell's performances over the next couple months.
Brondello always said it’s difficult choosing between the 3 naturalised players.

Ugly ball, move te ball. Clearly brondello has no control over liz.

Holy crap do we suck.

Ebzery !!! So many bad shots and turnovers

Ba should be wiped clean. No notification of this game on any platform. Fire everyone.

Sandy has to go, this is beyond pathetic.

Stop playing favs sandy, play Ezi and Nicholson...

Ref taking over last quarter.
Liz with dumb fouls and in foul trouble whats new.
Talbot provides no offence
Sara Blicavs -13 in 6 minutes, god knows why Smith or Ezi dont get minutes.
game over

Clean out coming hopefully.

Kunek, Griffin in.

Lazy

Lucky we have Liz and Bec , rest not showing much I'm afraid

it would be difficult to be playing at the equivalent of 4/5/6am in the morning after only 3 days to try to get over the jetlag.

Here come the excuses.

Our best performing players in this team do not play in the WNBL, let alone NBL1. This is not a coincidence.

Sandy is starting to make Joyce look like a hall of fame master Coach.

Bringing in Olaf tells you everything you need to know. Time to go ASAP.

Can't wait to host an olympics again so we can medal.

We did nothing right. Couldn't shoot, pass, defend, nothing...
Cambage and George bringing the ball up at least 10 times. What’s up with that? Why is this thing now. Poor coaching for sure.

Brendan Joyce put it into our players heads that in order to play for their country, they had to stay home. Sandy hasn't said this, But she has a team who have only been playing in the WNBL for the past 6 months (or much longer for most of them) Are we really surprised that their lack of ability to match it with European and Asian teams has followed? Our most successful opals teams were filled with players that played internationally year round. Team chemistry is not the issue. Team depth, and ongoing experience and confidence playing the international game is the issue.

Agreed. Every player in the French national team has been playing two games a week against the be players all over Europe. And better US imports. They were and are far more prepared than our opals. Lots of work to do.

I would be getting Kunek, Griffin, Wallace and Mangakahia In despite what other people say. Maybe Garrick also.
Ohea comes back from injury.
Lots more time for Nicholson and Magbegor.
George should be playing centre, not pf. Tolo looks done, out.
Blicavs not going to make it. Talbot sliding.
Lavey not necessary.


Out
Mitchell
Lavey
Talbot
Blicavs
Tolo

In - risky bringing young ones in but throw them in the deep end imo.
Wallace
Mangakahia
Ohea
Kunek
Griffin

I'm not convinced Griffins body would hold up in tournament play. We rely on her to play big minutes and she won’t have week long breaks in between games in Tokyo to recover. We either keep Mitchell and use her as a scorer. Or bring in Whitcomb to spread the floor for Liz. Whether Mitchell or Whitcomb are hitting shots or not, they have to be guarded closely from 3.

Mitchell is a statue on defense, if she ain't drank g 3s she is worthless now.
Wallace is Elite at passing the ball into the post, 1 part of Mitchell’s game that has gone downhill.

Draining'

Do we really think Wallace hasn't skipped a beat having not played for 2 years? Right now Wallace is not even elite at running in a straight line. All you can do is give her an opportunity to prove herself.

I'd be willing to do that given she’s a great defender, passer and shooter, tough cookie too. What we need, like Griffin, Kunek etc

Wnbl form seems to mean very little in these tournaments.

We are going to beat Brazil and Puerto Rico, go to the Olympics and have a poor result. Coach will leave, new coach in, veteran players retire. New cycle begins. Try and build back up to a tip 3 nation but it becomes much more difficult.

some friendlies before Tokyo would help sort that out.

So what's the real difference between this team playing, and the team that won silver at worlds? Other than everyone being 1.5years older?

WC, no...
Mitchell, Nicholson, Blicavs. Tolo

We had..
Madgen, Whitcomb, Ohea, Bunton.

Who's better?
Mitchell over Madgen
Whitcomb over Nicholson
Ohea over Blicavs
Bunton over Tolo


The draw at the WC was super easy for us, Spain the only quality nation we faced on 5e way to the final.
Don’t think we would have made on the other side of the draw.
Beaten by China, Japan, France last few games with several other poor performances along the way in the last year.

Whitcomb is one of the most intense high energy hard working players I've ever seen play. Just ask Seattle Storm. Considering the opals recent performances I think we have nothing to lose by giving her go. Her and Allen both play overseas and would be electric on the perimeter. She is currently killing it in both France and Euroleague

Griffin is also. But I do agree Griffins body is not reliable. We need more speeds and fast paced players. Not sure what other positions we can get them from

Cole is an athletic, super speedy SG who is the top scorer for her WNBL ladder-leading team. This team includes one WNBA player and three Opals (one of whom is also a WNBA player), yet the closest Cole can get to the Opals is commentating their games on Fox Sports lol.

It's not like Sandy doesn't have other Aussie options to choose from, but she keeps just picking the same old people for her squads/camps.

Because they are dedicated to 3x3. Let's see what happens if they don’t qualify for3x3.

Most of the current players have become complacent and so they have no drive or desire. It shows, we need women with some balls, some kahonies like Griffin, Kunek, Wallace etc.

This Wallace stan is very persistent I will give them that

Wallace / Ebzery
Cole / Nicholson
Allen / Ohea / Kunek
Griffin / Magbegor / Smith
Cambage / George

Cole, Kunek, Garrick and Frolling have not chosen 3x3 over the Opals, they just haven't been selected for the Opals. Cole made one camp a year ago and was then cut, and the last time Kunek was involved with the Opals was the Comm Games.

If they were forced to choose between 3x3 and the Opals, maybe some or all of them would pick 3x3. However, none of them have been forced to choose because the Opals aren't interested in them!

Then sandy is pickin favs. Kunek andcole are the best 2 Aussie scorers in wnbl atm. Griffin best rebounder.
Havin Olaf around is not a good thing imo, he should not be there.

Better ball movement, still crappy defense.

Have the opals qualified now?

Nup, we need to beat Brazil.
Lose and we need Puerto Rico to lose also.
If We lose and Puerto Rico win, we're out. Brazil would beat us on head to head, we finish 4th. No Tokyo.

Superb? You must be kidding. We would lose to most of the teams that have already qualified. Puerto Rico and Brazil should be easybeats.

USA, Spain, France, Japan, China, belgium, Canada, Serbia without injuries all look better than us.

Better test for Aus, Brazil fighting. Our defense is so bad, better off playing Allen at pf. Cambage with George togetherdoes bot work.
Why take smith if she was injured before hand?

Dont need mitchell imo, Ebzery offers pretty much the same, slightly less outside shooting but more defense. Need Griffin in this team.
Talbot and Nicholson have been poor. Kunek should get a look, so too Cole, 3x3 results pending.

so if Australia loses to Brazil, France throws their game to Puerto Rico and Australia are out

Yes.

Head to head first.
Points difference
Points for

Liz got the crowd offside now...

It would end up

Rico 2-1
France 2-1
Brazil 1-2
Australia 1-2

It would probably be good for Aus basketball if we get knocked out.

Olympic qualifying in the balance now. Crowd fired up. France will lose for sure. Our guards are being slaughtered.

leilani Mitchell stepped up at the end of the 3rd. Katie Rae with her typical brain fade under pressure.

Sandy won't change, just like the mercury.

Mitchell havin a good crack at the end. Hasn't been herself so far this tourney.

Wtf are u on about screen, china wouldn't make top 12... they have been very good since end of WC.

Mitchell
Cole
Ohea
Allen
Cambage

Ebzery
Garrick?
Kunek
Magbegor
George

Talbot
Tolo


Out?
Lavey
Nicholson
Blicavs
Smith

Geez, i hope we dont qualify for 3x3.

Congratz on qualifying, now alot of you should get cut...

What a nail biter.
Leilani was huge, Liz stepped up. Sara did well.

So many spots should be open. Talbot, Tolo, Nicholson, Lavey, George.

Tolo no way.
George no but only because there is no one else ready.
The rest yes.

Sandy with way too many excuses for me in the press conferences and interviews.

From the teams that have qualified, I can't see us beating more than half of those with the squad we have but also the lineups chosen.

It's a crap league, you can’t even debate it. It has good players in it for sure but it has been run by imbeciles for a long time.
Handing it over to lk would be the first step to getting the wnbl back to where it should be.

It's not difficult to livestream at all, yet they haven’t got it right all season.

No mention of the level of competition though lol. He tv stats every game kinda give us an idea though!

btw usa almost lost to nigeria

Tokyo qualifiers current rank with trend

USA-1 (-)
Australia-2 (down)
Spain-3 (down)
Canada-4 (up)
France-5 (-)
Serbia-7 (-)
China-8 (up)
Belgium-9 (up)
Japan-10 (up)
Nigeria-17 (up)
Korea-19 (-)
Puerto Rico-23 (up)


I think only 2 teams,we could guarantee victory and that's the bottom 2, korea and Puerto Rico.

Standard FIBA refereeing.

Some interesting calls throughout... always happens though when you have refs from all over.

We are in trouble if sandy picks the same side, it's not just a lack of preparation.
Every team only had a few days before hand except Japan.

Yes, no doubt she's toxic but if she wasn’t playing we would be obliterated. Carried us for years.

The post is in real trouble after Tokyo.
No more Tolo, George, bunton and potentially no more Cambage, Griffin also running on empty at 33-34y.o

Young guns in 2020 like Magbegor 21, Aokuso 22, smith 24, frolings 24, scherf 24, Garbin 26 are the next post players you would think.
Young Guards Rocci 22, Wallace 24, Mangakahia 25, Wehrung 25 should get there chances along with those already on the fringe.
We have a plethora of mid 20s sfs like Allen, Talbot, Blicavs, Kunek, Nicholson, Wilson to work with.
Not a whole lot of opals ready talent in college atm, Horvat, Sharp, Bibby and younger sophomores etc look way off the mark.

Yes, Wallace is 96 born with back 2 back acls out of college. Pretty much 2.5 years offthe court.

Liz is currently complaining about being on British Airways 1st class flight. Other opals delayed 24 hours in France.

The past Opals players must love how Liz has single handedly made the Opals the most disliked team in women's international basketball.

Yes , I too look forward to the new opals team beyond Tokyo with a new coach and with BA cleaned out.

With the Coronavirus pushing the Olympics back a year, it makes choosing the team much more difficult now. Those who were injured or ill now have a chance to make the team and the vets are another year older. Mitchell will be 36 and Ohea will also be getting up there at 34y.o.
The 3x3 ladies also have another year to make a case because they certainly have been overlooked by sandy for the last few tournaments.

Surely going with Whitcomb over Mitchell now.

Then our starting point guard would be who?

Who knows, not Mitchell based on form.

Mitchell 8.3ppg 41%fg% 2.3rpg 4.1apg 1.0spg 1.8to
Whitcomb 8.8ppg 50%fg% 2.4rpg 2.1apg 1.0spg 0.6to

20pts for sami

Magbegor should start over George.
Whitcomb start at 2, can also play 1

No one is playing internationally in the next 12 months least of all Asia

Mitchell playin twice as many minutes as sami, stats not comparable

Thw olympics is a very similar format to what the wnba is playing at the moment. It is tournament play. Games played on minimal rest, starters expected to play big minutes. Its always been a reason KG23 has been a risk to select. Form is important, as is a players conditioning and durability. Sandy will select on what the team needs most. She has proven to select players based on balancing a roster rather than "current form".

She has got it wrong every time though sandy.

It was not the WC team she selected, injuries forced her hand.
Olympic qualifiers showed that they sucked big time with her chosen squad. Mimicked the WC squad with Mitchell and they were outplayed, George was a statue.

I agree. And have no doubt in 12 months from now our current favoured team will be even older and slower.

China, Japan and France smoked us and we barely got past Brazil.

Ebzery
Whitcomb
Allen
Magbegor
Cambage

+

Mangakahia or Wallace
Cole or Nicholson
Kunek or Ohea
Smith or Aokuso
George or Tolo

That bench you are suggesting would get smoked in international womens basketball lol

pretty sure it's an upgrade on Lavey and Madgen, the rest is the same. Talbot starts at the 2 with sandy.

Averages mid season.

Mitchell 5'5(85-35) PG

28.7 min
8.5 pts
2.4 rbd
4.3 ass

39.7 > fair
73.7 ft 14/19 > fair
36.1 3pt 13/36 > fair


Whitcomb 5’10(88-32) SG

17 min
10.3 pts
2.6 rbd
2.1 ast

49.4 fg% > good
100 ft 16/16 > good
46 3pt 23/50 > good


Smith 6’4(96-24) PF

14.8 min
5 pts
3.2 rbd
1.5 ast

39.6 fg% > fair
66.7 ft 8/12 > bad
22.7 3 pt 5/22 > bad


Magbegor 6’4(99-21) PF

13.8 min
7.2 pts
2.8 rbd
0.3 ast

57.6 fg% > good
52.9 ft 9/17 > bad
50 3pt 1/2 > good

Leilani still gets the spot for sure

Yes, under sandy probably tokyo will be her last tournament.

Sami certainly having a much better season though

I have to disagree, Leilani is doing a great job of running the show at Washington. Phoenix miss her ability to create for others out of the PnR

Such a great job that the champions are 4 and 7

They've lost 4 starters!

Most teams are short handed.

4 starters including the MVP of the league, that's a little more than 'short handed’

What has tst got to do with Mitchell? All her stats aRe down

Wnbl season will give her a guaranteed spot for Olympics, how can u not look good with 5 opals as ya starting 5 and one of the top 5 players on planet earth in Cambage

Stats aren't everything

Another great game for Mitchell, 3/4/1 -19

You're a bit creepy now with your Mitchell hate. Sami was -5 by the way in their unexpected loss without Sue Bird taking most of the heat. In reality, they should both be able to represent Opals because Mitchell should be classified as an Aussie due to her mother being Australian.

Mitchell's playing 29 mins a game. Sami and the other 2 wnba aussies are on 15 mins or less.
I like Mitchell, but she’s cooked. She played 1 great half against Brazil in qualifiers but sucked every other game. Has had 1, maybe 2 good games for Washington so far.
She was soundly beaten by epoupa, motohashi and oneill In OQ.

She might turn it around, but she hasn’t been great.

Mitchell is no wnba all star but on the other hand she is the only point guard that is international standard no one else is close. Sami is erratic and gets beaten on D just as much as Mitchell. Her idea of D is overplaying and getting beaten 9 times out of 10 but 1 time out of 10 she gets a deflection or steal and some people seem to think that makes her a great defender. Lets face it the opals are in trouble especially in the back court. We can cobble together a good starting 5 but to do well in a fiba tournament needs depth and we don't have it.

itll come down to the wnbl season and who's in form both at pg and sg.

The starting 5 certainly needs to change from

Mitchell, Talbot, Allen, George, Cambage

If George is starting, we're not even top 8

Magbegor should start.

George or Tolo should be backup centre.

Be interesting to see if Aokuso can work her way into a spot sooner than later.

Cole and Kunek over Madgen and Talbot if 3x3 doesn't work out.

Yes to all of that, except George should not be there at all, way too lazy on D, Tolo for sure. If only Sherf would lift her work rate, she could be behind Tolo. And, we've forgotten about Smith too. No room for George

The future post for Aus is looking like

PF Magbegor/Smith/Garbin
C Aokuso/Scherf

Plus 1 newcomer to come through
A.froling possibly
Think Hannan had potential, Anstey maybe, greenslade in a few years, who else at least 6'4?

Mitchell n smith with good games today.

Both Mitchell and Ezi looked pretty crap today.
Ezi maybe not used to playing every second day and Mitchell had her worst season in a long time.

Mitchell playing her best game of season so far, already got 12 asts and 18pts.

She was awesome in that game which was unexpected because I thought games at the end of a compressed season would only get worse at her age. It has been a struggle for the aussies lately.