Crackers65
Years ago

Congratulations Opals on Asia Cup result

Congrats to the girls and coaching staff on Asia cup results. After the Olympic performance, it was great to see the girls playing for the singlet. I know little about Paul Gorris but from watching these games I feel he has done an
excellent job of getting the girls together on limited preparation.
Even though everyone wasn't available some of the girls showed they have a future as Opals. Whitcombe and Nicholson put the disappointment of not going to the Olympics aside and were good leaders.
I don’t agree with Brondello’s Olympic selections but am prepared to cut her some slack after the cabbage disgrace.
I don’t know if we can return to the past glories of the opals overnight but it looks as if we are on the right track.
Basketball Australia could show some leadership and balls and let the basketball public know the outcome of the
Cabbage investigation.(as if)

Topic #49278 | Report this topic


Anonymous  
Years ago

'I don't know if we can return to the past glories of the opals overnight but it looks as if we are on the right track.’


What makes you think we are on the right track?

Losing to teams far younger than us seems to me like we are in decline.

U17/U19 wc performances have never been a good indication of senior team success.
More than Half those women never even made it to wnbl level, others have gone pro elsewhere or are working regular jobs and some don’t come out of the ncaa as anything more than nbl1 level talent.

Take the recent u19 gems silver medal team. Only 3/12 have been marked as potential opals. 1 being Melbourne. The WC winning u17s had only 1 opals constant opal, Ezi and one possible, shelley

Reply #872824 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I'll give you opals depth chart post sandy brondello and paris olympics


2024 onwards
HC ?
AC ?
AC ?

AUSTRALIAN STOCKS (1992> 32y.o and younger)

G
COLE 92
GARRICK 92
LAVEY 93
NICHOLSON 93
WILSON 94
MANGAKAHIA 95
WEHRUNG 95
REID 96
WALLACE 96
ROCCI 98
SHELLEY 00
HEAL 01
MELBOURNE 02
DEEBLE 03
SWAIN 03

F
ALLEN 92
BLICAVS 93
TALBOT 94
SHARP 97
MALEY 98
HORVAT 98
BIBBY 98
SIMONS 00
POTTER 02
PUOCH 04

P
BUNTON 93
GARBIN 94
MIJOVIC 94
SMITH 96
FROLING 96
SCHERF 96
MCKAY 97
AOKUSO 98
MAGBEGOR 99
ANSTEY 01


Add any others who are possibilities


Enough on this list to remain a top 5 nation?



Reply #872825 | Report this post


Giacontigers  
Years ago

I was very proud of the Opals. Didn't have much preparation but got the work done. Japan were favourites, well deserved.

Loved watching Japanese girls having so much fun with a smile on their face. Loved watching Saori Miyazaki and Himawari Akaho.

Reply #872838 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

China were the favourites, the only team with close to a full squad.
Japan had 5 from olympics
Aus had 0

Reply #872840 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

G
COLE 92
GARRICK 92
LAVEY 93
NICHOLSON 93
WILSON 94
MANGAKAHIA 95
WEHRUNG 95
REID 96
WALLACE 96
ROCCI 98
SHELLEY 00
HEAL 01
MELBOURNE 02
DEEBLE 03
SWAIN 03

Be taking WILSON MANGAKAHIA and WEHRUNG ( both showed they are not up to it ) out of those guard and replacing them with CONTI 98 ANTONIADOU 96


F
ALLEN 92
BLICAVS 93
TALBOT 94
SHARP 97
MALEY 98
HORVAT 98
BIBBY 98
SIMONS 00
POTTER 02
PUOCH 04

Need to add PIZZY 98 to this list

P
BUNTON 93
GARBIN 94
MIJOVIC 94
SMITH 96
FROLING 96
SCHERF 96
MCKAY 97
AOKUSO 98
MAGBEGOR 99
ANSTEY 01

Take BUNTON and MIJOVIC ( now Ernst) out of this list

Reply #872845 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

OUT of this list. No Chance

COLE 92 - Couldn't guard anyone in Asia or Europe. Shot broke.
GARRICK 92 - Couldn't guard anyone in Asia or Europe. Too busy on socials
WILSON 94 - Too injury prone - No longevity
MANGAKAHIA 95 - Nope Nope Nope
REID 96 - No chance
WALLACE 96 - Too loose and poor decision maker
SHELLEY 00 - Only thing she can do is shoot a corner 3

SHARP 97 - Poor decision maker. Your spin move broke.
HORVAT 98 - Wont keep playing Basketball post college

BUNTON 93 - Give the girl a chance to get back into hoops. body broke
MIJOVIC 94 - Can't defend a lamp post
SCHERF 96 - Her agent will start asking for money to play
MCKAY 97 - Too small for international basketball
AOKUSO 98 - Lazy Lazy Lazy

Reply #872854 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

^^ I really hope with your extreme level of negativity that you are not in any decision making roles, and that you are not involved in girls/women's basketball

Reply #872866 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Conti is aflw first
Antoniadou does not play enough wnbl

What is Horvat doing post ncaa?

Both Wallace and Mangakahia I don't count out because they were not meant to play more than 10 mins. Well known they are not in peak condition. Whitcomb n Rocci were to play bulk minutes I’m assuming.

I’m not sure Pizzey is even wnbl level long term. Has done much yet.


Reply #872869 | Report this post


ME (he/kangaroo)  
Years ago

Is coming third in Asia an achievement for the Opals these days? That's a genuine question. Has Australian women's basketball fallen that much that we've gone from perennial podium finishes in the Olympics to merely the third best team in Asia?

Reply #872870 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

That's what I’m saying, why so much praise for a team that is track to drop several places in rankings.

Reply #872874 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

Is coming third in Asia an achievement for the Opals these days? That's a genuine question. Has Australian women's basketball fallen that much that we've gone from perennial podium finishes in the Olympics to merely the third best team in Asia?
Bear in mind this Opals team had zero practice games together, and I believe most were making their Opals debut. So it's not a bad result under the circumstances.

Reply #872916 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Every team bar China had only a few practises.

Reply #872917 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

The fact that the other teams were 2-4 years younger than us shows we are on a slide.

Reply #872918 | Report this post


ME (he/kangaroo)  
Years ago

I don't know. It just seems like the Opals have taken a real knock. They should be comfortably the best team in Asia if things were the way they were just a few years ago. Practice time wouldn't even matter. We're definitely a long way away from the days of Lauren Jackson, Erin Phillips and Penny Taylor.

Reply #872927 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Why would you mention Erin Phillips in the same regards as Lauren Jackson and Penny Taylor lol.

Reply #872935 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Ikr lol

She was an ok pg or sg in the wnba and for Aus.

Reply #872936 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

future team I see around 2026-2028
(2022 and 2024 won't change much from the current Tokyo/jordan team)

Future imo - no particular lineup starting, but names would be

PG HEAL-ROCCI-DEEBLE (r-Amoore?)
SG MELBOURNE-WALLACE-SWAIN (r-shelley?)
SF PUOCH-POTTER (r-Sharp?)
PF MAGBEGOR-SMITH (r-Froling?)
C AOKUSO-SCHERF (r-Mckay?)


Really only those that are in college now could change the above.

Reply #872937 | Report this post


Anon  
Years ago

"Conti is aflw first
Antoniadou does not play enough wnbl

What is Horvat doing post ncaa?

Both Wallace and Mangakahia I don't count out because they were not meant to play more than 10 mins. Well known they are not in peak condition. Whitcomb n Rocci were to play bulk minutes I'm assuming.

I’m not sure Pizzey is even wnbl level long term. Has done much yet."

Conti is better at AFLW, they also pay better

Antoniadou has been unlucky, always played with the stronger team, used as training fodder really, don’t blame her for not pushing through WNBL, got injured. First week of wnbl hub (same injury that Jack White got in NBL before he snapped his Achilles ) Boomers so again missed out, but certainly shouldn’t be discounted, she’s played more than Wallace the last few years , though think she has a good career outside of basketball, can’t blame them when they get paid peanuts really.

Wallace played three games on limited minutes before she left for Asia Cup, so the question should be “why take her”, can’t see her progressing though, agree with above, poor decision maker, forces the ball too much and can’t stay on her feet, Mangakahia wasn’t on restricted minutes at all, she had just finished NBL1North and was playing big minutes, another one who forces the ball trying to take on too many,

Horvat hasn’t really had much feed back out of college,she may be a surprise package but Bibby is one to watch, good small forward , think she should get a look.

the biggest issue Opals have is coaching staff and BA dinosaurs, all need a clean out .

Reply #872941 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Bibby plays pf really and won't have the lateral quickness to defend international 3s
Horvat can defend the 3 but has no offensive game.

Reply #872942 | Report this post


Royba  
Years ago

Japan made the gold medal game at the Olympics and China should have beaten Serbia and to me,have really come of age.
Third in Asia is not that bad.
I could not fault their effort.
We need to start concentrating on developing shooters and learn how to run busy sets of plays to open them up.They were Opals "possibles" except one after all and were thrown together so good on them.
On a side note Guy Malloy is doing s real good job with Tall Ferns

Reply #872962 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Molloy sucks, and he aint doing a great job at all.
Replace him before olympic qualification ASAP.

Bring beck back in.
They need to bring a couple of more young players to develop sooner rather than later or they'll,continue placing 5th well into the future and will never qualify for majors.
Develop ASAP Whittaker a c from ncaa, shearer a sf from ncaa.
Maybe convince a nation switch for king-hawea from texas
Bring into camp Others like Fourie, Reed, Mackey Williams, west, Williams, Tahata

Reply #872964 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Our pace is not as good as japan, our shooting or dribbling or passing, our defense or our desire.
We have height and that's it. We don’t do anything else well as a nation on the women’s side apart from being more physical in asia.

Reply #872965 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Nz need to start beating Korea to qualify for stuff at both seniors n juniors.

Only good thing is age of current crop.


Walker 20
Hippolite 21*
Walker 24
Richards 24*
Goulding 25
Boagni 25
Blair 26
Taia 26
Purcell 26
Davidson 26
Karatiana 29*
Paalvast 30*


* Likely these players will be replaced in the next few years

All ncaa girls are 18-22y.o.

I think they will have a very good squad maybe in 4-6 years time.

Reply #872967 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

4-6 years

Nz ain't making
21 Jordan asia cup top 4
22 sydney wc
23 asia cup top 4
24 paris olympics

Aim should be
25 asia cup top 4
26 wc
27 asia cup top 4
28 Los Angeles olympics

Reply #872968 | Report this post


Royba  
Years ago

Our pace was not a problem against Japan and neither was our desire but our ability to read plays on defence and how to set screens and run plays for open shots in offense was not good.Whitcomb being able to shoot well and quickly saved us from much worse finish.Chinas offence was good and Japan's defence was amazing

Reply #872969 | Report this post


Royba  
Years ago

The Tall Ferns had the best composure I've seen from them and if they can grow that then they'll be making good progress.

Reply #872970 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

It was whitcomb and size in the paint vs Japan, it would have been a blow out if it wasn't for whitcomb n Scherf.

16-7-8-3 for Sami
12-15 for scherf

Our guards were outdone,
Japan hit 4 3s, our defense stepped up to face guard, but then...
Beaten off the dribble so they dropped back on d to try contain penetration
Then they shot more from outside once again and passed through the open space on several Japanese back cuts
Rinse n repeat.


Face guarding them and keeping them in front and from shooting should be all in one. You never saw them wave a hand from 4ft away. Pressure d the whole game, something we suck at.

Reply #872971 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

2004 born group very stacked, wouldnt suprise me if they win silver again at the 2023 u19 WC.
4-5 opals out of that group Imo.

U19 Players known like Puoch, loughridge, Borlase but players like brazel, heal, Ananiev, Crawshaw, burrows, pitman, nelson, dart etc have shown some potential.

Reply #872974 | Report this post


Hoopie  
Years ago

To #971 I'd add that we’re being beaten by good opposition teamwork, whereas we’re losing our own because of unfamiliarity and the number playing in WNBA which focuses on iso play and a mentality based around stars and plays for them, and narrow roles for the rest of the squad.

Without Sami, we would probably have come 5-8 rather than 3rd

Reply #872982 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Well with sandy it can't be familiarity, she’s used only 15 players over 4 years, only changes have been because of injury or 'mental break’

Sure the asia cup team haven’t been together and haven’t played with each other but neither have japan, 2/3 of that squad was new also,

Reply #872983 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Surely Kunek deserves her shot in qualifiers, has been killin it in euroleague for 2 seasons.

20-7-7 the other day.

Reply #873105 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Kunek averaging in euroleague

21.5 points
5.5 rebounds
9 assists

60% from 2
50% from 3
94% from ft


She should be the opals sf backup.

Reply #874324 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Kunek should definitely have been on the Opals team for the Olympics

Reply #874325 | Report this post




You need to be a registered user to post from this location. Register here.



Close ads
Serio: Tourism photography and videography
Little Streaks - The fun and interactive good-habits app designed especially for kids.

Advertise on Hoops to a very focused, local and sports-keen audience. Email for rates and options.

Recent Posts



.


An Australian basketball forum covering NBL, WNBL, ABL, Juniors plus NBA, WNBA, NZ, Europe, etc | Forum time is: 6:30 pm, Fri 29 Mar 2024 | Posts: 968,026 | Last 7 days: 754