Thanks Stevy - good analysis

Would not suprise me if Horvasse turned Japan into a top 10 team within 5 years. Has already brought in 60+ guys to look at. Give it a few years before we start to see them flourish
The new womens japan coach has not instilled the same Level of confidence and they have alien a step back, even with the best available.

@ Weedy Slug

Japan does not have a top-10 talent pool, but I think they can produce a more solid team in the long run. Five years from now, their core of (Hachimura, Watanabe, and Baba) will be in their prime, and a decent NP will solidify them as a team that can potentially surprise teams. Unfortunately, Japan is poor at producing competent world-level bigs. In Asia alone, I can't see their local bigs above the likes of AUS, NZL, CHN, IRN, and PHI. NP can only do so much. Schafer in five years would be a decent backup 4. Their U-19 last year had some talent (Yamazaki, Kanno) and credit to them, they are now better at finding and scouting Japanese abroad. For their PG, I think Tominaga (6'2 21 year old) who is currently a NCAA division 1 level Sophomore will be a decent in the world level for them. The B league is also on the rise, and if they can continue to produce decent 3s and guards, then we can see their main core mixed with some solid role players.

Starting 5 in 5 years

PG-Tominaga
SG-Baba
SF-Yutanabe
PF-Hachimura
C- World level NP/Decent NBA player

Backup
Yamazaki-3/2
Kanno-3/2
Schafer-4/5

Plus 4 more solid locals, the heijimas, the togashis, the tanakas, etc.

They won't be playing with bigs in the future, it’ll be super fast paced with ball movement and 3 point shooting.
I predict they will put hachimura at c, y.Watanabe at pf, Baba at sf.
H.Watanabe at back c. Have an absolute ton of elite guards coming through in the 5’10-6’4 range if you’ve watched the junior champs. Look on the extended lists and the videos put out you will see how much emphasis they put on speed, penetration.

I don't think tominaga or tanaka will be the first choice pg options either

@ Weedy Slug

If they go with an even smaller ball approach than what I predicted, then I can't really say much. Top world teams always have the length and mobility to defend this style. I'm not saying that they can't succeed with that approach; I could be wrong, but it will be interesting to see if it can work. Only time will tell, but even with your approach, I still think that it can be decent. With your prediction, instead of a NP at C, they can go with a NP at 2/3.

Starting 5
PG- Tominaga
SG- Yamazaki/NP
SF- Baba
PF- Watanabe
C- Rui

Backups
Kanno-3/2
Schafer-4/5
H.Watanabe-3/4/small ball 5

There are already nine main players. I didn't mean literally Tanaka (too old), but those types of B-league players. The cream of the crop can be solid role players to support these players above. I am quite high on Tominaga. He is doing well in the NCAA as a sophomore. He seems like the kind of player to complement Japan's main core and would thrive in Tom's system. 

Hugh hogland(Watanabe) is a 6'10 Centre who’s been injured.
Like I said they have many guards few have heard of that are very very good.
It’s easy to pick out the nba guys, the ncaa and chi kara tanaka who left for the states early but I’ve watched the talent coming through in the 15-23y.o age groups in Japan. Won’t suprise now but certainly in a few years.

Poor u19 WC finishing last but the next age groups are much more talented.

The Korean training bubble has been cancelled. In the bubble, one player was discovered to be positive. Another setback for the Koreans. I feel like there will be a good chance that Korea will appeal to FIBA for them to play their games in June instead. 

Phillipines are headed in the right direction for sure but still so young.
Love Ramos, Kouame and a few others. They certainly need an elite 2 to challenge and I'm not sure Clarkson will be available so early after nba finals.

The Boomers team has been named:

Angus Brandt - Kagawa Five Arrows (Japan)
Akoldah Gak - Illawarra Hawks
Jaylin Galloway - Sydney Kings
Nick Kay - Shimane Susanoo Magic
Makuach Maluach - Korikouvot (Finland)
Craig Moller - Wuerzburg (Germany)
Alex Mudronja - Illawarra Hawks
Emmett Naar - Illawarra Hawks
David Okwera - Melbourne United
Tyrese Proctor - NBA Global Academy
Rhys Vague - Kagawa Five Arrows (Japan)
Kyle Zunic - Perth Wildcats

There's another outstanding young PG prospect playing here in Japan, too - Yuki Kawamura. He's technically still playing in the Japanese university system, but under the B league/university rules here he can play a few months every season with a B-League team. He's in his 2nd year of uni (I think) and on his 3rd B-league "secondment" (again,I think). This year playing with Yokohama in B1 he has been really impressive. He's putting up similar numbers to Togashi at a similar age in a far, far better league (defunct BJ league vs current B league). He already looks like a seasoned vet out there - and he's only 20 years old.

If they can release Gak, why didn't they have kyrin Galloway who rarely plays over vague


Naar-Zunic-Mudronja
Proctor-Galloway
Moller-Maluach
Kay-Okwera-Vague
Brandt-Gak

Group A Rosters

New Zealand 14 Man:

C Rob Loe 6'11 30 NZL Breakers (NBL)
F/G Ben Gold 6'10 18 Marquette (NCAA)
C Tai Wynyard 6'9 24 Taranaki Mountainairs (NZ NBL)
SF Brayden Inger 6'8 22 Cairns Taipans (NBL)
PF Taane Samuel 6'7 22 Brisbane Bullets (NBL)
F Tom Vodanovich 6'7 27 Sydney Kings (NBL)
SF Taki Fahrensohn 6'7 23 Team Ehringen Urspring (German ProA)
SF Hyrum Harris 6'6 25 Adelaide 36ers (NBL)
SG Ethan Rusbatch 6'5 29 Hawke's Bay Hawks (NZ NBL)
SG Dion Prewster 6'4 32 Melbourne United (NBL)
PG Richie Rodger 6'2 25 Otago Nuggets (NZ NBL)
PG Taylor Britt 6'2 25 Perth Wildcats (NBL)
PG Jayden Bezzant 6'2 25 Manawatu Jets (NZ NBL)
PG Joe Cook-Green 6'1 25 Canterbury Rams (NZ NBL)

Likely Starters:
Britt, Prewster, Rusbatch, Vodanovich, Loe

South Korea Final 12:

C Lee Won-seok 6'9
C Jang Jae-seok 6'8
F Yeo Jun-seok 6'7
F/C Lee Seung-hyun 6'6
F Yang Hong-seok 6'5
F Ahn Young-jun 6'5
G Lee Dae-sung 6'3
G Lee Kwan-hee 6'3
G Byun Jun-hyung 6'2
G Kim Sun-hyung 6'2
G Heo Ung 6'1
G Doo Kyung-min 6'1

Ave. Height: 6'4 1/5 (193.5 cm)

Likely Starters:
Kim S, Lee D, Yang H, Lee S, Jang J

Philippines Final 12 Prediction:

G Bolick 6'1
G 1GDL 6'0
G/F Tungcab 6'2
G/F Ramos 6'4
G/F Ravena 6'2
F Navarro 6'6
F Lopez 6'6
C Kouame 6'10
C Erram 6'8
C Rangel 6'7
F/C Williams 6'6
F Rosario 6'6

Ave. Height: 6'4 4/5 (195.15 cm)

Likely Starters:
Bolick, Ramos, Navarro, Rosario, Kouame

India 12:

C Amritpal Singh 7'0 30
C Palpreet Singh Brar 6'9 28
PF Princepal Singh 6'9 21
PF Prashant Singh Rawat 6'8 21
PF Aravind Annadurai 6'8 28
SF Pranav Prince 6'7 18
SF Manoj Belur Manjunatha 6'6 18
SG Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 6'5 30
SG Pratap Singh Sekhon 6'4 21
SG Rajeev Kumar 6'3 20
PG Muin Bek Hafeez 6'3 25
PG Arvind Kumar 6'2 21

Ave. Height: 198.9 cm (6'6.3)

Likely Starters:
Hafeez, Bhriguvanshi, Prince, P Singh, A Singh

Group B Rosters

Australia 12:

C Akoldah Gak 6'11 19 Illawara Hawks (NBL)
C Angus Brandt 6'10 32 Kagawa Five Arrows (B.League)
C Nick Kay 6'9 29 Shimane Susanoo Magic (B.League)
PF Rhys Vague 6'8 26 Kagawa Five Arrows (B.League)
PF David Okwera 6'8 17 Melbourne United (NBL)
F Craig Moller 6'8 27 Wuerzburg (Basketball Bundesliga)
G/F Makuach Maluach 6'7 23 Kori Kouvot (Korisliiga)
SG Jaylin Galloway 6'6 19 Sydney Kings (NBL)
SG Alex Mudronja 6'5 22 Illawara Hawks (NBL)
PG Tyrese Proctor 6'4 17 NBA Global Academy
PG Kyle Zunic 6'2 22 Perth Wildcats (NBL)
PG Emmett Naar 6'1 Illawara Hawks (NBL)

Average height: 199.6 cm (6'6 1/2)

Likely Starters:
Zunich, Proctor/Maluach, Moller, Kay, Brandt

Chinese-Taipei 14 Man:

C William Artino 6'11 29 T1 League
C Lin Cheng 6'8 21 P.LEAGUE
C Fan Shih-en 6'5 27 T1 League
PF Han Chieh-yu 6'5 22 NTSU
F Chiang Chun 6'4 20 Fujen University
F Lin Sin-kuan 6'4 19 NTNU
F Chou Kuei-yu 6'4 23 P.LEAGUE
F Chou Yi-hsiang 6'3 31 P.LEAGUE
F Wu Siao-jin 6'3 26 T1 League
SG Lin Tzu-wei 6'2 21 NKNU
G Wang Lu-hsiang 6'1 24 P.LEAGUE
G Pai Yao-cheng 6'0 23 Yi Shou University
PG Wei Chia-hao 6'0 22 T1 League
PG Lin Bing-sheng 5'11 25 T1 League

Ave. Height: 6'3 1/2 (191.6 cm)

Likely Starters: Can't say much, plenty of fresh faces. Only 2 people from ACQ roster. They do have a NP this time though.

Will do Japan later, need to check out some details on what they will likely do this window. @Weedy Slug Perhaps you can have a better input on Japan? Will they go for a more winning core or development?

Sean Macdonald and Bol Dendit jnr are heading to Japan to join the Boomers team replacing Makuach Maluach and Tyrese Proctor who are now unavailable to play.

Dam, will we even beat Taipei...

KNT will forfeit 4 games this window.

https://twitter.com/heoball/status/1495989623239344131?cxt=HHwWhoDQjdyo6cIpAAAA

NZ with a D grade team thump India by 55 points.

C grade

Asia is so bad at basketball.

According to a Kiwi insider on another forum, this C-Grade Tall Black team has only been together for 5 days. I didn't expect them to be this cohesive, they shut down India's inside presence. None of us were close to getting it right in the prediction game. +35 was the highest and NZ destroyed them by +55. This was the A team of India with substantial practice time, Damn embarrasing performance from them.

NZ didn't even shoot that well, they had a ton of wide open looks that didn't fall from great ball movement.
NZ's bigs were to strong for India and had a footspeed advantage, especially Tommy V who got a ton of layups after India tried to keep him off the 3 point line. I was also impressed with his leadership and communication with the youngsters in this group.

India looked slow and confused all game. Poor lateral movement. Physically weak. New Zealand aren't exactly world beaters but when you consider many of them have NBL experience they might as well have been the 1992 Dream Team in comparison. But to fair, India has only just started up its own "professional" (to use the term lightly) league, the UBA, and they're not experienced in international play. Their best player, Visesh (last name escapes me), had a cup of coffee with the 36ers a few years back as a training player. He's crafty and can shoot but lacks any of the physical attributes that make a player in international basketball. Probably a kick-ass social league guy though. I also believe one of the Indian players is (or was?) a development player with the NZ Breakers.

@ Mystro

Their cohesion really surprised me considering they have been together for 5 days only. Well it just proves how good NZ's continuity is.

@ ME

Yep, India has not had a local league for 2 years now, ever since the pandemic, but the thing that bothers me is that their team has been practicing with each other since their victory against Palestine. Sure, Palestine is not really strong, but with an experienced international coach (Matic), I expected them to show promise from last year and build from it. Princepal Singh was the DP of the NZ Breakers. Hopefully a much better performance for them today against Gilas (I hope India beats them, so Tab will return lol) and maybe they can show a way better fight against NZ in their second game.

Why did Tab Baldwin leave?

@Perthworld

Tab basically "resigned" 3 weeks before the window due to politics from the SBP & PBA. It is hard to see the SBP repeating the same mistakes. The Epitomy of Incompetence. Imagine rehiring the coach who had a hand in the brawl. SBP said that rehiring him is "sensible".

SBP is pissed at Tab for failing to "control" his players. Most of our promising talent went abroad to have better career opportunities in the B league and other asian leagues. Basically, Tab did too well in his job and had to pay for it. It is very hard to support this team.

Where in the world can you see a coach getting fired when he is successful? Oh right, the Philippines, lol. The PBA meddling in his affairs and wanting better representation had a likely hand on him resigning as well.

Tab has not yet spoken, though. But everyone knows that he will never resign, especially after bringing Nenad to the Philippines as an assistant. It doesn't help either that Tab had made a lot of enemies in the Philippine basketball landscape. He got a lot of flak after calling Philippine coaches "tactically immature" and criticizing the PBA.



Another video in 2018



If we go back to full on PBA players plus 2 weeks of prep like in 2019 WC. We will get murdered in the World Cup again.

Gilas is so uncertain right now.

48-22 Australia at halftime. Very team oriented performance.

Australia poor in third quarter, bench struggled big time.

Boomers win

98-61

I had them at +39, I was close.

Starters looked good, bench good offensively but defensively not great.

The Boomers D team did about what you'd expect against Chinese Taipei despite some third quarter lapses. One great thing about the Boomers is they always come together and play as a cohesive unit, no matter what names are on the back of the jersey. It's a great culture that has been developed.

I don't see this Australian team losing to Japan. Beveridge has them right where they need to be to go undefeated in this window.

What's with the old uniforms...

D team, I'd say it be more like g team....

I was being polite. Theyre probably well off the alphabet but theyre doing the job we need them to do

Not enough respect for the team that played. Kay a medal winner, a grader, moller having previously played for Australia might not be A team but certainly useful. Zunic looked good as well.

Be interesting to see if the asia cup team has nba players or just nbl/overseas.

I respect what theyre doing and we need them to do it but they'd probably get beaten by the Cairns Taipans if they were in the NBL. But as I said, everyone who puts on the jersey applies themselves and it's awesome to see.

Gilas will win due to talent but crap, I hope NZ murders them in their next game. Chot's coaching is an eyesore. Embarrasing. They are lucky that Korea pulled out. DDO system sucks, a well disciplined team like NZ will kill this team.

I just read that their first training session was Wednesday, they played pretty impressively.

"Boomers" vs Japan in 15 minutes

Boomers at serious risk facing Japan and China twice id imagine.

This Boomers have what, 2 of their top 100 players?

Not playing China and Japan again until June/July, should be fine if we put up a proper team during the NBL off season.

Very nice win, Kay excellent, Naar passing, moller defensively and boards, Brandt tough and points.

Kay all of the above

Would like to see more of the young guys and Galloway should probably start, maybe Macdonald too.

Impressive performance by the Boomers, especially when you consider they've been together for only five days. It's great to see the culture translate like this, when you have 10 of the 12 guys who have no real business in the jersey, apply themselves with all the grit and teamwork that has become synonymous with Boomers basketball. Nick Kay was a problem across the entire court and finished just a few assists shy of a triple double. Angus Brandt was too big inside for Japan. While Emmett Naar showed us all perhaps the ugliest shooting form in human history. Looks like we're going to roll into the second round of qualifications undefeated, like we should. There were some questions raised about this team's ability to get it done on paper but it looks like the job is done and all those boys can take a little piece of Boomers history with them for it

Tbf, no team we have faced are the A or B squad, all teams seem to be testing new players.
Togashi is the only player close to the A squad and Taipei are testing a whole bunch of new kids and a naturalised

At one point we had a 6'2 Sg at PF for us... For the love of God, bring back Tab. Midget ball will never work. I am glad we got murdered. I hope SBP goes back to their senses.

How many teams make the World Cup? 32?

To be honest, should have the top 20 automatically win a spot and then have qualifiers for the last 12 spots.

It seems ridiculous to have a qualification system which ends up with the "best worst teams" making it.

@KET

32. A good idea, but FIBA needs revenue, and people in general will want to watch games. Besides, the qualification system is not that bad for me. Europe, as it should be, gets the most spots with 12. FIBA did not even give Indonesia an automatic slot. We could clown all we want on some teams making it, but that's just part of the game. The best team will still win the Cup.

Considering the flack this side got when originally selected they have done very well, the starters very impressive, led by bevo and assistants very nicely.

I don't think we’ve been good at all, 3 heavily depleted teams facing each other...
This boomers team would not win a game in the real tournament.
We are lucky every team has been effected by covid and delays to the domestic season or we would be off to a poor start in the first phase of WC qualifying. 1 loss to Taipei could have put them under alot of pressure
The boomers team 6 or possibly 7 has done the job necessary though and I give them props.

" This boomers team would not win a game in the real tournament."

The World Cup proper or?

In the June window the team would be completely different, it would have our NBL players.

The threat is trying not to lose any games while we have our top 90 odd players out due to NBL & NBA.

Asia cup/WC

ME you didn't mention Mudronja who is second in the team in scoring

Equal 2nd

You all should have put your hands up if it was so easy, Shane Heal said boomers would not beat Japan, others as well. Congratulations to all the players, job well done.

I agree. I enjoyed yesterday's performance and think we've done a nice job so far.
How this particular lineup would go against full strength opponents is irrelevant.

1 its Shane Heal. 2 We have sent a team that doesn't hit the floor in the NBL with the exception of Kay, Moller, Brandt and a lesser degree Vague. The fact Mudronja is equal second highest scorer for this squad says volumes for the standard of this Asian Cup. 3 it's great to get the wins and so comfortably but let's not kid ourselves that this is authentic international senior basketball because it is not.

Mudronja never had problems scoring, it's his defence that’s held him back. In the end you can only beat who is in front of you. As I said the side was criticised but with a half left to go have done very well.

#157 if you didn't know, the japan squad was originally the b team and then they decided to test players that haven’t been apart of the program.
Dislike heal but he was correct, we would have lost to japan b and they would have lost to boomers c or d.

Horvasse is tryin to find players to go along with hachimura, Watanabe, Baba, togashi and others come WC time. Horvasse knows they have little depth and so the last few games he's tested over 25 guys.

Good game, bevo and boomers should be happy.

You have got to love Nick Kay. Despite the caliber of the opponent I cant recall watching anyone dominate a game like he did yesterday by just playing to the team structure using his IQ and fundamentals.

Sure players with far more individual athleticism or talent have destroyed teams of a higher standard in games that meant a lot more but I am talking about they way he did it.

"This boomers team would not win a game in the real tournament."

No one is expecting THIS Boomers team to win a game in the real tournament. They're a bunch of NBL Developments players plus Nick Kay. What has been impressive is their teamwork and work ethic. I don't think anyone believes that this Boomers Z team is anything close to our best possible teams so let's get real here.

"Shane Heal said boomers would not beat Japan, others as well. "

I didn't expect them to beat Japan to be fair. I thought we'd be leaving this stage 2-1.

" it's great to get the wins and so comfortably but let's not kid ourselves that this is authentic international senior basketball because it is not."

What does that even mean, 'authentic international senior basketball'? Three nations in Japan, Australia and Chinese Taipei sent their best available players to play basketball. It's international. It's senior. It's basketball. Is it particularly hight-standard play? No. But it's ticking the boxes we need ticked to make the world cup. That's the point.

The qualifying games were a necessity for us. We played them. We won them. That is what the team was put together to do and they did it. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. Any talk of what the same guys would do against "authentic" international teams is entirely irrelevant. They performed to the standard asked of them and did so with great effort and pride. They get a pat on the back from the program for being a stepping stone towards bigger things.

"We are lucky every team has been effected by covid and delays to the domestic season or we would be off to a poor start in the first phase of WC qualifying. "

This comment is so out of touch. THEY'RE lucky we didn't pause our domestic season or they all would have got trounced by 50 no matter who they brought!

You cant say the Boomers didn't do well because other teams didn't have their full compliment of players and then ignore that our domestic season didn't even take a break and we took guys so far down the depth chart as to have never have been even considered for a Boomers position before.

Fact of the matter is we're not off to a poor start. We're undefeated, and the margins have been wide.

Bare in mind this team got together for their first training camp five days ago.

If you look at the talent available, all things considered they played well. Any other take is delusional.

a full compliment of NBL players should do the job, getting through this phase 3-0 is fantastic.

Kay a true saviour in that respect

3-0 is an excellent outcome.
You da man, Nick Kay. A triple-double to complete the sweep.

Not authentic international basketball means just that ME. It's the best available of an extremely bad bunch. Again, the fact NBL players who aren't getting minutes who are flourishing against international teams show that the competition in this window is absolute garbage. Yes you can only beat who you are playing but come on this is pure trash. Heck Vodanovich is number 4 in scoring at 20.3ppg and number 10 in rebounding at 8rpg. Enough said.

"Not authentic international basketball" comes to mind 90% of the time we play Asian sides.

Brandt and Moller have played over 100 nbl games, both played in tough euro comps. They certainly helped Nick, yes the balance are bench nbl guys but some have completed four years at college so are not complete chumps.

Oh well Sebastian... they ticked the box. Next round probably more difficult.