http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-5008-0-0-0&a=COMPS

Unfortunately Sturt U16 boys got spanked by Dandenong 52 to 29 will now play off for 3/4.

SA Referee appointed to U18 Semis. Congratulations Jarrod!!

Forrestville 18boys through to final - beat meld 52-46
Sturt out 47 -36 loss to dandy in 18 boys

Forestville u18 women downed in the semi's by all of Elthams 6 entire players..
Ouch
Fantastic match in the quarters Nuna 18's girls vs. Norwood. Norwood netted 2 3 pointers in the space of 20 seconds to get into OT, then got beaten off some clutch free throws.

well done to forestville under 18 boys. wonderful effort on getting to the final and almost winning. Great stuff.

Also to the sturt under 16 boys no one thought that they would get through to the top 8 but they ended up making the top 4 unfortunatly struggled against dandy but still very gd effort by them and it shows that they step up in the big games.

Should SA be worrying that only 1 of its club teams made it through to the finals, compared to 15 Vics in 12's boys and girls through 18's? I mean I know Victoria has always had depth in their club system but surely the best of SA should be able to compete with the second tier clubs over there?

eg Knox, which isn't the biggest in Melbourne, runs about the same number of teams out of a six court stadium as play in the entire Adelaide junior district competition. So a Knox team in a particular age group is selected from a bigger pool of players than are available to an SA Metro State coach.

An SA club team has to be very good to win at the Classic.

(Mod: Bonus point for being informative without being rude or condescending.)

Who were the better shooters??

Good point DaddyO re an SA club team having to be very good to win.

In the 18's Forestville and Sturt did extremely well to get top 4.

In the 16 boys sturt yet again proved what a great tournament team they are. Without their best point guard and playmake they made top 4.

Norwood were a huge disappointment again at that level.For the talent they have they are underachievers. It would be interesting to see what results they would get if the sturt coach had those kids and developed the group as he has his. The norwood guy certainly proved yet again he cannot coach.

Overall a great weekend was had by all and you have to give it to those vics that they know how to run a top class comp.

#189326 you make your own luck and this group of norwood boys has a history of not getting over the line in big gigs over past 2-3 years through 14's to now. Only really won state champs this year as a div 1 group. Failed every time at 12 and 14 level. Great bunch of kids though - deserve a better coach.

#189315 heaven help the state team results if you mean that comment. Hopefully Liam can get better from the players. Otherwise another unsuccessful campaign. leopards don't change spots overnite do they ?

#189557 - You will find that there were a number of VIC under 12 boys teams (if not across most age groups) that were not playing at the Classic who would have beaten most of the SA and NSW sides in attendance. That is how deep their competition is.

However Melbourne who won the classics on beat sturt by 2 points in the Easter semi

Interestingly someone from Dandenong in the know mentioned that their club / stadium turns over $4Mill pa at an EBIT profit of $300K!!!

Most clubs here turnover minus amounts right now.

You pay peanuts you get monkeys - at that turnover Dandenong can pay their development people.

I can remember in around 2001 SA teams in U18 boys finnished 7th, 13, 15,16th. This yr we had a team finnish 3rd and 2nd. Not a bad result.

#189603 - Melbourne and Knox in under 12 boys whilst they have good records, they have also had many close games. Doncaster and Blackburn lost close games to Knox for example.
No doubting though that Melbourne is a class team, and Knox are strong. Other VIC teams have been within points of a result going against them - albeit not my beloved Dandenong :(

Sturt 18's were without a key gaurd down the stretch as he had fouled out.

On another note - Can anyone tell me who won the MVP in the 14 Boys.

In the semi that is against Dandenong. In my opinion Sturt were a little better than the Dandenong 18's team in regard to their first five, however Dandenongs depth got them over the line.

I coached in this age group and while I didn't play against Knox or Melbourne they were the 2 best teams of the tournament.
My team finished a bees d#$@ away from a semifinal birth going down to Geelong in a thriller in the quarters. Then we lost to Doncaster in a game Ifelt we should have won by 20 but they came back to beat Kilsyth for 7th place on Monday.

I felt we matched all team for size, had an advantage in athleticism but fell down in shooting and half court offence.

I also feel that to catch the Victorians NSW and SA need to play tough competition on a more regular basis.

This was valuable experience for my chargers who have not lost a game in 2 years in NSW. I can't wait to return next year.

To say sturt 18 boys were in the best 2 teams is ridiculous. They bombed again at the business end. Scotty B would be spewing. This group of kids has not won anything outside of the fishbowl that is SA basketball. Even I thought they would win this one. For the amount of time and effort he puts into this group the results just are'nt there. look back from 14 nationals that they were hot favs for thru 16's to now. Disappointing.

Only Nuna didn't finish top 3; Dandy and Sturt did. I agree they were the best three teams though.