Guess they wernt good enough.. In 4 yrs time 80% of these kids wont be playing competitive ball anyway.

Forestville received no hype and were lucky to be there.

Sturt played without their best player who was injured.

Lets see where these kids are in 4 yeards time, thats what really matters.

Forget about Sturt and Forestville.

The best performed team has been Southern Tigers, yes thats right Southern.

Love that new uniform there wearing. Check it out on the Nationals website.

Both Southern and Forestville are playing off for spots 5 - 8 which is not a bad effort.

No surprise the top 4 teams were all from VIC (aqt least from my point of view), however what is surprising is the fact Keilor didn't make top 4 - after all they were the team that challenged Werribee for the U14 VIC State title.

Sturt playing off for 11-12

Expect Southern to be playing off for 5-6

Expect Forestville to be playing off for 7-8

No surprises the Vics are filling the top 4 spots. Disappointing result for Keilor I would imagine, winning the Classics, and not making the semi's at Nationals. Well done to Sandringham and Nunawading for taking their opportunity with both hands!!!

Big surprise being Fville in the 7v8 playoff game, and narrowly missing the 5v6 game, after a 2 pt loss to Keilor.

Pity John's didnt have any help during the tournament, as he has had a sensational week, to get his team into the 7v8 playoff against the Eagles. Continually putting up 30+ each game bar one I believe, is an awesome individual effort.

Sturt were lucky to make top 12, as you can't win too many games at Nationals when you are plagued by injury, even harder when they are on your 2 main men.

Well done to all 3 SA teams at the tournament!

Southern 7th
Forestville 8th
Sturt 11th

As if anyone is remotely suprised about this.. It happens year after year? Only occasionally does a team from another state challenge the overall depth of the Vics, and even then its usually because the team is loaded with all the talent of the state its representing.

Top 6 are now all VIC teams...Bulleen and Keilor fill out 5th and 6th.

Just a few corrections to the rubbish written above :

> "Forestville lucky to be there" - they finshed third in the state champs thrashing North in the playoff for 3rd / 4th ". In the remainder of winter competition there were outperformed by Norwood and Mavericks but does not take away from the fact that they earnt their spot at the Nationals"

> "Forget Sturt and Forestville - Tigers is best performed" - well Tigers play Forestville for 7&8 so will have to wait and see. Tigers won the U14/1 Winter comp so deserve to be favorites but lets see.

> We know Sturt are a better team then 11/12 but apart from injuries have some internal issues also. Not sure all players are treated equal. Sometimes bad karma catches up with you .

our boys down here are very good players and teams but talk about sam johns i htink thats his name , the kid is a star even though is under 14s too early to say if his gonna be anything but a star in the makingg.

Disappointing result for SA. The last several year we
have always brought home a medal of some sort. Was it
that good a year from Vic or is a group just very average.

Here are the final placings:

1st WERRIBEE DEVILS
2nd SANDRINGHAM SABRES
3rd KNOX RAIDERS
4th NUNAWADING SPECTRES
5th KEILOR THUNDER
6th BULLEEN BOOMERS
7th SOUTHERN TIGERS
8th FORESTVILLE EAGLES
9th BANKSTOWN BRUINS
10th CANBERRA NATIONALS
11th STURT SABRES
12th IPSWICH FORCE
13th ILLAWARRA HAWKS
14th NORTHS BEARS
15th NORTH WEST TASMANIA
16th MAFFRA EAGLES
17th WANEROO WOLVES
18th NORTHERN TASMANIA
19th SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS
20th COCKBURN COUGARS
21st COFFS HARBOUR SUNS
22nd TOWNSVILLE HEAT
23rd STIRLING SENATORS
24th NT NORTH GECKOS

Top point scorers were:

31.6 Samuel Johns (Southern Tigers)
23.0 Michael Luxford (Werribee)
21.7 Mirko Djeric (Bankstown)
20.0 Jack Mackenzie (NW Tasmania)
19.6 Dylan Hogarty-Doyle (Knox)
19.4 Brendan Little (Maffra)
19.3 Dante Exum (Keilor)
19.0 Jason Ralph (Ipswich)
17.0 Keelan Ward (Illawarra)
16.9 William Soonalole (Werribee)
16.9 Zak Pantelis (Sandringham)
15.3 Brendan Dinardo (Cockburn)
15.1 James Griffin (Southern Districts)
15.0 Kristian Maric (Keilor)
15.0 Sean Noone (Knox)

Jockey Club, I didn't realise you were in Darwin with the Sturt team. I will correct you. All players were treated fairly. Despite the injuries and hard draw the coaches and boys should be commended for giving their best, all week. So please, don't take this positive experience away from any of them. Just a suggestion but stop the gossip mongering comments as all it does is inhibit the development of junior basketball in South Australia.

Good effort by all the SA teams. Southern peaked at the right time. Sturt team not as good overall as the previous 4 teams they sent that won medals. Injuries aside still would not have beaten southern or the vics. NSW very average in this group. End of an era for SA being up there in this age group.

Didn't Sturt lose to Southern in O/T without their best player? Kinda say they would have.

Southern beat Sturt's full team in the Winter GF. Outscored Sturt 13-3 in 3 minutes of overtime. Kind of say they would've.

Kinda wouldn't have been overtime.

Is this opinion based on the aura of invincibility of the baby blues or have you actually watched the 4 contests between these teams since August this year? Sturt played extremely well and could've won in regulation, but you can only beat who's on the court.

They all did well, none of the SA teams this year were as good as the previous 4 years - simple. Southern were better in winter final, sturt won state champs - sturt are the better team based on the major tournament. And I'm an eagle. I have seen the last 4 nationals so I can make a judgement

Agreed. Far more important at this age than results is the character and comriadery(?) shown by all 3 teams. To see them mingle and support each other during the week was extremely satisfying, and holds the future of SA basketball in good stead. Well done boys.

Just a question from an interested Vic: Why do Sturt teams always have players out injured come 14 nationals, are they hurting those poor children with cruel training regimes?

I have no SA club affiliations so plz don't jump down my throat!

They had 2 injuries, both occurred in games, one in the winter final and the other on day 1 at the nationals. They just happened to be their best 2 players so very unfortunate.

I can't remember the last injured player Sturt had at a nationals before that. Seeing as though they have been in the medal round 4 years in a row they must have been OK physically.

You don't want people to jump down your throat, yet you make at outlandish statement like that. I thought school holidays were over in Victoria!

Don't want anybody to jump down my throat, but..

I don't have any proof to back up the statment I have just made.

Sturt have finished in the top 5 of both the boys AND the girls over the last 3 year. I would suggest that you might want to recondider your statment.

For the people suggesting that SA teams have not done as well this year - have you taken into account that there are more Victorian teams now the comp has been expanded? In previous years, there were only 4 or 5 Vic teams. This year there was 7.
I personally think the SA teams have done brilliantly this year.

Minn - if you don't want people jumping down your throughts, stop making stupid statements. Both players, as stated above, were injured in games. And who from any of the previous 5 teams before this years were out injured at 14 Nats?

Hey, I only noticed a recurring theme and commented on it! I'm not bagging Sturt, I'm just curious. IF (and only if) what I've seen at the Dandenong and Nunawading tournaments is anything to go by, you're one of only 2 or 3 SA clubs with a professional approach to basketball. The only thing holding your state back is a lack of depth. I thought I'd seen everything until I saw a bunch of girls bitching at their teammates on court at Oakleigh this year (thanks for the eye-opener South!), I can't believe that all your clubs get a free pass to elite basketball, what's the point of that? It doesn't seem to level the playing field; serious players will always gravitate toward the serious clubs.

Anyhoo, back on topic: given that I am a Vic, it's a bit st-st-st-stoo-stoopid to ask me WHO was out injured last time...I'm not talking about either the boys or girls specifically (I think it was the girls having a cry last nationals?), and I'm only commenting on the "facts" other people have people have posted on this forum.

You SA folk can get a bit defensive sometimes, except when it matters!

Coachscout: have Sturt really finished in the top 5 out of the last 3 nationals, boys and girls? I'd say that in the 2008 14 boys nationals, they came 11th. Am I right in stating that the last 3 under 14 boys nationals were 2008, 2007 & 2006? Wouldn't know how to "recondider" even if I wanted to, would you consider using a spell checker or maybe doing a literacy course? Maybe you'd like to change your "statment" to 'we've finished in the top 5 in 3 out of the last 4 nationals', but you probably shouldn't be that specific and long-winded when you blow your own trumpet; sounds a bit contrived.

Or considering that this years U14 nationals aren't finished yet.(The girls finish on Saturday) The previous 3 would be the 2007, 2006, 2005.

Pathetic Minn - having a go about spelling now? That's usually a last resort for someone who's been found out.....

Well, obviously you can provide either names or links to the last 5 Nationals then - it was YOU that said they ALWAYS have players out injured - you either have facts to back up your statements, or you are just trolling and spouting rubbish.

I suspect the latter.

What difference does it make if there are a couple extra Victorian teams in the draw. To win a medal you have to beat most of the teams in your draw or cross over. By adding more Victorian team you come up against the weaker teams from Victorian but still need to beat their better teams to win.

It was an average result compared to previous few years even though Sturt had one of their major players out with injury. Southern one the GF and only finished 7th.

U14 Tigers team are better than Sturts team get over it!

I'm only commenting on the "facts"
Bahahahahaha.
You wouldnt know a fact if it hit you fair square in the mouth with a spell checker Minn!

I had "facts" in inverted commas so intelligent people would realise that I take what is posted here with a grain of salt - did you not get that?

Seems everyone else did.

I didn't realise that a seemingly innocuous observation would hijack this thread, but I'm glad to divert attention away from a comparatively poor showing from the SA teams! Can someone please speculate as to why you lot ranked uncharacteristically low in both the guys and the gals WITHOUT getting sidetracked?

Minn,
Who's trying to divert now?

Your "innocuous" observation? Then why use deliberately antagonistic words like "cruel"? You don't think their people will then come in to defend their club - especially when your "facts" appear to be incorrect as you cannot name any of the other injured players at the past 5 years Nationals despite a number of people asking for this evidence?

You were called out on your claim, and you've folded. Now your trying to deflect by bringing up ALL the SA teams and their "poor" showings - yet NONE of this was brought up in your original post. Weak trolling effort.

Minn,

feel free to lets us all know what club you are involved with so that we can compare their results