The ladies is a contest between Vic Metro and Qld South.
I would say injuries and fatigue will play a part.
Both these teams will play the other side of the pool in the semi. I suspect Vic metro will be better placed for the semi e=ven if they play 1st in the other group.
SA country could miss out because of the hard pools.

SA metro have the soft pool, but they will need to play above themselves to get through.
Qld Noth and Nsw are the issues in this pool, with WA metro having a good group 2 years ago...they could be the smokey?

The team coming fifth will be better than forth this year, with such uneven groups.

Tomorrow live stats

Girls
Sa metro vs Qld North
http://linky.com.au/nk3y6
Boys
SA Metro Vs Nsw Country
http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/8/01/85/51/16S0ORrvDo5E/

Good luck to all 4 SA Teams.

Would be great to see all the teams do exceptionally well.

SAM girls up 87-48 over QLD Nth

SAC Boys down 86 -78 in OT! to Vic Country

SAC Girls on here http://linky.com.au/csj9e

Going to be very hard for SA country girls to get through to finals mwdals,after huge loss today to Qld Sth.
They have to beat Vic Metro in the morning (who just beat NZ by 80)
Watched their game today and they just have not got enough weapons and get weaker at bottom end of bench.The starters did very well but wait of numbers got the better of them.
Final should be now Vic Metro V QLd Sth,I cant see anyone from other pook getting close to to either

Metro girls seem to be doing well tho.

I guess we will see after tomorrow's game if today's loss for the SA Country girls will be a major setback.

SA Country men have had loss number 2 which will stop any top four chances now I would think...

Metro men are sitting top at the moment tho...

#274070
re: U18 Nationals -Predictions???
Nationals do have soft pools and in this case pool b is an easier path. Terrigal Trev confirms this.

Country will come fifth if they can keep it all together after the disappointment of yesterday. They will be better than the team who comes 4th.

SAM girls having beaten NSW are sitting pretty atm.

Looks like VIC Country may be the other pool B team.

Trev
Do you still think pool A will have both finalists?

Not only do they need to beat Vic this morning, they need to cover a margin of 25 or so. So yeah, they're done for top 4 I'd say...

Metro girls still need to beat Vic Country to make top 4. Can also sneak in with a 1 point loss. Really would have preferred Vic C to beat NSW Met to eliminated them completely, and just play Vic C for top spot.

Country boys most likely looking 5-8 now... probably shouldn't slip any further. Disappointing loss after being up double digits vs Qld South.

Metro boys still yet to really hit their strides but if they can win the rest of their pool they'll still make top 4, and that should be doable if they start playing to their potential.

Qld sth are about 10-15 better than metro girls in my opinion.Faster guards and talls that will run out the WHOLE game.
Sth country girls were impressive against Vics and apparently the Vics were always concerned with this game as they see that they match up really well.
several people without bias were heard to say that it was one of the best games of 18 womens basketball you could ever see.It really did have everything and in the last quarter I believe the superior fitness and better rotation of players enabled the vics to break the game open.(Vics had 9 that could all start in any other team)
It was great to watch and even though the stats will not refelct it there was some awesome shooting by both teams in the first half.
The Vics seem to have gone up a notch and if the country girls had played that way against QLD they would have got away with that game ...TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
IMO Vic metro vs Sa Metro (vic by 25)
Qld Sth vs NSW metro (qld sth by 15)
Final =Vic Metro vs Qld sth (Vics by 18)

Vic Country MAIN scorer out injured

Just a question when you judge the country girls guards ,The vics 2 guards are quality and I thought they were as good as them

Just a question when you judge the country girls guards ,The vics 2 guards are quality and I thought they were as good as them

Today at 10.30 SA time SAM girls play Vic C

If We win we go top of pool B.
I have done the loss but can some one check this?
SA VS NSW SA +1
Nsw VS VIC NSW +3

In a 3 way tie NSW are +2

So ONLY if we lose then:

Loss by 1 to Vic then :
SA 0
Vic -2
We go 2nd.
Loss by 2 to VIC then:
SA -1
Vic-1
Tie with vic then vic goes in??????
Loss to vic by 3+ then SA comes third in the pool.

So this game http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/8/01/85/33/23To6kJxyGhpE/ is so important.

Personally I think it is time for SAC to do a sweep out of coaches and start from scratch. Part of the problem is that there is no depth of coaches, so people who wouldn't even get near an AC job in Metro, end up as Head Coaches. JB needs to do a little bit of head hunting and find the right people for these jobs.

It surprises me that other states do not at least try to imitate the level of attention to detail that the Vics seem to have.Not trying to have a go at other states but when you look at the cool downs ,eating ,hydration everything appears orchestrated compared to a haphazard style of some others.
Whilst I would argue about actual team selection ,you can not help to be impressed by the big blue machine that continues to roll on.As in business I think you should hunt down "best practice" and then attemp to mimick it.
Even in down times or days off the Vics appear as teams with tight control on what they wear and where they go.I think the best way of saying it would be the Vics come to win the tournament not to win a game

seems funny to me that all bar 1 0r 2 of these posts bagging the SAC coaches are anonymous posters!! too gutless to put your name to the posts!!

Whilst i agree that the SAC teams under performed, is it really always the coaches fault?? Thse coaches put a lot of their own unpaid time into this job, and for what? to continuously cop flack over the results.

If there are better coaches out there that could do a better job, who are they??

Amused, you are replying like someone very close to the action. I would hazard a guess and say you are indeed one of the coaches? If not 'The' coach. Could be wrong, but if you are not, you certainly are close enough to the group, to be honest it is refreshing to see one of you reply. I certainly know you guys read this forum, and at times it is disappointing to see some of the comments at SA Country coaches, but at the end of the day, while coaches do this job unpaid, the parents pay a shitlaod for this.

The $ factor for what they have paid out for their child and then if they go and watch, this little exercise would cost near $10K(Nationals) and that is just going away, not the trainings and all the other stuff on top. But parents don't care about the money if the results are their. If they see all members of the team putting in (Coaches & Players) then often they will be happy, but if they see and hear about the extra activities going on...Hoops.com.au comes alive! They have expectations as coaches do.

Parents are not blind, hence the "smell the coffee instead of beer" comments. But more importantly they get the inside word from their children.

As for calling for change. Comes with the business, how often do we see people pay for poor performances? Ninnis? Smythe? Valk? And that is in SA, and only in basketball. What about football, even today’s paper calls for Neil Craig. Get realistic if you don’t think that people will be after a coach with a sub par performance.

Is there time for a change? I would say so, and I would think Jason would be thinking the same too. Results count. 7th isn’t the result when there are some talented ladies in the side, and more so when the team coaches went away with top 2 finish in their sights.

I would say Trudy would be looking to get into that group at the 1 spot and not the 2 spot, A guy from Millicent, another Forestville coach who wasn't coaching this year, perhaps the 16's nationals coach who had success last year with the group?...There is 4 that would be up to the job and all have the reputations to take over.

I know they have all been chucked around before, but this year one has put herself in the right spot to take over with a smooth transition.

BMF

Sorry BMF, but i am most definately not the coach!!! I just wonder if it is always the coach to blame. I argue this point in other sports as well (although in the crows case i think its time for Neil Craig to go!!). Especially in this SAC U18 Girls side, i mean these girls have consistantly under performed at every tournament right through the age groups. Therefore is it the fault of every coach that has coached them, or does some of the blame lie with the girls?? Also, the coach you are all referring to has won a bronze medal a couple of years ago, how quickly that is forgotten!

In regards to your point about coaches always being under scrutiny and its just part of the deal, yes it is, but the coaches you are talking about (Neil Craig,Vicki Valk etc) are all paid for their services, slightly different to people volunteering their time, and from my understanding (from the amount of training camps, sessions etc) it is a huge amount of their time given to this commitment. I thikn people should remember that these people are not getting paid for any of it and are doing their best and therefore do need the scrutiny and public backlash that 'paid' coaches get!

Good to hear that there are some other coaches that you think are good enough to take over if this coach does get the chop! Just hope you dont turn around and call for their heads if they have a bad performance next year!! otherwise this circus just continues!!

So because the SA Coaches don't get paid (Which we know isn't entirely true), they should just stay there forever?

Coaches get moved on for the very reasons we are talking about..Lack of performances. 3 years ago was a bronze, last year was 9th, this year 7th...Do you just get the job then stick around for as long as need be? All because it is a volunteers job?

If you don't think there is anyone else in the SA Country program I think you are misguided by your loyalty.

BMF - im happy for the coaches to be replaced if there are better coaches out there to take over (and i say 'if' not because i dont think there is anyone, but because i do not know if there is as i am not involved. I think you misenterpreted what i was saying earlier). What i do have a problem with is the public backlash and people getting stuck into these coaches who give up their own time (mainly weekends) to do the best that they can with little incentive, and then get strips torn of of them when the result is not as expected. It is not necessary to get personal and attacking, as if this is what is going to happen after every competition that the result is not excellent, then who in their right mind would want to take up these jobs without getting paid!!!

So what happens when you sack this coach, a new one comes in and they get another bad performance at nationals, so you sack that coach and another one comes in and so on. It does not provide any stability or confidence for players, parents, coaches etc. Sometimes its best to persavere and try to improve rather than knee jerk react!

But on another note, im not sure you can say that the coach has had no results/poor results, when they did get a bronze only a few years ago, last year they got 9th but didnt really have a team that was going to get any better - the talent was pretty low. And this year they got 7th which was dissapointing, however this group of girls have failed to live up to their 'dream team' status throughout all age groups. therefore what i am saying is that is it all the coaches fault? Basically they played one bad game that let them down (against tasmania), but remember they did only lose to Vic Metro (who won the championshp) by 12 or so, so had that one bad game gone differently then the result would have been much better.

I wonder why after every loss or bad streak (im talking all sports now, AFL, WNBL, State level etc) that there is so much finger pointing and head hunting. I think that sometimes you play a bad game, or lose an important game etc, and the onnly way to get better is to accept it and move on, and try to get better. All of this finger pointing doesnt do anyone any good especially when it comes from people who stay at home, dont get invlolved dont put their finger up to volunteer etc and generally just like to whinge when things dont go their way. And when you rely on people to volunteer their time, i say who would want to when this is the reaction they get!! I certainly wouldnt!

Amused,

You need to see who else they lost to. QLD Sth was the first loss, and not only just. Mind you there is a couple of talented young girls in that side.
Have a look and you will see who and by how much.

Now your happy that they can get a bronze, then have a shit team and get 9th...that's OK, but low and behold get a decent team this year and 7th is ok too?

They may all do it for free, but someone is paying...Parents. Your only thinking of the coaching panel. Parents have paid dearly for a sub standard result and yes at the end of the day change is needed.

The girls haven't failed to live up to the status, they had silver last year..16's remember? That is if your OK with a bronze then you must be OK with silver.

If you think 5 years and then looking to get a new coach is knee jerk, with only 1 medal..

I guess I'm not OK with poor results, but that's me as a person. I would like to think that SA Country aren't either. After all, that is what Albury and Pt Mac are about, developing to get a nationals team that goes away and have success. I understand rebuilding, but in programs like this, there isn't a rebuilding because it is just build and go, so no rebuild.

That's the nature of this state basketball beast.
I guess we will find out in 3 or 4 months time when coaches are selected again.

once again i am not the coach, in fact i have no direct link to state basketball whatsoever!

Think what you like but you are very WRONG!!

I will only say this one more time - i dont have an issue with the coach being replaced if there is someone better to take over. I am just sick of all the finger pointing, name bashing, personal attacks that happen to people who volunteer their time. Same goes for umpires etc. The more you continue to do this the harder it will be in the future to get people to do these types of jobs!

I just think that the coach is an easy target for blame, and maybe he is not the only one to blame, you also have players, parents, assistants and higher up! Pity its always the coach that has to answer to it. Which in my opinion will never resolve the issues!

oh well seems i am the only one to think this, so keep on going with your blind sighted ways and you will keep getting the same reults over and over, a lot of you people will never be happy and will always find something to whinge about. Good luck to the next coach that takes over if this one gets shown the door, hope they dont cop as much flack as this, altough im gathering if they dont make the grand final they will most likely cop the same shit as it seems that is the only way to avoid it!!

you can blame over protective parents, coaches and young players but basketball needs to look at development and education for all and sundry the game at district level is unbalanced with many poor games 50+ point wins and a good game every 3 weeks and players are burnt out by not having a mid season break. I am not saying footy is perfect but it is better with parent coach relationships and player coach relationships. And SASI is what i see how can i be better than my own team mate rather than how to make the team better. A good player scores the most points but a great player make their team better.

I looked at sporting pulse and again noticed some of the boys and girls under 18s and looked at the SASI kids foul counts limited fouls I suppose you foul out you can't score. And the shooting percentages for both teams were appaulling. The boys were definetely better in spreading minutes than the girls. Thank goodness the lad went from sac to metro as he takes alot of bad percentage shots as well.

(Mod: No discussing specific kids!)

not having a go at Metro but anybody wants to read sa footy forum all about issues and interest not a issue from parents is a pleasant change. I have a genuine interest in basketball but things need to change and decision makers in basketball need to be changed. I was impressed some years ago with Jenny herbert from millicent i think she would bench individual for not doing team based things. And SAC were ordinary with an individual breaching code of conduct on numerous occassions in Albury then that person attended Nationals. So make changes and hook onto sa footy forum cherio

Think its about time SAC people stop bitching. I was there last week supporting Metro at the nationals and I thought your SAC boys did ok considering how small they where compared to all other teams. They lost 3 games by 8 that I saw and could have won any of those with some luck. They had a harder draw than our Metro lads and with any luck the places could have been reversed. One thing I did notice and agree with is that they do not seem to play as a team like they used to in the local comp. 3 of the better players seem to be competing against each other to be the highest scorer. They don't pass the ball and their shot selection was abysmal at times. Their team mates looked to be frustrated to put it kindly. The D was a little non existent at times to. Maybe size was the factor. The game is not about just scoring. The rest of the year will be interesting for them

For 6 years I have watched sac teams go away and play and all they do is play as individuals. If you watch vic and nsw teams, they always play as teams which is why they win the close games and we cant. Teamwork should be thrust down from JB at the top to his coaches as he oversees the programme. Coaches need to be there for the kids not themselves.

#275090, saved me from saying it. Anon before that, please don't post on here again.

Can I cut and paste that into my childs HP review form!!

SPOT ON!