worlds helped cambage's exposure and nominating for wnba draft put her on the map.

we need the AIS - how do you think we became #2 or 3.

the AIS players get a single coach who is across international playing trends and opponents.

it is a single focus for potential national junior players.

all for keeping them in - losses wont hurt them - these kids have been playing for a long time and know the ins and outs of competitive basketball.

they used play local before the AIS and the ais was brought about by the wise ones of the day.
we would be worse off if we did not have it.

I'm with Mr Magorium. Interesting though that the high-level reviews have them pulling the men out of the SEABL and women out of the WNBL etc. Personally, I think game competition beats practice competition any day. Would be interesting to hear the thoughts of someone who's been there and done both recently.

Would a better situtaion be for the AIS to have 2 older players ie imports or better still Olympic Australian players. This would give them some maturity on the court in those close finishes, also would allow them to add a Big or two if the squad doesn't have any depth at those positions with the group that year.

Also players such a Lauren Jackson may decide to have a farewell year at the AIS putting back into the organisation that got them started. Imagine how much the other players would learn practicing with her for a season.

Hahaha I am sure she will give back to the AIS girls hahaha

Are the majority girls at AIS, Victorian?

Yes.

Maybe they should call it Victorian Institute of Sport.

Having said that, I believe in the system.
Every system could be improved though.

Think they are taking them too early/too young at the moment.
Bodies have not handled the work load. Far to many injuries.

orange pill chaser has a good point - but where would the finance come for imports ? and the canberra precinct may not attract imports as much as sydney / melb / qld/ adelaide

Summary of the my perceived problems with the AIS:

* Coaching staff : not as good as the top coaches in the WNBL (Maher, Graf, etc). Our kids are not getting the QUALITY tutorage they deserve. Would Cambage be the player she is if she had remained at the AIS another year? Hell no.

* Training : I don't see how putting our best kids together and training them 5 days a week against one another is of ANY benefit. Players improve at TRAINING and apply during game-time. The AIS players are all developing players, it's a prime opportunity for them to be up against more mature (faster, stronger, more experience) players who can mentor and guide them with real world scenarios.
A junior player coming up through the ranks of a WNBL club receives far better tutorage than an AIS player.

* Purpose : What's the aim of the AIS - win games or develop players? These are 2 completely different goals (if we want to win we play our best 5, if we want to win we rotate our starting 5).

"worlds helped cambage's exposure and nominating for wnba draft put her on the map"

No - Tom Maher helped Cambage's exposure. She had reached the limit as to what the AIS could offer hence the reason she left and in her second season out of the AIS she is a shoe-in for the MVP (again Tom Maher's the reason for this).

The WNBL has also become more professional since the Jackson/Taylor/Batkovic AIS days meaning that many teams are able to afford stacked teams (Canberra, Bulleen and Dandenong)these days. It makes it even harder for 17 year olds to compete. Id like them to play in the SEABL women's competiton but with the men even pulling out of that it seems unlikely that will happen.

dud - I take your point, however the professionalism means the competition is now better than what it was. The kids just can't compete and they shouldn't have to b/c it's not a fair playing field.

Sample of AIS Losses from this season:
80 - 46 vs Canberra
95 - 55 vs Townsville
80 - 45 vs Logan
94 - 38 vs Bulleen
89 - 46 vs Dandenong
102 - 44 vs Bulleen

These are absolute drubbings and the girls at the AIS take away NOTHING from these losses.

If imports, perhaps AIS alumni only?

A few comments regarding the topic so far.

The league has definitely moved on from the days when Jackson et al won it all with Phil, but they also were an exceptional group, unlikely to be replicated any time soon. Can anybody name another AIS class which put as many players in the WNBA (not great money but seems to still be the benchmark league)?

Remember we are still emerging from the Kinsman era. Talent-wise, this year's team probably didn't deserve to do as well as it did with 3 wins. Phil's almost got 'his' group there now and certainly will have by next season.

The 17's World's has thrown the process into disarray (I dont think that's too strong a word). Right now, it seems the process is identify for 17's at 14, AIS at 16 minimum, then 17's and Gems and out into the big wide world. Whereas there used to some ebb and flow in and out of the group through the camp process which ran as long but didn't have tournament in there, now it seems there is much less room/inclination to look outside that little group. Who has broken into the pathway from outside in the past two years?

Handing development back to the WNBL clubs is a nice theory but I have seen first-hand the shortcomings in its implementation. The WNBL clubs are built to win, not develop, coaches are evaluated on wins, not improvement, so unless you have a far-sighted club intent on developing players, development becomes secondary.

Tom Maher develops, Carrie seems to develop, not seeing much development anywhere else. The real test of their programs (in terms of development) seems to be how many have players who go from 'Development Player' to 'Role Player' to 'Starter' with the one club.

The problem with the girls (and the boys) going to SEABL is the timing of the season. It falls across World's and tour times.

Right now, the WNBL needs all the teams it can get and if the Sports Commission are prepared to fund one then I can't see BA walking away from it.

I have said before I think BA is becoming overly Vic-centric so I wont go there again - except to say that if I were a coach or a player on a Vic team it would be hard for me to look bad. Put some of those kids and coaches on other teams and theyy wouldn't look nearly as good.

Cambage has developed along the path of her body's development. She left the AIS when Kinsman was there so probably a smart move to head to Tom Maher who has obviously done a good job. Had Phil been there I am sure she would have been better before she left and continued to improve after departing. Her trajectory has been somehwat determined by her body's development.

I too am concerned by the number of injuries at the AIS, in the one environment in the country where you can completely control workload. Maybe that;s part of the process though, pushing the envelope to see which bodies stand up to it.

Like the idea of two AIS alums working as coaches and playing with the group through the WNBL season.

Just some thoughts.

AIS - great programme but i guess it depends on who's running it and what are its true purposes for the development of top quality womens players. I agree that players are been drafted to young into the programme and besides not been developed (physical) but maturity isn't developed either. As for the selection process, (who really knows how) who has the last say? I don't believe it should be the coach as his job is to develop the players not bring in "HIS" team in as it is not "HIS" team, it is a Australian based programme with input from BB Australia so shouldn't the powers to be have the kids they select or have ear marked for the future be included in the system? Too much politics and not enough basketball. Don't live in the past, Phil Browns team won with all those players he had then and they have all gone on without him, we are now and need to focus on that future first, stop killing the AIS.....