Using the link to LIVE STATS I was enjoying every minute of the games I could follow from Victoria, what a great system, 30 second updates and all the stats you would want...

Congratulations to all the teams who participated, well done to the medal winners and in particular to the Vic Country men and women just missing out on making semi finals and ending up in 5th - 6th position games.

Really looking forward to the next Nationals being the under 16's in Tamworth in July...

Hard to beat the weight of numbers in Melbourne and Sydney, especially when we consider how far the country teams travel for their training and the difficulties they have to overcome compared to their city/metro team mates.

well done blues -can never recall a NSW double header win

Anon 359270. Great point about the shooting. It is the biggest weakness across all levels of basketball and does look to be getting even worse from what I see. My take on this is that the big push is for the best athletes and at juniors at any level you can have great success with tall athletic teams controlled by a smart(poor shooting)PG. You just press the crap out of team and run,drive, slash and rebound. All great until you get caught up in half court games at the very highest levels and the inability to knock down shots bites you in the arse.It does not hurt at Nations so much because everybody is in the same boat and most great shooters probably lack the size or athleticism and have been discarded.
IMO much more focus needs to be placed on shooting at the younger levels.I am just not sure how this should be done and if we should not start weeding most men under 6'8"or so and most women under 6'0" out of any elite programs if they are not good shooters.That would put to focus on shooting and the onus on athletes to improve. Imagine if we dumped the athletes who couldn't shoot the way we now dump the shooters who are not athletes. Do you think the focal point of rep junior coaching andpractisee would now be much more pointed towards shooting. Athletes will always be athletes but it is very hard to turn a poor shooter at 18 or so into a great one. To much time spent on winning at rep level and not enough on technique. I have been there and was as guilty as the next personmeasuringg success in the W column. This needs to change. If not we just end up with a bunch of Mitch Creeks and while it is great to have the athletes it just wont get it done when big games are on the line.

There will be a review at the BV office this week. It won't do anything, but they'll have a review.

interesting game congrates to NSW,
question: what did the boys that did not get on the court in the final learn ?

Mark Watkins is a top development coach, one of the best who has ever worked in basketball. NSW juniors are very fortunate. He was also the best NBL assistant but just couldn't make the next step.
Congrats to the boys, huge achievment.

This will be a big loss for Vic as they were the favourites weren't they? Looking at shooting percentage it appears Vic struggled from outside? But its hard to tell unless you were actually at the game.
Well done to NSW for taking out the double.

^^^^ pretty much sums up junior bball

give me a team of average size kids that can play AND shoot anytime over a team of talls with minimal skill

Lots of negativity around out there regarding stereo types and the athlete versus the player...

The same arguement is often spoken about footballers these days, what a performance by Jobe Watson, a footballer through and through, not so much an athlete turned into a footballer!

Conversly, basketball is what it is and you can't tell me that coaches all over the world don't want tall players, especially if they show some potential...

There it is, that word (POTENTIAL), those of us that see taller kids grow up and develop slower or those who suddenly shoot up in their teens understand that they develop their hand - eye skills a little later and that is often overlooked...

NITP programs focus so much on shooting these days, maybe we need to understand that coaches at the elite level know what they are doing and accept that you can't have a team of 6 foot shooters up against a team of 6"8' players, they will not always win regardless!

Lots of negativity around out there regarding stereo types and the athlete versus the player...

The same arguement is often spoken about footballers these days, what a performance by Jobe Watson, a footballer through and through, not so much an athlete turned into a footballer!

Conversly, basketball is what it is and you can't tell me that coaches all over the world don't want tall players, especially if they show some potential...

There it is, that word (POTENTIAL), those of us that see taller kids grow up and develop slower or those who suddenly shoot up in their teens understand that they develop their hand - eye skills a little later and that is often overlooked...

NITP programs focus so much on shooting these days, maybe we need to understand that coaches at the elite level know what they are doing and accept that you can't have a team of 6 foot shooters up against a team of 6"8' players, they will not always win regardless!

Don't usually stutter, sorry......

Very close game vic metro won 3 of the 4 qrts, nsw lucky 3 pt shot that gave them a break

01:36 9, D. Pitcher, shot 3pt made 45-41 4

Congratulations to NSW Metro Women's U/18 coach Justin Brayley ex country Vic junior. Good to see that varied pathways to coaching positions can lead to success and a break from predictable formulas and pathways. Look forward to watching his progress in the future.

The coach for Vic Metro, by using all his players shows he has confidence in their development into the future.
and i noted that 5 nsw players took very few shots for the game.

What has how much court time got to do with confidnece for the future?

That is just plain dumb IMHO. It means he thought they could contribute now. And given the result, looks like he was wrong.

Shows that 1 coach got it right. This is about winning, not deevelopmeent. Development happens at practice, go read up of your skill aquisition analysis.

pls refer to Mark Watkins is supposedly a top development coach, one of the best who has ever worked in basketball. NSW juniors are very fortunate.

court time under pressure is what develops you not looking on or being a passenger or maybe no depth in your team for the future of basketball

Anyone who has coached junior basketball in a tournament that means something, like State Champs or Nationals, or even less impressively credentialled tournaments out there knows that when you get to the finals it is a different ball game.

As a coach you are damned if you do and damned if you don't!

Try to do the diplomatic thing and give all your team court time and get it wrong by losing the final and you will be criticised, keep a couple on the bench and win and again you can be treated unfairly...

Yes, give them all a run as best you can during preliminary games and in situations where they can gain experience, even during tight situations when the opportunity arises.

Then make sure they watch from the bench to learn from the more accomplished players, then make sure you communicate what you are looking for and what every player is expected to do and their roles within the team...

Then at least you can feel you have done your best regardless of the result!

Those who comment without the experience of coaching in such circumstances should qualify that their opinion is not fact, just their opinion, I think!

Yeah, coaching is a tough gig no matter which way you look at it!

Here is a quote once given to me:

"Sport does not build character as much as it reveals it!"

That goes for coaches, players, parents, spectators and officals I'm sure...

National men's head coach Brett Brown said
"There is always a balance of trying to develop young talent and putting together our best team,"

We believe that the addition of our talented young players will not compromise the standard of our group. This opportunity is rare. We are anxious to watch our future players " compete " not just watch our present core group of senior players where we can better assess their future potential. This situation is a 'win-win' for our overall national program."

And I bet he does not play all 12 guys in every game at the Olympics.

He means that they will play some in lesser games when it doesnt matter and will sit when it does.

Development occurs at trainings.

think bigger beyond the win at home.

Come on guys, Dante hits the 3 pointer with 3 seconds on the clock and wins the game for Vic Metro and we are all singing his praises...

55 points each and NSW hit a free throw so a time out is called with 3 seconds on the clock and Vic met is down by a point!

That's why we love the game, close finish with a shot at the end that could give you the grand stand ending!

Give these boys all some credit, they played their hearts out and gave all they could, you don't play 6 preliminary games and two finals if you crumble at the first real test and I don't call a one point loss a crumble, really...

Well said Bear, it shows we are doing the right thing with the development of basketball against fierce opposition from other sporting codes.

see comments by Tassieballer in why do nz play in our championship.

Yes and I was watching the grand final and would in no way say that the Vic boys crumbled. Infact they had control most of the game. NSW stayed in touch with a couple of 3s that were a bit lucky and an outstanding game by Nicholas Duncan (I think No. 7). It was a very entertaining game to watch with excellent shooting by the Vic's in the first half then NSW in the second. I would say the boys on the bench were more than happy with the win by their reaction, you have to win the whole tournament to get the medal not just the final game. Even players that get injured in earlier games have still have their input. An excellent effort by all involved they should be congratulated.

Nick Duncan had an awesome game for NSW looking at LIVE STATS, I think his overall game result was a +20 with Ben Simmons being one of the stand outs for Vic.

Most of the National team going to China will be made up from these two teams, rightly so...

It appeared that NSW relied more on their 3 point game overall than Vic when you check their previous games and sometimes that is what either hurts you or keeps you in it, especially in close games like this one.

Wish I could have seen the game, I wouldn't think a DVD of it was available, now that would be great to get ones hands on......!

Watkins "Its like Spot the Aussie around here".

" Might have bombs strapped to them " re Arabic speaking ppl he passed.