The thread title has (MSAC) in it, so its focused just on the 12's and 14's. 16's and 18's are at Dandenong

the u14g eagles - did really well at dandenong earlier this year and easter - they should medal

no sa team in u16g will finish in top 4 - weakest i have seen the comp for years.

take your thermals - looks like a good old fashioned melbourne winter weekend

12 Girls from Mildura are very good this year - could be a smokey

Same reason Sturt are top of Winter season & came 4th at state champs I guess.

Having said that, I was unaware of their Friday result.

Happy to be proven wrong... just one man's thoughts!

J-Mac why do you think Mildura will be a smokey?

J-Mac why do you think Mildura will be a smokey?

MILDURA

MILDURA HAVE PRODUCED FIRST CLASS PLAYERS AND TEAMS - BUT HAS THIS TEAM BEEN UP AGAINST VIC METRO / SA DIV 1 / SYDNEY TEAMS ?

Mildura have one very talented player.
I think Frankston beat them in the GF at the Bendigo tournament.
They will be no match for KNOX or BULLEEN.

They lost by a couple of points to Melbourne Tigers early in the season but are alot better now.
Just saying they may be one of those teams that may cause an upset.

Eltham boys have qualified for Under 14 Nations but you don't see them making the top 4?

I think in the under 14 boys that Dandenong will win it and be too strong for anybody else.

Top 3 - Dandenong, Melbourne, Eltham

Apparently Eltham U14s have a couple of kids big enough to play U16s. Don't know if they can play but if it's true, they'll be tough.
I saw Dandenong when we were over for the Eltham/Dandenong tournament in January. They were impressive then and have had time to develop with Darren Perry coaching. I'll be happy if we get within 20 of them.

I think one of those kids drove his own car to the game. LOL

Re: U/12 GIRLS RESULTS

Gold - Bulleen
Silver - Melbourne
Bronze - Knox

Dandenong
Forestville
Frankston
Werribee
Altona
Mildura
West Adelaide
Nunawading
Sydney
North Suburbs
Eastern Mavericks
Sturt
Sutherland

U14 Girls Results

Gold-Bulleen
Silver-Melbourne
Bronze-Sturt

Dandenong
Knox
Forestville
Centrals
Sandringham
Altona
Hawthorn
Northern Suburbs
Geelong
ACT
Southern Tigers
Ballarat
Sydney

U14 Boys

Gold-Dandenong
Silver-Nunawading
Bronze-Melbourne

Eltham
Hills
Knox
Geelong
ACT
Whittlesea
Bulleen
Centrals
Norwood
Sturt
Southern
Sutherland
Sydney

Looks like the Melbourne teams still have the edge over the S.A teams at the moment. Well done to all

Looks like SA did quite well in the U14 girls section.

Sturt lost to eventual Gold medal winners Bulleen by 10 in their Semi. And even with 2 minutes to go they made a run back into the game.

Forestville unlucky to lose to Sturt in their quarter final after taking the lead in the last minute. They might have gone into the GF or even won it.

Centrals performing very well for a creditable 7th, which I would assume is a club best result. Happy to be proved wrong. And they could make some noise at Nationals.

Other grades at MSAC, not so good by SA.

That is true, the calssics winner will not attend nationals.

Top 2 treams from each pool after the first round attend. (Bulleen finished 3rd in their pool)

So

Melbourne
Knox
Dandenong
Hawthorn

will attend with

Geelong apparently attending as the Vic country slot by all accounts. I would have thought Ballarat was the better of the country teams na dam unsure as to why they are not attending.

U14 girls assessment spot on , SA teams results couldve gone either way- eagles definitely dissapointing at 6th, and you would definitely expect a better performance at nationals, while sturt performed well, unlucky they met in quarters !! Centrals were up and down but a top 8 finish a great result and were knocked out of quarters by dandenong who knocked down 24 Pts from 3 pt territory

I think all 14 girls teams will do well at Clubs.

They wont get caught out playing against a zone so Melbourne clubs will have to play one on one "D"

Will be a interesting tournament....

Who are we kidding ,zones are used extensively in junior basketball in SA and little is ever done about it by refs !!!! The vics are simply bigger, stronger and more skillful than us zone or no zone the will dominate clubs !!!

Forestville U/12 girls only won a couple of their games because they stood in the key like trees.
This is not good development for juniors and they will be found wanting in the older age groups. I think the Classic should be a NO ZONE tournament for U/12 & U/14 age groups.

agree with above, both Forestville u12 and u14 girls play zone in SA.
Very short sighted development of kids by the lazy coaches who instruct them to do it. Development is out the window and the big picture for the kids is lost.
I guess though it satisfies the coaches egos and most probably the parents as well because they are winning.
I know where I would rather my kids playing - a club that has development and the big picture in its sights.
Lets hope that it is more policed by the powers, but then again probably not because they are the powers!!

interesting debate now
Zone or not to Zone?

Seen Sturt U14 girls throw a 2-3 zone at Forestville in their Q/Final and it worked.
Seen lots of teams play zones in local Associations without meaning too. Either kids havent been taught properly or kids get tired and dont react like they should.
The "mercy rule"(played alot in local association) is a self destruct nothing but zone defence.
Should the Vics have to play by BA rule? IMO yes.
Do we need to address it(zone) as a whole? yes, again IMO.
issues of u14's transition into u16's and playing against zones needs to be addressed as well.
Sometimes association/clubs just dont have enough manpower to enforce such policies.
Thoughts

Same person Issac ^^^^^?

You do know i was talking about u12's and 14's dont you anonymous.
Good to change the tempo in a u12's game (um that is flat out all game?)
Boomers beat the yanks playing a zone? good luck with that wisdom

The idea of U/12s trying to shoot over a zone offence all game is ridiculous. The coach of this team is just playing for the W and not the development of the kids.
At our club there is a NO ZONE rule. This is enforced by our junior development coaches.
Hopefully they will become better players as they get older.

You do know that the no zone rule is only for u14 and below dont you?

Because if kids can get taught good stance and man to man proinciples at this age it is much easier for them to play a good zone at higher ages.

And that at U14 and below levels it is much more difficult to perimeter shoot teams out of a zone because kids arent big or strong enough to shoot from the perimeter as well.

Which is the reason it is successful at this age. And those teams that run it exclusively tend to have players that fail to make representative teams and therefore are never good enough to compete against international level players.

If all Australian juniors only ever played zone defence from U12's up we would never compete at anyting internationally.

What if the zone rule is only for the first half? This means that when the game is there to be won 'man on man'will win the game? KIds develop at different ages. Usually bigger kids are a little slower at first, but may only be 6 ft when older and must know more. Too much zone cannot help!

Nunawading played zone in the 12 boys final for two quarters but hawthorn were too good.

I've seen an U12's coach tell his point to stand and dribble the ball (between 3 point line and half court) for however long he wants to. Since there is no shot clock in U12s it works a treat but only if you are up. One ref tried to call a delay of game but got some 'education' from the coach and the other team stopped playing zone!
I don't like a zone all the time as it teaches lazy defence, but it is quite effective in the younger age groups.