I think most people would have picked that group or very close to it. They are are decent group and should be a top 4 finish.

They dont have a enough height, but they make up with hustle and intensity. Maybe a top 8 positon if lucky

If Bidshop has been named in the 18s does this mean she is definetly NOT in the gems or who will replace her...

tell you what molitor had better improve his on court attitude towards players and especially referee's because the ref's at the classics and nationals will not stand for it and he will hurt his team and himself.

Same for Phil B and Sam H mouthing off and whining too much and too often! Something the State Coach needs to FIX immediately or fireworks will happen.

Kinross, are you kidding me??!! Were there only 10 people at trials with two arms and two legs??

The team doesn't doesn't get named until tomorrow so discussion on the 18 girls is pointless.

Boys i cant see making top 4 maybe a 5th or 6th women look really strong with mencel and francis to lead the way for the girls

yeah seriously you cannot say that sa boys will get top four, you cannot compare them to teams like nsw, vics and queensland. I'd have to say nsw country for gold in the boys.

Vic metro
Vic country
New Zealand
NSW Country
Qld ??
Nsw Metro

That's my tip for top six.

i can't believe the amount of talent dropping out of basketball in u/18s guys this year. vic metro are missing 3 of their 4 all australian players from 16s, dave mecanovic having moved to qld south, vic country are missing pendlebury, hickey & hardy, i hear daniel johnson from wa metro has quit and tom robinson an all aus from queensland south isnt playing. it seems that standards this year have dropped slightly, and its kind of weird that so many all australians and prospects arent playing anymore, especially when this age group is the next u/20 world championship group.

dr dunkenstein, i hope that top six isnt in order at all (talkin about boys of course). no way will new zealand come near a medal, and you wont see vic country that high up either. You dont need to put a question mark next to queensland, the south team with ahrens and now mecanovic will certainly be up near medals. nsw teams are very strong and it would not surprise me if both came away with medals.

diddy - from your last two posts, it obviously you know a truck load more then me, but yes, they are in order. Unfortunatly i have no reason for that placing, and can't back myself up. I'll just cross my fingers, and cop the results on the chin in a few months time.

enlighten us with your predictions and well make a contest out of it.

on a side note, did see New Zealand play in Albury in Jan and they looked very impressive (not sure if it was 18's as well, but 16 were awesome, medalled, and dunked ON that's right, on one of my players.)

yeah i saw 16s new zealand play in albury and i agree, very impressive. I was playing in 18s for nsw country down there at the time (dropped 28 and 38 on both sa teams but dont mean to brag ;)). Unfortunately the talent wasn't in their 18s side at all, they might have got fifth at best.
As for my predictions in july im a bit biased towards our side nsw country but i do believe we should win (hopefully we'll get more than one in all aus this year). the next three spots will be close between nsw metro, queensland south and vic metro. Thats my top four we'll see how we go in july, i should be close seeing as though i know most of the teams reasonably well.

Out of interest, what were the final positions in albury in the 16 and 18 boys. wasn't the final of the 18s between two vic country teams.

Your right, SA metro will be stronger than country, but both should be competitive (read mid range,) but i doubt either will medal.

in the 16s i believe new zealeand won, i think vics came second and i think nsw and vic were playin off for third and fourth, not sure on that though. in 18s vic gold. won followed by nsw waratahs then nsw kookas (my team) then vic bushrangers. i doubt vic country will go as well at nationals though as we were missing three all aus players in january.
yeh neither s.a. team should really medal judging on their performance in the past.
And by the way we play new zealand first game at nationals, so we'll certainly see how they go.

how is u18s metro girls going

What are some of the scores coming out from country vs metro trial games- have they held any as yet???

Kinross didnt make 18G....the team as far as i know is
Mencel
Martin
Newley
Francis
McPhail
Mansfield
Kaminiski
Romeo
Gee
and Peris

6 First years.....should make for an impressive team...both 2005 and 2006

Surely that team deserves gold. You would be shaking in your boots if u looked at that team on paper and had to come up against them.

How is the dynamics of the team- does anyone know??? That will be what gets them over the line- do they all get along? Yeah- hav the state teams been having trial matches?

SA Metro and Country 18 mens have played each other a couple of times with Metro winning both and comfortably in the second game. Country rely heavily on Dodman and seebohm to make them competitive. Metro play good uptempo defense and seem to play well together as a groupat both ends of the court.

vic metro will be alright even though they've lost a few players. They have arnott, dorning, natoli, louis from memory, and a few other alrighties.

Yeh i'm pretty certain he is, i heard he'd moved, and i saw his name posted in the qld side on their website. But vic metro should still be quite competitive, they always are, even though this seems to be a relatively weak year for the usually incredible vic met sides.

I'm not forgetting about vic metro i said they'd be competitive, but they weren't "the benchmark" two years ago when they didn't win a medal, after beating them then and improving as much as we have, we should win if we play well, not to say that it would be easy at all. You're top 4 should include nsw metro, they will be hard to stop with two 6'10" starters a.j. and ross, helped by by a few good little shooters.

Rob Cameron should be in the team. If he plays with Molitor all yr round in district ball they have to have clicked somewhere. wouldn they play magic together then???

diddy is right, the emensly talented NSW country team will be hard to stop Dowdell and gynes are beasts but the jewel in the crown is daneil jackson. If he plays well they will be hard to stop. I have a question mark on NSW C big game performances in the finals though. Are you kidding QLD north will be lucky to make the top eight as for south mecanovos is named in the Vic Met squad so they will be releing on ahrens to win there games (he is no pat mills boys)

big bad, the Vic Metro Under 18 Boys' TEAM 2005 as listed, is

Ashley Arnott
Ben Louis
Caleb Barry
Jadranko Jusufagic
Jonathan Dorning
Kristian Williams
Luke Davis
Ryan Barnes
Todd Goldstein
Zachary Natoli

there is no David Mecanovic, he is listed to play for Queensland South Under 18 Men:
Michael Ahrens
Nash Allsop
Chris Goulding
Brendan Graham
Matt Madden (208cm)
Matt Massey
David Mecanovic
Toby Pirhi
Joel Tippett
Cameron White

diddy, Daniel johnson has been listed as playing for WA, full team is,
JOHNSON Daniel
ILIADIS Trian
OLSZEWSKI Ian
VAHALA Martin
ALABAKIS Ty
RICHES Luke
FORD Luke
VALE Mark
DUNNELL Andrew
ARMOUR Kyle
COACH: ALAN BLACK

Maybe he hasn't quit? But some talent has been dropping out or not getting selected (scott pendlebury could be injured,he ripped at the junior olympic's in sydney, march 2005).
Although victoria metro's Jadranko Jusufagic was in a selection trial group for this years AIS team, which shows vic depth. anyone know about him?
cheers

even if mecanovic is playing for qld s they can't win it with two players not enough depth. There are also some bottom agers in there that you wouldnt call awesome. This Jadranko Jusufagic is massive. I predict he will be at the AIS soon enough he is alsost seven foot. He is not that good but hes very tall and muscular. Daneil Jacksone (WAM) said that he would quit basketball after under 16s. It is also said that he pulled out recently. Grae Grant was awesom i know.

Yeh i had heard d.j. had quit for some reason but that may have just been for last year if he is now listed in the team, don't think they'll be as good as they were two years ago though. (name is daniel johnson, bruce, daniel jackson plays for nswc).
bballer, my bro went to that camp with jadranko jusufagic, and if i remember correctly i'm pretty sure he said he was massive but didnt have much game. not sure how he made the camp after never making a state side but you know what camps are like with picking the giants. But you never know now though, he may have improved a bit, coaches have probably put a lot of effort to making him good, we'll have to see how he goes.

'MY BAD' daneil johnson. I agree even with him they would not be able to win it again NSWC or VIC M

diddy, Bogut was in camp. As Isaac likes to say, you can't teach size!! (not for 5 pts who did he steal it from?)

Whats the deal with your brother next year? Rumour has it he's getting good NBL interest...

big bad bruce - Bogut made an AIS camp without playing state, no?

bogut was not selected into the under 18 victoria metro squad he then was given a scholarship to Vic metro ITC. He improved through the year the later in the year after nationals he was recommended by the Vic ITC head coach that he should be invited to the All Australian camp. This camp was at the AIS. It was not a trail for the AIS even though he was selected after being scouted at the camp

metro teams do not go to country cup in cup inn albury hence the name COUNTRY cup

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Natoli is awesome he has grown and bulked up in the past year as well
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He is still the same size as in 16s, will not get bigger than he is now.

Still very good, but there will always be someone just as quick etc and bigger...

no there is no one quicker or as quick as him actually. U should not be critising the best natoli Trex he is the best player in his age group and made vic met bottom age.

his size is not an issue wiht the skills hes got

ty alabakis is a really gr8 player...such great intensity!

i agree. ty is a an intense hard working player, and is virtually unstoppable when he's runnin hot. e.g vic metro