Humphries can.. DJ not so much. Let's be honest.

Humphries had arguably the greatest performance in FIBA U17 history and still, DJ wanted to keep chucking up shots.

With Mark Watkins coaching - no.

Last nights game was frustrating to watch (and not just because of the sketchy stream). If you saw the first 6 minutes of the match and turned it off you would have thought Australia would win by 40 points. And then the "coaching" happened. Players subbed into the game, switched from man-2-man to a zone, Canada got back into the game.

Humphries played an awesome game, but since everything went inside to him, no other Aussie player found a rhythm, nothing against the player, it's just unbelievable that the coach didn't notice it. DJ took 1 shot in the first quarter, a transition 3 that missed. So in the second quarter he forced A LOT, especially in transition as nothing was being run for any other player.

The other strange coaching scenario in the second half was that when Humphries sat down, so did DJ and Kuat Noi who were Australia's other top 2 scorers for the tournament. Surely with Humphries resting it is a good chance to give the other scorers options in the half court set. But no, he goes to a mainly bench team and look at the +/- on the stat sheet and you can see that when Humphries was out, we couldn't score. No plan B.

I don't know Mark Watkins, but from watching these 3 games he just hopes things go well. This team is running the same sets as the Boomers which looks mostly based on the Spurs motion offence. And the AIS kids look okay, but the other players look lost in the offence. And when you are hoping your big guy just rebounds missed shots and gets cutbacks then you are in trouble.

Had we won the game, we would be playing the Phillipines. Had we lost by less than 7 points, Angola. We lost by 9 points, so we are playing a Greece team that only lost to team USA by 10 points. They have a 7'1" Centre to match up against Isaac. I want Australia to win bad, but based on the last 3 games, our best result will be 9th.

Anon^ while I will agree with many of the points you have presented, I am not sure why his assistant coaches could not have suggested a plan-B or advised him of the issues unfolding before them during the game?

Not knowing what they discussed means we can only speculate but the half time conversations would be interesting to know.

I saw the whole game. The difference between both teams was shooting. Canada had no reason to respect us on the perimeter.

@#487678 - could have either been Watkins or the assistants who made the calls, but the accountability falls on the head coach. He has to make the decisions and from what I saw they were terrible.

@Alpha - I agree that DJ did contribute, although his production was by far the lowest out of the 3 games and box score junkies will only look at 2/12 shooting. What I was saying is that due to no deliberate offence being run for him, he tried to create shots and forced shots he shouldn't of taken (i.e. floater from the foul line in trans, long 3 ball, etc). I am amazed Kuot didn't try the same thing. 3rd leading scorer only gets 1 shot all game!! Nothing run for him.

Also agree with DJ's movement with the ball. With his height he will have to be a PG and his work off the screen is good. The pick and roll he did with Humphries in the 4th quarter was awesome, but because he is a good scorer, coaches keep playing him in the 2 guard.

I also agree about Will McDowell-White missing, he would help as either a tall PG or SF. Look at team USA running a 6'8" PG this tournament and Serbia a 6'5" PG. We wouldn't be able to match up. I really think Isaac, DJ and Will are the only 3 who could make the U19 team.

Also, does anyone know why Deng Gak hasn't played? Injured?

Humphries has looked pretty good from what i've seen during the tournament. Surprising mobile for his size and has a nice touch around the rim. He did a spin move against Greece that really took me by surprise. He has massive potential but it'll be interesting to see if he can keep the dominance up when he doesn't have the massive size advantage he has now.

I think this tournament is showing Humphries is the real deal. Some of his opposition is similar height, but you are correct that his mobility for his size is outstanding. He has taken the step up to worlds without hesitating. He and the rest of the team are looking better very game...

On court he is 6' 11"

213cm is Humphries' official height.

Standing next to USA's Diamond Stone (who's listed at 6'10), he seemed at least a few inches taller so the '7 foot' height that he's been listed with is accurate.

Anon #487671, you were a fair way off the mark with your prediction of 9th place, got anything more positive to say now they got 2nd?