I think we have a real chance at a medal.
I agree with you... Other players need a to play more minutes.

I'm really concerned about the coaching. That group is much better than the results.

Don't forget we were playing both a Chinese and Lithuanian u19 side, not u17.
The USA team were made up of college players 23 and under.

I think the world champs will be tough, a lot of teams very similar talent wise. No runaway winners this time round.

Personally, I think the best starting lineup is..

Conti, Shelley, Simmons, Cochrane, magbegor

Just my opinion though.

I think they'll be fine and should medal.

How can people be critical of coaches when you have the likes of Seebohm and York.

USA team was made up of players just graduated from college, so 22-23 years old. Some of them had been in WNBA training camps.

^that was the team that played in the 4 nations(seniors tournament), not the one that played in the un17/19 tournament, that team was made up of un17 USA highschool/about to start college kids not 22/23yr olds

No mate.

This was the USA team they played:
The NetScouts Basketball USA All-Stars include: Marquelle Dent, 5'8, PG, (Wyoming), Danielle Rodriguez, 5’10, PG (Utah), Lexi Petersen, 5’11, G (Oregon), Brittany Crain, 5’10, G (UC Riverside), Jaime Patrick, 5’10, G (Colorado State), Jazmine Perkins, 5’10, G/F (Washington State/Finland), Stephanie Lee, 6’1, F (Northern Colorado/Germany), Talia Walton, 6’2, F (Washington/Los Angeles WNBA), Kaylon Williams, 6’3, F/C (Oklahoma/Los Angeles WNBA) and Shelby Cheslek, 6’5, C (Gonzaga/Phoenix WNBA). The team will be coached by Ryan Johnson and assisted by David Huss of Northeastern (CO) Junior College.
Dent averaged 17.7 points and 5.9 assists her junior season at Wyoming and 15.5 points and 5.6 assists her senior season. She was named to the All-Mountain West Conference 1st team both years and was also on the All-Defensive team each year.
Rodriguez was a three-year starter at point guard for Utah, ending her career this season averaging 9.6 points and 4.1 assists. She was a Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention her senior season.
Petersen was also a Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention selection this season as she helped lead Oregon to the WNIT Final Four by averaging 13.4 points and shooting 44.7 percent from long-distance.
Crain was the Big West Conference Player of the Year in both 2015 and 2016 and was an All-America Honorable Mention in 2016. In her senior season she scored 22.5 points per game, grabbed 5.2 rebounds per game and shot 40 percent on three-pointers.
Patrick helped lead Colorado State to the NCAA Tournament this season, averaging 13.0 points while shooting 41.7 percent on 218 three-point attempts and was named to the All-Mountain West Conference First Team.
Perkins finished her career at Washington State as the only player in school history with 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 250 steals. She averaged 15.4 points and 7.3 rebounds in Finland this season and has played previously in Israel, Bulgaria and Poland.
Lee joins the NetScouts Basketball USA All-Stars for the second time. She averaged 16.5 points her senior year at Northern Colorado and was named to the All-Big Sky Conference 1st team. She played successfully in Germany this season.
Walton led Washington to the NCAA tournament Final Four this year. She capped her career averaging 16.5 points and 6.4 rebounds and scored 29 points in the loss to Syracuse in the Final Four. She was named to the Final Four All-Tournament team and was selected in the WNBA Draft’s third round by the Los Angeles Sparks.
Williams averaged 12.4 points and 7.1 rebounds for Oklahoma her senior season and was named to the All-Big 12 2nd Team. She was a recent cut of the Los Angeles Sparks (WNBA).
Cheslek averaged 9.8 points and 8.7 rebounds in her final season at Gonzaga and was named to the All-WCC 2nd Team. She was a recent cut of the Phoenix Mercury (WNBA).

Not sure how someone came up with such bogus information. Clearly was an all college team with some descent prospects.

Chinese u17 apparently descent, so one to look out for. France will be the most difficult of our group for sure even though we have the size over them.

Some person/people trying to feed some disinformation into this thread to downplay the excellent result the Saphhires and the coaching staff achieved.

Faced with actual data about the opposition, they slink back under their rock(s).

Australia vs Mexico tomorrow (Wednesday) 1:45 pm

Tomorrow night now around 9pm.

That's 9:45pm for the Eastern states.

Been a big variation between their best and worst in the warm up games. Will be interesting as their best is good enough.

Mali beating Brazil lol

FIBA u17 w Orleans championships websites has live stats links to videos of all games etc

Watch the replay of Spain v Portugal. The WNBL could learn a thing or two

Looked very scrappy against France but got the W. No chance any of the guards will dominate the assist count. Defence looks good but offensively very poor last night. Perhaps a pass first guard may help?

Facing 1 of Czech Republic or Portugal next. Both tough teams.

I'd like to see starting lineup of
Shelley, Simmons, Rowe, pizzey, magbegor.
Followed by
Conti, goodchild, Simons, Cochrane, mcspadden

While the idea of not going so small makes sense, particularly when we would have a clear height advantage, only playing 10 and leaving Cubillo and McLean out doesn't.

Watched most of that game last night live as friends had a daughter in the French team , it had a couple of moments where you could say wow that was a good play but the vast majority was scrappy and very much age appropriate standard from
Both teams not what you would class as outstanding. They were lucky France did not have bigs that were quick.
Agree with the above comment re needing a pass first guard , that would have helped and some clearly bad choices when under pressure.

Be good to see them challenged by a stronger opponent I think they will probably play better they look like a team that falls to the standard they are playing against once they get a lead.

Let's hope they can rise all the way to the end and stay injury free be nice to see them medal well

I hope the coaches recognise hiw badly the offense is functioning and get those guards to facilitate instead of looking to create shots for themselves or we are doomed as soon as we hit a good team. Should be wiping the floor with France.

Conti, goodchild, Simmons, Simons, Rowe are all capable of driving to the cup.
Not happening much though...

Different standard here - it is not rep ball.

Any chance BA could put this year's team on their website instead of the one from a few years back?

A.Cubillo 5'3 pg starter
M.Conti 5'5 pg/sg
J.Shelley 5'9 pg/sg starter
M.Goodchild 5'9 pg/sg
C.McLean 5'10 sg/sf
J.Simmons 5'11 sg/sf starter
S.Simons 6'0 sg/sf
K.Rowe 6'0 sf/pf
R.Pizzey 6'3 pf/c starter
E.Magbegor 6'4 pf/c starter
L.Mcspadden 6'4 pf/c
L.Cochrane 6'5 pf/c

On a rest day for the team, I was very disappointed that there were no stories or reports about one of the starters sneezing. There is some conjecture as to whether its was a sneeze, or maybe just a loud sniffle, but surely her relative who works at FIBA or her other relative who authors content for the hoops press could have created a story from it!

After all, even when she has a stinker, their reports include her photo and mention her minutes. Now don't get me wrong, the kid is ok but hopefully someone tells the family to pull their collective heads in and acknowledge basketball is a team sport, there are 12 very talented players on the roster, and it is not a platform to constantly trumpet their own kid's performance - good or indifferent.

Please support the Australian u17 team, not just your own kid!

Tip off 2:15am v Czech Republic in the quarter final - come on girls, get it done!!!

Simmons has been the standout so far..
Magbegor a close second.

I would like to see more of goodchild also. Boosts our defence in the backcourt.

Australia's best chance in along time to win gold.
I'm thinking Italy will get passed China.
Spain could not deal with China's 6'7 Han. Italy do have some bigs who can compete.

What might the U19s qualifiers team look like?

Rocci/Molloy
Yaegar/Simmons
Horvat/Ogier/Atwell
Bibby/Maley
Magbegor/Aokuso/Tofeano

Who else is in the mix?

No idea what 19s has to do with this thread but at least 4 of those named are no chance despite their family PR efforts.

Re Sapphires, which is what the topic is about - should be the gold medal game v the US but it holds no fear for the Aussie girls. They are favourites.

USA are beatable.
It will be tough though..

I like the Conti, Shelley, Simmons, Rowe, magbegor lineup the most.

USA being a large team though, probably means more time for pizzey, Cochrane and mcspadden than previous games.

Are there others from u17 squad you would add to u19s? (Apart from Simmons, magbegor)

We don't have many bigs in that 98 class I noticed.

Sapphires starters should be:

Conti
Simmons
Rowe
Cochrane
Magbegor

Small ball won't get it done.

U19s is a year away, a lot will change between now and then. I don't think a lot of the u19 squad listed above, but that is just my opinion.

Nice team for defence. But then there's hardly any outside shooting with no Shelley and then Simons.

Who are some other quality 98 players I didn't mention?

Wragg, hoycard, Lindsay, loader, elsworthy, Klaman off the top of my head.

Nah mate if there born 98, there ok to play in 2017.

The boys team have made the final the last 2 times...

Great work by the Aussies. our defence is far superior to any other team.
We move from athleticism (USA) to bulk strength (Italy) Madera, Cubaj, trucco.
A better 3 point shooting team which spaces the floor so there bigs can operate.

Fantastic win by the Sapphires great to see we have a group coming through whose talent is genuinely the best in the world. This is our golden generation emerging. Every player there has contributed over the tournament. They look unbeatable with both Magbegor and Cochrane on the floor - should be running them together for 30 plus minutes - a lot to learn from VIC Metro's set up at Nationals.

He will make it about himself ! If he hasn't already . He is hardly present at the COE and coaching these kids. Others including Paul Gorris can take some credit here

Let's just celebrate their achievements and hope BA gets the funding to invest in the COE and other elite development - it needs it urgently to support our young talent as its is on a shoestring at the moment.

Still laughing about this - I know who they mean! Must be something about Vic country guards and their parents.

re: Sapphires WC chances?
On a rest day for the team, I was very disappointed that there were no stories or reports about one of the starters sneezing. There is some conjecture as to whether its was a sneeze, or maybe just a loud sniffle, but surely her relative who works at FIBA or her other relative who authors content for the hoops press could have created a story from it!

After all, even when she has a stinker, their reports include her photo and mention her minutes. Now don't get me wrong, the kid is ok but hopefully someone tells the family to pull their collective heads in and acknowledge basketball is a team sport, there are 12 very talented players on the roster, and it is not a platform to constantly trumpet their own kid's performance - good or indifferent.

Please support the Australian u17 team, not just your own kid!