Thought the opposite, talent very much down in both u18 and u16 women.
Some good young male prospects but not a lot in the girls apart from those in last years state team.

Thought the 18 sale girls any of the starting 5 had bright futures. Warrnambool some talent there. Bendigo as well.
16 weaker but great to see Korumburra win.
Tralagon, sale Geelong, Bendigo, Warrnambool quality players in all.
Must have watched different games!!!
Daniels looks the good in men.

I watched every D1 game, time will tell though when ajc's come around.
Country women won’t be in the mix.

Metro seem to be in far more trouble. Be interesting to see NSW teams.
wA have had some good results as well.
Era of Vic domination is over

Qld will be strong in the women, both nth n sth

Sale had three players (7 in team) who were originally from Southern Pen. Two of these recruits are Vic Country State Players. They rorted the system for them to be 'eligible' to play in their champs team. They'll magically be eligible next year for champs after not setting foot in the town for 11 months.

BV were aware of this prior to the event and did nothing about it.

Warnambool U18 girls battled and were really well coached. But 2 overtime games during the weekend was just to much of a toll.

(Mod: No naming U18 players.)

It'll be hard for any team to come close to the qlders I reckon.

Vic Country u16G have some good players, they are just spread across different Associations, they won't be deep but he top end will be competitive. Vic Metro is in a lot of trouble though, particularly if the selectors are as inept as those that chose the u18 team.

Hmmm sounds like a bit of bitterness there.
They must have gone through a qualification process.

U18 girls country strong.
U18 boys metro strong
U16 girls country just over metro
U16 metro strong
Reckon the lockdown has worked to the advantage of country kids. Metro lock down for so long.
Any good performing associations from the country champs.
Sale did well.
Geelong
Great win by Korumburra

A few powerhouse clubs of the past nowhere to be seen

Geelong United apart from 18 boys weren't great
18 boys 1st
18 girls ranked 10th
16 boys ranked 9th
16 girls ranked 7/8
But that Sale 18 girls have been a ripper since under 12s,

Greg S
Which associations were the best performers and which went backwards?

It's worth comparing this year’s results with the same cohort for previous years:

18 girls 2022 2020 (16s) 2018 (14s) 2016 (12s)
Sale 1 3-4 3-4 9
W’bool 2 11-12 19-20 13-16
Ballarat 3-4 5-8 3-4 1
Wodonga 3-4 5-8 1 5-8
Bendigo 5-8 10 13-16 3-4
Mildura 5-8 3-4 5-8 21-24
Portland 5-8 DIV 3/4* 17 19-20
Shepparton 5-8 1 5-8 5-8
Traralgon 9 5-8 5-8 2
Geelong 10 5-8 11-12 25
Horsham 11-12 9 10 11-12
Korumburra 11-12 DIV 3/4* 21-24 5-8
Bellarine 13-16 13-16 11-12 18
Echuca 13-16 13-16 9 27-28
Maffra 13-16 13-16 13-16 5-8
Sthn Penn 13-16 2 2 3-4

*Division 3 & 4 wasn’t played in 2020 due to covid. Ballarat, Shepparton and Wodonga have stayed in the top 8. Traralgon have slowly declined within this age group. Horsham, Bellarine and Maffra have been very consistent. Aside from under 12 results, Geelong, Echuca and Mildura have been pretty steady. Korumburra and Bendigo both plummeted between 12s and 14s, but picked up since. Warrnambool and Portland have majorly improved their standings from under 16s.

Sale’s improvement can probably be attributed to their new players, though their bottom-age girls have dominated the last 3 odd-numbered years. Southern Peninsula have dropped off in a big way, but that might be due partly to Sale having 3 of their players from 2 years ago.

Crikey, my formatting got minced! I'll remember that next time I post data from my iPad.

Real insight. Do you have 16?
Is it same for boys?
I wonder why players moved from SP to sale? Not just round the corner.
Portland and Korumburra they should be commended amazing performances

Fox87, I could do a similar data set for the 18 boys, but the under 16 age group would be hard to analyse because the only results to compare are from this group four years ago in under 12s. The under 14 championships were cancelled in 2020.

I'm not sure how these players ended up at Sale, nor whether they are qualified to represent them. I believe two of them play VJBL at Frankston with one of the Sale players, and also that the BVC representative rules have changed significantly in recent years. Players have more choice over who they represent than previously, but these girls would need to play regularly in the Sale domestic competition to qualify.

Mexicano- the general basketball community definition of 'playing regularly in domestic competition' would be worlds apart from Sale's. Turning up twice in season before champs, to be never seen again, is deemed as 'regularly'. Its hard to play a weeknight domestic competition when you live 2 hours away.

Under 18 boys 2022 / 2020 / 2018 / 2016
Geelong 1 / 2 / 2 / 5-8
Bendigo 2 / 5-8 / 3-4 / 5-8
Ballarat 3-4 / 3-4 / 5-8 / 3-4
Wonthaggi 3-4 / 10 / 13-16 / 13-16
Shepparton 5-8 / 11-12 / 13-16 / 11-12
Traralgon 5-8 / 3-4 / 5-8 / 5-8
Warrnambool 5-8 / 1 / 1 / 1
Wodonga 5-8 / 13-16 / 19-20 / 13-16
Hamilton 9 / 5-8 / 11-12 / 21-24
Echuca 10 / Div 3* / 21-24 / 13-16
Colac 11-12 / 13-16 / 9 / 29-32
Pakenham 11-12 / 5-8 / 3-4 / DNP
Bellarine 13-16 / Div 3* / 13-16 / 27-28
Mildura 13-16 / 5-8 / 5-8 / 2
Sale 13-16 / 11-12 / 10 / 5-8
Sthn Pen 13-16 / 9 / 5-8 / 9

Hmmm:

Basketball in Gippsland is very cutthroat, so anything goes! These girls wouldn't even need to play once, as long as they have their names on a scoresheet or registered electronically - I doubt players would travel 2 hours each way for a domestic game.

This team qualifies for the Junior Classic, but if Frankston and Casey also qualify, Sale won’t have a team and their spot will go to the next best VJBL team, not to the 2nd-placed country team.

The Sale situation sounds like a futile exercise. Why recruit players to win a title if the players aren't available for next part of the journey.
Is this now a trend where young players are recruited to make super teams? Does basketball Victoria have any opinion. It would seem not in the right spirit.
Southern peninsula must be fuming given their results and that they have three top players who left. Not fair on them either.

Think you will find there will be a race up the highway from Geelong to join Wyndhams girls program,not a happy camp

Greg S. Too late for Geelong Girls to head to Wyndham. Maybe all those local coaches that do paid 1 on 1 can assist.

Fox87, SP have been losing players because they've lost some good coaches. Players in the region are spoilt for choice when it comes to VJBL clubs, but I can only speculate as to why these girls have joined Sale for the country championships. It does seem pointless, though if neither Frankston nor Casey qualify for the Classic, these girls will be able to play for Sale. My understanding is that players who are living in the country zone no longer need to play for a country association to qualify for country state teams, which makes the situation with Sale even more pointless.

I don’t know whether country associations actively recruit players, but strong players from smaller/weaker associations sometimes move to bigger/better associations.

Mex
SP are losing players must be something wrong internally. I'd hope it's not poaching. Sale must be 2.30 hour drive and you would go past a few strong associations before you get there. Korumburra, tralagon....
As for country rules it's no secret that the boundaries between metro and country are blurred. A lot of country athletes play VJBL for metro and a fair fee metro athletes end up in country pathway.

Sale hosted their association tournament on the weekend. The three U18 'ring-ins' did not play. I'm sure they'll be eligible for next years champs though.

So where does the blame go?
Sale board.
BV country
Southern Peninsula
Devils advocate here. Sale has created an opportunity for their players to play in classic. Players swap associations all the time in metro.
I think this will be a growing trend. Once one association does it others will have to follow. Tralagon? Geelong? Ballarat are all shorter drives ....
I

Fox87 All of the above. Country Champs is supposed to recognize Country Associations and their local athletes. That's why its so good to see small clubs shine e.g. Korumburra this year U16 girls, Macedon Rangers U14 boys last year etc. Just disappointing i guess.

Not sure of the current rules around Metro kids playing in Country teams but you use to have to prove that you resided 4 days a week in County zone. Boarding School included. Anyone know the current rules.

I think you find Country Champ winners don't automatically qualify for classic anymore,unless they finish top 4 in VC pool,they also have to guarantee they would have near to the same team that won Country Champs or they aren’t selected

That country champs/VC can't be right. A lot of country teams don't play VJBL. Sale is one.
Metro kids put down relatives addresses to get round it. BV doesn't police it.

https://www.basketballvictoria.com.au/competitions/tournaments/national-junior-classic

Sale don't have a team in VJBL in U18 girls, which means they should qualify. Plenty of country teams have played in the Classic without having a Vjbl team. If some of Sale’s players are also nominated by other teams, they need to prove that they will be competitive without those players. It’s always worked this way and the wording on the BV website hasn’t changed.

If the 18 girls country championships had been won by a team who also plays VJBL - Ballarat, for example - their team would have to also qualify as a VJBL team to play in the Classic.

Metro/country state team qualification is based entirely on your residential postcode. It used to be that to be eligible for Vic Country, a player living in a country postcode also had to be an active member of a country association. This is no longer the case, playing for any BV association is sufficient. A player who lives in a metro postcode can’t qualify for a Vic Country state team by playing at a country association. Obviously players can lie about their postcode, but I’d like to think this doesn’t happen.

To play for a team at Country Championships, a player must be playing regularly at that association. It no longer has to be your closest association, and I doubt there is a rule preventing a player who lives in a metro postcode from qualifying. Playing in country champs does not mean you are eligible for a country state team. A player could live in Frankston while playing domestic for Southern Peninsula, and represent SP at country champs. This player is still only eligible for a metro state team.

Mex,
Players do use different post codes. Not involved in State program anymore. But I know of many examples of this happening in the not too distant past.