First game sees the Tall Ferns beat Korea 66-64
Davidson 24 & 10, Leger-Walker 20, Reed 14 & 11, (rest of team: 8 pts)
Bozxscore

2nd game commentary, Julia needs to calm down.

Are all the games on kayo or just Opals?

Really good opening win for NZ. They're set up well now.

Just opals, other games on courtside.

got the recorder set ! go Opals !

I'll be watching, have to make top 4 Opals.
Can’t believe they haven’t won gold yet.

I didn't see the NZ win coming - great result for them and us

I'll be watching, have to make top 4 Opals.
Can't believe they haven’t won gold yet.

Not sure why ba didn't request Melbourne and George who barely play in the wnba.
Han and Meng got released and were major contributors today.

De Jesus destroying Madgen atm.
Hard to see the opals keepin up with quicker teams.

Melbourne is averaging 11.6 mpg for Seattle. She'd be mad to pass up that experience in her rookie season for the sake of Asia Cup.

In George's case it's arguable that it would benefit both her and the Aces for her go get some meaningful game time.

Good opportunity for Scherf & Garbin to step up though. It's not like they aren't capable players.

So tall against Philippines with any combo of Kunek/Garbin/Bibby/Scherf on the court.

This is so boring and uncompetitive, needs a fly kick or two.

1st time out by Phillipines in first quarter was of concern - they looked beaten - you could see it in their faces. At least they clawed back a bit in 2nd

Biggest surprise.. The amount of defence Shyla played tonight!

El capatano has got to be better. Everyone else solid v phillipines.

Hard to tell how good the Opals really were given the significant talent disparity, but they shot well from the outside at least. I agree Madgen looked slow, but at least we could sic Nicholson onto DeJesus and that worked pretty well.

Yeah soon as they swapped Nicholson for Madgen on de Jesus, she couldn't score.

Surprised they are playing Garbin and Scherf together and Froling being the big off the bench.

Still think they did Swain and Bunton dirty.
Another shooter and legit big to backup scherf.

Put Wallace, Whitcomb and Melbourne back in the team and its hard to find a spot for Madgden.

Not to pile on but especially when you have the likes of Reid/Rocci/Heal backing up and those coming through in a couple of years we are going to have lots of options in the guard positions.

But she's clearly the leader on the team at AC right now with the most experience and is well liked. That goes a long way. Not to mention didn't play most of last season so bound to be some rust.

Good to get first win out of the way and plenty of playing time for everyone. Knockout matches will be most interesting there.

Perthworld even the lord and saviour sir Kai sotto wouldn't have saved them lol

Weedy Slug
Yesterday

Yeah soon as they swapped Nicholson for Madgen on de Jesus, she couldn't score.

Surprised they are playing Garbin and Scherf together and Froling being the big off the bench.

Still think they did Swain and Bunton dirty.
Another shooter and legit big to backup scherf.


Burton is done, she's like Madgen too injury prone to old to keep pace with the younger fitter bodies, and like,y put Tolo in that group too, it’s time for them to let these younger( compared to most tweaks they are t even that young) get a go.


Madgen isn’t a PG she never has been she’s just constantly pushed into that role, Wallaceand Heal will be the same, they don’t have a PG mentally

I still question Horvats inclusion, sure she scored but she looked way out of her depth and that was against a team of midgets compared to the opals line up.

Don’t think you can really gage how they are until they come up,against a team of better ability than that and some height.

Sherf looked very comfortable, about time she was given a chance,

Make Whitcomb captain. problem solved.

More competitive game, ran over them 2nd half.


Best performers so far Imo

#1 Scherf 12/11/3
#2 Garbin 12/5/1
#3 Kunek 10/7/3
#4 Froling 13/8/0
#5 Maley 8/11/1
#6 Rocci 9/4/5
#7 Heal 8/4/3,
#8 Horvat 10/2/0
#9 Nicholson 4/3/2
#10 Madgen 7/4/6
#11 Bibby 6/3/2
#12 Atwell 1/2/1

I'd have Nicholson above Rocci in terms of defensive contributions. Rocci looked very tired and made a few questionable decisions both offensively and defensively tonight.

Nicholson has been playing good d, but has been invisible everywhere else.
Cant see her anywhere near the A team.

Atwell very shaky, missed layups, open shots, beaten off the dribble everytime, had butter fingeds 3-4 times. still don't get why she was chosen...

Rocci is turnover prone - I thought that was well established. Still, prefer her playing the point rather than Heal who looks much better off the ball and in scoring mode. Madgen was pretty decent today. She managed to bully her way to the basket several times and looked better than yesterday. This team needs another guard (Swain!) but we have what we have.

Our frontcourt players should do well against all the other teams in this tournament (no Li Yueru for China really helps us), but it's how well our team defence performs against China's and Japan's offensive systems that will determine our final tournament placing.

Perthworld even the lord and saviour sir Kai sotto wouldn't have saved them lol

A win vs Japan and we qualify for the semi + Olympic qualifiers, a loss and we likely play Korea in a must win game.

Well, if we've had any concerns about going taller rather than faster, we’ll find out tonight how valid they were. I think we match up better against China than Japan.

Korea beating China at the moment, not good for us if we lose v japan.

Overtime.

Heal struggling v pressure once again and it takes Madgen 12 secs just to start the offense.

It takes Madgen 20 seconds just to get it to the 3 point line.

A lot of deja vu about this so far.
I get that a team like that will go on some runs against us, but the 2nd quarter dry spell at the offensive end was particularly excruciating for me.

Also disappointed that Japan were in foul trouble again in the second quarter, and our girls backed off instead of attacking the basket to go to the line.

Cant get it into the bigs, hardly anyone can dribble the ball and e dry time we try to spin out of trouble straight into a double team.

The guards have looked overwhelmed and our offence hasn't been able to cope with Japan cranking up the defensive intensity. I don't mind losing, but we can play better than this.

And I wish they'd set up some outside shots for Scherf when she’s starved of the ball inside.

Finally Scherf gets her chance.

Seebohm sticking with the same offense, I don't get it.
Being carved up atm.

And I wish they'd set up some outside shots for Scherf when she's starved of the ball inside.

Based on her shooting in the first game, KR.

So a sample size of one game?

If we lose to Korea, then what? Are we out of the Olympics?

If we lose to Korea, then what? Are we out of the Olympics?

Aus will play Korea if we lose this evening. Loser next game misses the Olympics. Winner faces China in the semi, a winnable game for aus with a few key players missing from the China squad.

Korea must be feeling so confident right now, given the amount of WNBL-style ball the Opals are playing.

Really shocking coaching by Seebohm, just letting them get run over with no changes being made.

Unfortunately too many offensively selfish players picked for Opals i.e. Maley, Bibby, Kunek & Nicholson where making the extra pass is foreign to them. Defensively we're a complete mess & can’t contain anyone off the dribble & our help principles are non existent! It will be a shameful day in Australian Basketball History if we can’t qualify for the Olympics...

Qualify for the Olympic qualifiers.... 16 teams next stage. Cut to 12 for Olympics.

Korea don't have as much talent as Japan nor are they as well coached, but they do play a similar style. Our team defence needs to be a lot better and our perimeter players need to be sharper on offence, especially the ballhandlers. Hopefully this game acts as a reminder to not be complacent and we see a much improved Opals on Friday.

Credit Japan for aggressive defence, quality shooting, constant motion, unselfish and frequent and effective passing, ....

And they had fun and played relaxed and confident. The better team clearly won.


Our squad seems to have been picked to match up with China, and assuming our size would overwhelm Korea and Japan, which strikes me as a bit disrespectful to both.

'A' team possible

Rocci - 2nd/3rd choice PG, others available like Melbourne / Reid / Amoore
Kunek - 3rd choice SF if injury to Talbot, Allen, Blicavs
Garbin - potential 3rd choice PF behind Magbegor / Smith
Scherf - backup C at best once Tolo / George retire


Not making A team ever imo

Heal
Madgen
Nicholson
Atwell
Maley
Horvat
Bibby
Froling

What's with the opals playbook? Haven’t learnt a thing all these years against Japan. Try mixing up the D with a 3:2 zone or choosing a small ball side to match up.
No just run the same crappy stagnant offense.
Credit to Japan all the same. They knew we’d play the way we did.

I don't think any combination of our B team is good enough to beat Japan. They are a very well coached and well drilled outfit with shooters everywhere. They should win their sixth consecutive Asia Cup.

I think the Opals still have a shot at second if they can pull it together. Sure Korea took China to OT but let’s not forget they lost to New Zealand. China are looking vulnerable.

I get annoyed the Opals don't change it up against Japan. It’s always the same old stuff against them.

Just mix it up, play 3-2 zone to stop the 3pt shooting. If they lose to Korea does that mean the Opals can’t qualify for the France Olympics?

Pressure is on now.

Seebohm can't coach. Same message in every timeout with no direction on what they actually needed to change or fix through the game ...

I went to the game and early in the 4th he stood and stared across the court at Lono, Stirling and the BA brain trust. Maybe he knew was out of his depth and was just checking to see if they were thinking the same. That second half was bad. No adjustments in O or D schemes and subs in the 4th were nonexistent

Lonergan and Stirling in the stands with a clipboard, you see them in the stands every tournament.

I feel bad for Seebohm, like I said previously, he did not choose the side on his own.

Perhaps Seebohm knew the limitations of those he had, and that it wouldn't have mattered a rat’s arse what he asked for because he wouldn’t get it. He would have had every right to be pissed off at the BA top brass for what he had to put up with.

Bad luck that both Reid and Tolo got injured prior to the cup. Both would have been s5 under Seebohm. Rumours Mangakahia was going to be selected. Atwell and Horvat late ins that would not have been selected. Borlase and Puoch always going to miss for u19 WC.
Swain too young for sandy it seems. Bunton the only other to miss.


Possibly...
Reid / Heal or Rocci or both / Mangakahia
Madgen / ?
Kunek / Maley / Bibby
Garbin / Froling
Tolo / Scherf

Likely heal or Rocci playing off guard at times.

Reid, Tolo and Mangakahia all would have helped this team big time IMO. We have what we have though and we only need to win this one game against Korea.

There is nothing that happens in the Opals that does not happen without Stirling's approval or direction.

Lebanon beat Chinese Taipei in a thriller to put them in division B.

Will Guy Molloy finally prove himself to the doubters on this forum by coaching NZ to a win and a semi-final spot?

I feel we need to play very tight on the player defence on Japan. Playing high in the passing lanes is good but Japan are better on the back cut and too fast with their motion offence (they have been doing this for a while). We need to have mega hard working defence rotations onto the 3 point line. They just get the 5 on 4 player advantage after getting past our first player.

Nz are always 4 or 5 placing.
Win v China, Japan or Aus and I'll give molloy some credit.

Would be a good result for nz to make Olympic qualifiers but they would need a good draw to have a chance. Need Purcell back asap. Couple of other good players floating around.

This is such a frustrating game to watch.

NZ are playing so slow and monotonous, to the point that even the commentators have said that NZ isn't looking for fast breaks, even when their half-court sets aren’t working. Philippines are at least showing energy and punishing the sloppy switching.

Neither side should be allowed anywhere near an Olympics.

83-78, nz face japan in semi and qualify as top 16 team for Olympic qualifiers.

Geez Louise.. get Madgen off.

The Opals are playing a lot sharper than they were against Japan, but it helps that Korea's defence is not nearly as good as Japan's. Good first half and hoping for more of the same in the second.

Rocci been good, so too Garbin and Scherf.
Heal needs to take Madgens minutes.
Kuneks worst game so far.
Maley + Nicholson can't seem to get it done in internationals.

Madgen is playing well tonight, Weedy, Give her some credit lol. Heal is playing well too. All the guards are much improved today.

Heal needs a few more minutes for sure.
Better 2nd half for sure by Madgen but she has given up 20 points on the other end.

Surely you woukd rest some players at the 4 min mark and put on Bibby, Horvat and maybe atwell.

Agree, Weedy. Strange not to - no way was Korea going to catch up in that time.

Anyway, nice that both Australia and New Zealand are going on from here.

Nz vs Japan
China vs Aus


Korea vs Phillipines for 5/6
Lebanon 7th
Chinese Taipei 8th relegated to Div B

Madgen is playing well tonight, Weedy, Give her some credit lol.

You would have her on the A team luuuc?
Over who?

She was good in the second half running the show, like I said.
throughout the tournament though, for the opals-she has given up the most amount of points by some margin. Rewatch the game, she gave up 20 points to her man.
I like her as a person, has a lot of passion. Just have to watch the presser after to see that.
Still not in the best 12 imo, maybe being a good leader is good enough for some but Whitcomb could do the same + be a big contributor. Rocci has been better imo, why she is now in the s5.

I'm looking forward to playing China tonight - I think we have a chance. NZ, on the other hand, I expect to really struggle against Japan.

Does making or winning the final give any advantage or seeding in the Qualifying tournament?

No, based on being amongst the top four countries in the FIBA World rankings and remaining there, which would mean being seeded in Pot 1 for the qualifying tournament (fading USA, China and Canada).

Japan already up by 22 in the first half.

You would have her on the A team luuuc?
Over who?

Putting the question out there for those of you who are more experienced: is Molloy actually helping NZ by being there?

I've only seen the Philo and Japan games, but in each case I don’t think NZ is playing that well as a unit, much of which comes down to him. When I see NZ deliberately ignoring fast breaks and players free around the basket just so they can run their (not very effective) set plays, I wonder about the coaching. Similarly, when I see poor boxing out, sloppy screening and switching, and players left without passing options, again I wonder about the coaching.

HOWEVER, they beat Korea.

So I really don’t know whether I’m judging him harshly or what. Your thoughts?

I've been pretty clear that in every area of basketball(apart from exp and leadership), Swain imo is better than Madgen. Advanced stats show Madgen has been the worst defender on the opals team which is why I don’t give her praise. individually she is giving up more than adding too atm.
Seperate from her on court contributions, She is no doubt the leader of this team, not sure any other is captain material. How much does her leadership boost the team?, her team mates certainly think she is a good captain.
Question is
If she was left off the team and another like swain came in, would we be a better team?, I think yes.


Rocci coming into the s5 as pg and Madgen moving to the 2 was night and day compared to the previous games.

NZ can do better than Molloy.
Results under him have not been good nor terrible.
Is he growing the talent pool? Not really.
NZ basketball should back themselves, got plenty of quality coaches...

Offence is looking dysfunctional here early on. Everything is individual, and that suits virtually none of these players.

Maley has turned into flopper goulding.

Kunek has been real solid today.
Scherf though, missed so many bunnies...

Similar last game too, it just didn't hurt us much because we were dominating. Just can't afford to miss that many gimmes.

Good to see Kunek & Heal take the shackles off and let it fly early in the clock when the right look was there. Shooters need to have that green light.
Especially when not much else is happening offensively.

About what was expected from the opals this tournament.

Yep. For me, the positives have probably been Rocci looking more comfortable at this level, and Kunek confirming that she's still in the mix.
I think Garbin hasn't hurt her chances either, although Smith's WNBA form has.

After game 2

#1 Scherf 12/11/3
#2 Garbin 12/5/1
#3 Kunek 10/7/3
#4 Froling 13/8/0
#5 Maley 8/11/1
#6 Rocci 9/4/5
#7 Heal 8/4/3,
#8 Horvat 10/2/0
#9 Nicholson 4/3/2
#10 Madgen 7/4/6
#11 Bibby 6/3/2
#12 Atwell 1/2/1

After game 4

#1 Scherf 10/9/2
#2 Garbin 11/4/1
#3 Rocci 10/3/5
#4 Froling 11/7/0
#5 Kunek 9/4/2
#6 Heal 8/3/2
#7 Madgen 9/4/4
#8 Maley 6/8/1
#9 Nicholson 5/3/2
Not enough minutes after 5 games
#10 Horvat 6/1/0
#11 Bibby 3/2/1
#12 Atwell 0/1/0


After game 6 tomorrow vs NZ...
TBD

Yeah, this is what I expected from the B Opals. China are too good - Li Meng and Han Xu are WNBA level talent and they have some quick role players who can knock down shots. We have too many players who are either not at the required talent level offensively or need more experience to play well against the better teams. Glad to see Kunek have a good game and Shyla Heal has impressed me in this tournament with her defence and scoring spurts.

Unfortunately, Maley and Nicholson can't score at this level and Madgen doesn't have the speed or shiftiness to compete against better teams. Garbin's spot will likely be taken by Alanna Smith, which is fair. I like Froling's work rate but her lack of size is a concern against better teams.

PARIS POOL IMO

Reid 1
Rocci 1
Amoore 1
Melbourne 2-1
Whitcomb 2-1
Wallace 2-1
Swain 2
Talbot 3-2
Kunek 3
Puoch 3
Allen 3-4
Blicavs 4-3
Garbin 4
Smith 4-5
Magbegor 4-5
George 5-4
Tolo 5


Off the list ftm imo
Heal 1
Mangakahia 1
Shelley 2-1
Madgen 2
Borlase 2
Nicholson 2
Atwell 3
Maley 3-4
Bibby 3-4
Horvat 3-4
Froling 4
Aokuso 5
Scherf 5
Jackson 5

When I see NZ deliberately ignoring fast breaks and players free around the basket just so they can run their (not very effective) set plays,

True, kr, but why would you ignore easy baskets like they sometimes seemed to do. Instead, they seemed to try too hard to go for the difficult ones by following the set play.

I find it hard to assess New Zealand as a team because their offensive talent level falls off a cliff after Charlisse Leger-Walker, Tahlia Tupaea and Penina Davidson. I am still shocked they beat Korea but Korea don't play good D and NZ played well enough in that particular game to scrape by them.

From my observations over the years, I think Guy Molloy is an average to above average coach. He is not bad, but not that inspiring or exciting either. You can't question his results at this tournament though - he has exceeded expectations. A safe choice for the Sydney Flames after the wild Shane Heal years.

The male commentator waffling on about Opals who have had good tournaments and staking a claim for Paris. What a joke. If they can only stand up when playing NZ without Tupea, and went missing against China and Japan ...

Speaking of Paris, Madgen will be there. Sandy will want her inspirational leadership.

Will Madgen and Leger-walker actually be good enough to make the all-Tournament team? Or do you think the organisers will follow the politically correct line and include a player from each semi-finalist?

Really find the negativity on here strange, it's fine to be critical but quite unnecessary to be this down on something you voluntarily follow.

Most of these players will be better off for the experience, and will be interested to see how those coming back to WNBL perform. Theyre aiming for 2024 now, but 2028 side could look like anything.

After the tournament (6 games)

Ranking imo

#1 Kunek 12/4/2
#2 Garbin 10/4/1
#3 Scherf 9/8/2
#4 Rocci 9/3/4
#5 Froling 10/6/0
#6 Madgen 9/3/4
#7 Heal 8/2/2
#8 Maley 6/8/1
#9 Nicholson 4/2/1
#10 Horvat 4/1/0
#11 Bibby 3/2/1
#12 Atwell 0/1/0



All tournament team 5 of these 7 you'd think...

Yamamoto
Leger-Walker
Li
Kunek
Mawuli
Davidson
Han

Tough call on the tournament team, Weedy.

I think Han is obvious, and Mawuli edges out Davidson, and whether you'd pick Kunek or Madgen is debatable, but dropping one of Li or Yamamoto to include Kunek and Leger-Walker???
For consistency over the whole tournament, I think Leger-Walker will get in but no Opals, even though it’s being played in Sydney.

If it's just from the medal teams...

Yamamoto - Japan
Li - China
Kunek - Australia
Mawuli - Japan
Han - China


Commentators talk though, could be
Madgen over Kunek
LegerWalker over davidson
Okoye over Mawuli

Coach of the tournament has to be the Japanese coach. Obviously astute, but more so for the positivity and fun he brings into the team.

You know he was almost fired after the WC?

Thanks for that info, Weedy. Because they came 9th and China 2nd, I assume.

What a cracker of a game!!

Great game, would be good to see all the A teams against each other next asia cup, everyone missing a few, except Korea.

AS5

Han*
Li
Yamamoto
Kunek
Davidson