Staff:

Brian Goorjian (Coach),
Brendan Joyce (Assistant Coach), Rob Beveridge (Assistant Coach), Nic Mercer (Manager),
Dr Seamus Dalton (Doctor),
Steve Evans (Physiotherapist), Bohdan Babyczuk (Fitness Coordinator),
Nick Popovic (Fitness Assistant), Ray McLean (Facilitator).

Who will replace this group of coaches after the World Championship?

Not trying to be negative or unrealistic but that group is going to be quite difficult and I doubt the boomers will make it out of the group stage.

I think people are being a bit melodramatic, we only recently beat Lithuania and we had an understrength team! (4 nations clash) we havent lost to Brazil in years, and while they are the 'Americas champion', they arent that great... USA only fielded a college team as they had already qualified for the world championships. The only good player Brazil has is varejao...We will almost definately get to the eighth finals, we would have to lose to Qatar and Turkey not to! Greece is only one above us on international ranking, so an upset is possible.. shit, its even possible that we would come atop our pool! as long as you are in the top 4 out of 6 teams you make it to the eighth finals, i tend to think we might come third in our pool, thats being realistic... then we might face italy in the quaterfinals.. a team while yes they did come silver in Athens...we bet them in athens on there game!, i mean i think third in our pool is reasonable and i think top 6 in the comp is possible.

Another thing i read in an article was that we would most likely face USA or China in the Quaterfinals... they called China a superpower... which they arent. If it wasnt for Yao Ming they wouldnt be where they are, weve consistantly beaten china by like 20-30 points. USA is the only real worry for the possibilities of who we face in group D, we'd have to come 4th in our pool... if the boys put it all together... we will come higher, yall just gotta believe! alot of the teams everyones worried about are ranked below us, not to mention the fact we got 'up and commers' who arent even on their radars yet.

When Lithuania came here for that tournament, I think they fielded a B or C grade team. At their best, they'd be a lot tougher you'd imagine.

Lithuania's team that came here for the tournament was definately their back-ups. Oh, and in the world championships Lithuania could possibly add the following:

- Zydrunas Ilgauskas (not sure of his international status)
- Sarunas Jasikevicius
- Linas Kleiza
- Arvydas Macijauskas

These additions will put Lithuania over the top against Australia.

Turkey will also be strong with Hedo and Okur and the Bucks rookie Ersan Ilyasova who is doing pretty well in the D League.

Brazil can include:
- Rafael Araujo
- Leandro Barbosa (we have no-one that can defend him)
- Lucas Tischer
- Anderson Varaejo (if fit)
- Tiago Splitter
- Marcus Vinicius

Australia will be fighting it our with Qatar for the bottom place of the pool.

Lets be honest unless BG has improved the Boomers defensive technique (man and zone) then we will have trouble defending any team or player on the international stage. Australia has a history of being a bad defensive unit in international basketball.

TR is absolutely correct. The Lithuanian team that came here for the four nations tournament were the guys who were prepared to give up their summer break by the Baltic sea at Palanga. I think the ones who go to Japan will be a heck of a lot more experienced.
If that spelling is correct then 'Vinicius' of Brazil looks like someone of Lithuanian descent too.

Vinicius is a born and bred San Paulo lad and currently playing in Italy.

He's a projected lower 1st rounder in the 2006 NBA draft. He's a 6'9 small forward, and Australia has no-one to match up on him defensively.

Some of his strengths are: A natural born offensive player, Marcus can do anything with the ball. Has a perfect shot, shooting from the 3-pt line or the perimeter. With his size, can shoot over anyone and his long arms provide a high release point. Has all the fundaments of the game, can pass, dribble, play post-up, penetrate the boards and his ball-handling is very strong for a men of his size. Runs the floor like a 6-3 guy, with spectacular agility and he excels in the fast break situation. Already has a good leaping ability and his body hasn't fully developed so it can improve.

Australia is gonna have a real tough time over there. I think Hurley is a little optimistic.

I think its possible to come off third in our pool... thats all. Im sure we can beat greece, we lost by 4 points in the last game so it is possible, people are acting as if we dont have some real threats in our team. We will probably have Anstey by then, can you really contain Anstey? A 7 footer who can rebound, block, spot up for the 3, pass.... he woul;d be hard to contain. Bogut is a great passer and team player, good rebounder with a high shooting percentage. weve got alot of potential there.

weve beaten teams, whove beaten the USA (Puerto rico @ olympics) we came in close to the US, weve beaten China before, we almost beat greece (so it is possible) and i dont think weve lost to Brazil in a long time. I think we have as good a chance as any in our pool to be honest, as afraid we are of them... they would be of us.We are a Basketball power.

Hurley, Greece is the current European champion, I'll repeat, European champion. You don't win a European championship by fluke. What has Australia done, beat NZ, basically SFA.....

Too be honest it's not the centre position that we'll get killed at, it's gonna be the SF and SG positions where we get thumped. Our centre rotation is probably the best position we have with Bogut (if he plays), Anstey (hasn't confirmed yet) and David Andersen.

Australia has no one that can defensively lock down the likes of Lebron, Manu, Dirk, Gasol, Bodiroga, Jaric, Kutluay, Barbosa , Jasikevicius etc etc.

I don't have much faith in the FIBA ranking, they still have America as No 1.

Anstey is just another average 7 footer on the international scene, he's nothing special, and yes, he'll be easily contained.

Personally I hope Anstey doesn't go, I'd prefer to play Bogut and Andersen in the block. Anstey's had his time, it's now Bogut and Andersen's turn.

Hurley, a basketball power in the Oceania confederation is nothing to rave about........ hell, our only competition is New Zealand. If Australia wanted to be a superpower they would follow the lead of soccer and join the Asian confederation.

TR

I agree and the sooner the better. Basketball Australia should try and get the Boomers the same sort of deal as the Socceroos, it will give the current NBL players some competition when they represent Australia other than New Zealand.

Found at Eurobasket.com

World Championships: Australia in a tough draw - by Chris Athanasopoulos

Australia has been place in a really difficult group for the FIBA World Championships that will be held in Japan this year. They will be facing the defending European Champions Greece, world basketball powerhouse Lithuania, South American powerhouse Brazil, as well as Turkey and Qatar.

The Teams in Focus

Greece

The 2005 European Champions will be a tough team to beat. They are a good defensive team that has a lot of quality and experience players with the majority of them playing the Euroleague. They don't have a main offensive weapon as all of them are capable contributors and they have a good frontcourt. Expect the likes of Dimitri Diamantidis, Nikos Chatzivertas, Nikolaos Zizis, Lazaros Papadopoulos; Dimos Ntikoudis to play an important role, as would former NBA player Antonis Fotsis and Houston Rockets draft pick Vassilis Spanoulis. If Iakovos Tsakalidis for the Memphis Grizzlies takes part they could be even more dangerous although LA Clipper draft pick Sofoklis Schrototsianitis could be a possibility as are Costas Vassiliadis and Panagiotis Vassilopoulos, players that are consider possible NBA draft picks this year.

Lithuania

The biggest question is does Sarunas Jakskevicius play for Lithuania. Jakskevicius has had one of the top careers in Europe having won the Euroleague for two years in a row and is currently playing for the Indiana Pacers. Along with Arvydas Macijauskas from New Orleans - Oklahoma Hornets, Darius Songolia of the Chicago Bulls and Martynas Andriuskevicius of the Cleveland Cavaliers and a bunch of top players based in Europe they would be among the favourites go finish top of the group. However without Jaskiviscius they could lose their edge.

Brazil

The winner of the Americas quaifying tournament could be a darkhorse in the group stage. Surprisingly enough Brazil has more that five players in its squad that have NBA experience, Nene, Anderson Varejao, Rafael Aruajo, Leandrinho Barbosa and Alex Garcia. Tiago Spilitter is one of the top forwards in Europe and Marcelinho Machado is a great offensive weapon as is Marcelinho Huertas.If they are in full strength they could be a dangerous opposition for Australia, however the season ending injury to Nene might deter him to take part, which could major blow for Brazil's changes.

Turkey

One of four teams that got the wild card entry to the World Championship, they will depend a lot on the NBA duo of Mehmet Okur and Hidaget Turkoglu. Former NBA players Mishad Turkcan and Ibrahim Kutluay will play a big role in Turkey changes as will Cenk Akyol who was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks and Ersan Ilyasova who is playing alongside Andrew Bogut for the Milwaukee Bucks. Turkey has also good centres in the likes of Faith Solak and Kaya Perek. Another crucial game that determine Australia's chances.

Qatar

A really unknown team that had a good performance in the Asia Championships that got them into the World Championships. They don't have any standout players in this would be by far the easiest of opponents for Australia.

What does this mean for Australia?

With the expection of Qatar, the rest of the games will be difficult game to win and our performance are crucial to the overall chances of Australia in the tournament. Australia would need the like of Andrew Bogut, Daniel Andersen, Luke Schenscher, Chris Anstey and Matthew Nielsen at their top of their games with the group full of quality frontcourt players. CJ Bruton, Jason Smith, Sam Mackinnon, Glen Saville and Stephen Black will need to contribute a lot. We are hoping that guys that Brad Newley, Mark Worthington, Aaron Bruce and Alex Loughton are selected into the national team with the view to integrate the young players into the national with the view of the 2008 Olympic Games. Australia could end anywhere between second and fifth place in the group with four teams moving into the next phase. Even reaching the stage of 16 Australia would have to face one of the United States, Italy, Slovenia, Puerto Rico, China or Senegal., which could be really hard.However we are hoping that Australia does not have the same problems that effected them in the Olympic game in Greece.

Oh well New Zealand did finnigh fourth last time... and won to serbia when they were world champs. I guess you never know what could happen... i think we have it in us to do well and upset some good teams, whether we do or not... i guess no one can say.

peace

gonna be a tough tournament, love the boomer but just cant see them claiming many scalps,

i hope im wrong and i hope they progress but unlikely

Why have we been given a harder group than NZ, i thought the series against them recently decided the seedings and gave us an easier group than them. Yes last Champs they finished 4th and we didn't qualify. Perhaps they have looked at that instead of the series against each other for the groupings.

Funny thing that Keefy, a lot of people are asking the same question. We ranked No 1 in the weak Oceania, but we end up in the Pool of Death whilst NZ gets a pretty easy run. I guess it's luck of the ping pong balls.

Well we have Wade Helliwell who can put up big numbers I think we have a better chance the you think Bogut can put up big numbers and rebounds so can Anderson and Neilson