Women's Basketball

[Squawk]

Brod - Group B seems a bit one sided comparered to Group A, when you consider the world rankings. Were teams seeded or drawn from a hat, - how was the draw organised?

[Big Phil]

Watching the girls now v Brazil, up by about 20 at half time...

A little off track, bit how good looking are some of our girls...

Holy Grima, sister of Todd, Alex and Nathan, is a very attractive young lady

[Thiele]

Opals won 80-65

[Thiele]

Opals vs Korea comming up shortly

[Thiele]

someone has had a 100 grand on the Aussies @ $1.01

[Thiele]

1/4 time

Opals 23

Korea 14

[Keefy]

Watching a live feed currently on Stooge TV.

No commentators, just the noise from the stadium. Suzy Batkovic missed an easy lay-up and let a huge expletive rip afterwards.

[Thiele]

Close to Half time

Opals 44

Korea 27

[Thiele]

Half time

Opals 47

Korea 33

[Keefy]

3/4 time

Opals 73

Korea 50

[Grahaml]

Philips sadly looks out of place right now. Got driven around comprehensively at one stage and the girl wasn't even that fast. Probably a project player for 2012 and 2016 in all honesty. Should work on her offensive game. If she improves her shooting a touch and gets more aggressive at the hoop when she has the ball it will stand her in good stead. The Koreans tonight sat right in her face and so she couldn't pass the ball off and so we jsut stagnated.

Our starting lineup looks better than the americans IMHO. It's the reserves that are the weakness as always. Bevilacqua has an important job to do when Snell or Harrower go off. She's not the offensive threat either those 2 are but will annoy the heck out of the opposition. She really needs to get a steal or two and be dusruptive for the 10-15 minutes she'll get and wear out the other team. When we play the yanks Sue Bird doesn't really pose the offensive threat herself. She's a good passer but too often won't score herself, and her defending is really soft. If we can tire her a touch then Harrower might be able to take advantage.

Batkovic and Taylor are the keys. Jackson will get so much attention, but will score and get rebounds anyway. But if Taylor and batkovic also threaten the paint like they are so good at doing then Lauren might just be able to do some serious damage. And Harrower's 3 point shooting is important. Those 4 with Snell can get the job done if they all contribute and our reserves make those vital baskets and defensive stops when our prime movers go off the court.

[Thiele]

Final score

Opals 90

Korea 62

[brod]

Brod - Group B seems a bit one sided comparered to Group A, when you consider the world rankings. Were teams seeded or drawn from a hat, - how was the draw organised?

6 nations qualify for the Olympics through Zone Championships
World - Australia
African - Mali
Americas - USA
Asian - Korea
Europena - Russia
Oceanic - New Zealand

These six are drawn randomly into the two pools.
China as host is randomly placed in one of the pools, while the other five qualifiers are then at random placed into the pools.

So all in all its pretty random

[brod]

Philips sadly looks out of place right now. Got driven around comprehensively at one stage and the girl wasn't even that fast. Probably a project player for 2012 and 2016 in all honesty. Should work on her offensive game. If she improves her shooting a touch and gets more aggressive at the hoop when she has the ball it will stand her in good stead. The Koreans tonight sat right in her face and so she couldn't pass the ball off and so we jsut stagnated.

Tough analysis on a player who has played 12 minutes in three games. WNBA franchises are not normally the sort of organisations that are willing to give money to "project players".

Games 3
Minutes 12
FG 1/2
3PFG 0/1
Reb 2
Assist 0
Turnovers 2
Steals 1
Points 2

[Grahaml]

But in those 12 minutes she's looked half a step behind the play. Those numbers show that in 12 minutes she's been uninvolved in the play. 2 shots in 12 minutes, which equates to perhaps 20 or more offensive sets. No assists and 2 shots on 20 offenses is below par I'm afraid.

I'm not saying she's not going to ever make it, but she's not there yet.

And this isn't the WNBA. Not to mention they absolutely do offer money to project players.

[brod]

But in those 12 minutes she's looked half a step behind the play. Those numbers show that in 12 minutes she's been uninvolved in the play. 2 shots in 12 minutes, which equates to perhaps 20 or more offensive sets. No assists and 2 shots on 20 offenses is below par I'm afraid.

I'm not saying she's not going to ever make it, but she's not there yet.

And this isn't the WNBA. Not to mention they absolutely do offer money to project players.

Hard to get into the play and offensive sets by playing a couple of minutes at a time

[Thiele]

Opals 96 defeated Latvia 73

[brod]

But in those 12 minutes she's looked half a step behind the play. Those numbers show that in 12 minutes she's been uninvolved in the play. 2 shots in 12 minutes, which equates to perhaps 20 or more offensive sets. No assists and 2 shots on 20 offenses is below par I'm afraid.

I'm not saying she's not going to ever make it, but she's not there yet.

And this isn't the WNBA. Not to mention they absolutely do offer money to project players.

Well she wont have done much to change your mind today

5 minutes
0/3 FG (0/2 3PFG)
2 Reb
1 Ast

[brod]

Opals 96 defeated Latvia 73

Aussies were up by only 3 points at half time, after trailing 30-23 in the second quarter, before Lauren Jackson decided to show why she is the best.
Jackson finished with a tournament high 30 points, that included 5/9 3PFG, while Batkovic continued her good tournament with 18 points (7/12 FG), and Penny Taylor contributed 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Opals were outshot 43% to 53%, but dominated the boards 48-28 and forced 21 turnovers while committing an amazing 6 of their own.

[rod_rooster]

The Opals are going great. They are a super team and they also have possibly the best looking athlete of all time in Penny Taylor. She is absolutely stunning.