In The Huddle January 18 2008

Boys Unbeaten

New Zealand has two teams through to the semifinals of the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup in Albury, New South Wales.

U14 Boys Kea progressed unbeaten through pool play Thursday with a 58-54 result over Vic Bushrangers and edged South Australia Magpies 77-73 in their quarterfinal that evening.

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J-Mac Suffers

Tall Fern centre Jess McCormack is a doubtful starter when her University of Washington team travel to Oregon for a US college road double header this weekend.

McCormack is scheduled to face international team-mate Micaela Cocks at University of Oregon on Saturday, but left the Huskies’ 60-45 win over University of Southern California this week with concussion.

She had 12 points (5/10 FG, 2/2 FT), a rebound and a steal in 22 minutes on court as Washington improved to 7-10 for the season, 2-3 in the Pac-10 Conference.

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Vukona Raises Ton

He is one of only two NZ Breakers remaining from the foundation playing roster five seasons ago and on Saturday night in Melbourne, Mika Vukona will become only the third person to notch up 100 games for the club.

A development player in the inaugural 2003/2004 season, Vukona stepped into the elite roster in his third season and has stepped up, mainly against bigger opponents, ever since.

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Juniors To Schweitzer

Basketball New Zealand has confirmed the Junior Tall Blacks’ participation in one of the world’s most prestigious age group tournaments as part of their build-up towards the 2009 FIBA Oceania U20 Championships.

The 16-team Albert Schweitzer Tournament, named after the famous German missionary and doctor, is held at Mannheim every two years and will provide the young Kiwis with the best possible preparation as they attempt to beat Australia to qualify for the world championships.

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Marino Magic

Tall Fern Angela Marino provided the winning basket as Australian Defence Force WNBL leaders Adelaide Lightning came from behind to edge Townsville Fire 68-67 on the road.

The Kiwi-born point guard shot faultlessly, contributing 11 points (3/3 FG, 1/1 3pt, 4/4 FT), a rebound and an assist in her 16 minutes off the bench to help the Lightning rally from six behind entering the final quarter.

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Trueman Helps Out

Tall Black prospect Jeremiah Trueman played a useful cameo off the bench as University of Alaska-Anchorage beat their rivals from Fairbanks 77-57 at home in US college basketball.

Trueman, who transferred from San Diego Christian College this year, had 10 points (5/6 FG), two rebounds and an assist in 18 minutes, providing the basket that gave guard Luke Cooper his school record-equalling 16th assist of the night.

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Crocs Bite Breakers

Lendl Ryan, Sportal
A John Rillie-inspired Townsville Crocodiles defeated the Harvey Norman NZ Breakers 108-88 at Townsville Entertainment Centre in the Australian Hummer NBL Championship on Saturday night.

With the game poised for a tight finish, the captain stole the show and the game away from the visitors in the fourth quarter when he took matters into his own hands.

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Greatest Kiwi Bloke Ever

The late Sir Edmond Hillary was not just an inspiration to outdoor adventurers around the world. He also played a cameo role as a group of indoor pioneers – the Burger King Tall Blacks – left New Zealand for the 2002 FIBA World Championships in Indianapolis.

“If there was any doubt about how special this occasion was, it was erased when The Greatest Kiwi Bloke Ever walked into the hotel conference room on Monday night. As comedian Mike King said at the Tall Black fundraising dinner last month, this is a man who drove a Massey Ferguson tractor to the South Pole. You can’t get any more Kiwi than that.

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X's & O's - U18 Greek Offence

By Nikos Keramefs, Greek national junior coach

The main offence that we worked on for the 40 days of practices for the 2007 FIBA U18 European Championship was the motion offence, with a box-and-one formation. Four perimeter players and one big man inside was how this offence worked. I tailored this offence based on the talents of my players.

Ten days before the opening game of the European Championship, Kostas Koufos (2.13m) arrived from the United States, where he played in the high school and was added to our roster.

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