Rantings of an Insane Platypus : Women's Basketball

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The Opals 2006 Commonwealth Games team selected

Sunday 12 February 2006

Link to announcement

Guards

Tully Bevilaqua
Jae Cross-Kingi
Erin Phillips
Belinda Snell
Carly Wilson

Forwards

Jacinta Hamilton
Katrina Hibbert
Lauren Jackson (co-captain)
Emily McInerny
Laura Summerton

Centres

Hollie Grima
Jenny Whittle (co-captain)

Nothing particularly shocking here. It was interesting to hear Michele Timms mention yesterday that Jae Kingi-Cross was considered by the powers that be to be the "senior" guard of the team. She's barely done anything since 2004! The presence of Summerton, Grima and Wilson was expected by their appearance in Black & White. I'm puzzled why Carly Wilson was picked over Jenni Screen - Screen is the superior shooter, defender and has a better floor game. Wilson is a streaky player whose only real advantage over Screen is a couple of inches she doesn't even really use.

Jenny Whittle being selected as "co-captain" basically guarantees her presence on the World Championships team *big sigh*. The choice of having two captains is an interesting one and it appears that Jan doesn't have faith in LJ's leadership ability yet. Actually, I have to agree with Jan on this one but somebody like Tully Bevilaqua deserves to be captain, despite being a national team "rookie". Choices likes these are all about internal team politics though, as opposed to actual leadership ability and I don't really have much knowledge about the Opals' internal workings.

I hope Summerton and Grima use this international experience as an incentive to improve themselves. They've already had several bites at the cherry and haven't made much of it.

Comments

Good call about the Captaincy thing. I too would have Tully in the "leadership group" and I would leave Whittle out of it.

Wilson I would consider to be a small forward, while I consider Screen to be a shooting guard. Regardless of labels, Screen would be the far better fit IMO.
Not exactly a wealth of outside shooting ability on this team!!!!
In fact, I am fair dinkum in panic mode about that, because if Athens taught us anything it is that when LJ gets triple-teamed, we NEED players on the perimeter who can stick the shots.
Wilson is not one of those players IMO.

I am stunned about the shooting guard situation.
Apart from that, it's a fairly safe & predictable team, and an extremely unimaginative use of the meaningless Commonwealth Games tournament, which all points towards mediocrity come the World Championships.

Suffice to say, I an completely underwhelmed by the whole thing.

I think what Timmsy was refering to was Jae's number of games played with the Opals. She has as more experience with the Opals than Tully, Phillips, and Wilson combined. You say she has not done much since 04, you must not follow the meaningless tours they play in while the WNBA is in season. Jae was a part of all of the Opals activity in the last year except for the two-day camp in Melbourne in December.

Carly Wilson is the superior player to Screen and that really was a no-brainer. Screen has had success in a very average league and has not shown any interest from the WNBA.

Jan can't have both Captains gone during the lead up to the world champs. Tully in Indy and Lauren in Seattle that wouldn't work.

Don't be shocked if Grima is playing in the WNBA this year. It is very difficult for good players to settle in behind great players and produce in the roles they are given. Besides, who else you got?

Carly Wilson is better than Screen? In which areas? Screen is a better shooter, defender, rebounder and passer. Wilson is probably a better on the inside and off the dribble. Both are streaky on the offensive end but I think Screen has the mental edge. Overall, Screen is the better package.

Just because Carly's been to a WNBA training camp and attracted some interest from over there does not mean much. Does this mean Grima and Summerton are better than Hamilton? Hardly.

Fair point about the captaincy but then there's Harrower.

As for Grima, I have to disagree. It's not just about numbers; her game has been stagnant since she left the AIS (compared to say, Emma Randall). She still looks awkward with her back to the basket and she's still a soft player.

As for an alternative to Hollie, see Emma Randall.

Jan coached Screen for years so I will trust her judgement on that decision. She knows the warts of both players so to speak.

Then there is Harrower? Were you implying she is going to sit out the WNBA season? I fully expect her to take her money from Minnesota this season.

Holly is a bit soft, but face up skills are equally important to big players. She does possess a skill set that Hamilton does not and vice versa.

See http://boards.rebkell.net/viewtopic.php?t=11181 for more details about Harrower. The gist is, she wants to be traded from Minnesota or she's staying at home. I predict she'll be staying at home.

I don't think Grima's face-up game is even that good. She's a good catch and shoot kind of player but that's about it. I don't think we really need more of that.

I don't trust Jan's judgment at all after the Athens 2004 selection debacle.

Harrower would be a fool to leave guaranteed money on the table and then have her status suspended by the Lynx. Her options at that point would be out of her hands. I know she will be reporting to Minnesota.

As for Jan who would you have put on that team in 2004? Either way they weren't going to beat the USA.

We weren't going to beat the USA? We were in the game until the 4th.

As for who should have been on the team, when Kristi was getting repeatedly burnt by Dawn Staley and Shan non Johnson, I was thinking at the time it would have been really nice to have Tully on the team.

You were only in the game because they left you in the game. When they decided it was time to end the contest, they ended it. You may be right having Tully on that team may have helped, but they still were only getting silver.

The US made the adjustments when needed and we didn't. We were in it even with LJ having a horrible offensive game. That game was very winnable and we blew it (and having Tully would have really helped, considering the US were getting cheapy baskets in the 4th off Kristi)

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