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Well, we should qualify now after beating U.A.E. away. Not the easiest of wins but satisfying anyway. This puts us in a good position to qualify, though I do believe that's the very minimum we should do. With a lot of games remaining today I suspect we'll make the top 32.

What really has made post today though is something that happened in today's game that doesn't happen very often, especially not for a national team. Tim Davis, of Worcester Wolves, and our starting SG today, managed a 5x5. 10pts, 9 rbs, 5 asts, 5 stls, and 7 blks. The last assist came in the last minute, which meant I just about left my seat as I was watching. I've actually never seen one before. Congrats to him and Galaxy, his coach/trainer.

Also, another noteworthy event. Alan Mahoney made his proper debut this week at the age of 19. He's there on merit, having a very decent tsp and I expect him to make a lot more appearances for the team.

5x5 by Davis at SG (with 7 blocks!). We need big men and forwards for the future!

Last edited by Lemonshine at 8/15/2017 6:57:44 PM

Well, I did say we'd still qualify after starting 0-2 and we did, but only because of the soft nature of our draw. Of course the first two games were very difficult so if anyone wanted to argue that there's a balance there I'd be easily persuaded.

I've attempted to do the maths, but it would be easy to miss an important game somewhere, but even though not all of the relevant games have been played yet, I'm fairly certain we're headed to Ukraine next monday. Of course we'll likely be protected by a Coronation Street character so there's no danger involved. Ukraine are unbeaten so they'll be confident of dismissing us easily enough. But, accidents happen and there's always hope (usually at the bottom of an empty box.)

I'm fairly certain we're headed to Ukraine next monday.

Sweden lost, which surprised me a little, and also another game must have moved us up another place, so we're actually off to Australia. Apparently I know their game strategist quite well, not sure if he's the one who suggested they play full court press in an u21 game (they won easily!) but if so, kudos to him. Hopefully I still have some secrets and so won't be too predictable.

Well, a defeat is a defeat, but in what I'm fairly certain will be my last competitive representative game, I think I'm justifiable in being proud of the performance of the team this morning. It was a difficult task to go to Australia, not just facing home advantage but also facing what looked like a stronger team, in better game shape.

Defensively we performed fantastically. No other team has held the Aussies to just 54 points, and no other team had played them on their own court and held them to less than 100. We also outrebounded them quite comfortably.

Having said all that, obviously something went wrong. We had no offence whatsoever. You can't shoot as badly as we did and expect to get anything. Our passing wasn't good enough to get the ball where it needed to go, (Eric Page), and even when it did, our inside shooting wasn't good enough against stout Aussie big men.

Of course I'm questioning whether a different lineup might have had a different result, after all, we didn't need an awful lot of improvement in shooting to have won the game, but I keep coming back to the defensive performance. Would a different lineup have defended so well? Of course we'll never know, but when has that ever stopped us debating that kind of question?

Overall, my self assessment of my term as u21 coach is fairly critical. I think its been disappointing. I do feel that the overall level of the squad is improved but I've failed to help develop the top end of the squad sufficiently to give us a chance to compete. By that I mean the average tsp of the squad is higher than four seasons ago, but I don't feel there have been enough players who stand out enough to make them very good starting players.

Thanks to everyone who has coached players for the last four squads. And also to everyone who has helped in any way whatsoever over the last few seasons, especially the regular mailers, and to all those who have discussed training with me.

Scrimmages will begin next week. No more 21yos, so goodbye to them and their trainers. I'll be looking at as many players as possible over the next few weeks, hopefully to give whoever replaces me an idea of who might be good enough for next season's squad.

You did great mate, thanks for holding the fort, I do hope we get someone equally passionate about the NT to step in to the role. It's been a great run for you these last few seasons and you should be proud of what you have made of the teams you have had to work with.

Gully are you already out or can you still call up players?

It might be a good idea to save those 3 6'9'' MVP 19yo due for botification on 2 october

I'm in until I'm officially replaced so I'll do this. Thanks for the warning. I'd seen one of them but it would be easy in a week where I don't have much to do to just forget about this.