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Honestly, I don’t really see why the CT was such a surprise
They were fighting for what would have been a historic top 32 finish for their country so it seems pretty obvious they were going to play Crunch Time in this game
Also, the way you mention scouting and analysing them almost makes it sound like it’s something extra, when realistically that’s just part of the job description for a national team coach!! Them being ranked 65th in the world shouldn’t mean we scout them less carefully

And I have to say, your analysis of the shots per 100 confuse me...
If we average roughly 93 points per 100 shots, and we only took 84 shots in the game, basic maths would suggest a total around 78 points. So scoring 79 doesn’t actually seem that strange.

And yes, there is one thing I’d genuinely like to bring to your attention.
I really think either the U21 or NT staff should be actively reaching out to managers who have players that could potentially become u21/national team material in the future
When you say you’re answering half a dozen BB-mails a week, that’s great, but that still means the initiative mostly comes from the managers themselves (176 users!!!)
In my opinion, the national team staff should probably be the ones starting those conversations more often
And if this amount of scouting/communication already feels like a lot, then maybe that’s a sign that you yourself are a bit burnt out with the role

Just my humble opinion

Glad to hear your passion for the team mate. Let's keep positive comments and avoid negative rot creeping in. I'm not wasting time, is rather help managers with training and get decent u21 players built with people who want to work together

We gained nothing by wasting enthusiasm on the game, we already qualified for the next round, so we dropped a tie vs CT in a nothing game for us

Keep training those trainees, happy to help but sounds like your all over this game

Last edited by whitewind at 3/25/2026 10:42:47 AM

White noise in the background, don't worry about it. Maybe if Henare gets more minutes the noise will dull a little.

Let's get the MVPs done!
3- Pollentes- 20pts, 4 assists, 3 rebounds.
2- Curtis- 17pts on 50%FG, 2 assists
1- Goulding 18pts, 6 rebounds.

I apologies if I came across a bit aggressive
But I think it’s also fair to say that something hasn’t really been going in the right direction for a while now. There was a time when Australia was competing for medals in pretty much every continental tournament, and lately the results have been getting thinner and thinner. And losing to a U21 team from a country with barely any active teams obviously raises a few eyebrows

About the game itself, the season is basically meaningless because we can’t secure home court for next season anyways. That said, losing yesterday does put us in the position of playing every game on the road. If we had won, at least the first round would have been at home. Not the end of the world, but still.

Yes, I’ll keep training my guys. It just would have been nice to know if there were any particular directions or preferences from the NT/u21 staff since at the end of the day you’re the ones who decide whether a player ends up being selected or not

I think whether I’m a returning user or not is kind of irrelevant to the point I was making
I don’t have any personal issue with whitewind. My frustration is with the results and what I see as a structural problem behind them
From the outside it feels like the player pool isn’t being actively coordinated enough. If managers aren’t contacted or guided early on, then it’s very likely that a lot of potentially useful players just get trained randomly or in directions that don’t really help the national teams
And that’s really all I meant. Something as simple as sending a short message at the start of the season to managers draft promising players. Something like:

Hey mate, your player looks interesting for the U21/NT. Would you be interested in developing him with the national team in mind? If not, no worries.

That alone could probably help align training much better across the community
For example, my 19-year-old Niko Vrteski is one of the higher salary players of his age and has MVP potential, and I’ve never been contacted about him. Maybe he’s not good enough, that’s totally fine, but when you see results like this it does make you wonder whether something in the system could be improved.

And just to be clear.. I’m not denying that whitewind has had good results in the past. S41 World Cup run was probably one of the best achievements this community has had
But maybe it’s also fair to ask whether after so many seasons it could be healthy to refresh things a bit

Soooo just came to see if we had mvp votes for the Panama Costa Rica and Singapore matches?
Maybe I missed them with all this carry on.
Doing a great job Whitewind and for what it’s worth I have always been contacted when I’ve had a potential under 21 player

Thanks for being patient. With the overnight match times a do find out difficult to get online on the morning for MVPs and definitely let them slip. I know, I know, if this was horse racing is have been shot by now.

Vs Panama
3 votes- Youren 28pts, 13 boards, elite shot% at 12-14.
2- Curtis 10pts, 6 boards, 3 assists
1- going Harrington, just the 4 points in 27mins but 10 dimes.

Vs Costa Rica
3- Youren- 16pts, 16 boards, monster double double and once again efficient 6-9FG.
2- Ruxton 23 pts of the bench from 10-14 FG
1- Pollentes 15pts, 7 assists and 5 boards, 50% FG

VS Singapore
What a flogging. Didn't hear the whinging and complaining after this win against what is always a decent team, which locked us into the finals spot to save enthusiasm for the last game.
3- Ruxton 37pts, 4 boards, 2 assists
2- Goulding- 12, 8 and 4
1- Pollentes with 22 points, some of which in junk time.

Let's go Aussies, need some improvements in decent gameshape to put our best sides out and go as far as we can.