2017 FIBA Asia Women's Cup [July 23-29 Bangalore, India]

[sinobball]

8 teams this year:

Division A
Australia
Japan
China
South Korea
New Zealand
Chinese Taipei
Philippines
North Korea

Pretty sure Philippines and North Korea won't win anything except against each other.

Australia is probably going to send a "B" team since their players are all in the WNBA, but probably still win the competition, if barely. Liz Cambage isn't in the WNBA and will kill the competition here.

Division B
India
Thailand
Kazakhstan
etc.

India will probably win at home. And probably go on to beat the Philippines.

[sinobball]

Japan roster (final 16):
Head coach: Tom Hovasse (first year, former NBA player)
MACHIDA, Rui PG/162cm 1993/3/8
YOSHIDA, Asami PG/165cm 1987/10/9
FUJIOKA, Manami PG/170cm 1994/2/1
SHINOZAKI, Mio SG/167cm 1991/9/12
KONDO, Kaede SG/173cm 1991/10/6
MOTOKAWA, Sanae SG/176cm 1992/4/2
MIZUSHIMA, Saki SG/171cm 1991/4/24
NEMOTO, Haruno SF/175cm 1995/4/18
NAGAOKA, Moeko SF/182cm 1993/12/29
MIYAZAWA, Yuki SF/182cm 1993/6/2
MAWULI, Evelyn SF/180cm 1995/6/2 --> Afro-Japanese
TAKADA, Maki PF/183cm 1989/8/23
TOKASHIKI, Ramu PF/193cm 1991/6/11 --> in the WNBA (Seattle)
MAMIYA, Yuka C/184cm 1990/4/3
KAWAMURA, Miyuki C/185cm 1994/10/27
AKAHO, Sakura C/183cm 1996/4/30

The team is currently training in Dallas and will scrimmage against WNBA teams Dallas Wings, San Antonio Stars, and Seattle Storm (Tokashiki's team).



China roster (final 15):
Head coach: Xu Limin (first year)
SHEN Yi PG/172cm 1993/3/1
YANG Liwei PG/176cm 1995/1/2
CHEN Xiaojia PG/180cm 1988/4/2
SHI Xiufeng SG/178cm 1987/9/16
LI Meng SG/183cm 1995/1/2
ZHAO Shuang SF/184cm 1990/6/21
SHAO Ting SF/184cm 1989/12/10 --> in the WNBA (Minnesota)
WU Di SF/182cm 1993/10/27
LU Wen SF/190cm 1990/2/26
HUANG Sijing PF/190cm 1996/1/8
GAO Song PF/190cm 1992/4/16
SUN Mengran C/195cm 1992/7/16
HUANG Hongpin C/195cm 1989/4/23
ZHANG Liting C/199cm 1994/8/23
LI Yueru C/200cm 1999/3/28 --> too raw, likely will play in World U19 instead

The team is currently playing exhibition games against Senegal at home.
Game 1: 100-63 Senegal (Li Meng 20p 4a, Gao Song 17p 6r 3a, Zhao Shuang 11p 4r 3a, Sun Mengran 11p 3r)
Game 2: 65-36 Senegal (Li Yueru 14p 8r, Sun Mengran 12p 3r, Huang Hongpin 10p 5r, Gao Song 10p 3r)
Game 3: 93-67 Senegal (Sun Mengran 17p 4r, Gao Song 15p 5r, Zhang Liting 13 4r, Li Yueru 12p 11r)

[reptilia]

None of these ladies will make the Aussie side due to WNBA commitments.

5'5 L.Mitchell (pg)
5'8 E.Phillips (cg)
5'10 S.Whitcomb (cg)
6'1 J.Ohea (sg-sf)
6'1 R.Jarry (sg-sf)
6'2 R.Allen (sg-sf)
6'2 S.Talbot (sg-sf)
6'4 C.George (pf-c)

Expect a new young squad with maybe a few veterans.

[sinobball]

Chinese Taipei roster (final 16):
Coach: Cheng Hui-Yun (first year)
CHEN Yen-Yu PG/168cm 1994/10/7
LIN Hsien-Fang PG/168cm 1991/8/16
CHEN Yi-Feng PG/170cm 1984/11/13
HUANG Fan-Shan PG/174cm 1987/9/29
PENG Szu-Chin SG/163cm 1991/11/9 --> All-Star in Chinese WCBA
LIN Yu-Ting SG/178cm 1994/1/25
LAN Hao-Yu (Lan Jui-Yu) SF/170cm 1983/8/2
HUANG Ping-Jen SF/178cm 1989/11/6 --> All-Star in Chinese WCBA
CHEN Yu-Chun PF/176cm 1987/3/7
CHENG Yi-Hsiu PF/178cm 1993/6/24
LIU Chun-Yi PF/180cm 1981/1/23
WANG Li-Yun C/176cm 1985/10/17
WU Ying-Chieh C/178cm 1992/11/3
WANG Wei-Lin C/179cm 1993/2/1
LIN Chi-Wen C/186cm 1983/8/19
Joy BURKE (Bao Hsi-Le) C/196cm 1990/11/7 --> half-white, plays in Australian SEABL

South Korea roster (final 12):
Coach: Seo Dong-Chul (first year)
SIM Sung-Young PG/165cm 1992/10/14
LEE Kyung-Eun PG/176cm 1987/7/13
PARK Hyejin PG/178cm 1990/7/22
PARK Hana SG/177cm 1990/9/14
LIM Yung-Hui SF/178cm 1980/5/29
KIM Danbi SF/180cm 1990/2/27
KANG Ajeong PF/180cm 1989/7/25
KANG Leeseul PF/180cm 1994/4/5
BAE Hyeyoon C/183cm 1989/6/10
KWAK Jooyeong C/183cm 1984/8/21
KIM Sodam C/186cm 1993/1/4
PARK Jisu C/195cm 1998/12/6

[Silent Killer]

the opals selection squad

http://basketball.net.au/opals-selection-camp-squad-named-ahead-of-fiba-womens-asia-cup/

Bishop, Abby
Blicavs, Sara
Blicavs (nee Cumming), Stephanie
Bunton, Alex
Ebzery, Katie-Rae
Garrick, Maddie
Griffin, Kelsey
Hodges, Laura
Hurst, Natalie
Jarry, Rachel
Kunek, Alice
Lavey, Tessa
Mansfield, Lauren
Mijovic, Carley
O’Hea, Jenna
Phillips, Erin
Smith, Alanna
Snell, Belinda
Tolo Marianna
Tomlinson, Louella
Wallace, Kristy

[carlo]

For New Zealand, some US-college players won't be available, most talented among them being Stella Beck and Penina Davidson.

http://basketball.org.nz/News/tall-ferns-trial-squad-announced

[sinobball]

Philippines and North Korea

Philippines lost to Malaysia 53-64 on April 30. https://www.facebook.com/Luachoonhan...5172981811390/
Malaysia isn't even FIBA-Asia bound. To put things into perspective, Malaysia NT went to Japan right after playing Philippines and lost to a university team (Tohoku University) 51-71 (May 11).


North Korea lost to Chinese club Jiangsu 64-84 (April 23) and 58-79 (May 4). Jiangsu failed to qualify for the 12-team WCBA league this past season and were missing their best player Chen Xiaojia (in the Chinese NT).

[sinobball]

European tour

Japanese team is playing in Europe, without their best player Ramu Tokashiki:
Game 1: 56-61 Canada (Moeko Nagaoka 15p 4r, Yuka Osaki 10p 12r)
Game 2: 51-67 Spain (Yuka Osaki 8p, Maki Takada 8p)
Game 3: 100-69 Bosnia & Herzegovina U20 (Yuka Osaki 17p, Kaede Kondo 17p)



Chinese team also played 5 games in Europe without the 2 best scorers from the Olympics, Shao Ting and Sun Mengran:
Game 1: 78-70 Poland (Li Yueru 13p 8r, Huang Sijing 12p 6r, Chen Xiaojia 11p 3r 3a, Li Meng 11p 4a, Gao Song 10p 7r)
Game 2: 58-68 Spain (Chen Xiaojia 15p 5r, Li Meng 13p)
Scrimmage: 71-63 Czech Republic
Game 3: 66-71 Serbia (Li Meng 12p 4r, Gao Song 11p)
Game 4: 73-72 Czech Republic (Li Yueru 14p 4r, Gao Song 12p)
Game 5: 68-81 Latvia (Zhao Shuang 15p 8r, Li Yueru 13p 5r, Yang Liwei 11p 3a)

The European teams were also more or less missing their stars, e.g. Spain was without Sancho Lyttle, Serbia without Ana Dabović, etc. but I'm personally satisfied with China's results and the way we played. There's one thing that fills me with excitement though, and that's the newcomer, 18-year-old Li Yueru. In these 5 games she's averaging 9.8 points 4.6 rebounds (2 offensive) in 17 minutes. Multiply that by 2 and you get close to 20+10 in 35 minutes. I keep thinking of one name as I watch her: Yao Ming. Not the same game, but there are so many similarities. I had thought she was just in the NT for the experience (she didn't play much off the bench in her rookie WCBA season), but now, I think every Chinese fan is impressed. She's still a work in progress (terrible free throw % and close to 1 foul/5 minutes), but these things are workable. Truly tremendous potential. China has never produced any female center that combines height, lower body strength (she has some tree trunk legs), quickness (both lateral and vertical), and agility (good footwork already). This girl even has good basketball IQ. Neither her parents played any sport and she didn't begin playing until 6-7 years ago when she got too tall. I expect she'll play in the Asian Cup (as opposed to the World U19) and contribute quality minutes.

This highlight is from only 1 game (Asian U18 final) last year, in which she had 22 points 23 rebounds in 27 minutes.

But ultimately highlights don't do her justice. It's about how she gets offensive positions: very deep in the paint and holding those positions, that is truly special. In the game against Spain, none of the 3 Spanish centers Laura Nicholls, Laura Gil and Lucila Pascua could manage to push her or defend her in the post. Too bad Li fouled out in 15 minutes that game (too many offensive fouls as the Spanish players flop like bowling pins).

[CKR13]

Korea's Lee Kyeung-Eun has sustained an injury and Kimberly Roberson (Kim Han-Byeol) was named replacement.

Park Hana
Park Hyejin
Sim Seong-Yeong
Kim Han-Byeol
Kim Danbi
Kang Yi-Seul
Lim Yeong-Hee
Kang Ah-Jeong
Bae Hyeyun
Kwak Ju-Yeong
Park Jisu
Kim So-Dam

[sinobball]

A recent news photo (from the politics section) shows North Korea also has a really tall player:


I don't know who she is, but if Rodman is 6'7'', this girl is at least 195cm. Clearly she didn't play in 2015: http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa.../_//index.html

Philippines is now the only team without anybody over 190cm.

[CKR13]

The European teams were also more or less missing their stars, e.g. Spain was without Sancho Lyttle, Serbia without Ana Dabović, etc. but I'm personally satisfied with China's results and the way we played. There's one thing that fills me with excitement though, and that's the newcomer, 18-year-old Li Yueru. In these 5 games she's averaging 9.8 points 4.6 rebounds (2 offensive) in 17 minutes. Multiply that by 2 and you get close to 20+10 in 35 minutes. I keep thinking of one name as I watch her: Yao Ming. Not the same game, but there are so many similarities. I had thought she was just in the NT for the experience (she didn't play much off the bench in her rookie WCBA season), but now, I think every Chinese fan is impressed. She's still a work in progress (terrible free throw % and close to 1 foul/5 minutes), but these things are workable. Truly tremendous potential. China has never produced any female center that combines height, lower body strength (she has some tree trunk legs), quickness (both lateral and vertical), and agility (good footwork already). This girl even has good basketball IQ. Neither her parents played any sport and she didn't begin playing until 6-7 years ago when she got too tall. I expect she'll play in the Asian Cup (as opposed to the World U19) and contribute quality minutes.

This highlight is from only 1 game (Asian U18 final) last year, in which she had 22 points 23 rebounds in 27 minutes.

But ultimately highlights don't do her justice. It's about how she gets offensive positions: very deep in the paint and holding those positions, that is truly special. In the game against Spain, none of the 3 Spanish centers Laura Nicholls, Laura Gil and Lucila Pascua could manage to push her or defend her in the post. Too bad Li fouled out in 15 minutes that game (too many offensive fouls as the Spanish players flop like bowling pins).

My best bet for the next Asian player to go to the WNBA. Her current deficiencies can be managed properly through a freethrow shooting coach to work on her mechanics. Conditioning can be improved with scientific training and fouling tendencies by over-committing or her natural physical strength -- she'll learn how to get accustomed once she matures 2-3 years with more exposure to FIBA games.

Looking forward in seeing her grow even more.

[sinobball]

On the first day of Jones Cup Women, New Zealand beat India 75-52 and Chinese Taipei lost to Japan "B" (Universiade team) 70-83.

Last week, Japan "A" beat University of South Carolina, defending NCAA champs, 78-57.

This week, China beat Canada, Lithuania, and Belarus all by 17-22 points. These are all their senior teams at the moment, even though for various reasons, the players are younger than normal.

In my (biased) view, the tiers are:
1-3 Australia, Japan, China
4 South Korea
5-6 New Zealand, Chinese Taipei (their strengths will become clear in a few days when they battle in Jones Cup)
7-8 the rest

Maybe Australia can be in the first tier by itself, but last year they almost lost to Japan in the Olympics, and Liz Cambage who single-handedly saved them then won't play in Asian Cup now.

I have watched many of China's exhibition games and 2 of Japan's games in Europe (only because Japan is the only team that China REALLY wants to beat, no shame in losing to Australia). Japan still looks very impressive, literally destroying second-tier European national teams (with American WNBA imports), but they are not invincible, especially without Ramu Tokashiki (who won't play due to WNBA commitment). China is still pretty much the squad that lost to Japan by a whopping 35 points 2 years ago, but I feel much more confident now. The players have matured and play better defense (especially against pick-and-roll which Japan uses ALOT), there's slightly more depth (11-person rotation) and finally an immovable interior anchor in the 18-year-old -- while I don't expect her to producer monster stats, I think she can be a game-changer in collapsing the Japanese defense whose tallest player is only 183cm.

[sinobball]

Korea's Lee Kyeung-Eun has sustained an injury and Kimberly Roberson (Kim Han-Byeol) was named replacement.

Park Hana
Park Hyejin
Sim Seong-Yeong
Kim Han-Byeol
Kim Danbi
Kang Yi-Seul
Lim Yeong-Hee
Kang Ah-Jeong
Bae Hyeyun
Kwak Ju-Yeong
Park Jisu
Kim So-Dam

Point guard Lee Kyung-eun (though she is often injured) and post player Yang Ji-hee are in my mind Korea's two most important players in the past 5-6 years. Now that they are both missing, and I'm not aware of any new players (37-year-old Lim Yung-hui is still playing, and there's nothing special about her), I'm not sure South Korea can pull off any upsets. Kang Ah-jeong, a wide-shouldered and relatively tall (by their standard) wing scored a huge load last year during the Olympic Qualifier, and I expect her to continue the scoring this year, but the way South Korea runs their offense (with tremendous amount of running usually through multiple screens) I think she'll be out of gas after 3 quarters against elite competition. Kim Danbi is not as good as hyped, for a shooting guard her left hand is very weak, I think she can be defended easily if you have the right player for the job. Korea will always have a ton of shooters, the difficult part is finding a point guard to replace Lee and a mobile but strong big to replace Yang. Park Hye-jin is a nice guard who can handle the ball, but she's not a floor general like Lee. From what I've seen Kwak Juyeong and Bae Hyeyoon cannot replace Yang. Bae is just a fouler and Kwak is not nearly as physical.

As for much-heralded youngster Park Ji-su (who finished second in rebounds in last year's Olympic Qualifier tournament), Li Yueru bullied her so bad last year in Asian U18 that the game finished after 1 quarter. Park isn't bad, and has I think more hops than Li, but she's really not strong enough to defend heavysets under the basket (and unfortunately also not quick enough to front the low post). Also for a center, she doesn't have much of a back-to-basket game, preferring to face the basket. For teams without post presence she will be a great defensive presence, but she's pretty useless against China in my opinion.

[sinobball]

Jones Cup Day 2: New Zealand beat a terrible (almost amateurish) Korean club team (KB Stars, missing 4 players in the NT) 58-40.

Jones Cup schedule: http://jonescup.choxue.com/games (click English in upper right corner)

China destroyed Belarus today 84-58. This Belarus team is preparing for qualifications games, and returns 7 players from 2017 Eurobasket. Li Yueru played 11 minutes and had 18 points 7 rebounds (6 offensive).

[CKR13]

Opals 12 team named: http://basketball.net.au/opals-team-...fiba-asia-cup/