Seebohm to use winning formula as reigning champions name roster for title defense
CANBERRA (FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018) – Shannon Seebohm has vowed to maintain the philosophy that landed a historic title in 2016 after Australia named their final roster for Minsk.
CANBERRA (FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018) – Shannon Seebohm has vowed to maintain the philosophy that propelled his nation to a historic title in 2016 after Australia named their final roster for Minsk.
Seebohm is determined to defend the Sapphires’ coveted FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup silverware and is looking forward to implementing a similar dynamic style of play which proved so fruitful in Zaragoza two years ago.
Australia roster for FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018 |
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| Georgia Amoore | Isobel Anstey | Agnes Emma-Nnopu | Alexandra Fowler |
| Ashlee Hannan | Shyla Heal | Eliza Hollingsworth | Jade Melbourne |
| Isabel Palmer | Ruby Porter | Gemma Potter | Lily Scanlon |
With nine returnees from the FIBA U16 Asia Women’s Championship success last year, there will be plenty of chemistry as well as talent. However, it will be challenging to match the magnificent undefeated campaign of their predecessors who beat USA in the Semi-Finals at the last edition, prior to blasting away Italy in the title game.
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT | The team to defend the 🇦🇺 Sapphires' gold medal from 2016 has been named ahead of the @FIBA Under-17 World Cup to be held in Minsk, Belarus from July 21-29: https://t.co/MRMfbhFMEf #FIBAU17 #GoSapphires pic.twitter.com/F03bwWTALy
— Basketball Australia (@BasketballAus) June 5, 2018
"This group has some great versatility, will be able to match-up against any team we meet at the World Cup and also has the ability to play a similar style that won us the gold medal two years ago," said Seebohm.
"During the camps, we spent a lot of time implementing our preferred style of play. There will be similarities to what we did last time but we have also made some adjustments which I am excited to see play out.
"Most importantly, we have maintained the philosophy that we had so much success with two years ago."
BREAKING| QCHF Academy representative Alex Fowler has just been selected to represent Australia at next month’s U-17 World Championships in Belarus! Check out full details via ---> https://t.co/1CcjVukpke #FireUpTownsville pic.twitter.com/jjZOOALoze
— JCU Townsville Fire (@TownsvilleFire) June 5, 2018
Despite now entering this year’s tournament as the defending Champions, Seebohm does not believe that adds any extra pressure on the team.
"Every Australian side has aspirations of medalling at benchmarks events and this side is no different so there is no added pressure.
"The group in 2016 proved that Australia belongs on the international stage and provided a blueprint for success so this team is doing everything they can to be in the best position possible to replicate the gold medal.
Huge congratulations to Boomers players Jade Melbourne and Isobel Anstey on their Sapphires selection. Good luck at the @FIBA U17 Word Cup. https://t.co/Os8DGdOe4P
— Melbourne Boomers (@MelbourneBoomer) June 5, 2018
"My assistant coaches have been working hard on opposition scouts, looking at tapes and talking with the team about who we will come up against.
"We know we need a team that can match up with the opponents we’ll meet in the pool stage as well as hopefully taking care of those countries we will meet later down the line."
Australia will go up against Angola, Canada and Latvia in the early stages of the tournament.
FIBA