AUS – Australia’s new wave has right qualities to succeed in women’s game

TOULOUSE (2010 FIBA U17 World Championship for Women) – The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has produced some of the leading basketball players in the world, namely Andrew Bogut and Lauren Jackson.

Phil Brown is the women’s basketball head coach at the AIS and has coached 22 Australian Olympians, including Jackson and Penny Taylor.

He has been in Toulouse to follow the progress of the country’s team competing in the inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship for Women.

FIBA.com caught up with Brown to hear his thoughts on Australia’s performance and the state of basketball Down Under.

FIBA: What did you make of France’s quarter-final win over Australia?
Brown: France played very well. Esther Niamke and Olivia Epoupa directed their offense and organised the game very well. The French were able to create more opportunities than Australia. I think that we had too many turnovers, we didn’t get to enough loose balls and lost the rebounding battle.

FIBA: Australian women’s basketball has been on the rise for almost two decades. How important is the sport – and the women’s game in particular – important in Australia? How do you see the growth of the game? What are the strengths and weaknesses?
Brown: Basketball is not as popular as cricket or rugby. Also, we face a couple of challenges regarding the junior level in terms of the number of coaches available and the facilities. But at the elite level, we have the AIS (Australian Institute of Sports), which is being reassessed, changed and improved. Basketball is not a cultural game in Australia, whereas it is in Europe. We have to improve all aspects related to the understanding of the game. I feel our game seems more manufactured. We have to improve our flair and creativity. Also, we have a lot of tall players, so there are inevitably some areas we have to work on with them such as ball handling, extending their shooting range to the three-point line. We have a lot of qualities to be successful: size, athleticism and physicality. The long-term focus for Australian basketball is the women’s senior team because we want to stay in the world’s top three.

FIBA: France has a national training centre called INSEP (national institute for sport, expertise and performance). Have you ever worked with them?
Brown: I have been to the INSEP twice. I met the INSEP basketball head coach a couple of times. I think it is very healthy to share ideas. We are closely looking at what Spain, the USA, Russia and China are doing. It is really different, and we are here to improve. We realise we have a couple of things to reassess and others we should keep on doing in order to win. Therefore we are looking at all possibilities: we need to ensure solutions to replace our stars. Our system is very different from the French one where you have a strong regional system and full-time coaches. In Australia, which is about the size of Europe, we only have about 10 available coaches. The AIS aims to improve in that field. Already 50 percent of the women playing in our pro league come from AIS. Some even play abroad in top flight leagues in Europe and the WNBA.

FIBA: A tournament like the first-ever FIBA U17 World Championship must be an excellent opportunity to re-think your strategy and look at where you stand from an international standpoint.
Brown: Yes it is a good opportunity. You look at these teams and many of them are experiencing a lot of highs and lows, with their play wavering quite a bit. But that is to be expected because they are still quite young. As far as the Australian team, the key areas that need to be addressed are one-on-one play, ball handling, passing, decision-making.

FIBA: How do you evaluate the way Australia has played in the tournament? What teams surprise you most?
Brown: There is still a long way to go to reach a consistent level. We need to improve our shot selection and develop the ability to play with more poise. I find that we rush too much at times. In terms of teams that surprised me, I think China have improved a lot. They benefited from foreign advice and influence. There is way more purpose in the way they play. Belgium also has been really impressive. They have an excellent spirit and play very well together. I can’t speak for teams from Group A as I did not get to see them.

FIBA/LOC