Boomers coach happy with improvement

Tag : rolled bronze
Boomers coach happy with improvement AAP - July 21, 2008, 6:27 pm
His big three of Andrew Bogut, David Andersen and Matt Nielsen aresettling into the line-up, playmaker CJ Bruton is over his injuryand the young guns are starting to fire.
Yep, Boomers coach Brian Goorjian is finding his happy place.
The Australian men's basketball team is in the midst of a finaltraining camp on the Gold Coast before heading to China on July 27for some finishing touches ahead of the Olympic Games.
Starting point guard Bruton, who needs to play as well as anyonefor the Boomers to have any chance of a medal, sent a scare throughthe team last week when he once again rolled one of his troublesomeankles.
But the 32-year-old returned to training on Monday, providingenormous relief to Goorjian and the rest of the squad.
With Bogut finally signed - and therefore insured - with theMilwaukee Bucks, he's on the court trying to quickly gel with aworld-class frontline of himself, Andersen, Nielsen and ChrisAnstey.
Goorjian is also happy with the progress of young perimeter playersDavid Barlow, Patrick Mills and Joe Ingles.
It's a better squad than the one that failed to make the secondround in Athens four years ago and Goorjian is excited as the teamquietly prepares for a shot at a first Olympic medal.
"I just feel like it's in such a better place with the groundthat's been covered in four years time," he said from the GoldCoast.
"Our goal is to go over there and perform well, represent thecountry and get through that first round and medal.
"We've got Andersen, we've got Nielsen and we've got Bogut.
"It's a totally different team with a totally different styleof play and a totally different strength.
"We need to be able to incorporate what we were doing and thenadd those three guys, but I keep pinching myself.
"It's not there yet but each day's a better day."
Newly-qualified Croatia have been added to Australia's group forBeijing and will be the Boomers' first opponent on August 10.
The addition of the 1992 silver medallists completes a pool thatincludes reigning Olympic champions Argentina, European championsRussia, three-time Olympic bronze medallists Lithuania and Asianchampions Iran.
The top four from each six-team pool go through to thequarter-finals.
To say the Boomers have a tough task ahead of them is an enormousunderstatement.
But Goorjian remains matter-of-fact about the task at hand.
"If you're in the top 12 in the world, which the Olympictournament is, you're going to have to beat some good people to doanything," he said.
"I don't care which side of the pool you're on.
"We all thought we were going to get a tough team. Thechallenge remains the same, it's just nice to know who we'replaying."
Australia will contest the FIBA Diamond Ball in Nanjing from July29 to August 1, which also features Argentina, China, Serbia,Angola and Iran.
They then face the United States on August 5 before heading to theOlympic village.