Young ballers to star despite limited prep
A trio of Gold Coast basketball prodigies hold the key to Queensland’s hopes of winning the under-20 national title.
Gold Coast Rollers representatives including guards Ben Tweedy and Jaylen Pitman, along with forward Elijah Kamu, are part of the Queensland squad set to begin its Basketball Australia Under-20s National Championship campaign in Ballarat today.
“We have all the pieces to be successful,” Australian Olympian and Queensland coach Peter Crawford said.
“We have strong point guard play, we have good size and length on the floor, we have solid wings and we have one of the best natural athletes in the country in Roman (Siulepa).
“When he switches it on, there is no one with his size, speed and athleticism in the country.”
Crawford believes the depth in his squad could be key to the Sunshine State returning to glory in Ballarat.
After missing out on a medal at last year’s tournament in Geelong, Queensland has put together one of its strongest squads in years as they set their sights on a third Jack Terrill Trophy in four years.
But Crawford, who was a late call up to the head coach role to replace the Illawarra
Hawks-bound Joel Khalu, was adamant every member of the squad would prove crucial over the week-long event.
Crawford, the Southern Districts Spartans NBL1 coach, is no stranger to the U20s nationals having coached Queensland to both gold and silver medals in backto-back years before joining the Brisbane Bullets NBL side as an assistant in 2021.
“This is my fourth time at the U20s as a head coach,”
Crawford said.
“When I talk to the athletes at the 20s, it is a lot like going into an Aussie camp – you have to pick up things really fast, and we have to work together. As a state, Queensland is at a bit of a disadvantage for these types of tournaments. Where the Victoria teams can train together most weekends and NSW get together relatively often, we don’t have that luxury.
“Queensland is a big state, we have players from Mackay, Townsville and Rockhampton as well as our athletes in the southeast. We can’t just train together whenever we want, so we have to put in stuff as quickly as we can.
“These guys have been in the program for the past four or five years and they have been well coached in that time. They have the systems in place around them, we just put the finishing touches on that.
“They all need to work hard this week.
“That is the beauty of tournament play, each athlete across the squad will have their moment to shine.”
The Queensland squad features some of the best young stars in the country including explosive power forward Siulepa, crafty point guards Tweedy and Kynan McMahon as well as impressive playmakers Pitman and Mason Honeyman.
While he has only had the two training sessions with the squad since taking the reins,
Crawford said he had confidence they would be in contention at the back end of the week.
Catch every match of the Basketball Australia Under-20s and Ivor Burge National Championships live and exclusive on KommunityTV across every News Corp Australia digital masthead from January 30 to February 4.