Aussies achieve World Cup aim
AUSTRALIA might have already secured its place at next year’s FIBA World Cup in China, but Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis says it’s only the start of the job ahead for his team.
The Boomers officially locked in their spot at next year’s World Cup with a 76-47 win over Iran on Friday night and will be aiming to finish unbeaten at home when they face Qatar in tonight’s qualifier at Margaret Court Arena.
In their final qualifier on home soil, the Boomers will be aiming to consolidate their position at the top of Group F before they travel to Kazakhstan and Iran for the last round of qualifiers in February.
Lemanis said the Boomers needed to take advantage of every chance they had to grow as a team and would not be in celebratory mode tonight after booking their World Cup ticket.
“They rightly took a lot of pride from that (World Cup qualification) but now we turn our attentions to Qatar,” Lemanis said.
“We want to play well no matter what the situation and that’s what has been so pleasing with this group … their attention to detail and commitment to the task at hand.
“What we’ve done so far defensively has been wonderful, we’ve locked in at that end of the floor and that’s what I expect from us against Qatar.
“There are always things to improve and work on as we continue to grow as a team.
“We’ve got time from now until the World Cup to keep playing international basketball and to develop ourselves in that space.”
The Boomers had a 95-43 win over Qatar when they last met in September.
Boomers point guard Jason Cadee, one of four players to feature in every FIBA World Cup qualifier so far, said the team was determined to keep building on its form.
“It doesn’t really feel like we’ve qualified yet because we still have games to go but it has been a different and new process that we’ve all enjoyed and it is nice to have that locked away,” Cadee said.
“We still need to build on what we have done and now it’s about finishing on top of the group and on top of Asia.”