Subject: U19 Canadian Basketball National Team

Another upset over Germany because they were resting for the next round. Their high GAvg greatly increased the odds they would advance. All in all, ending in a three way tie for second, then losing on the GAvg differential was much better than I had expected. With the weak front end we have, it takes a bit of juggling to find a winning combination. We will have the same problem next season. Wish we could play instant challenges on the world level. It would help to answer some of the questions these circumstances create. With our extra two wins this year we may even move up in the world standings ! Once again, thanks for all your input and support. Now, on to next season !!

Just had a quick peek at next year's U19 possibles. REALLY weak at centre...19 yr. old centres seem to be almost non-existant !! PF are good, but there may not be enough to sub in at centre like we did this season.
Both guard positions are good. Small forward is also good. We seem to be three centres short of a pretty good team !! Stuff as many rabbits as you can into that hat, and force feed them four leaf clovers all season !!

Despite a lack of forward talent, we managed to maintain our world ranking in U19 at 31.

Most of the choices for this season's U19 squad have been made. It includes the best 19 year olds at each position while keeping 2 spots at each position for the 18 year olds who will no doubt start training early for next season if we do not qualify. There are still two spots open to allow for "new finds".

This season's grouping is:
(world rank beside)

Czech Republic.....3
Brazil............12
Argentina.........21
Canada............31
Denmark...........40

Once again, it appears that it will be Argentina who may be the roadblock to advancement.

Thanks for the 4 managers who voted for me and thanks to Bobby Jay to have assembled the team. Unless someone knows players we havent heard off, the team is going to stay the same. As we are so few active managers, please share any hints you may have for this team. Enjoy a great season

I dont write often, and honestly rarely had good news to report from the U19. But this time I am excited as we just beat the top seed in our group : Spain while they played H and VH while we are able to only play High. It looks bad for them as they lost all their games so far (3), but been ranked in the top 10 make them even more dangerous for the remaining (5 more games to go)

This season's grouping is:
(world rank beside)

Spain.....7
Serbia............13
Lithuania.........20
Canada............32
Chile...........35

We have lot our first game against Lithuania (would like to have won this one), won a game we can't lost against Chile and just beat Spain (unexpected).

Wanted to share the good news before the week-end!

cheers

Great job!!
Good news!!
Keep up the good work!!

Short by 1 goal against the best team of our pool so far. Our players even won the 3 stars. Hope for better luck next time.

Does sending a player to camp effect his eligibility to play for the national team? If so what is a good time to run a camp? I do like one between the last day of playoffs and the first game of the year.

Looks like U19 Romania, ranked second in the world may have underestimated a determined Canadian squad, (ranked 32), who beat them 77-74 on their home court.
Yes, I know they played VL and we played VH, but a win is a win!!

Congrats!

What a good strategy can do! We dont have a bad team, last week lost qualification by one with one second left was heart breaking! hope we will be able to make it to the next round this time. Still lot of works to do but we are closer with this win!

If we want to keep national management in Canada, we need someone to step up as U19 GM. I can give you any assistance you may need.

Ukraine 85
Canada 61
We don't have much depth at this national level.
We were in it until our starting centre fouled out...then we got killed!!