Australia falls to France 64-58

[UConnCat]

in pre-Olympic tuneup.

LJ and Suzy Batkovic did not play, reportedly in London for medical examinations.

http://www.hoopfeed.com/content/2012/07/22/australia-falls-to-france-in-pre-olympic-exhibition/

 

[Coler]

They barely beat Brazil yesterday with LJ.

 

[speedoo]

So France evidently is another strong team in Group B. Anyone know how good Czech Republic is?. If they are pretty good, it looks like they and Turkey would represent the toughest Group A challenges to USA.

But it sure looks like Group B is tougher overall that Group A, with Russia, Australia, France and Brazil.

 

[pap49cba]

France is a puzzle. They were beaten by England even though ranked something like 41 spots higher.​

 

[EricLA]

Sort of puts the Turkey game in perspective. I think a close game is good for "favored" teams as it gives the coaches something to show the team and say "we must work on X, Y, and Z"...

 

[alexrgct]

Maybe a little more parity in international play than historically? That would be awesome for WBB if so.

 

[Coler]

So France evidently is another strong team in Group B. Anyone know how good Czech Republic is?. If they are pretty good, it looks like they and Turkey would represent the toughest Group A challenges to USA.

But it sure looks like Group B is tougher overall that Group A, with Russia, Australia, France and Brazil.

Czech Republic is pretty good, they won Silver at the 2010 world championship and gave the US a pretty good game before losing steam and falling by 20.

 

[semper]

Yeah, it's the losing steam part that stopped Turkey. They ran with us for 2+ quarters, but then they just couldn't maintain that pace. We have incredible depth, and great conditioning.

 

[HuskyNan]

Yeah, it's the losing steam part that stopped Turkey. They ran with us for 2+ quarters, but then they just couldn't maintain that pace. We have incredible depth, and great conditioning.

Yep, Geno agrees. (post game quotes)

On the fourth quarter as the USA pulled away:
Geno: I think the second group that came in at the end of the third quarter, because they play so fast and have so much energy, they really take the legs away from some of the other teams that we play against, and tonight was another example of that. We were able to wear them down. There is not as much of a drop off when we sub as there is on some other teams. The depth that the United States has is one of our biggest strengths, and tonight was a perfect example of that.

 

[ThisJustIn]

You know what makes this group's conditioning (and any recent US national team) impressive? Much of it is maintained on their own -- and on their own dollar. This ain't college where the weight and conditioning coach are on hand day in and day out and paid out of someone else's pocket.

 

[Wonkster]

You know what makes this group's conditioning (and any recent US national team) impressive? Much of it is maintained on their own -- and on their own dollar. This ain't college where the weight and conditioning coach are on hand day in and day out and paid out of someone else's pocket.

Good point. Truly remarkable.