Live/Free stream of FIBA U-16 games starts Thursday

[Alydar]

A chance to maybe see a couple/few of future UConn stars Times are Greenwich -3.

Thursday's games start at 7:45 am edt. Puerto Rico vs US is the third game scheduled for 12:15pm edt.



Friday's games start at 7:45 am edt. US vs Mexico is the second game scheduled for 10:00 am edt-3.
Puerto Rico vs United States - Group B - FIBA U16 Women's Americas Championship

 

[Alydar]

Games actually start on Wed.

Wednesday's game start at 11:45 edt Columbia vs US is second game 2:00pm edt


I messed up on the times I listed above. The actual scheduled times are 2 hours earlier than the times on the links but it's very late and my mind isn't working at it's best

 

[Alydar]

If a mod reads this please change the heading to read Wednesday instead of Thursday.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

The US game today is at 3PM Eastern.

Also 3 PM Eastern Thursday.

 

[Charliebball]

Not much of a contest so far US leading Columbia 39-11 in the second quarter...........US playing sloppy but Columbia is pretty awful........watching the Spanish language broadcast only thing I picked up was when commentator compared Watson to a pulpo which I believe is an octopus........

 

[Charliebball]

missed half of first quarter........the team playing just OK against poor competition.....rushing shots/passes missing a lot of layups.........Clark with two 3 pointers, Boston some blocks, Cooke at least one three pointer, Watson all over the floor, by far the most athletic of the bigs.........Oliver/Bueckers looked in control........

 

[Charliebball]

Brunelle starts the third quarter with two straight three's from the top of the circle....Boston controlling boards at both end along with a layup and block.......
60-26........

 

[UcMiami]

Defense has looked pretty solid - good switching, active in passing lanes, and lots of blocked shots including at least two by Brunelle. Offense is another story with lots of missed shots and sloppy play. I keep having to remind myself these are U16 kids because there is a lot of stupid play, especially down low on rebounds and or entry passes with players getting tied up or turning the ball over.

 

[Alydar]

Does anyone have a roster with jersey numbers?

The point here is to be one of the 4 teams that advance to the world U17 next summer. My question is how did the US not win gold 2 years ago?

 

[Charliebball]

If Geno saw this past two minute segment with Page Bueckers simply taking over the game he would have offer her the first chance he gets........,that kid is playing more like a junior in college never mind a second year high schooler....what defensive anticipation........that trademark floater in the lane when she runs out of options..........really, really good stuff

 

[UcMiami]

If Geno saw this past two minute segment with Page Bueckers simply taking over the game he would have offer her the first chance he gets...,that kid is playing more like a junior in college never mind a second year high schooler....what defensive anticipation...that trademark floater in the lane when she runs out of options.....really, really good stuff

She looked much better in the second half - settled down and made good decisions - first half she kept dribbling into trouble from being wide open on the arc and then made bad passes.
Clark looked pretty good too, but Boston and Brunelle seemed to me to be the anchors. Cooke also had her moments when she stopped dribbling too much. Everyone seemed to get decent minutes and have their moments - not a bad outing for their first game.
Saw Carla getting the bench up cheering after made baskets at one point in the first half. Even with it being a blow-out I thought the team as a whole and the substitution pattern made better sense than the last time.

Though to be fair - both the last U16 and U17 teams had only one bad game each - in the other games they played well.

 

[Charliebball]

Boston hung tough inside but is clearly a work in progress especially at the offensive end............footwork needs improvement..........she's miles behind Charli Collier in that area...........Brunelle hit some outside shots then made a fantastic driving basket after blocking a shot at the other end.......my only concern with Brunelle is a lack of quickness defensively........she had a difficult time against smaller players out there today and they weren't all that talented........

 

[Sluconn Husky]

My impression of the UConn targets didn't change.

Brunelle, Boston, Bueckers, and Fudd are all elite talents. I think Celeste Taylor is going to be terrific too; just not sure how it works with such a similar player in Coombs ahead of her for two years. Watson has lots of upside but is still raw as you'd expect from a 9th grader. Her free throw form needs serious revamping too. Clark, who is not a UConn target that we know of, was impressive as well. Still no idea why Belibi is on the team.

I didn't see any passing issues with Bueckers either. She lost the handle a couple of times while trying to snap the ball back. Her IQ, quickness, tenacity, and skill are all through the roof.

 

[CocoHusky]

Columbia didn't put up much resistance but wow this USA squad is coming hard. Boston was the biggest player in the game and played like it. For long stretches with Boston in the game no one else on either team grabbed a rebound.
Buckers is electric offensively and disruptive defensively. When she touches the ball great things happen. Buckers is an incredible passer, she throws the kind of passes shooters appreciate because you can go right into the shooting motion. Both Cooke and Brunelle pressed a little early, too much dribbling for Cooke and missed chippies for Brunelle early. Brunelle settled down later Cooke did not. Fudd played with great poise & skill throughout. Biggest positive surprise for me was Caitlin Clark- her jumper is wet and KML pretty, PG deluxe, plays at that "beat you" kind of pace.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Also, Zia Cooke seems to be quite skilled but she's not a great ball-handler and probably not a PG. More of a Vinny Johnson type scorer.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I also agree that Brunelle is not swift of foot defensively, but.....

She's got years to improve and can make up for it a bit with her size and anticipation. Note that KLS had similar issues and has improved. As was evident Brunelle is more of physical defender than KLS and will block lots of shots. Most players have one flaw or another. Brunelle will still be really good.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

That sequence midway through the 4th from Brunelle was special. She runs down a clean-path layup with a block, comes down the floor, gets the ball, drives, fakes, and scoops a layup plus contact for a 3-pt play.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

US/Columbia boxscore:

Colombia v United States of America - 7 Jun - FIBA.com

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Think those block numbers are out of whack. I sure remember more than 3 for Brunelle and 2 for Boston.

 

[Alydar]

I only got to see the second half. I thought Clarke has a real nice stroke but needs to learn that you don't try and dribble through a full court press. She doesn't seem to know when to pass or where, dribbling herself into double teams. The nice thing is that all these players are very young.

Bueckers OTOH is a great passer as mentioned above but she actually seems to relish playing defense and those long long arms seem to be everywhere when guarding a ballhandler.

 

[CocoHusky]

Think those block numbers are out of whack. I sure remember more than 3 for Brunelle and 2 for Boston.

You are definitely right. Boston had two blocks on one sequence at ~7:52 of the first quarter and a third block on the next Columbia possession at 7:32.

 

[Go/huskies]

My impression of the UConn targets didn't change.

Brunelle, Boston, Bueckers, and Fudd are all elite talents. I think Celeste Taylor is going to be terrific too; just not sure how it works with such a similar player in Coombs ahead of her for two years. Watson has lots of upside but is still raw as you'd expect from a 9th grader. Her free throw form needs serious revamping too. Clark, who is not a UConn target that we know of, was impressive as well. Still no idea why Belibi is on the team.

I didn't see any passing issues with Bueckers either. She lost the handle a couple of times while trying to snap the ball back. Her IQ, quickness, tenacity, and skill are all through the roof.

For what its worth, Clayk over on Rebkells had this to say about Belibi

"Belibi is an interesting case. She's only played the game for about a year, she's incredibly athletic and plays very well for one with such limited experience.

She also showed flashes of brilliance, followed by segments when you didn't even know she was on the court.

I think keeping her makes sense because of her potential, and also because conceivably she could play for Cameroon, where her parents are from. As always, though, the most difficult thing about evaluating a player in any sport is trying to determine when they will stop improving. Belibi clearly could improve a great deal over the next few years, as opposed to others who have been playing year-round since age 10."

makes since to me.

 

[Charliebball]

I only got to see the second half. I thought Clarke has a real nice stroke but needs to learn that you don't try and dribble through a full court press. She doesn't seem to know when to pass or where, dribbling herself into double teams. The nice thing is that all these players are very young.

Bueckers OTOH is a great passer as mentioned above but she actually seems to relish playing defense and those long long arms seem to be everywhere when guarding a ballhandler.

 

[JordyG]

I finally watched yesterdays game and some of today's. To me it's clear that small, quick guards are going to give this team problems. As for players that jumped out for me, it was also clear that Boston misses a lot of gimme's. A lot. So did Brunelle. Boston is a heck of a rebounder. This team misses a lot of outside shots and makes up for it with 2nd and 3rd attempts. That wouldn't happen against the better, taller European teams. Tell you what, without seeing the second half of the Mexico game, that Bueckers is a player. Nice all around offensive game. Needs to work on her defense since she consistently gets beaten off the dribble. She plays the passing lanes well however. Fudd needs some seasoning, but she's a player. Quick with nice size. Cooke has a nice outside shot, but when she goes inside she thinks shoot first. Taylor has a nice little shot and has a little toughness to her game on offense and defense. Even when Sam is on form her shot just seems out of rhythm. She is however the best passer on the team. Since this is a team that barely knows each other they want to play with pace and/or play a transition game, but struggles in half court offense. This team also commits on defense and will sell out for the full 4 quarters.

 

[Charliebball]

I finally watched yesterdays game and some of today's. To me it's clear that small, quick guards are going to give this team problems. She is however the best passer on the team. Since this is a team that barely knows each other they want to play with pace and/or play a transition game, but struggles in half court offense. This team also commits on defense and will sell out for the full 4 quarters.

It would be great if at least one of the remaining teams was decent enough to give the USA some competition........I guess Argentina and/or Canada are the likely contenders..................so far the USA is simply too fast, too big and too skilled