They told me you showed up to their games in Australia! This is hilarious, I mean aside from the top 2 players (Miao Lijie & Chen Nan) the girls can walk on the street in China and be pretty much unrecognizable, and yet we have an obsessed American fan! Let me guess, next stop China (3-game series against Canada starting next week) and then Japan (Asian Champs)?Originally Posted by cross0ver112
Three of them did get spotted yesterday in a Beijing mall though.
Last edited by sinobball; 08-02-2011 at 04:00 PM.
aim low, score high
Respect!! That must require a lot of dedication, time and money to be able to follow up on a team like thatThey told me you showed up to their games in Australia! This is hilarious, I mean aside from the top 2 players (Miao Lijie & Chen Nan) the girls can walk on the street in China and be pretty much unrecognizable, and yet we have an obsessed American fan! Let me guess, next stop China (3-game series against Canada starting next week) and then Japan (Asian Champs)?... I do hope and wish that I can meet up with the members of the Chinese NT whether men or women one day....
Also the guanxi connection with the girls might help him land an opportunity to play ball in China+learn some Mandarin.
Los Angeles Sparks 98, Chinese National Team 71
Center, Chen Nan did not play. Wei Wei paced the team with her overall game of 8 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.
Draft Wishlist:
PG Michael Carter-Williams / 21 yrs. old / 6'5
PF Livio Jean-Charles / 19 yrs. old / 6'9
Sacramento Kings 2013-14: THY KINGDOM COME
HERE WE STAY UNTIL THE COWBELLS COME HOME
cross0ver112 I find you, this must be you, ha!
Anyway, the team doesn't look like it will do well in the Olympics. I think they'll finish better than the men's counterpart, but still hard to get too excited.
Chinese men's basketball at least has decent young prospects, and the professional league is flourishing, while Chinese women's basketball is dying. Girls in China don't want to play basketball. The tall athletic ones who want to become athletes choose volleyball as this sport has about 50X more exposure on Chinese TV and media. But most don't want to become athletes, as they can earn a ton more doing something else in China's booming economy. Every off-season, some girls retire to become cooks, waitresses, security guards, elementary school teachers and so on. Those that have the looks become flight attendants and models. Most of the best prospects use basketball as a vehicle to graduate from college and become white collar workers.
Now I understand China already has the luxury of having "professional women's basketball athletes", something nonexistent in most countries. However when we compare the status with South Korea, the average salary of WCBA players is less than 1/2 of WKBL while standards of living in Chinese cities is not significantly less than in Korean cities. I was reading journalist Robin Chu's blog on the recent Nike All Asia Camp where they had a girl's camp and the best 3 performers don't want to pursue professional basketball. The most painful thing is Japan looks like it's investing a lot in women's basketball (they've been sending a lot of young girls to Nike All Asia Camp) and has more or less outperformed China in junior competitions in recent years.
I've talked to most members of Chinese women's NT online and I know most of them have at least 1 basketball parent, otherwise I would have imagined that their parents wouldn't support it. I really like the girls and find them a group of polite, friendly, dedicated and fun-loving girls, but I am also aware of the limits of what they can accomplish. Women's sport will only survive when there is international success (e.g. Chinese women's volleyball) and when there isn't, it's goes downhill from there. And I think this is the inevitable of Chinese women's basketball.
aim low, score high
Chinese NT is expected to meet a USA Women's All-Star squad in a three-game series July 2-4 in Jinzhong City.
Games should be televised, but I don't know if they can be viewed everywhere.
http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...ports-channel/
http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...jinzhong-city/
US All-Star team is managed by NetScouts B'ball and is made by former NCAA players, 9 having completed their collegiate career in 2012 and 3 in 2011.
More info on Chinese tour here .
China beat them today 99-74 behind 26 from Ma Zengyu and 18 from Chen Nan. Becca Tobin led USA with 12. Yes there are links to the tape if you need them.
(BTW, the men's team that they sent is playing China "B", Lithuanian NKL select and a team composed of second or third division German/Luxemburg players. These European teams are pretty bad. I think the author of the blog, CBerman, has an account here.)
aim low, score high
Thanks for the updates and further info.
For sure the US women's All-Stars (mostly just with college experience) can't be competitive with Chinese NT in terms of international experience and of team play, maybe they can improve in the next games to better test Chinese Olympians.
P.S. Interesting your info on European men's squads, I was in fact wondering what kind of selections they could be!
NetScouts Basketball China Tour/Team China
NetScouts Basketball USA All-Stars Men's and Women's tours of China currently taking place through July 10th.
The Men’s team is playing teams from China, Lithuania and Germany in a 3-city, 9-game round robin format. The roster of the Men’s team is: Brian Addison (Buffalo/Portugal), Tyler Cain (South Dakota/Latvia), Lance Jeter (Nebraska/Holland), LaMarcus Reed (Texas-Arlington), Orion Outerbridge (Rhode Island), Lamonte Ulmer (Rhode Island/Luxembourg), Anthony Gurley (Massachusetts/New Zealand), Taj McCullough (Winthrop/D-League/Australia). Adam Waddell (Wyoming) and Marquis Jones (Rhode Island/Germany).
The Women will be playing in a three-game Pre-Olympic event, called the Sino-American Pre-Olympic Tournament, against Team China. They will then head to a second city and play three games against the Chinese National “B” team.
The women’s roster consists of: Katie Bussey (Montana State), Dawn Evans (James Madison/Connecticut Sun), Ashley Corrall (USC/Seattle Storm), Jence Rhoads (Vanderbilt/Iceland), Brittany Carter (Memphis/Connecticut Sun), Becky Burke (Louisville), Briana Gilbreath (USC/Washington Mystics), Amanda Johnson (Oregon), Kristina Santiago (Cal Poly), Cierra Bravard (Florida State/San Antonio Silver Stars), Becca Tobin (Arizona State/Romania) and Kali Bennett (Arizona State).
Here are our last article:
http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...ars-in-game-1/
Here are the previous game articles:
http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...m-edges-china/
http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...ports-channel/
http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...jinzhong-city/
http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...head-to-china/
http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...jinzhong-city/
http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...first-contest/
Chinese NT, proving to be really hot on shooting, defeated again the US All-Stars 100-82, with Miao Lijie and Gao Song combining for 16/19 FG. Former USC guard Ashley Corral was high for the Americans with 17 (5/7 threes).
Full account: http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...jinzhong-city/
In the last game China WNT won by only 5 pts, report: http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/...close-contest/
Old players got much rest in this game for China, Gao Song (listed 1992) had 12+7, Zhao Shuang (1990) 9+5 and Wei Wei (1989) 8+6 as 11 players scored.
I watched a bit of all 3 games (Yes I saw you, CBerman), and tbh this wasn't ideal preparation for China. The US team, while boasting impressive size (2 of them could make the tallest Filipino player ever list, China too) and athleticism (this girl called Brittany Carter dunked at halftime in Game 2), doesn't look in game form or having gelled much.
As with all levels and genders of Chinese basketball, rebounding and turnovers are the key if we want any success, and these are the areas we still suck at. I think we have a good chance of making the quarterfinals since we are in the weaker group, but the rest I'm not sure. I only really started watching women's bball last year, so I don't even know what happened in 2008 when China won 4th, all I know is we will only have at most 4 players from Beijing, as our team is young and inexperienced.
I'm pleased with our young players from these games, however. Gao is an undersized 4 who has excellent speed, strength, basketball IQ and footwork, and despite her age will be a main contributor in London. Zhao has been slowed by foot/ankle injuries and just 2 weeks ago was predicted to be the last cut due to mediocre play in the 4-nation tourney, but she was very active on both ends in these 3 games, and figures to be our 6th woman in London. Wei Wei of course is 6'8'' with a soft touch and getting better on the boards. These 3, along with Ding Yuan (1991, torn ACL, won't play in London), will likely be the main players this decade after our stars retire this summer.
Edit: since you can't have a long post about women's basketball without graphics, here's a nice pass from Chen Xiaoli to Zhao Shuang on a fast break from today. Usually women's basketball highlights are even more excruciating to watch than actual games for whatever reasons, but I thought that was an impressive pass, especially by a women's post player. Perfect timing.
Zhao Shuang has gotten visibly thicker than last year, still skinny though. Good athlete, plays very hard, no attitude, but really been slowed by the injury bug. A lot of media pressure on her because of all the hype (last year she came out of nowhere to dominate an international tournament, posting stats 2-3 times better than she ever got in her pro career... basically the Jeremy Lin before Jeremy Lin) and focus on looks, and she didn't handle it too well I believe. Earlier this year, after getting a swollen ankle, she got some cortisone shots and requested to play through the injury, which probably made it worse. (The military club's coach is an idiot, and praised her "spirit", that's how we know.) Named to the NT, missed 3 tuneup games due to injuries and struggled in most others, and there were some harsh critics calling her a fluke who doesn't deserve the attention. Good thing she looked good in these 3 games and will definitely show up in London from the looks of it. This girl still has a few holes in her game, but she's motivated (something cannot be said for most Chinese ballers of either gender, sadly) and will only get better barring injuries.
An article from last month: http://www.fibaasia.net/NewsDetails.aspx?id=2343
Last edited by sinobball; 07-05-2012 at 12:29 AM.
aim low, score high
final roster
Final roster, only 4 played in Beijing 2008 and 5 in Czech Republic 2010:
http://london2012.fiba.com/pages/eng...2/profile.html
e94cb7fd5266d0160ef8adb9972bd40737fa35d0.jpgb8014a90f603738d4ac41ab3b31bb051f919ec91.jpga8ec8a13632762d0fee5b22ea0ec08fa503dc643.jpg9825bc315c6034a8272dae10cb13495408237657.jpg58ee3d6d55fbb2fb50a64e834f4a20a44723dc95.jpg
BTW, these horrendous uniforms, having already irritated many back in 2008, will still be worn at the opening ceremony. At least they aren't made in another country.
A note:
In 2005, China won 3rd place at the World U19 Women's Championship, the best finish ever. That generation was dubbed the "golden generation" and expected to carry the load in London, when they would be between the listed ages of 23 and 27. Between the 2008 Olympics, 2009 Asian Championships, and the 2010 World Champs, 10 girls from this generation played for the senior team to contribute or to get experience. Now, only 1 out of these 10 will go to London (Guan Xin, 1987). I understand women players have a higher turnover rate due to social role and biology, but this is insane, for China at least. One player who averaged 20p 5r 5a in the last season all of a sudden can't practice for the NT because she has insomnia and lack of appetite. Really?
Instead, now we STILL have to rely on 2 players who were already the top 2 scorers a decade ago in 2002 - Miao Lijie and Chen Nan. Miao has been in the NT every year since 1998 and this year will be her last, although this has been said many many times before. Mad respect for this woman who sacrificed so much for the game and her country and deserves a lot more recognition than she has had.
The girls left Beijing today and will play 3 games in France against FRA, AUS and BRA before London. I expect 3 losses (caught a bit of the US-Brazil women's game yesterday, Brazil doesn't look as bad as the final score would indicate), just hope they keep their heads up. In London, they won't be a power, but should do fine, I think.
aim low, score high
Aussie coach Tom Maher is back to lead Women's NT on the road to Rio.
Meantime, a prelim list of 20 players has been released.
http://lovewomensbasketball.com/2013...list-released/
Tom Maher's 2013 debut = 3 easy wins:
China 73-57 Cuba:
CHN: Gao Song 16p 5r, Ji Yanyan 13p 6r, Chen Nan 10
CUB: Yamara Amargo 19, Marlene Cepeda 12
China 74-67 Cuba
CHN: Ji Yanyan 14
CUB: Yamara Amargo 26p 8r, Oyanaisis Gelis 15p 5r 5a
China 75-67 Cuba
CHN: Chen Nan 21, Lu Wen 14, Shen Yi 11, Wei Wei 11
CUB: Yamara Amargo 29, Marlene Cepeda 19p 10r, Oyanaisis Gelis 11
Games not as close as the scores as China tried to play all 17 players evenly. Li Shanshan and Zhao Shuang are the only 2 players who started all 3 games. Next the team will go to the Czech Republic for a tourney.
aim low, score high
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