Just days out from their do-or-die trans-Tasman clash against the Australian Boomers for a place at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the New Zealand Tall Blacks men’s basketball team have named their side and it could well be the best ever to take the floor according to veteran Kiwi guard Mark Dickel.
Basketball New Zealand revealed the 12 players that will battle archrivals the Boomers for a direct ticket to London on the weekend and included in the team are Kirk Penney, Tom Abercrombie, Mika Vukona, Corey Webster, Alex Pledger, BJ Anthony and Leon Henry.
Those names should be familiar to Australian sporting fans as they were all on the New Zealand Breakers team that took out our own National Basketball League Championship in April to become the first Kiwi sporting team ever to win an Australian-based professional competition.
Also included in the Tall Blacks team for the 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship are past and present NBL players Lindsay Tait, Casey Frank and Dickel, who played for the Sydney Kings last season.
Dickel is a veteran of trans-Tasman clashes against the Boomers and he believes the current team is the equal of, or possibly even better than, the legendary Tall Blacks side of 2001 that became the first ever to beat Australia and win the Ramsay Shield.
"This team is very good,” Dickel told the Southland Times. “You kind of want to give every team its creditability, without downplaying the teams you were on before or now, but this team is as good as any of the Tall Black teams I've been on.
"We're definitely a deep team, which maybe (we) haven't been in the past. We're pretty confident going into the series."
Dickel said he felt the Tall Blacks knew exactly what the Boomers would throw at them and were prepared.
"I think we're pretty well prepared,” he said. “It's a matter of whether we can go into the games and execute.
"It's no secret what (Australia) do well. They pressure the ball and play with freedom on offence, so we're going to have to counter those two things to have a chance of winning."
The full Tall Blacks team for the Olympic qualification series against New Zealand is listed below.
Game One of that FIBA Oceania Championship series, which is to be played as a unique double-header with the Jayco Opals, will be in Melbourne on 7 September at the State Netball Hockey Centre (AKA ‘The Cage’) and has already sold-out of all general admission tickets. Game Two will be at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on 9 September and Game Three at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on 11 September.
Tickets for the Sydney game are on sale now through Ticketmaster, while tickets to the Brisbane game are now being sold through Ticketek.
Click here for more details on the Boomers and Opals double-header against New Zealand.
2011 New Zealand Tall Blacks Team
Lindsay Tait
Mike Fitchett
Mark Dickel
Kirk Penney
Corey Webster
Tom Abercrombie
Leon Henry
Mika Vukona
BJ Anthony
Rob Loe
Casey Frank
Alex Pledger
Head Coach - Nenad Vucinic
Assistant Coach - Pero Cameron
Assistant Coach - Christopher Tupu
Assistant Coach - Dillon Boucher
Physiotherapist - Anousith Bouaaphone
Manager - Claire Dallison
