Thats really dissapointing. I was looking forward to seeing the girls have a run and likely get a much needed confidence boost ahead of their tricky pool games.
No easy games ahead of this young group, hopefully they find the confidence they need to get them through.

that is amateur.

France 83 def Brazil 47.

Results
Australia - Mali(forfeit)
France 83 beat Brazil 59
Nigeria 93 beat China 88
Canada 88 beat Portugal 49
Spain 68 beat Argentina 47
Japan 65 beat Czech Republic 50
Hungary 86 beat Israel 82
USA 134 beat Korea 53


What's surprising about this tournament is that some players + teams have prioritised other competitions.

Spain > U18 euros (now in the final vs Finland)
France > partly u18 euros
Hungary > partly u18 euros
Israel > partly u18 euros
Zhang > senior n.t asia cup

Somfai/Hall could have played too..


Only really 2 teams, USA + Canada have chosen the best available and will probably end up In the top 3.

France 83 beat Brazil 47'

Next rd
China vs Portugal
Canada vs Nigeria
Brazil vs Australia
Japan vs Spain
Argentina vs Czech
South Korea vs Israel
Hungary vs USA


Gems not making top 4 would be a failure imo.

With USA, Canada and France?

Any dark horses, Weedy?

No dark horses imo, Nigeria probably the biggest riser.
Spain missing about 5-6 players so they are no chance for gold but still in the medal hunt. No Fam, Okeke, Garcia etc
Australia missing 3 imo (Shiels, Hall, Somfai) which has hurt our chances of a medal.

Ryan, triple bottom age and Fagan double bottom age players are dominating for Australia. They are the future for Australian basketball

Ryan, triple bottom age and Fagan double bottom age players are dominating for Australia. They are the future for Australian basketball

No doubt, Ryan and fagan look the standouts early.

Williams all at sea in the first half, doesn't know where to go or what to do. Puoch has been the better option.
Notoa also doesn’t seem suited to the fiba game.

Haven’t seen dakic who should be playing decent minutes or hinder yet.

Team looked great. Well done.

Next game v France is a really big one.

From what I can establish.

The loser will likely play home team Czechia in the 1/8 finals. However they would then cross with USA in the quarter finals.

If Gems can beat France then likely play Argentina in the 1/8s, then perhaps Hungary in quarters, leading Canada in the semis.

weedy -

"Australia missing 3 imo (Shiels, Hall, Somfai) which has hurt our chances of a medal."

is that because they weren't selected, injured or ?

Is Shiels injured?

Shiels unfortunately ankle surgery out for another 6 months or so.

Hall > playing/nbl1 - healthy
Somfai > pre season/Stanford - healthy

Inj
Shiels
Finney I think too had some troubles

If we can beat France tomorrow morning, it should be an easier path to the semi finals/final (top 4 likely)

Argentina > 1 of Israel/Hungary/Portugal/Nigeria > Canada > USA



Lose and its gonna be tough... (5th-8th finish likely)

1 of Czech/Japan/Argentina > USA > Spain > 1 of Canada/France

Not a bad start, down by one point at the end of the first quarter. Fous hurt us early.
I like the coaches rotations, good feel for the game and made a positive impact on the game

Puoch has been great in her minutes, so too Deas.

Less Williams, Notoa, Hinder
More Harvey, Dakic, Russell

Agreed, I'd like to see Pouch in the starting 5.
We're looking more settled in the 2nd

Shows how important wnbl exp is before these tournaments.

Fagan looks like a player with the weight of the world's expectations on her shoulders. She's so young, but has an enormous amount of pressure on her. Hopefully she finds a way around those mental stresses moving forward.
Big second half coming up. So much to play for, a win here and we're a medal chance and a loss puts us down the line a long way

Fagan looks like a player with the weight of the world's expectations on her shoulders. She's so young, but has an enormous amount of pressure on her. Hopefully she finds a way around those mental stresses moving forward.
Big second half coming up. So much to play for, a win here and we're a medal chance and a loss puts us down the line a long way

Fagan + Ryan still a future u19s to go to.


Another good pool of players to choose from..

Fakalata(09)-Sherrington(09)-Hocking(09)-Halwala(08)
Smith(09)-Olechnowicz(99)-Bond(08)-Bobongie(08)
Nousis(08)-Anticevic(08)-Crase(08)-Angus(08)
Ryan(09)-Gardiner(08)-Juffermans(08)-Richardson(09)
Fagan(08)-Smith(08)-Manyok(09)-Johnson(09)
Etc etc

Excellent 3/4 from the gems.
France missed about 8 layups.

59-50

Really need this win or we will face the u.s

France dominated the First few minutes of the 3rd, but didn't capitalise on the scoreboard. Australia made the most of their moments.
Bobongie strong and making a big impact

Puoch has been a monster on the boards.

We looked vulnerable with her on the bench. Garlepp making the right call, Pouch back on

* Renae Camino

Yup, silly taking Deas off.

Perkins/Deas near the end, much safer handling the ball.

Pouch with the denial!
Well done girls!!

Good win but that France shooting % is diabolical.

Got to be using dakic alot more, on d and rbding alone.

Big big win !!!!

Thought the coaching was excellent. Kept playing the girls who were playing well, time outs - good. Seems like good chemistry between Renae and Jack. Good bench energy.

Some great competitive basketball. Well done team.

Sets us up with Argentina next, then Hungary or Nigeria. Both Winnable games.

It looks as if we're in the easier bracket.

Spain got a very easy run, no rd 16, auto 8, came from a weak pool and has only israel or Portugal to beat to make the semis. Didn't even have bring the Ateam which won the u18euros.

And we all know, as Bogut told us so emphatically, where FIBA's interests and power lie.

weedy - maybe our defence was enough to keep them out of their shooting groove ?

Nah mate, they missed about 15 layups, half of them had no defender present.

Yes, it felt like Aus played well, but got France on a bad night. A few girls in their squad missed the unmissable baskets on more than one occasion.
Argentina next, I'm pretty sure they havent won a game this tournament, so hopefully our girls can make the most of the game and go on to face either Nigeria or Hungary.

Canada in our pool will be very difficult.

The poor French shooting reflected disruption of their favoured offense plays specifically looking for drives, dishes or floats down the split line, with bigs rolling off screens to present for inside passes. Our coaches scouted the French very well - Harvey and Deas gave key French guards at the top of the key little space to work with - while our forwards denied easy inbound passes to French bigs rolling down to the mid bloc and charge circle. Structurally, in the first half the French did not fully rotate the ball, they usually paused at the split line to test for drives and inside passes to bigs, which were well defended, resulting in disrupted passes and drives into multiple defenders. In the second half, surprisingly (to me) the French appeared to run out of ideas with Angolia (?) given license to play iso. A lot of crashing the boards and swamping of 3 French players onto a Gem when they got a defensive rebound. And yes, French shots went up - but many were rushed and arose from chaotic play. As for the many layups they missed when not under pressure - well pressure is in the head is it not? This French team went into this contest with a high opinion of itself, that has carried all before it in the Euro's and was not up for a knife fight.

The French should learn from this contest and will probably offer a more compelling, competitive performance against the Americans, when they meet in the Qtr Finals. I don't like playing any French team that seeks to redeem its reputation. Australia's win overnight makes a French upset win over the US more likely.

Australia in full control at halftime, 43 - 20.
So here's my question, how much of a lead is needed against a team unlikely to beat you, do you run your bench with long minutes?
Dakic has just been put on which is great, still no Hinder. Maybe injured?
I guess what i'm asking is, during a long tournament, is it better to give your starting 5 a break whenever possible and run the full list of players you have with you, or keep the group to 10 and run them to keep consistency.
Also, i'm not knocking the coach, I think she's doing a great job.

Yup, rest some players, bring in dakic/hinder and get more minutes into those that haven't played well so far this tournament.

1/4s

USA vs France
Portugal vs Spain
Hungary vs Australia
Canada vs Japan

Hinder's selection was a surprise, not coming from the usual SPP-NPP pathway. This is okay by me - I think selectors need to be flexible and be able to take advantage of opportunity when it presents itself. That said, it is concerning that the cupboard appears to be bare when it comes to developing quality bigs. Perhaps they are out there and some worthy prospects are being overlooked - I do not know. Hinder's role will be to offer size and strength to blunt the offense of US bigs should we encounter them in the final and relieve Puoch, who will likely get into foul trouble.

picked without being truly tested here in Aus, u.s high school ball can be a mix of good and bad. Think Waite would have been a better option with her wnbl exp, Nightingale unlucky aswell imo.

Could probably take 12 of the players below that did not make the squad and still be just as competitive at worlds. It's unfortunate we could put together the best 12.

Eg

Bond
Lehmann
Hall
Hodges
Finney
Bijkerk
Shiels
Petrie
Somfai
Nightingale
Hanson
Bird
Crook
Waite
Portlock

That is a pretty reasonable list.

Was there a reason Somfai wasn't selected? I haven't seen her of late, but didn't she get an all-star at a previous tournament?

Somfai withdrew from selection.

Not cool, the U.S and Canadian freshman players have made themselves available for the u19 WC.

1 sometimes 2 chances to play at a u19 WC and to turn it down when offered never looks good. Country at any level should always superseed club or college imo.

How strange, I wonder what the reasoning was.

OT...

well that was a roller coaster complete with a perfect hip and shoulder at the end.

Barely deserved to get it to OT (I thought Hungary were the better team in regulation) but got it done in the extra period.

I agree, Luuuc.

Too much iso, too many defensive breakdowns and turnovers. Even at the end, we still tried to force the obvious pass to the corner, with the inevitable interception.

And a few reffing inconsistencies or curious calls. Sure, I don't know the latest interpretations, but ... I saw 3 'alleged’ hits to Gems heads which weren’t called, for starters.

Tough to watch but we got the win; hopefully there’s enough left in the tank (& between the ears) to win the sf.

The tech foul for 6 players on the court almost cost them the game.

Fagan got taken out on a layup and only called a normal foul, ridiculous. Fagan scored a layup off the new FIBA gather step, step, put the ball down, and called for a travel. I would have called it a travel as well, but technically it wasnt.

The sub rotations completely disappeared in the 3rd quarter, one minute there is 1 guard and the next 3 guards. Perkins likley didnt hit the court in the 3rd. Puoch was off for a long long time.

Hungary classic euro team, rarely turn it over, punish you if you turn it over. Stop any breaks with fouls. Create the mismatch in offense and play off that. Hit the open shots. The push and shoves and dives. Clapping during free throws. Mon nearly lost the plot in the 3rd, but overall thankfully the girls held their composure.

Deas with clutch free throw shooting and a big 3 helped seal it.

Will be a few sore bodies and a lot more smiles.

Well done Gems.

Refs for reference.

GUZMAN, Julirys (PUR)
GÜNGÖR, Cisil (TUR)
CECCARELLI, Edgard (FRA)

I should add if your team can shoot 27/31 free throws then you probably deserve a win.

Not sure we deserved that one.
We looked real tired and disinterested but somehow it fell our way.
Defence was atrocious, so too shooting %s.

Hopefully a much better performance in the semis.

I am so proud of our team. To carve out a win, in these circumstances, with these refs making calls that clearly tilted the contest towards Hungary. Yes there were the travel calls, but it was really damaging was the ref's softly softly approach to Hungary who were intentionally fouling when Australia was in transition, or when a Hungarian defender was clearly beaten on dribble penetration their arm would go out to block passage of our dribbler and stop the penetration. The intentionality was quite obvious, except to the numnuts in black and white! How they could call that barge on Fagan transition in OT as not unsportsmanlike was unsurprising and a travesty. Our girls were clearly frustrated with the refs and the manhandling by Hungary that went uncalled. I just hope they are all okay.

Aus beat Hungary in OT 82-76
Canada beat Japan 85-65

Spain beat Portugal 68-58
France possibly with an upset over the u.s with just a 1/4 to go.

Every time France get close, the US respond with a couple of quick baskets.
France only 7 points down and Angloma starting to have an impact.

USA get it done in a tight one 70-65

Semis
Aus vs Canada
USA vs Spain

Aussie girls doing well, up by 2 at quarter time with a Buzzer beater from Fagan. , but looking very tired.

Awesome first half, best we've played all tournament.

This 3 point shooting! Very sharp.
Bobongie showing her class. Keeping us in it

1/4 to go. Everyone deserves praise for this performance. Everyone has contributed.

Puoch back on. We look a lot stronger with her on the floor

Aus girls will get the win here, incredible performance, they looked amazing. Big turnaround from their 4 point loss to Canada in Portugal a few weeks ago.
Gold medal game tomorrow.
Incredible for this young squad who are getting stronger every game.

Well done gems and coaches. Incredible game tonight.
Puoch, Fagan and Deas fantastic. Russell also with some knock down 3s and shout out to Perkins who was solid all game at the point -handled the pressure well.

Credit to the Spanish program, will be a powerhouse again.

USA vs Australia for Gold/Silver
Canada vs Spain for Bronze/4th
France vs Japan for 5/6th
Portugal vs Hungary for 7/8th
Israel vs Korea for 9/10th
China vs Nigeria for 11/12th
Czech vs Brazil for 13/14th
Argentina 15th
Mali (DNP) 16th

Wow what a game. What a performance by the Gems. Canada played really well. Pressure defence, executing their offence, knocking down 3's, over and over again.

The Gems lived up to their name, briliance, durable, polished and continue to sparkle taking the Canadian's best efforts time and again.

Shooting over 50/50/90, must be one of the Gem's greatest ever performances.

The depth of the team and contributions from all, really wore down the Canadian stars who basically played the whole game. Gem's bench with 48 of the 87 points.

It was such a pure game of basketball. No flopping and malicious hits like the previous game. Even the reffing was consistent. It was high level execution at it's best.



some notes in reference to the young Gems teams against - some of the top NCAA college players.

Makeer - heading to South Carolina – May 2007 - #4 overall recruit class of 2025
Bascoe – Villanova – Feb 2006 – All 1st Team Big East 16ppg
Swords – Michigan - Jan 2006 (NCAA all freshman team), All American. All Big 10 2nd team 16ppg
Mcleod – prep school – jan 2008
Howell – USC – transferring to Washington – June 2006 7.5ppg for USC.


Perkins – heading to Cal – Nov 2007
Deas- heading to Arkansas – May 2006
Ryan – Year 10 ? – March 2009
Fagan – Year 11- March 2008
Williams – heading to Villanova -
Puoch - ? – Oct 2006
Notoa – year 12? – Aug 2007
Bobongie – Dec 2006

Pouch immediately making a difference in the paint

Waite + Nighingale would have come in handy, getting slaughtered on the boards.

Puoch in foul trouble, move fagan to c, bench Williams, bring in extra guard.

No Puoch will hurt, but Gems having a nice momentum swing right now

1/4 to go, 7 points down

Dam missed free throws

Congratz to team usa.

Great effort by the gems though...
A few too many mistakes and some missed opportunities in the final.
Nice to see them on the podium again.

stayed up all night and watched both games.
U19 Gems were great - Aussies punching way above their grade.
Several areas we matched and may have even been better than the USA side.
Yes boards killed us.
Ball and player movement great.
Awesome to see some world class guards in our womens program.
Will be interesting how UCLA manage the 2 Betts sisters and if they will ever run them together - I suppose some classic hi-lo with 2 bigs.
Heckel was great early too.
You just can't give team USA 2 or 3 offensive boards.
The big thing I loved is the old school Opals culture that is more like it. Play hard, strong, as a team, with great skill -getting the job done.

Can anyone tell me what all the Gems are doing in the future - i.e. college, COE (where they will go).
Would have been great to see Somfai as well.

All Star 5:

Bonnie Deas - Australia
Syla Swords - Canada
Saniyah Hall - USA
Somto Okafor - Spain
Sienna Betts - USA

GEMS
Perkins - California ncaa
Harvey - Washington ncaa
Dakic - Florida ncaa
Bobongie - Canberra wnbl(contract)
Deas - Arkansas ncaa
Notoa - NBL1 Logan, Townsville wnbl(DP)
Russell - NBL1 COE, class of 26'
Ryan - NBL1 Sandringham, class of 27’
Fagan - NBL1 COE, class of 26’
Williams - Vanderbilt ncaa
Puoch - Southside wnbl(contract)
Hinder - U.S High school, class of 26’

Other big names
Hall - NBL1 Hornsby, class of 26’
Shiels - Townsville wnbl(contract)
Somfai - Stanford ncaa
Etc etc

Our girls ran a great campaign and finished with a strong final. At this tournament, we were the better team than France and Spain—a real credit given the larger scale of their programs. Let's be real here - we must recognise that for every girl playing basketball in Australia, there are 50 girls playing in the US. Our program is about the size of Florida's. To compete with the US, we need to execute in all areas; our smaller size doesn’t prevent us from learning faster than our larger rivals, which can be a source of advantage.

This US team is solid, but in my view, not up to the standard of recent US sides. Even so, they’re always well coached and excel at maximising their strengths. In our match up, their main advantage was center Siena Betts. In the first half, the US ran their offensive sets through her—both in transition and against our set defence—using her screens to open driving lanes that enabled their ball rotations to be about one meter closer to the basket. Betts is a serviceable passer, but her real value comes from her ball security at the high post, mid block, and low block. Offensively, she’s relentless at securing the weak-side low post, finding space for dish-offs, and crashing the offensive boards.

If we’d had a quality big who could match her—hard to find —we could have pushed US ball movement further out, making it easier for our guards and small forwards to box out, with tighter lane spacing and fewer weak-side push-ins and dishes. If the coaching staff didn’t believe Hinder, one of our tallest players, could help in this scenario, it’s hard to see the logic behind her selection. With the bench at our disposal, I’m out of ideas as to how we could have managed Betts in the first half, other than by rotating Pouch, Notao, and Williams to wear her down—a tactic we used in the third quarter, when we briefly got on top of the US. Still, there are some offensive adjustments we could have made to narrow the gap even further, which I’ll detail in a coming post.

college programs that have the Gems signed would be very happy about what the players produced on the highest stage.

younger Betts plays just like her sister IMO - very strong - these girls will be a force and household basketball name in the years to come

I have 3 points to make regarding the Gems offense vs the US.

First, Coach Camino's motion offense is predicated on rapid ball movement across the split line, aiming to exploit late closeouts for driving lanes, flare and back cuts, and open wing threes. However, success hinges on unpredictability: occasionally reversing the rotation keeps defenses from locking in. I also noticed perimeter spacing was sometimes flawed—the wide-side 45 player would drift too wide during early ball movement, making passes vulnerable to deflection and turnover.

Second, there were too many forced drives that ended in blocks or poor shots. The US defense anticipated our penchant for attacking the rim, and while aggressive drives can work against undisciplined defenses—or if referees are generous with foul calls—these conditions cannot always be relied on. Teams must take what the defense gives them. Against a technically sound, athletic opponent like the US, the smarter adjustment is to prioritize mid-range twos—more pick-and-pop, less pick-and-roll. This points to a recurring issue in Australian junior development: guards are not routinely encouraged to read the zone, identify gaps, and step into quality pull-up shots. Instead, players are often conditioned to challenge the rim regardless of defensive matchups or officiating, a problematic approach that some coaches defend not by reviewing tactics, but by blaming referees.

Third, an effective offense isn’t limited to lateral passing—it also uses high-low actions. Against a big, switchable US team, the high-low channel was rarely effective—though I don’t fault the players. The issue isn’t that the high-low is unworkable; instead, it requires more selective use and better execution. The underlying problem is that Australian guards and bigs aren’t consistently drilled on connecting these passes. Effective high-low play demands both players be in sync: the passer must anticipate how defenders are sealed and where the big wants the ball. As someone who played in the post in the 1980s, I see that these fundamentals are no longer emphasized. This is unsurprising, as coaching today is often shaped by former guards whose backgrounds and playing styles favor iso and motion systems. They teach what they know and what succeeded for them. To bridge this gap, Basketball Australia ought to seek a broader range of coaching perspectives—in particular, by incorporating more input from former centers.

well scouted and fair observations Red84 - question would be - do they have the in game adjustment capacity ?

Yes, @Red84, great detail and very well scouted, but I think you nailed in your ealier post:
"Our girls ran a great campaign and finished with a strong final. At this tournament, we were the better team than France and Spain—a real credit given the larger scale of their programs. Let's be real here - we must recognise that for every girl playing basketball in Australia, there are 50 girls playing in the US. Our program is about the size of Florida's."

Our Aussie girls played amazing basketball and we have some of the best players in that age group in the world right now, but America has a much larger base to draw from and as such, 1 v 1 against our girls, they win most of the contests more often than we do. Could we have won, yes. Were we likely to win or even make the grand final, no. The girls got better as the tourament went on, but thats where a lot of credit ought to go to the coaching staff as much as it should be lauded upon the girls on the court.

I am not saying the US are unbeatable, but I am saying you need a lot to go right for us and a lot to go wrong for them to have an upset like that.

Your detail above is brilliant and full of insightful comments, but in the end you also need the players capable of carrying out these actions in a pre game set up or on the fly mid game.

Thanks Red.

Key comments - pretty rare to see a mid range jump shot in Australia. The players generally like to drive in and upon minimal contact, go to the free throw line. This is a systemic issue with referees in Australia. In Europe and the USA they dont have referees who cant drive and need to wear a green lanyard.

Post game, back in the day the shot clock was longer. Australian junior basketball is lots of full court up and down, very difficult to develop a point guard let alone decent post players. Most taller players are trained to shoot 3s now. Play in the post and likely to spend at least half the game riding the pine (or soft furniture) due to issues with referees again - if there isnt a foul on the shot, there is a foul on the rebound, and then there is a foul on the defensive rebounder who has the rebounder. It was correctly noted by someone about the French team and Euro teams in general triple teaming the defensive rebounder (which the Gems stayed strong under tremendous pressure). In Australian if you have 1 person pressure the defensive rebounder, blink at them, it is a foul.

There were several post players who would have been eligible and not selected, Portlock, Jackson, Crook come to mind. Debateable if they would have made any difference at the expense of Hinder.

The winning USA team was very beatable compared to some other events, they actually werent very tall, but the still won from their dominant power game.


The lack of an early time out in the Final was also costly.

Compared to 2023
Gems finished 9th worst ever result.
Lost to Spain by 15, France by 4, and beat Argentina by 40.
Lost in Round of 16 to Mali by 7.
Then beat Brazil by 31, Egypt by 25, and Germany by 8.

That team featured.
Main minutes: Issy Borlase, Isla Juffermans, Nyadiew Puoch, Tayla Brazel, Tess Heal,
Bench Minutes: Jayda Clark, Sophie Burrows, Jess Petrie, Saffron Shiels
Back up minutes: Ruby Vlahov, Rubi Gray, Paige Burrows.

3pt % 40%
FT % 76.2%

Hopefully Australia can jump back above France on the Nike Rankings - Girls.

So the Silver is a great result off the back of a very poor previous campaign.

I love the clever analysis and the praise given to the girls and coaching staff for what was an excellent result. It stayed positive and respectful.

That's a big thumbs-up from me, everybody.

Was a great result, expected 5th, maybe 4th -Silver is an awesome achievement.

To be negative Nelly, I don't think this tournament shows any trajectory to senior N.T success, so many players absent from this tournament from all the top teams.


Looking at Australia, imo I see...

Future Opals
-Bonnie Deas(06) 5’9 SG > (listed at 5’10)*
-Sitaya Fagan(08) 6’3 PF > (listed at 6’2)*

Potential Opals
-Sienna Harvey(06) 5’9 PG
-Madison Ryan(09) 6’2 SF > (listed at 6’1)*

WNBL current/future
-Ruby Perkins(07) 5’8 PG
-Monique Bobongie(06) 5’9 SG > (listed at 5’10)*
-Zara Russell(07) 6’1 SF
-Manuela Puoch(06) 6’1 C > (listed at 6’0)*

TBD, too early to say
-Emilia Dakic(07) 5’8 SG > (listed at 5’10)*
-Prasayus Notoa(07) 6’1 SF > (listed at 6’0)*
-Monique Williams(06) 6’2 C > (listed at 6’3)*
-Callie Hinder(07) 6’5 C > (listed at 6’6)*


current height using measuring tool from fiba pics > fiba listed height*

Hooping - I concur with your views:

1. "The players generally like to drive in and upon minimal contact, go to the free throw line. This is a systemic issue with referees in Australia. In Europe and the USA they dont have referees who cant drive and need to wear a green lanyard".

So a lack of experienced refs suggest there is no fix. No one wants to see kids harassed making "tough calls". However we see in NSW, refs who are still young, but have a bit of confidence among them, reffing div 1 and 2 rep games. Still they get a lot of crap from angry parents and coaches if they don't whistle on minor contact. There was a time when NSW junior teams would go to the Classic/Nunawading, not get the calls they would get back home. It would take a couple of games to adjust. The funny thing is that in the last 3 years I've noticed the Vic refs have become more like the NSW refs; ie calling minor contact. Not sure what's happened down south.

2. "It was correctly noted by someone about the French team and Euro teams in general triple teaming the defensive rebounder (which the Gems stayed strong under tremendous pressure). In Australia if you have 1 person pressure the defensive rebounder, blink at them, it is a foul".

For triple teaming the defensive rebounder, yes we saw this against France and Hungary. Hungary were especially rough, fouling and not getting the calls they deserved. Someone must have noticed this in FIBA HQ,for in their following game Vs Japan, the refs were quite harsh on Hungary.