The sky is the limit for Reyne Smith and Taran Armstrong following their impressive senior debuts for Australia.
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That is the opinion of Basketball Tasmania development manager Mark Radford after he watched the pair take the court in Saturday night's FIBA Asian Cup qualifier against New Zealand.
Smith and Armstrong played an integral part in the Boomers' 81-52 win over the Tall Blacks, with Smith dominating the highlight reel thanks to his six three-pointers that helped him tally 22 points, while Armstrong was cool under pressure as a point guard on his way to six points and eight rebounds.
"Saturday night they played in that game like they played at the last under 20 nationals," Radford said.
"They played with confidence and belief and stuck to their role.
"They have a lot of confidence also in their coach, Adam Caporn, and that showed out last night as well.
"Their college coaches in the US, who recruited them very hard right from the start will be excited for what's in store ahead of the 2021-2022 season for sure.
"The sky is the limit for these two boys and who knows where they will finish up, but I tell you it would be great for our state to have them as Tasmania JackJumpers one day."
Smith's shooting, especially in the first half, drew rave reviews both during and after the game on social media, with the 18-year-old drilling several three-pointers from well behind the arc.
"What Reyne has is great self-belief and confidence and that's built from the work he has put in," he said.
"He thinks he can make every shot but the best shooters have that mindset.
"One thing he also does well is that he is always hunting shots, so defensively if you have a rest on him for a split second, he has hunted that shot and it is going up."
While Armstrong's offensive numbers might not have been as flashy, Radford said the 19-year-old contributed in many other ways.
"When you assess Taran's game, you have to count how many times he gets two feet in the middle of the paint and how he creates problems for opposition defences with his kick-out passes or dumping it off for lay-ups," he said.
"He has also really improved his rebounding over the last two years because of his mindset that if I rebound it, I don't need to look for an outlet pass because I can bust out down the court myself."
The performance of Smith and Armstrong on Saturday night has also left an imprint on the next generation of Tasmanian junior talent.
"We had a state development camp in Launceston on the weekend and some of the kids there watched the game," Radford said.
"We discussed the game on Sunday and told the kids that those two guys were sitting in the exact same spot they are three years ago and now they are playing for Australia.
"Reyne and Taran are great role models because they not only love the game, but they also continually turned up and there were no shortcuts."