The silver lining to the Tasmanian men's team's disappointing result at the national under-20 basketball championships is the bright future awaiting its standout players.
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This is the view of coach Mark Radford who admitted that after returning from the last tournament with a bronze medal, playing off for the chance to finish ninth was not what the team had been hoping for.
"We've got three Australian juniors in this group, our three guards," he said.
"They carry a heavy load and in the end that load became too great. But the world is their oyster."
Radford said North-West Coasters Taran Armstrong and Reyne Smith have already played in a Boomers outfit against New Zealand and are destined for the US college system.
Meanwhile Launceston's Sejr Deans has represented his country at junior level, has already been snapped up by Tasmania's NBL side, the JackJumpers, and will have plenty to prove with another under-20 nationals to come.
"He's a strong competitor and very passionate about doing well for Tasmania and is still hurting about us missing out," Radford said.
Tuesday's agonising 67-66 buzzer-beater loss to South Australia Blue ended the team's medal hopes after it had won its opening game 87-56 against ACT but then lost 89-65 to Queensland.
"This group has had some really good times at nationals and were ambitious about this trip, but at tournaments you cannot put a foot wrong because when you do, you get punished for it," Radford added.
"I'm disappointed for them. The core group has been together five or six years and put in an enormous amount of work but at the end of the day just could not find a way to advance in this tournament which is disappointing.
"We've discussed it and moved on. The boys did not say much but they are very disappointed young men.
"We just told them that there's no romance in sport.
"It's nice that we did well last year but nothing is guaranteed and the lesson is that you've got to take every opportunity you are given because there's another team out there also trying to make their mark."
- Pictured above are: back, team manager Donna Miller, Sejr Deans, Ben Jessup, Angus Kitson, Harry Flint, assistant coach Brett Smith; front, Taran Armstrong, Jai Lette, Marshall Evans, Josh Downie and Jackson Lowe. Absent: Reyne Smith, coach Mark Radford and development coach Sam Pulford.
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT:
Rob Shaw
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
