Bogut, Mills, Ogilvy, Maric, Bruce and
Baynes Named To Boomers 2008 Squad
www.basketball.net.au
Basketball Australia
19 Mar 2008
Basketball Australia is pleased to announce the athletes selected to represent the Australia Post Boomers in the lead up to Beijing.
The squad was announced this morning at Rosehill Public School in Sydney’s west, where classes are named after Olympic teams and the first grade class is called ‘The Boomers’.
Australia Post’s ‘Junior Boomers’ program, where Boomers go “back to school” by revisiting their primary schools to conduct clinics, was also announced.
The athletes will be put through a rigorous schedule of training camps and international practice games before the names of the final 12 players are a provided to the AOC in early July.
“The first step was to get everybody to put their hand up for selection and we got everyone we wanted with the exception of Stephen Black, who made himself unavailable due to injury” Goorjian said.
“We’ve got a strong squad and some very good players will miss the cut.”
The door is now wide open for 19-year old point guard Patrick Mills, who was a vital part of the Australia Post Boomers’ qualification series victory over New Zealand last August, to make his Olympic debut.
“It’s an important position for us, said Goorjian.
"So not only do I see Patrick being a part of it I seem him being a very, very important part.
Hummer NBL MVP Chris Anstey was named in the squad after a stellar domestic season with the Melbourne Tigers. He has not played a major event for the Boomers since 2000.
"He's playing great basketball right now,” Goorjian said. “We are really excited that Chris has made himself available and in my conversations with him he's very, very excited about the opportunity to play in Beijing."
