June 7, 2004
ATLANTA – The dream of Young Boomers hopeful Luke Schenscher of representing his country at an Olympic Games is still alive. Basketball Australia Sunday announced that the young gun of Australian basketball has been included in the reduced squad of 17 players.
Schenscher and Andrew Bogut, who plays at Utah, have been invited to train at 2004’s third and final Australian-based training camp of the year in Gosford.
Should Schenscher, a 7-1 rising senior who averaged 9.2 points and 6.6 rebounds last season for Tech, survive the final camp and make the Australian Olympic team, he would be the second Yellow Jacket competing in Athens. Stephon Marbury, a Tech All-American in 1996, is on the USA squad which will play in Athens.
Boomers coach Brian Goorjian was preparing for the training camp in Sydney on Monday.
“We’re looking for five bigs in the final 12. We’ve got Schenscher and Bogut who both did very well in their own right in the last two camps but with the unexpected withdrawal of Chris Anstey, these big, young players have been given a greater opportunity.”
Goorjian comments that he is comfortable with the decisions that have been made so far, but believes the next four to go will not be an easy decision.
“It’s been quite competitive to this point, but I expect it will lift even further at this next camp. We need to get down to 12 for our tour of Italy in late June and every position is highly contested.
“As the team has evolved it’s now quite an inexperienced group with plenty of enthusiasm and fitness. There’s a lot of opportunity and energy in this team.”
The inexperience Goorjian speaks of is the fact that many of the cornerstone players in the team such as Matt Nielsen and John Rillie are yet to play in an Olympic Games or World Championships.
Brett Maher is still holding a spot in the shadow squad, but his injury means he will miss the vital Italy tour. Sam Mackinnon is also still under an injury cloud and coaching staff are taking each day as a ‘wait and see’.
After winning a Championship with his Italian league team 3-0 on Saturday, Basketball Australia is making last minute plans to try and have another big man, David Anderson, join the camp this weekend. Coaching staff see his attendance as important in the Boomers preparations.
The Boomers will arrive in Gosford for their final Australian-based camp on Friday, June 11 and will train through until Monday, June 14.
Further details about their camp will be available later in the week at the Basketball Australia official website.
BOOMERS SQUAD
David Anderson, Italy Stephen Black, Brisbane Bullets Andrew Bogut, University of Utah, USA CJ Bruton, Sydney Kings Mathew Campbell, Wollongong Hawks Ben Castle, Brisbane Bullets Martin Cattalini, Adelaide 36ers Shane Heal, Kasani, Greece Luke Kendall, Metro State University, Denver USA Sam Mackinnon, West Sydney Razorbacks Matthew Nielsen, Sydney Kings John Rillie, West Sydney Razorbacks Tony Ronaldson, Perth Wildcats Paul Rogers, Girona, Spain Glen Saville, Wollongong Hawks Luke Schenscher, Georgia Tech, USA Jason Smith, Sydney Kings
**Brett Maher will not be attending the camp due to injury.
