Basketball team for Borneo tourney 'almost finalised'

IT is almost time to select the "15-strong" where the best will represent the Sultanate.

The national basketball coach Kevin Reece told The Brunei Times that they have almost finalised the names on who shall be part of the elite.

The Brunei Basketball Association (BBA) had pre-selected players that started intensive training under the American last Monday.

After more than a week of assessments, the national coach knows who will be on the roster to compete at the 13th Borneo City Men's Basketball Invitational Tournament 2011 in Kota Kinabalu from August 4-7.

In addition, the selected players will compete at the upcoming 2011 Sultan's Cup which will tip off on July 23.

"Most of them will be from the core that have been training since the start of the programme. But there are also a couple of them who were already on the radar," said Reece in an interview when met yesterday during a training session at the BBA court in Batu Bersurat.

"However, we won't be able to get all the players that we want to play for both tournaments. It is a major blow for me but there is nothing we can do about it," he added.

"But we will just have to continue working on our chemistry and I believe that some of those chosen are the missing pieces and hope they blend in quickly," continued the American. The national coach once again emphasised that the game is more on defence than offence and feels that his cagers have improved from time. "We will win and lose on our defence. We have had a good run for the past three tournaments," he said.

"Even in Vietnam we had that chance to finish as runners-up or even champions. The players who went have a great deal of experience from those situations," he added.

"But now we can see the maturity as we had to lose to learn on how to win," continued the 51-year-old.

The LA Lakers fan was referring to the Vietnam Basketball Federation National Cup held in Soc Trang City, Vietnam, where they returned with a 1-3 win-loss record back in March. In addition, the Los Angeles native feels that those losses allow the players to be on the same page. However, he highlighted that there are plenty of areas that need improvement in training camp as well.

"The discipline and focus is still lacking for some. There is also a need for attitude adjustments," said Reece.

"But nonetheless all of the newcomers are adjusting well to the programme and I'm happy with the production," he concluded. The Brunei Times