Time to look down under

[Ozheelfan]

C'mon, admit you'd never heard of Matthew Dellavedova until the NBA Playoffs began.
What about Patty Mills before last years finals series?
Did you know that there are 8 "Aussies" on NBA rosters at the moment....... OK Kyrie Irving is Australian born but has played for the US, Aaron Baynes is New Zealand born but plays for Australia, so lets call it 7. (This is from a population of just 20million where basketball ranks about 6th in professional sports)

So what's the point of all that info?

There are diamonds in the rough down under and while Tar Heel fans soil their small clothes about the class of 2016, other big name teams are going after Aussies:

Kansas & Illinois have already offered Isaac Humphries.... Don't know his name either? Yeah, he was all tournament team at last years U17 world championships, a 6-11 PF/C with great fundamentals and a huge motor.

Dejan Vasiljevic has offers from smaller schools, including St Marys. He's a feisty, 6-2 pg/sg who can light it up from deep and play 40min a night (sound familiar)

So when I see Delly do his thing and think back to his freshman year at St Marys - backing up Mills while Larry Who stunk it up at the Hill, the frustration grows.

The problem is, Roy and UNC has almost zero profile with the Australian kids, the closest Roy has come to landing one was Dante Exum, and that was only because of Cecil.

Maybe its worth the flight across the pacific to see what's happening.

 

[WoadBlue]

Did none of the basketball junkies watch Dellavedova play for St Mary's (West Coast Conference rival of Gonzaga)? I believe that as many 5 Australians at one time played with Dellavedova for St Mary's.

Dellavedova was also an Academic All-American who graduated without beinhg arrested for dope, without coaught with guns and/or dope in the car of a known druggie/numbers runner. Dellavedova would have been much better for UNC than a number of players Roy signed during the period.

 

[dadika13]

I get the new theory that we should go out and find these guys but there are a few problems.

First, they take years to develop. Delly and Patty are rare. There are maybe 1 or 2 kids every year from down under that are legit ready to play at the ACC level. There are 200+ Division 1 programs. Do the math.

Second, the West Coast makes for more obvious transitions for these kids. More Aussies there, time zones and flights are easier on the fam back home, weather, etc. etc. Think about all of the great Aussies, Bogut (Utah), Mills and Delly (St. Marys), Luc Longley (New Mexico), Aron Baynes (Wash St.).

You can't just come out of no where and land these kids. Roy obviously feels that it's not a good use of his time. Don't sit here and act like Roy has not thought about recruiting and the possibilities of every country on earth.

 

[Tom79]

We had a shot at Exum's son but he elected to play for the Australian national team and wait for the NBA draft.

 

[Ozheelfan]

I get the new theory that we should go out and find these guys but there are a few problems.

First, they take years to develop. Delly and Patty are rare. There are maybe 1 or 2 kids every year from down under that are legit ready to play at the ACC level. There are 200+ Division 1 programs. Do the math.

Second, the West Coast makes for more obvious transitions for these kids. More Aussies there, time zones and flights are easier on the fam back home, weather, etc. etc. Think about all of the great Aussies, Bogut (Utah), Mills and Delly (St. Marys), Luc Longley (New Mexico), Aron Baynes (Wash St.).

You can't just come out of no where and land these kids. Roy obviously feels that it's not a good use of his time. Don't sit here and act like Roy has not thought about recruiting and the possibilities of every country on earth.

Not acting like Roy hasn't thought about it, and agree, tons of leg-work is needed (I quote AIS head coach, Marty Clarke in 2005 regarding UNC: "They called us and I know they just lost 7 players after their championship, but I told them to come down here and join the queue")

I'm just sorry Roy doesn't "join the queue" because I believe the pay-off is worthwhile. Sure, some take time to develop but isn't that OK (last time I looked Joel James was still taking his time to develop)

I don't buy the "legit to play at ACC level" card - that can be used for more than half the freshman and prospects being discussed. Also, as I said in the OP, Humphries already has the bona fides.

And yeah, Aussies don't just go to the west coast - Simmons is headed to Baton Rouge and Ogilvy was at Vanderbilt (the greatest Aussie of them all, Andrew Gaze, went to Seaton Hall, but that was a couple of lifetimes ago)

 

[CanuckChuck]

C'mon, admit you'd never heard of Matthew Dellavedova until the NBA Playoffs began.
What about Patty Mills before last years finals series?
Did you know that there are 8 "Aussies" on NBA rosters at the moment....... OK Kyrie Irving is Australian born but has played for the US, Aaron Baynes is New Zealand born but plays for Australia, so lets call it 7. (This is from a population of just 20million where basketball ranks about 6th in professional sports)

Wow - 8 out of 20 million. For a whole continent. How many NBA's are from LA. A single city of 4 million?

CC

 

[imajericho]

We looked down under for Exum.

 

[GACMAN]

I follow the Univ of New Mexico and they are making a HUGE push in Australia...they have had success with 3 players from Down Under and would like to continue that trend....UNM has always tried to have an Assistant Coach with ties to that country!!! certainly becoming a hot bed and Dellys success is not hurting it!

 

[mikeirbyusa]

Yeah we need to send Roy way off since there is no talent locally.