Basketball: Tall Ferns eye top 10 finish

ATHENS - The New Zealand women's basketball team will be happy with 10th place when their second showing at an Olympic Games begins here on Saturday.

The Tall Ferns managed just one victory -- against Senegal -- in the play-off for 11th and 12th in Sydney four years ago. However, coach Tom Maher is quick to suggest that his team shouldn't be judged solely on where they finish.

"I haven't focused on that," he said. "My expectations are that we are going to play in a manner that provokes pride from New Zealanders."

But pushed on the issue, Maher conceded that a better result than in Sydney would satisfy the New Zealand Olympic selection panel, as one stipulation of the Tall Ferns' attendance is that they are expected to and are capable of finishing in the top 10 of the 12 teams.

"If we reach the top 10, we would have reached our performance target," he said. Maher also denies feeling any pressure from the critics who say that the Tall Ferns aren't good enough to be in Athens.

"I don't think anybody has paid any attention to it. I certainly haven't heard anyone in the team make a comment about it.

"The pressure for us is to really project the right image that New Zealanders are proud to be represented by a team that plays the way we do," he said.

"There are some teams that boast such talent that you can't dismiss them, that's the USA, Australia. If you did it with a bookmaker the teams that would be ranked in the bottom four would be Nigeria, New Zealand, Greece and then perhaps Japan. Then, other than the top two, everyone else would be in the middle group."

The Tall Ferns have been drawn in Pool B and a face mammoth task to topple any of their opponents.

First up for New Zealand is the heavily favoured USA. Unlike the men's team who will not have the services of their strongest National Basketball Association line-up, the women have been able to field a full strength side from the women's equivalent -- the WNBA. Some of its most notable and experienced players like Sheryl Swoopes, Katie Smith and Dawn Staley are in the team.

"They have everything," said Maher. "The US could field four teams." The two-time Olympic champions defeated the Maher-coached Australians in Sydney four years ago and beat Brazil in Atlanta in 1996.

Two days later the Tall Ferns face Korea, a team they narrowly lost to twice on their recent tour of New Zealand.

"They can really surprise," said Maher. "Their height isn't such a factor but their quickness and shooting ability becomes much more of one."

Spain, who qualified third in Europe and have five former WNBA players in the team, are known as a very fast team.

"They have tremendous quickness in the guards and great mid-range jump shooters," said Maher. "They are a well structured team and are always competitive."

Asian champions China, New Zealand's opposition on August 20, are an unknown quantity. Maher admits he hasn't scouted them but is expecting another tough Asian team.

The Czech Republic are without Lucie Blahuskova. The Most Valuable Player from the European Championships will miss the Olympics because of a knee injury, but the Czechs will have Seattle Storm WNBA player Kamila Vodichkova.

"They have been on verge of cracking the big time for quite a number of years," said Maher. "They are well rounded team. They have size and quickness and they play smart basketball."

New Zealand's line-up boasts a mixture of youth and experience with eight players returning to the side that competed at Sydney. They finished their pre-Olympic build-up in Europe with three wins from nine games and have arrived in Athens a fully fit team.

- NZPA