By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
COACH Quintin “Three Ounce’ Hall is looking forward to taking the men’s national basketball team to the Central American and Caribbean Games next week. He’s just waiting on the remainder of the players to come in this week to put their game plans into motion.
Hall, the junior men’s national basketball coach, has been elevated to head the men’s national basketball team in the aftermath of the team’s failure to advance to the second round of the FIBA World Cup Qualifier.
Bahamas Basketball Federation’s first vice president Mario Bowleg, who served as the head coach for the FIBA Qualifier, said they felt Hall was the best person to lead the tam in the transitional stage from the high level of competition to getting back on track at the regional level.
“Having officially retired as a coach, this is not the turnover as it relates to the coaching staff for the men’s national team,” Hall said. “The men’s national team assistant coaches Norris Bain, Kevin Johnson and Wayde Watson all have other commitments and Quintin Hall, who wasn’t travelling with the junior national team this year, was given the opportunity to coach this team for the CAC Games.
“And for this tournament, we wanted to use more of the college and semi-pro players who are in the pipeline to make the transition to the men’s national team, we have decided to mix them on the team with some players who are returning from the World Cup Qualifier team.”
With the CAC Games serving as a qualifier for the 2019 Pan American Games, Bowleg said he’s confident that the team assembled can go to Colombia and get the job done.
“We’ve discovered in the World Cup Qualifier that we will need this team to get in as least four scrimmage games before they go to Colombia,” Bowleg said.
“The scrimmage games are important to allow the coaches to see their rotation as they look at what the coaches do well in and what they don’t do well in.
“We’ve learned that in the World Cup and so this is going to be the first team that will implement that. This team is going to open up against Mexico and then play Cuba and followed by the Dominican Republic. Those are tough games we have to play. We don’t know if these countries will be sending their A, B or C teams, but we know we have to be ready.”
Hall said the hard part is practice and having all of the players in the camp.
“I’ve been around the national team for about three decades, so I can tell you that’s always the hard part, getting all of the players together so that you can execute your game plan,” said the Grand Bahamian native. “This is my first practice and we only have seven guys right now. We have some coming in on Tuesday and the others will come later. Whenever they all get here, we want to make sure that they are prepared to go to Colombia and play hard and leave it all out on the court. That’s the way I expect all of my teams to play and this team will be no exception.”
Trevor Grant, who will assist Hall, said he’s delighted to be able to serve in this capacity.
“I’m glad that I can assist the programme as we try to move on,” said Grant, who was an adviser to Bowleg during the World Cup Qualifier. “I expect for us to go over there and win it all. The mindset of these guys we have here now is that they want to work. They have two no nonsense coaches in me and Ounce. They never say never. We are trying to get into the heads of these guys that they need to be machines. We might go there as the underdogs, but we are going to go over there to destroy teams and the first team we want to destroy is Mexico.”
The Bahamas has been placed in Group B with Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Group A comprises of Colombia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
According to team manager Arthur Thompson Jr, the Bahamas will open up against Mexico on July 29, play Cuba on July 30 and wrap up pool play against the Dominican Republic on July 31.
Depending on the outcome of the games, Thompson Jr said they will advance to the playoffs on August 1. The bronze medal game is scheduled for August 2 and the championship game is set for August 3.
The team is made up of Eugene Bain, Daejour Adderley, Jacob Jackson, Shavano Cooper, Robert Nortman, Rashad Mackey, Tavario Miller, Michael Bain Jr, Samuel Hunter, Kentwan Smith, Michael Carey Jr and Mark Saint Ford.
So far, Hunter, Nortman, Mackey, Cooper, Bain, Carey Jr and Bain Jr are in town and are excited about their chances.
“We have a young team that is willing to work hard,” said Nortman. “It’s a fight that can play defence, so I know we are going to fight every game. I’m really excited to help this young group and be one of the guys to help lead this team.”
Michael Bain, one of the players who has been inserted on a number of the national teams, said it’s always an honour when called upon to represent the country.
“We are still waiting on the rest of the guys to come. Once we get everybody in place, we feel that the new coaching staff will get us running up and down the court. As you can see, they are working us out very hard,” Bain Jr said. “We are probably going to get into transition more than before, so that should be our strength.”
Carey Jr, one of the most consistent members of the national team in the World Cup Qualifier, said he’s not concerned about any expectations for the team.
“We’re just going to go out there and play to the best of our abilities,” he said. “I think after we would have had everybody in and gone through our workout sessions, we will be able to make a better assessment of what we should look like when we go to Colombia.”
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID