Basketball: Tough learning curve on tour

By CATHIE-PONGIA SAID.PETER JESSUP

Battered and outmuscled on an overseas tour, New Zealand's development squad now knows what is required for the step up to international competition.

They lost all their games against United States college teams and at a tournament in Portugal.

But manager Brendon Cathie-Pongia said there had been a steady improvement during the tour and the players took heart from that.

"It was a real eye-opener for most of them," Cathie-Pongia said.

"We also probably suffered from a lack of leadership at times when we were under pressure.'

"We really missed a couple of old heads in there to settle the young ones. When pressure was put on them they forgot the systems."

Tall Black guards Paul Henare and Dillon Boucher were named to tour but both withdrew, Henare because of the birth of his first child and Boucher to chase an offer with Australian league side the Adelaide 36ers.

The Adelaide stint did not work out and Boucher, this year's Auckland team captain, is unsigned for next season.

He and others await negotiations by Auckland team owners Ian Shaw and Ari Hallenburg to pass control to a consortium including Tall Black coach Tab Baldwin.

Cathie-Pongia said tough travel arrangements, including tight security at airports in the United States, had unsettled the New Zealand squad.

"They've learnt a hell of a lot about composure."

The young side had "played well in spurts, but everyone who had a good game also turned in a bad one", he said.

"It was the same when I came into the team 10 years ago - we were getting belted, and we learned to get better."

It was valuable for Baldwin and his Tall Black assistant Nenad Vucinic, who coached the development team, to see how the young players reacted under pressure.

"It was amazing how much interest there was in the Tall Blacks in Europe - all because we beat Australia, and Australia has been on a pedestal for them,"