Basketball: US trip gets seal of approval

By PETER JESSUP

Basketball New Zealand yesterday confirmed that the men's development tour to the United States would go ahead and that it had accepted an invitation for the team to continue on to Portugal.

The squad of 12 will have eight games against some premier college opposition in 10 days in the United States, then travel to Lisbon for a four-nation tournament with the host country, fellow mid-table European side Romania and fellow Sydney Olympians Angola.

Team manager Andy Bennett said the organisation had kept in daily touch with the players - and, in the case of the younger ones, with their parents - and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other diplomatic channels.

"We've done everything we can do as a responsible employer," Bennett said.

"No one's told us not to go. The advice from the Government has been to keep the plan flexible, to monitor events and be prepared to change things if something happens."

All 12 chosen players were happy to travel, he said.

The youngest - 17-year-old guard Lance Baker - is still at school.

The development squad will have a brief preparation camp on the North Shore under Tall Blacks assistant coach Nenad Vucinic, who takes the team away on November 1.

Tall Black coach and Basketball New Zealand high-performance director Tab Baldwin is in the United States and Europe to study training and playing styles. He will meet the development squad mid-tour, returning home as they go on to Europe.

The squad: Darryl Cartwright (capt), Lance Baker, Daniel Barritt, William Green, Lindsay Tait, Ben Valentine (all Auckland); David Hopoi (Waikato); Troy McLean (Wellington); Michael Fitchett, Damon Rampton, Mika Vukona (Nelson); Haydn Allen (Otago).

Itinerary: Nov 3, v University of West Virginia; Nov 5, v Virginia Commonwealth University; Nov 6, v Bridgewater College; Nov 8, v Georgetown University; Nov 9, v Maryland Eastern Shore; Nov 11, v Duquesne University; Nov 12, v Robert Morris College; Nov 13, v Penn State University.

Nov 16-19, v Portugal, Angola and Romania in Porto, Portugal.