KEY POINTS:
New Zealand women's basketball coach Mike McHugh offers a brutally honest appraisal of the Tall Ferns' shortcomings as they head into the Beijing Olympics.
Drawn in a pool that includes top European sides Spain and the Czech Republic, and fired-up home team China, McHugh expects the Tall Ferns to struggle.
"We don't have the same physical stature, we don't have the same level of experience and we may not even have the same skill levels in some areas," he told NZPA.
"But what we do have is a team that fights hard and never gives in. We have the persistence and tenacity that can cause upsets."
In Athens four years ago, the Tall Ferns defied the odds to win a quarterfinals berth against eventual silver medallists Australia.
Along the way, they clocked up wins over China (79-77) and Korea (81-73) after a first-round 47-99 loss to the gold-medal winning United States team.
McHugh said the competition at the Beijing Games will be even more challenging.
"Australia, the United States, the Czech Republic and Russia - they've all got players around six foot four, six foot five, even six foot seven (2.00m). And they're not tall, skinny players - they're athletic and strong.
"We have one player at six foot five, our next is six foot two, then we're all under that height. We need to start some sort of genetic programme..."
Although the Tall Ferns have only two players remaining from the Athens 2004 squad - captain Aneka Kerr and point guard Angela Marino - McHugh rated the team highly.
"In terms of depth, and in terms of depth of talent, this is a better team than the one we went to Athens with."
The team is a young one - the average age is just over 23 - and McHugh expected its potential would not be realised until the London Olympics in 2012.
Players such as 18-year-old centre Jessica McCormack, who made the Tall Ferns at just 15 and now plays for the University of Connecticut in the NCAA, are expected to provide a settled, talented nucleus for some time to come.
McHugh has also picked up two other NCAA players in Jillian Harmon and Clare Bodensteiner, who play for Stanford University but were unaware of their eligibility to compete for New Zealand until this year.
Now McHugh, assistant coach in Athens, is assessing the Beijing opposition and is determined to equal or better the Tall Ferns' effort of four years ago.
"I'm not sure we can beat the Czech Republic - they're one of the top four teams in the world - but we are targeting Spain.
"We'll have to play very, very well, have no errors and hope they have a bit of an off day."
McHugh said the Tall Ferns' improvement since 2006 and their Melbourne Commonwealth Games silver medal-winning effort had been phenomenal.
"Two years ago I wouldn't have been talking about trying to beat teams like Spain. In fact, I have to slap my face even now...but that's the progress this team's made in that time.
"We're not going to beat them nine times out of 10, but we can beat them once or twice. Hopefully one of those days will be our day at the Olympics."
McHugh has been more than pleased with his team's build-up to Beijing, which included their first-ever win over world champions Australia 63-59 in April.
"We've had a fantastic preparation. We've been able to target African and Asian teams, we've been able to travel to Europe and play teams such as Spain and the Czech Republic.
"In terms of our preparation there is no excuse. We've done everything we possibly can."
- NZPA
