July 5, 2025 • 13 mins
Disappointment for the Junior Tall Blacks after the side was beaten out by the US in last night's semi-final.
The Kiwis were defeated 120-64 by the Americans in a one-sided semifinal in Lausanne.
Tall Blacks head coach Judd Flavell joined Piney to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
B un your Tall Blacks. Meantime, we'll meet Slovenia in
the playoff for third and fourth at the Under nineteen
World Cup in Switzerland and.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Tibble this one out as Team USA absolutely rocket themselves
into the final of the FOEB Under nineteen Welcome Plumtree
will hit the three at the end just for good measure,
Team USA with a tomin and victory.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yep, they have beaten New Zealand, have the United States,
But the Tall Blacks, the junior Tall Blacks sorry, have
the chance to achieve New Zealand's best ever finish at
a FEB event, following the Tall Blacks famous fourth place
at the World Cup in two thousand and two, emulated
by our under seventeen men's side at their World Cup
(01:02):
last year, and our five of that team are in
this under nineteen side. Let's bring in Tall Blacks coach
jud Flavel, who I'm sure has been a very very
interested onlooker this week at the games playing out in Switzerland. Jod,
thanks for your tom What has impressed you the most
when you've watched these young men play this week.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Oh, interested in riding the wave with these boys in
this team and Matt Lacy the coach, you know, just
I like with a lot of the basketball fraternity in
New Zealand, you know, one behind this scene that made
us proud. And I think for a number of reasons.
You know, firstly, just competing on this world stage, which
we know is a true global sport, and they're taking
(01:46):
on the heavyweights of the world and really holding their
heads up high, and they have a real self confidence
about themselves. And yeah, the gold medals out of reach
right now, but they truly believe that, you know, that's
where they belong. And along with the rest of us,
that felt like this group was a special group that
they could do some things with. So the confidence that
(02:08):
they're playing with, the connection that they're playing with, you know,
and two important things that as we know with elite
sport and high performance sport, that you must have and
these guys are doing that. And you know, the crazy
thing is that there are always little things there that
the team can actually brush up on. And maybe that's
(02:28):
the coach side on me that's coming out, but I
would say that they have probably felt like they haven't
one hundred percent put it all together. Yet you know,
they had some really good performances from players, but as
a collective group, I think there's more in the tank there.
So it really sets it up well for us, you know,
the biggest game that we're we've got for New Zealand
basketball right now and the biggest opportunity to grab a metal.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
You alluded to it there, jud But do you get
a sense now that participating at FEVER events is no
longer enough for our best players, that they have a
realistic desire to beat teams and go deep in tournaments
like this.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Well, if I do, you know, peel back the years
and go back to when we first came on the
scene and went to that World Cup in two thousand
and two, a large part of it was actually, you know,
we felt like we didn't know really what to expect
the first time we went. And the beauty about it
these days is that, you know, we've moved into the
Asian region, so we're getting international experiences as fifteen year
(03:29):
olds are qualifying for World Cups and they're getting this
experience that for the first time and as we know,
you know, like tasting a little bit of exposure and
getting those opportunities is all growth, and that's what we've
seen with our sports and our national teams. And now
(03:49):
we're getting more more athletes and teams that are going
as an age group team to World Cups. And this
is only going to put you know, if you fast
forward and look further down the track, it's only going
to put our senior national teams in great positions to
do something on the world stage as well. So it's
(04:09):
certainly getting the exposure and you know, these kids are
now believing that they truly belong and that they should
go into these semi finals and beat teams, and you
know that that's an amazing mindset to have. And I
think with the participation numbers that we have coming through,
I made a comment the other day on an interview
and just talked about the participation numbers just being huge.
(04:30):
We actually have more participants than what we do have
basketball hoops, and you know, these boys still have to
pay thousands of dollars to get to these opportunities. So
somewhere along the lines we actually you know, there may
be more players there that are missing out, but yeah,
the future is bright.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
How much has playing in our National Basketball League and
particularly the new innovation the Rapid League helped to develop
these young players.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
I'm glad you brought that up because you know, Justin Nelson,
who you know, is an Australian and you know, we'd
like to sort of take all the credit or ourselves
as New Islanders, but look, we've got to pay this
man some respect because he brought in a new concept
that probably wasn't you know, I guess brought in by
(05:17):
everybody straight away when you have a new concept that
comes in and look, we're three years I think it's
three years deep into it and we've seen the results.
These all of these boys, I think all but two
have played in Rapid League and they would have started
that two years ago and seen them on the basketball
court being able to mix it with the you know,
(05:37):
with grown men. So they're not just playing against guys
their own age group. They're playing against thirty year olds.
And these thirty year olds are fully professional, some are
semi professional. And but you've got you know, American imports
playing in there. You've got Jean Tourbacks that play in
that league. You've got guys that playing in the Australian NBL,
Aussie Boomers, and these guys have you know, I guess,
(05:59):
been battled, hardened and tested on a week to week basis.
So we unfortunately don't have a central academy or these
high performance hubs that we able to you know, collect
these guys altogether. So the next best thing we have, though,
may just even be better when they are able to
have mixed in their environment. They're training daily, training environment
(06:22):
with a lot of these grown men, and that's just
fast tracked these guys' development and confidence. And you see
them when they play that you know, maybe except for
this morning against the US, the might of the USA,
which is, as we know, the basketball nation of the world.
But besides that, you know, this team has they come into,
like I said, the expectation that they can take down anybody.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
By my count, and you're about to correct me here,
six of this on the nineteen side have already played
for the senior Tourblacks. How do you know if a
young player is ready for that step?
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Yeah? Look, I mean since since been I guess I've
been eight nine months into the role of the Tour
Backs head coach. And a huge focal point for me was,
you know, like I'm a I'm in New Zealand through
them through and I was a New Zealand junior player
too coming through and I got to play for the
tour Backs. You know, not at the age, not at
a super young age, but you could just see the
(07:18):
moments and what it does for people when you when
you're able to give them that experience and exposure. I
guess we're saying these words are a lot as I'm
doing this interview, but and that's what it's all about.
So we you know, you don't know if that's going
to be something that's you know, the athlete is going
to take on and you know really whether it's going
(07:42):
to be embraced or not. But you give the opportunity
and there's so much to win by offering a youngster
that has talent or has a special set of skills
or character attributes, then you know, both integrating them into
the Tour Blacks. I think we are fast tracking the
(08:03):
development and also that these guys really build a strong
connection for it. And a lot of these guys are
going to go to college and a couple of guys
have already been there, but you know a lot of
these guys are going to be in college and for
the next four or five years, and you know they're
going to spend a lot of time away from home.
So while they're at home, you know, part of my
I guess philosophy has been to try to integrate them
(08:24):
as early as we can. And that's not just you know,
putting them into We still want to put them into
positions to be successful. So we'll always take one or two.
The last series that we had against Trans Tasman, against
the Australian series, you know we had I think we
had four of them, you know, Oscar, Julius, Jackson and
(08:45):
Tamma all four of them, so you know, we were
super young. But they got to beat Australia, you know,
Game three in Hamilton, So they're picking up all of
these opportunities and man, you know, I think that's that's
the recipe that we need for the success of our basketball.
For the men's program that.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Two thousand and two saw that you were a part
of was something of a golden generation. You look at
the names on that roster, Phil Jones, Kirk Pennepet, Cameron,
Dylan Boucher was in that team, Sean Marx, Marke Dickle,
Pauly Hennadi and others. Do you seen some similar side
building here.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
I think that's that's been a lot of the talk
around the around the country, and a lot of people
refer back to that Golden generation which did a lot
of things on the international stage, and you know that
that team if we go back, you know, like I said,
we didn't really know what to expect on the international stage.
We kind of just, you know, once we took down
the Aussies, we got put into the World Cup and
(09:43):
we didn't really truly know what, you know, how good
were we We didn't have much experience back then, but
we knew that we could be good. We were a
type group that coming together and obviously with a lot
of talent, with certain guys and their roles. And that's
I think when we talk about this group and these
names that are currently at the under nineteen World Cup,
(10:04):
these will definitely be names that we talk about for
a long time and certainly with the national program. But
I think the beauty of it is that these guys
already at seventeen eighteen years old, know and realize just
how good they can be and that they are, and
that's hopefully that that drives them even more to when
they come together and put the you know, this is
(10:25):
the last age group team for them, and the next
national team for them is going to be the Turbacks.
But when they come together to that environment, you know,
they're just you know, all guns blazing and steamrolling over
top of because that's what they expect. And that's I
think the beauty about this is these guys are seeing
success now and hopefully this is just going to drive
it even more.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I asked coach Matt Lacy this on the show yesterday.
Hayden Jones, son of Phil, of course you reckon he
could be even better than old men.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Well, I mean that's a day I played with Phil
and he's a world class shoot that. Look, I think
they're different, but look that you can put them into
the same mix as far as like their contribution to
the teams. And you know, Hayden's are very you know,
he's got some similarities there and I think, you know,
I don't want to do that to feel or to Hayden,
(11:16):
but look, let them be the best versions of themselves.
But you're talking about two very very good basketball players
for sure, And just to.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Finish job, Slovenia, how do you write our chances against
them and the possibility of a third place for this year.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Yeah. Look, that's one team I don't know so much about.
I remember seeing them play one game during the tournament.
I can't remember because I've been watching so many games.
And look, I do feel and it's the US was
a tricky team because they just they're just a different
type of athlete and it's hard to prepare for. But
the way that we've played against a lot of the
(11:51):
other international teams, Yeah, I really like our chances and
I think they'll be feeling very confident. Look, the one
thing is, you know, if we go back to two
thousand and two, when we lost our semi final, we
walked into that bronze medal match not mentally ready. We
were still sort of down and low on I guess
(12:12):
the result from the night before. This team here right
now has a very special moment in front of them
and to be able to take a medal from a
World Cup. So I'm sure the coaching staff, Matt Lacy,
will have the boys fizzing for this one and truly
believing that they can get the job done. And yeah,
but from the backseat here looking, yeah, definitely, I like
(12:33):
our chances and yeah, I think this time tomorrow we
could be talking about the best moment of the g
on basketball.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Very exciting times for the game here, jud thanks so
much for your time, mate, Really enjoyed chatting.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Cheers, Jason, thank you, No, thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Jude Judd Fable, then coach of the Tall Blacks. So
the New Zealand under nineteen side went down one hundred
and twenty to sixty four to the United States. So look,
I don't think there's any disgrace in losing to the
United States in a game of basketball, regardless of the gender,
the age, or the level. It feeds them into the
third and fourth place match against Slovenia and our Slovenia
(13:09):
went down to Germany in the other semi final eighty
four seventy two. And running a bit of an eye
over Slovenia's scores at this tournament, it's not like they've
really set the world on fire. I think New Zealand
are a chance, an absolute chance here to achieve the
first ever podium finish by a New Zealand basketball team
(13:29):
at a Feber event, male or female. Three o'clock tomorrow morning,
that's not very civilized. Time to get ups it, although
I guess we might be up and about watching the
Formula One Grand Prix at around about the same time,
so I guess if you're going to be up, you
might as well have a look at a bit of sport.
So three o'clock tomorrow morning is tip off between New
(13:49):
Zealand and Slovenia in the third and fourth place playoff
at the Feber Under nineteen World Cup.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk zed B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
B un your Tall Blacks. Meantime, we'll meet Slovenia in
the playoff for third and fourth at the Under nineteen
World Cup in Switzerland and.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Tibble this one out as Team USA absolutely rocket themselves
into the final of the FOEB Under nineteen Welcome Plumtree
will hit the three at the end just for good measure,
Team USA with a tomin and victory.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yep, they have beaten New Zealand, have the United States,
But the Tall Blacks, the junior Tall Blacks sorry, have
the chance to achieve New Zealand's best ever finish at
a FEB event, following the Tall Blacks famous fourth place
at the World Cup in two thousand and two, emulated
by our under seventeen men's side at their World Cup
(01:02):
last year, and our five of that team are in
this under nineteen side. Let's bring in Tall Blacks coach
jud Flavel, who I'm sure has been a very very
interested onlooker this week at the games playing out in Switzerland. Jod,
thanks for your tom What has impressed you the most
when you've watched these young men play this week.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Oh, interested in riding the wave with these boys in
this team and Matt Lacy the coach, you know, just
I like with a lot of the basketball fraternity in
New Zealand, you know, one behind this scene that made
us proud. And I think for a number of reasons.
You know, firstly, just competing on this world stage, which
we know is a true global sport, and they're taking
(01:46):
on the heavyweights of the world and really holding their
heads up high, and they have a real self confidence
about themselves. And yeah, the gold medals out of reach
right now, but they truly believe that, you know, that's
where they belong. And along with the rest of us,
that felt like this group was a special group that
they could do some things with. So the confidence that
(02:08):
they're playing with, the connection that they're playing with, you know,
and two important things that as we know with elite
sport and high performance sport, that you must have and
these guys are doing that. And you know, the crazy
thing is that there are always little things there that
the team can actually brush up on. And maybe that's
(02:28):
the coach side on me that's coming out, but I
would say that they have probably felt like they haven't
one hundred percent put it all together. Yet you know,
they had some really good performances from players, but as
a collective group, I think there's more in the tank there.
So it really sets it up well for us, you know,
the biggest game that we're we've got for New Zealand
basketball right now and the biggest opportunity to grab a metal.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
You alluded to it there, jud But do you get
a sense now that participating at FEVER events is no
longer enough for our best players, that they have a
realistic desire to beat teams and go deep in tournaments
like this.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Well, if I do, you know, peel back the years
and go back to when we first came on the
scene and went to that World Cup in two thousand
and two, a large part of it was actually, you know,
we felt like we didn't know really what to expect
the first time we went. And the beauty about it
these days is that, you know, we've moved into the
Asian region, so we're getting international experiences as fifteen year
(03:29):
olds are qualifying for World Cups and they're getting this
experience that for the first time and as we know,
you know, like tasting a little bit of exposure and
getting those opportunities is all growth, and that's what we've
seen with our sports and our national teams. And now
(03:49):
we're getting more more athletes and teams that are going
as an age group team to World Cups. And this
is only going to put you know, if you fast
forward and look further down the track, it's only going
to put our senior national teams in great positions to
do something on the world stage as well. So it's
(04:09):
certainly getting the exposure and you know, these kids are
now believing that they truly belong and that they should
go into these semi finals and beat teams, and you
know that that's an amazing mindset to have. And I
think with the participation numbers that we have coming through,
I made a comment the other day on an interview
and just talked about the participation numbers just being huge.
(04:30):
We actually have more participants than what we do have
basketball hoops, and you know, these boys still have to
pay thousands of dollars to get to these opportunities. So
somewhere along the lines we actually you know, there may
be more players there that are missing out, but yeah,
the future is bright.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
How much has playing in our National Basketball League and
particularly the new innovation the Rapid League helped to develop
these young players.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
I'm glad you brought that up because you know, Justin Nelson,
who you know, is an Australian and you know, we'd
like to sort of take all the credit or ourselves
as New Islanders, but look, we've got to pay this
man some respect because he brought in a new concept
that probably wasn't you know, I guess brought in by
(05:17):
everybody straight away when you have a new concept that
comes in and look, we're three years I think it's
three years deep into it and we've seen the results.
These all of these boys, I think all but two
have played in Rapid League and they would have started
that two years ago and seen them on the basketball
court being able to mix it with the you know,
(05:37):
with grown men. So they're not just playing against guys
their own age group. They're playing against thirty year olds.
And these thirty year olds are fully professional, some are
semi professional. And but you've got you know, American imports
playing in there. You've got Jean Tourbacks that play in
that league. You've got guys that playing in the Australian NBL,
Aussie Boomers, and these guys have you know, I guess,
(05:59):
been battled, hardened and tested on a week to week basis.
So we unfortunately don't have a central academy or these
high performance hubs that we able to you know, collect
these guys altogether. So the next best thing we have, though,
may just even be better when they are able to
have mixed in their environment. They're training daily, training environment
(06:22):
with a lot of these grown men, and that's just
fast tracked these guys' development and confidence. And you see
them when they play that you know, maybe except for
this morning against the US, the might of the USA,
which is, as we know, the basketball nation of the world.
But besides that, you know, this team has they come into,
like I said, the expectation that they can take down anybody.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
By my count, and you're about to correct me here,
six of this on the nineteen side have already played
for the senior Tourblacks. How do you know if a
young player is ready for that step?
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Yeah? Look, I mean since since been I guess I've
been eight nine months into the role of the Tour
Backs head coach. And a huge focal point for me was,
you know, like I'm a I'm in New Zealand through
them through and I was a New Zealand junior player
too coming through and I got to play for the
tour Backs. You know, not at the age, not at
a super young age, but you could just see the
(07:18):
moments and what it does for people when you when
you're able to give them that experience and exposure. I
guess we're saying these words are a lot as I'm
doing this interview, but and that's what it's all about.
So we you know, you don't know if that's going
to be something that's you know, the athlete is going
to take on and you know really whether it's going
(07:42):
to be embraced or not. But you give the opportunity
and there's so much to win by offering a youngster
that has talent or has a special set of skills
or character attributes, then you know, both integrating them into
the Tour Blacks. I think we are fast tracking the
(08:03):
development and also that these guys really build a strong
connection for it. And a lot of these guys are
going to go to college and a couple of guys
have already been there, but you know a lot of
these guys are going to be in college and for
the next four or five years, and you know they're
going to spend a lot of time away from home.
So while they're at home, you know, part of my
I guess philosophy has been to try to integrate them
(08:24):
as early as we can. And that's not just you know,
putting them into We still want to put them into
positions to be successful. So we'll always take one or two.
The last series that we had against Trans Tasman, against
the Australian series, you know we had I think we
had four of them, you know, Oscar, Julius, Jackson and
(08:45):
Tamma all four of them, so you know, we were
super young. But they got to beat Australia, you know,
Game three in Hamilton, So they're picking up all of
these opportunities and man, you know, I think that's that's
the recipe that we need for the success of our basketball.
For the men's program that.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Two thousand and two saw that you were a part
of was something of a golden generation. You look at
the names on that roster, Phil Jones, Kirk Pennepet, Cameron,
Dylan Boucher was in that team, Sean Marx, Marke Dickle,
Pauly Hennadi and others. Do you seen some similar side
building here.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
I think that's that's been a lot of the talk
around the around the country, and a lot of people
refer back to that Golden generation which did a lot
of things on the international stage, and you know that
that team if we go back, you know, like I said,
we didn't really know what to expect on the international stage.
We kind of just, you know, once we took down
the Aussies, we got put into the World Cup and
(09:43):
we didn't really truly know what, you know, how good
were we We didn't have much experience back then, but
we knew that we could be good. We were a
type group that coming together and obviously with a lot
of talent, with certain guys and their roles. And that's
I think when we talk about this group and these
names that are currently at the under nineteen World Cup,
(10:04):
these will definitely be names that we talk about for
a long time and certainly with the national program. But
I think the beauty of it is that these guys
already at seventeen eighteen years old, know and realize just
how good they can be and that they are, and
that's hopefully that that drives them even more to when
they come together and put the you know, this is
(10:25):
the last age group team for them, and the next
national team for them is going to be the Turbacks.
But when they come together to that environment, you know,
they're just you know, all guns blazing and steamrolling over
top of because that's what they expect. And that's I
think the beauty about this is these guys are seeing
success now and hopefully this is just going to drive
it even more.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I asked coach Matt Lacy this on the show yesterday.
Hayden Jones, son of Phil, of course you reckon he
could be even better than old men.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Well, I mean that's a day I played with Phil
and he's a world class shoot that. Look, I think
they're different, but look that you can put them into
the same mix as far as like their contribution to
the teams. And you know, Hayden's are very you know,
he's got some similarities there and I think, you know,
I don't want to do that to feel or to Hayden,
(11:16):
but look, let them be the best versions of themselves.
But you're talking about two very very good basketball players
for sure, And just to.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Finish job, Slovenia, how do you write our chances against
them and the possibility of a third place for this year.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Yeah. Look, that's one team I don't know so much about.
I remember seeing them play one game during the tournament.
I can't remember because I've been watching so many games.
And look, I do feel and it's the US was
a tricky team because they just they're just a different
type of athlete and it's hard to prepare for. But
the way that we've played against a lot of the
(11:51):
other international teams, Yeah, I really like our chances and
I think they'll be feeling very confident. Look, the one
thing is, you know, if we go back to two
thousand and two, when we lost our semi final, we
walked into that bronze medal match not mentally ready. We
were still sort of down and low on I guess
(12:12):
the result from the night before. This team here right
now has a very special moment in front of them
and to be able to take a medal from a
World Cup. So I'm sure the coaching staff, Matt Lacy,
will have the boys fizzing for this one and truly
believing that they can get the job done. And yeah,
but from the backseat here looking, yeah, definitely, I like
(12:33):
our chances and yeah, I think this time tomorrow we
could be talking about the best moment of the g
on basketball.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Very exciting times for the game here, jud thanks so
much for your time, mate, Really enjoyed chatting.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Cheers, Jason, thank you, No, thank you.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Jude Judd Fable, then coach of the Tall Blacks. So
the New Zealand under nineteen side went down one hundred
and twenty to sixty four to the United States. So look,
I don't think there's any disgrace in losing to the
United States in a game of basketball, regardless of the gender,
the age, or the level. It feeds them into the
third and fourth place match against Slovenia and our Slovenia
(13:09):
went down to Germany in the other semi final eighty
four seventy two. And running a bit of an eye
over Slovenia's scores at this tournament, it's not like they've
really set the world on fire. I think New Zealand
are a chance, an absolute chance here to achieve the
first ever podium finish by a New Zealand basketball team
(13:29):
at a Feber event, male or female. Three o'clock tomorrow morning,
that's not very civilized. Time to get ups it, although
I guess we might be up and about watching the
Formula One Grand Prix at around about the same time,
so I guess if you're going to be up, you
might as well have a look at a bit of sport.
So three o'clock tomorrow morning is tip off between New
(13:49):
Zealand and Slovenia in the third and fourth place playoff
at the Feber Under nineteen World Cup.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk zed B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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