Basketball On The Internet.

THE Sapphires this morning claimed FIBA Under-17 World Championship Gold after pummelling Italy 62-38, Ezi Magbegor named tournament MVP and in the ALL Star Five with Monique Conti and Jasmine Simmons.

All being right with the world, you should have no end of stories to read about this, which is huge and adds to our Gold Medals by the 1993 girls at the FIBA Under-19 Worlds in Seoul, our 22-and-under men winning the 1997 FIBA World Championship, Andrew Bogut and Co winning at the 2003 FIBA Junior World Championship in Greece and the Opals in 2006 claiming senior honours at the FIBA World Championship in Brazil.

(That’s without mentioning successes by teams such as the Rollers or at Commonwealth Games.)

This is big for basketball and especially women’s basketball, which – as has been the case for longer than we should remember – has to work twice as hard for half the recognition.

WORLD CHAMPIONS: Our Aussie Gold Medal winners.

Sapphires coach and mentor Shannon Seebohm has reinforced that, at 28 and already a WNBL Coach of the Year, he may just be the best young coaching mind in Australian basketball.

Let’s hope his decision to step away from the Sydney Uni Flames and out of the spotlight – which is shining so brightly on him today – is very much a temporary one. 

Congratulations to all concerned. And long may we read, see and hear about it.