Tai Webster Named to New Zealand National Team Pool

[hhcmatt]

Looks like Tai will be on the road a lot of the summer.

He'll be practicing with the New Zealand team most of June and looks to be a lock to make the team.

New Zealand then plays in a 6 team tournament with Turkey, Senegal, Canada, France, and the Philippines in The Philippines from July 6th-10th.  Only the winner of the tourney will advance to the Olympics this August.  Top 10 FIBA ranked teams Turkey and France will be the favorites thought the NZ Tall Blacks are currently rated #21.

 

 

Here is the UNL release 

Lincoln – Rising senior Tai Webster (Auckland, New Zealand) was one of 14 players named to New Zealand’s national team pool for the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Tuesday evening.
Webster, a 6-foot-4, 196-pound guard, will make his first appearance for the New Zealand national team since the 2014 FIBA World Cup. He has been a member of his country’s national team since making his debut at the 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Webster will spend most of June on the road as camp opens on June 7 before the team is trimmed to 12 players. New Zealand travels to Japan, Latvia and Lithuania to prepare before heading to Manila for the tournament.
The Olympic Qualifying Tournament runs from July 6-10, as New Zealand will take on the Philippines (July 6) and France (July 7) in preliminary-round games. The semis are on July 9 with the final set for July 10.
New Zealand is one of six teams in Manilla bidding to earn one qualifying spot in the 12-team field in Rio. Nine teams have already qualified while three six-team tournaments will determine the final spots.
Webster was one of the best sixth men in the Big Ten Conference in 2015-16, averaging 10.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game while appearing in all 34 contests.
He was fourth in the Big Ten in steals and reached double figures 16 times in 2015-16. Webster closed his junior campaign by playing some of his best basketball at the Big Ten Tournament, averaging 14.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game to help the Huskers to the quarterfinals.

[AuroranHusker]

Go Tai Go! GBR, and Go TallBlacks!

[Norm Peterson]

Have fun but be back in time for school.

[basketballjones]

Good job Tai!

Certainly good experience for him.

[hhcmatt]

Looks like Steven Adams is a no-go...he's currently playing for the Thunder in the Western Finals. He's on the squad if he wants to be in July.

 

Here is the New Zealand release. Corey Webster also on the team.

http://www.basketball.org.nz/News/tall-blacks-named-to-continue-road-to-rio

 

Should be plenty of NBA talent there, especially from France and Canada. I had no idea Nik Stauskas was Canadian

[49r]

I heard he lives in downtown "Canada"

 

[Huskerpapa]

Good for Tai.  Play well and stay healthy!

[hhcmatt]

A 16-5-3 line from Tai in 27 minutes of a tuneup game vs Belarus in China

 

[Dean Smith]

A 16-5-3 line from Tai in 27 minutes of a tuneup game vs Belarus in China

 

If he can extrapolate that stat line into a season that would mean he would average 16 point a game, shooting 75% overall while shooting 100% from the free throw line as well as 100% from behind the three point line, with a 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. I think we could live with that.

[Norm Peterson]

Don't forget the 4 steals in 26 minutes.

 

If we're extrapolating here, that's like 120 steals in a season.  That would be 4th all-time in NCAA history.  That would break Cookie Belchers record by, like, 30 steals.

 

The assists, the steals, the shooting percentages, all would be at or near NU all-time records.  And the FBs, well, that's just off the charts, really.

[hhcmatt]

We still need some cupcakes for the schedule so maybe we can get Belarus over here 

[Norm Peterson]

In all seriousness, these are really good numbers for Tai.  Not that I think he'll just come back and be all gangbusters every night in the B1G, but drill down a bit in the numbers and you'll see a really, really complete player there.

 

He lead his team in scoring, assists, and steals.  He was 2nd in rebounding.

 

He accounted for 1/3 of his teams assists (3 of 9) and 1/3 of the steals (4 of the team's 12).

 

He had 1 turnover; the rest of the team contributed a combined 22 turnovers.

 

The three-point line is deeper and he was 2/2.  That's not jacking up a ton of treys but he's obviously confident with the ones he does take.

 

I have a feeling our guard corps could be pretty special this coming season.

[uneblinstu]

New Zealand will play their qualifiers on July 5th and 6th. They are in Qualifying Group 2, which if they get through it, would be in the same bracket at the USA and would play them in Rio on August 12.

 

Qualifying Tournament Schedule: http://www.fiba.com/oqt/philippines/2016/all-games

 

Olympic Schedule: http://www.fiba.com/olympics/2016/competition-schedule

[49r]

YOU CAN'T STOP TAI WEBSTER, YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN HIM!!!

[cipsucks]

We still need some cupcakes for the schedule so maybe we can get Belarus over here 

Cheapest built tractors ever......

[Norm Peterson]

 

We still need some cupcakes for the schedule so maybe we can get Belarus over here 

Cheapest built tractors ever......

 

The Yugo of tractors.

[AuroranHusker]

YOU CAN'T STOP TAI WEBSTER, YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN HIM!!!

 

EN FUEGO!

 

[hhcmatt]

New Zealand will play their qualifiers on July 5th and 6th. They are in Qualifying Group 2, which if they get through it, would be in the same bracket at the USA and would play them in Rio on August 12.

 

Qualifying Tournament Schedule: http://www.fiba.com/oqt/philippines/2016/all-games

 

Olympic Schedule: http://www.fiba.com/olympics/2016/competition-schedule

 

Odds are fairly stacked against them. It would help if Steven Adams decided to join the team.

[Huskerpapa]

Tai seems to be getting better and better.  The team they beat once was part of the Soviet Block.  Not saying they are athletic, yet the Soviet teams typically are fundamentally sound. 

[hhcmatt]

Tai seems to be getting better and better.  The team they beat once was part of the Soviet Block.  Not saying they are athletic, yet the Soviet teams typically are fundamentally sound. 

 

I can't find that Belarus is ranked in Fiba. If you're relating countries to the NCAA in terms of talent, they are probably SWAC level

[hhcmatt]

Win over Japan today. Tai got them going.

 

[AuroranHusker]

Here's the box score tweet from the Tall Blacks:

[AuroranHusker]

[uneblinstu]

 

New Zealand will play their qualifiers on July 5th and 6th. They are in Qualifying Group 2, which if they get through it, would be in the same bracket at the USA and would play them in Rio on August 12.

 

Qualifying Tournament Schedule: http://www.fiba.com/oqt/philippines/2016/all-games

 

Olympic Schedule: http://www.fiba.com/olympics/2016/competition-schedule

 

Odds are fairly stacked against them. It would help if Steven Adams decided to join the team.

 

Yep. Here's the current FIBA rankings for their group. If they can get past the group stage, anything can happen.

 

France - 5

Turkey - 8

New Zealand - 21

Canada - 26

Philippines - 28

Senegal - 31

 

The Arena they're playing in looks pretty sweet, though: 

 

[hhcmatt]

I guess this entire thing is an 8 team tourney and New Zealand just killed host China today and have won their 4 team pool 3-0.

 

They play whatever team finishes in second place from the group of

 

Iran

University of Idaho Vandals!!!

Lithuania

Macedonia