Ireland out to bounce back

BasketballIrish basketball has had 12 months to recover from the disappointment of a controversial defeat to Denmark that left the international team languishing in the lower tier of European competition. Another two-year process for promotion begins in Geneva tomorrow.

The team travelled to Switzerland last year only to suffer a 19-point defeat. New head coach Greg Gurr had three warm-up games, and plenty of time, with the current roster to avoid a repeat performance.

Despite a tightening of the defensive approach in wins over Austria and Iceland, defeat to Norway exposed an inability to close out games they dominated in the opening half. This was also Ireland's Achilles heel in 2005.

With a tough home game against Romania next week (live on RTÉ 2), preceding the final fixture against Cyprus on September 16th, the Australian natives' comments hardly inspire confidence.

"We expect to win all our games but you could not say that we are favourites in any of them," said Gurr.

"To win on Sunday, we need to shoot close to 50 per cent from the floor and we have (not) shot 45 per cent as yet.

"Our primary aim is to be as close as we can on the scoreboard at the end of the game. Winning is our secondary aim for this game.

"No one person is our key; we just need to find three players who are shooting well on the day and ensure that we get them the ball."

The three players, in all likelihood, will be Ireland's only NBA representative, Pat Burke of the Phoenix Suns, Jay Larranaga and the former Tralee Tiger Chris Bracey.

A positive result can be achieved if the above-mentioned, and the supporting cast, maintain form into the final quarter.

Sunday: International

Ireland v Switzerland

Geneva, 4.0 (Irish time)