Aug. 4, 2005
WACO, Texas - Baylor sophomore Aaron Bruce will lead Australia's national basketball team in the 2005 FIBA U21 World Championship that begins Friday in Argentina.
Bruce is captain of the Aussie squad nicknamed the "Crocs," and is no stranger to his country's national teams. Bruce was a member of Australia's under-21 national team in 2004 and was part of the Australian junior national team that won the 2003 FIBA U19 World Championship in Greece. Included in that world championship run was a win over the United States in which Bruce led Australia with 25 points.
Eight players on the current 12-man Australia team were part of the world championship in 2003; a squad that included NBA first-round pick Andrew Bogut.
Including Bruce, six Australian players currently compete for U.S. colleges. The other five are Indiana's Ben Allen, Old Dominion's Sam Harris, New Hampshire's Blagoj Janey, Loyola-Marymount's Matthew Knight and Nebraska's Aleksandar Maric. Knight was injured Aug. 3 and will not compete in the tournament.
Bruce teams with guard Steven Markovic on the national team to form what ESPN.com's Fran Fraschilla called "the best backcourt in the tournament."
The 6-3 guard was a Freshman All-America and All-Big 12 selection following an exceptional freshman season in 2004-2005 at Baylor. Bruce led the nation's freshmen in scoring and set a new Big 12 freshman scoring record by averaging 18.2 points per game. He ranked second in the Big 12 in scoring and was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year by various publications.
The under-21 world championship, held Aug. 5-14 in Cordoba and Mar del Plata, Argentina, consists of 12 national teams split into two groups for preliminary round-robin play. The top four teams in each group will advance to the medal quarterfinals, while the fifth and sixth place finishing teams in each group will compete for ninth-12th place.
Australia is part of Group A, opposite the U.S. national team in Group B. Group A will play the Preliminary Round in Cordoba, Group B will play the Preliminary Round in Mar del Plata. The Quarter Final, Semi Final and Final will be played in Mar del Plata.
The Crocs, coached by Guy Molloy, qualified for the World Championship by sweeping New Zealand in their Oceania series in Gosford in 2004 and prepared for the championship with tournaments in Greece, Slovenia and Toronto. Bruce saw limited action in the preparatory tournaments due to an injured foot.
The Australian U21 team will be making only its fourth appearance in the World Championships. Australia won gold in 1997 and finished eighth in two other appearances.
2005 FIBA U21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - AUG. 5-14, CORDOBA & MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA
Group A: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Greece, Iran, Israel
Group B: Lithuania, Nigeria, People's Republic of China, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, United States
AUSTRALIA SCHEDULE (GROUP B)
Fri., Aug. 5 - Cordoba
Australia vs. Israel 3:45 p.m. (1:45 p.m. CDT)
Sat, Aug. 6 - Cordoba
Australia vs. Canada 3:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. CDT)
Sun, Aug. 7 - Cordoba
Australia vs. Iran 5:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m. CDT)
Tue, Aug. 9 - Cordoba
Australia vs. Greece 6:15 p.m. (4:15 p.m. CDT)
Wed, Aug. 10 - Cordoba
Australia vs. Argentina 8:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. CDT)
Fri, Aug. 12 - Mar del Plata
Quarter finals
Sat, Aug. 13 - Mar del Plata
Semi finals
Sun, Aug. 14 - Mar del Plata
Finals
