CRIKVENICA (FIBA Oceania Championship) - New Zealand's preparation for their FIBA Oceania Championship series against Australia has been a tough one - playing 14 games in three different continents in a little over three weeks - and for veteran centre Tony Rampton, it's been even harder than that.

Rampton has twice been knocked unconscious on the Tall Blacks' travels. The second time, he needed stitches in a wound over his eyebrow after coming up against Belarus centre Alexander Koul.

"I took an elbow to the head against Venezuela - it was no big deal," he says. "But the second was a little more flagrant. But that's the way it goes sometimes. Don't get hurt in Latvia is my advice. Trying to find a hospital is impossible."

With everything at stake in the Australia series, the results have not been as good as New Zealand might have hoped. Rampton admits the team got 'a spanking' from China and the defeats to Great Britain and Finland in Croatia were probably not anticipated either.

"Sometimes I think we just fall back into a comfort zone," he adds. "But I think against Croatia (a 79-77 win in Crikvenica) we were back to where we can be. The big thing is qualification for Beijing and that's what this preparation has been for. It's been two months so it's pretty long."

The win over Croatia may have relieved some of the pressure on coach Nenad Vucinic but Rampton says you wouldn't have noticed it from his demeanour.
"He's not really an emotional guy," says the two-time Olympian.

"Some of us played with him in the Sydney Olympics and have been coached by him in New Zealand and I think he was pretty pumped to come back to his home country. It was a big confidence-builder for us - to beat a quality team like Croatia was satisfying."

Forward Craig Bradshaw will be an important player for the Tall Blacks in the Australia series. He and Kirk Penney were arguably the Kiwis' best performers in Croatia.

"He's still young - I think there's a lot of pressure on him, he went to NBA camps and he was really good at the World Champs for us last year," is Rampton's view. "He's a quality player - he's got all the skills I think, it's his mind now. He has to adjust to the professional game."

If the Tall Blacks make it to their third Olympics in a row, it may also mark the end of an era for some of those wearing the silver fern and Rampton hints he might be one of those to leave.

"I think there's probably about six or seven of us that have been to two Olympics already and three of the guys have been with the team since 1993," says Rampton. "We're not old but we're approaching 30-31 and a lot of us have young children and being away from your family and your kids is a definitely lot to give up.

"We're such a close group and everyone gets along so it makes it a lot easier but, you know, you get cabin fever - being confined together for two months is a long time."

Article courtesy www.fiba.com