Australian pop icon John Farnham once ruled the charts with the song, ‘Take the Pressure Down’. This would be a most fitting anthem for the Australian Boomers heading in to their preliminary round match with Greece.

After setting up a seemingly insurmountable lead in the dying minutes of their opening match against Brazil, the Boomers made hard work of closing the deal, giving up several careless turnovers as the athletic Brazilians pressed for a last minute victory.

While the Boomers hung on, 83-77, they must have sensed a feeling of déjà vu when, after leading Turkey by 14 points at half time in the following match, they failed to account for the aggressive trapping defence of the Turks.

This time the young Australians were not so lucky, being left to lick their wounds after a 76-68 defeat. No doubt Greece, whose unforgiving half court defensive pressure led them to a European title in 2005, have been taking notice.

Though many would believe the answer lies in the backcourt, Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze believes it can be found with 214cm Aussie young gun, Andrew Bogut.

“The big thing is to establish a little bit more of an inside presence. If we can give Bogut a few more touches and a little bit more opportunity that should take the pressure of CJ (Bruton) and the perimeter guys,” Gaze explained.

And five time Olympian Gaze believes Bogut needs to get more of those touches in transition before the defence is set.

“Just dropping it in to Bogut in the low post where he is being double teamed means he doesn’t have a lot of space. Its hard to say give it to him down low and let him go to work.”

“It’s a matter of refining what they are currently doing,” Gaze said, “but we need to get Andrew Bogut going a bit more.”

The Boomers have had success offensively with smaller players in the power forward position, but Gaze believes this is making the Boomers more susceptible to pressure down the stretch.

“Size does appear to be an issue at times. When you are playing basically 4 guards, if you count Sam Mackinnon as a guard, it is a very small lineup.” Gaze said.

“The constant pounding and the grinding, they just wear you down, and it can become a bit of an issue.”

Certainly many observers were surprised by coach Brian Goorjian’s rotations as the Turkish bigs imposed their will on the Aussies.

Back up talls Wade Helliwell and Russell Hinder shared 9 minutes between them, while 209cm Daniel Kickert did not leave the bench, despite the Aussies giving up 12 offensive boards, and an overall deficit of 9 rebounds.

While Gaze also believes some extra size on the floor would help his country’s team, Australia’s greatest ever basketballer is quick to point out his admiration for the Boomers efforts.

“I think they have been better and more competitive than a lot of people would have thought. They are playing well and have been very competitive against two outstanding teams.”

“They are not in a situation where they have to come up with a revolutionary plan, they are right there, they are very close,” Gaze enthused.

And the main reason for the Boomers excellent performance has been mercurial point guard CJ Bruton, who is currently third in the tournament in scoring. Bruton has impressed even the great Andrew Gaze with his ability to hit clutch shots.

“CJ has been very, very good. He seems to be hitting his shots and playing with a lot of confidence.”

With the intense ball pressure of Greece awaiting the young Aussies, Gaze believes Bruton will need to play a lot of minutes, and the other Boomers will need to be more assertive for the result to fall Australia’s way.

“When CJ is not out there it does make a huge difference... They’ve got to find a way to pick up a few cheaper baskets and be a little more efficient offensively.”

“With some of the bigger guys trying to guard Sammy, he can put it on the floor, and that creates a lot of opportunities for us as well,” Gaze concluded.

“It has to be a team effort.”