By JARROD POTTER
WHILE she’s travelling 15,000 kilometres to take her spot in the college basketball system – at least the colours will be familiar for Dandenong Rangers’ rising star Bree Whatman.
Whatman, 18, from Beaconsfield, will trade the green, white and gold of the Dandenong Rangers SEABL and Victorian Youth Championship teams for … green, white and gold with the North Dakota State University Bisons.
Playing in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division One competition in the Summit League for the Bisons – Whatman will jet off next week and hopes to build her strength and push her case for court-time in her freshman year.
“I’m pretty nervous at the moment, but very excited,” Whatman said.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I’ve been 10 years old.
“Because it’s a Div One college, I don’t expect court time straight away, but to build up strength with gym time and take my game to their level and it’s quicker than in Australia.
“Go back over in my second year and hopefully get a bit more court time.”
Playing for the Dandenong Rangers in both the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) and Victorian Youth Championship (VYC), it’s been a busy season to date for Whatman, but she has relished the chance to improve her game with the step-up to the SEABL team.
“With the championship team, it’s been awesome – only lost one game for the season and for SEABL this year, I’ve definitely got a lot more time, than what I’m used to,” Whatman said.
“I think it’s good that I got into the SEABL team more regularly as that’s the standard they play at overseas.”
Whatman hopes to finish her Australian winter season with a premiership – as the Rangers VYC team faces Sandringham on Sunday in the grand final, held at Dandenong Basketball Stadium at 4pm.
“Winning the three-peat last year with SEABL was incredible and we have the opportunity with Youth League this weekend to get the three-peat as well,” she said.
“I’m pretty confident – don’t want to jinx it but we beat Sandringham during the season.”
Leaving next week rules her out of Dandenong’s tilt at a fourth successive SEABL title, but believes the team has what it takes to clinch the championship again.
“It’s kind of weird having to leave three quarters of the way through the season – but they’ll probably get another win and make it four years in a row,” she said.
Rangers SEABL women’s coach Paul Flynn said Whatman’s development into a point guard has been a boon for her chances of making an impact in the college system.
“I think she’s a great distributor of the basketball – she’s developed that point guard role over the last couple of years,” Flynn said.
“When she started playing SEABL D league, she was a standard two-guard and has really developed that leadership quality to direct the team and heading over to North Dakota will be a fantastic continuation of that development.
“I think she’ll do well – having played the two-spot for most of her career and developing the one-spot – she comes in with a bit of a unique combination.”
The American college season runs from November to March, concluding in The Summit League’s Women’s Basketball Tournament from 8-11 March in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
