MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy's View from Downunder) - Congratulations to the Australian Opals pair of Marianna Tolo and Laura Hodges on their French title win with Bourges earlier this week, defeating Villeneuve 51-49 in a tense Game 3.

The 1.96m Tolo didn't trouble the scorers too much, but her eight boards, four assists and two blocks still formed an impressive stats line, backing up from 13 points, five rebounds and a pair of swats in their Game 2 win.

Tolo's performance continued her rise up the ranks of women's basketball, rewarded with a contract from Abdullah Gul Uni in Turkey for the 2015/16 season after she heads to the US to link up with the Los Angeles Sparks.

The interest from Turkish clubs is hardly surprising given Tolo's 21-point, six-rebound demolition of the host nation in the Third-Place Game of last year's FIBA Women's World Championship.

Her effort averaging 12.2 points and 5.2 rebounds at Turkey 2014 were an enormous step up on previous efforts in the green and gold, and who knows how much improvement is left in the 25-year-old with a penchant for defence and rebounding. 

The Aussies stunned opponents at Turkey 2014 with their aggressive full-court approach, but with bigs like Tolo, Lauren Jackson, Liz Cambage, Natalie Burton, Cayla Francis and Suzy Batkovic in the mix for the 2016 Olympics, you have to wonder whether the cattle will fit the style.

Joyce has some tough decisions to make about whether to adjust the system that delivered such stunning performances in Turkey, or whether to leave out some big-name players so the Opals can hit the ground running in Rio.

I'll have more on that next week.

Searching for wild cards
Of course, before they can go to the Olympics the Opals must qualify, and that means beating the Tall Ferns in August.

A young Aussie squad are in camp this week in Gosford, with Joyce and Co looking for some wild cards in the pack - be they young or experienced - who can help ensure safe package to Rio and potentially complement the team's superstars on the biggest stage of all next year.

The Opals will head to Europe next to face Italy, Serbia and Spain, while New Zealand legend Mika Vukona is already on the old continent - on a short-term contract with Virtus Roma - and seems to be having a good time in the city’s famous traffic. 

Penney nailed five triples on his way to a game-high 17 points in the Andalusian side's memorable upset win over the league-leading Unicaja Malaga, backing up from a combined 33 points on 7-of-11 long-range shooting against quality Vittoria and Barcelona outfits in recent weeks.

With the Tall Blacks great shaking off a sub-par FIBA Basketball World Cup to average 10.5 points per game at a blistering 45 percent from long range this season, the importance of keeping him in a New Zealand singlet is growing.

Penney witnessed the success former teammate CJ Bruton experienced at club level in the twilight of his career by accepting a bench role, and perhaps the prospect of some big international scalps will motivate the 34-year-old to do likewise.

New Tall Blacks coach Paul Henare has plenty of history alongside Penney in the black and white, let’s hope he can talk his old running mate into one last run at an Olympic Games this year and next.

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA

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