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New head coach Tom Maher has begun the long haul to the 2012 London Olympics and praised the Great Britain's women's basketball team after his first week of training.

Maher is currently coaching both the senior women's team and the World University Games team in a joint camp.

The senior women play Croatia three times between June 19-21 while the World University Games team will take on Serbia, USA and France also later this month.

And Maher is pleased with what he has seen so far.

"When you are not ranked in the top 100, you have some building to do," said the former head coach of Australia, New Zealand and Chile.

"It's not easy and the camp has been tough but I have been happy with everyone and pleased with the team acceptance and culture.

"Croatia will be an opportunity to say, 'ok, we have been training for a week and spoken about a million things so now let's see what we can grab'. I expect us to give 110 per cent and the next time we can really try to double that.

"An event like the World Uni Games is crucial for us. We want depth in the team so that we know we are able to access players from that level. Those players can compete and we need to be able to pick out who we think will be able to step.

"I think the potential of the young players in this team is good. We've got a couple of young kids who you have to say have time on their side and if we can get enough work with them we have some definite player there."

Eurosport