Bogut selected to Australian Olympic team

SYDNEY, Australia — Center Andrew Bogut was selected to Australia's Olympic basketball team Friday, a day after agreeing to a $72.5 million, five-year contract extension with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.

Bogut will join European-based players David Anderson and Matthew Nielsen in a strong team which also includes veteran Chris Anstey and six players making their Olympic debuts.

"We really have a talented group of guys going over and if we can push through the first round we have the ability to surprise everyone with our results," said Anstey who was a member of the Australian team which finished fourth at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

"We're right up there with the European teams at the moment," he said. "We have a unique style of basketball and if the teams we play don't adapt to it in time, we'll have a good advantage over them."

Australia is in a strong group at Beijing with Athens gold medalist Argentina, Asian champion Iran, Lithuania, European champion Russia and a team to be determined in a qualification series next week.