MVP Gala tonight

BASKETBALL MVPS NAMED TONIGHT IN MELBOURNE

The superstars of the National Basketball League and Women’s National Basketball League will gather in Melbourne tonight for the 2010 NBL/WNBL Awards Dinner to witness the announcement of the Most Valuable Players of both competitions.

In one of the true gala events on the sporting calendar, the elite of Australia’s basketball family will attend as the annual awards for both the NBL and WNBL are presented in a combined ceremony at the prestigious Palladium Room C at Crown Casino in Melbourne.

The highlight of the event will be the presentation of the Most Valuable Player awards to those two athletes who have been the best of the best in the NBL and WNBL this season.

The outstanding player of the 2009/10 season for the men’s NBL will receive the Andrew Gaze Trophy as the Most Valuable Player.  Past winners have included Leroy Loggins, Scott Fisher, Chris Anstey and of course the man the award was named after, seven-time recipient Andrew Gaze.

Some of the greatest names of the women’s game have taken home the WNBL MVP trophy previously, including Robyn Maher, Rachael Sporn, Penny Taylor and Lauren Jackson. A number of past winners of the men’s and women’s awards will be in the audience to welcome the new recipients to basketball’s most exclusive club.

Other men’s awards that will be presented tonight include NBL Coach of the Year, NBL Rookie of the Year, NBL Best Defensive Player, NBL Most Improved Player, NBL Best Sixth Man and All-NBL First Team.  The WNBL will also present their Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

Media wishing to attend the event are asked to contact Marc Howard on 0419 512 139.

Fresh from the NBL

MEDIA RELEASE from tne NBL

18 March 2010

NBL SET TO RETURN TO SYDNEY
The National Basketball League is building on the success of the 2009/10 season and will welcome a new team to the league in 2010/11.

Sydney will once again have a team in the National Basketball League, with Basketball Australia announcing today that a club based in the New South Wales capital would be included amongst the nine teams to make up an expanded NBL competition for the 2010/11 season. 

Sydney will join the existing eight clubs who competed in the recently completed NBL season to make up an expanded league in 2010/11.  Those other eight teams are the Hood Sweeney Adelaide 36ers,  Skytrans Cairns Taipans, Gold Coast Blaze, OAMPS Melbourne Tigers, Burger King New Zealand Breakers, Perth Wildcats, Townsville McDonald’s Crocodiles and Wollongong ahm Hawks.

Whilst the name for the new Sydney team is yet to be revealed, Basketball Australia Chief Executive officer Larry Sengstock said that the group backing the club were a diverse collection of very well respected business people who had a passion for basketball.

“I am delighted to announce that the NBL will be back in Sydney next season, with a very strong consortium making a compelling case for BA to issue them with a license,” said Sengstock.  “Their application was unanimously endorsed by the NBL Commission last night and as a result they will take their place in the NBL in season 2010/11. 

“Whilst the people backing the new Sydney club have asked to remain anonymous for a little longer until they have had the chance to launch the team properly, I can say that the ownership group has impeccable business credentials.  They are also all fully committed to making the Sydney team a long-term success both on and off-the-court, and have embraced the NBL’s renewed community focus.  This team will be a side for all of Sydney and will have very strong links to the community.”

NBL Commission Chair Diane Smith-Gander said that the NBL would look to continue to expand its footprint by including a team in Brisbane in the future, but that only teams that have satisfied the new, more stringent financial criteria would be awarded licenses.

“The NBL Commission and the BA Board are taking a controlled and strategic approach to expansion and are not rushing into additional marketplaces before the time is right,” said Smith-Gander.  “We have Sydney now and that leaves Brisbane as the only major Australian market in which we don’t have direct representation.  We are continuing discussions with a group there and are confident that they will come to fruition, we are targeting the 2011/12 season, but we will not hamstring a team by rushing them into the competition before they are completely ready. 

“We need to make sure that we only issue licenses to teams that can meet our criteria and that have the capacity to be successful in the long-term.  Sydney and the other eight existing teams all satisfied the NBL Commission that they deserved a license.  The NBL will now build on the success of this most recent season, which saw increased attendance and strong television coverage.”

“BA and the NBL have been undergoing a necessary commercial reform process over the past two years,” added Smith-Gander.  “The announcement of the nine teams for next season is another significant step in basketball’s growth as a sport.”

The NBL season will start in October 2010 and will conclude in March 2011. The 2011 Finals will once again see the top four teams qualify for the post-season, with one playing four and two playing three in best-of-three Semi Finals.  The Grand Final will once again be a best-of-three. 

The Madness Starts Now

It is now that time of year where offices around the USA are filled with bracket talk as even the most casual of basketball fan finds themselves caught up in the madness of the NCAA basketball tourney.

The appetizer to the main course will be played on Tuesday night when the Winthrop Eagles, tournament champions of the Big South conference, square off against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions the Southwestern Athletic conference tourney champs. The winner will then face Duke, the top seed of the South Region.

I am taking Winthrop to win and go on to face the Blue Devils.

For the First Round, here are my winning predictions.

Midwest:

Kansas over Lehigh by 20+

N. Iowa over UNLV by 6-10

Michigan St. over New Mexico St. by 12+

Maryland over Houston by 8-12

San Diego St. over Tennessee by 4-8

Georgetown over Ohio by 14-18

GA Tech over Oklahoma St. by 6-10

Ohio St over San Jose St. by 16-20

West:

Syracuse over Vermont by 16

Florida State over Gonzaga by 5-9

UTEP over Butler by 8

Vanderbilt over Murray St. by 10-14

Minnesota over Xavier by 2-6

Pitt over Oakland by 8-13

Florida over BYU by 5-7

Kansas State over North Texas by 20+

East:

Kentucky over East Tennessee by 12-16

Texas over Wake Forest by 4-8

Cornell over Temple by 2-4

Wisconsin over Wofford by 12-16

Marquette over Washington by 7-12

New Mexico over Montana by 20+

Clemson over Missouri by 4-8

Morgan St. over West Virginia by 2

South:

Duke over play-in winner by 12-16

Louisville over Cal by 8-12

Texas A&M over Utah State by 6-10

Siena over Purdue by 4-7

Notre Dame over Old Dominion by 3-7

Baylor over Sam Houston by 14-18

Richmond over St. Mary’s by 8

Villanova over Robert Morris by 20+

Hmm….let the upsets begin…..possible Cinderella’s ….Morgan State, Siena, Cornell, and San Diego State

Wildcats Run Wild to Title

The Perth Wildcats broke open a close match with a huge third quarter blitz to pull away from Wollongong 96-72 to claim their record breaking fifth NBL title last Friday night in Perth.

With the Hawks up by one point at the halfway mark, Perth got and stayed hot for the rest of the match in pulling away by the final count. Check the NBL website for all related stories.

Wild West Showdown for NBL Crown

The NBL finals series will return to Perth for a winner take all game on Friday night after the Wollongong Hawks smacked the Wildcats 75-64 on Tuesday night to even up the ledger at one win each.

Post player Cameron Tragardh returned to form with a 28 point, ten rebound showcase to lead the Hawks who pulled away to win comfortably with a huge fourth quarter. Luke Martin was perfect on three attempts from the land of three on his way to 11 points with Rhys Martin (10 points) and Larry Davidson (8 points/10rebounds) providing additional support.

Kevin Lisch (11 points) and Steven Weigh (10) points led a shaky Perth attack.

The Wildcats will hope for better outings from Shawn Redhage and Martin Cattalini in the decider on Friday night. The action kicks off at 1900 on Fox so tune in.

Wildcats enter the ‘Gong with 1-0 Series lead

The Perth Wildcats will be looking to grab an unprecedented fifth NBL crown tonight in Wollongong. Fresh from a 75-64 match one victory, the ‘Cats will hope for a similar effort in tonight’s stoush at The Sandpit where the welcome will be none too cordial.

The action will be live on Fox Sports 1 from 1930 AEDT so tune in for some riveting action.

Back 4 Real this time

Canberra Capitalises on chance and grabs title #7

In an epic championship battle, the Canberra Capitals grabbed their seventh WNBL crown with a 75-70 win over the Bulleen Boomers on Saturday before a packed house at The Cage in Melbourne.

The atmosphere was electric and took place in front of Australian Basketball royalty with legends Andrew and Lindsay Gaze in attendance. The basketball talent was not restricted to the court as each team had legends or future legends on the sideline in the form of Tom Maher, Gary Fox, and Michelle Timms on the Boomers bench in opposition of Carrie Graf patrolling the sidelines for the Capitals.

Initially the action was furious and defensive and after one quarter Bulleen held a narrow 14-12 lead. Canberra opened the second quarter with seven unanswered points with Lauren Jackson leading the charge after a slow start. The momentum was stalled though as Jackson ran into foul trouble picking up her third before half time. Bulleen steadied their ship to hold a tenuous 33-30 lead at the halfway point.

Bulleen jumped out to a brief eight point advantage to start the second half thanks to a Sharon Milner three pointer and a Jenna O’Hea block that was quickly converted by young gun Liz Cambage. Threes from Nat Hurst and Ms. Jackson pulled the Capitals back into the battle with the teams finishing an evenly balanced third term that had Bulleen clutching to the same three point margin 56-53 going into the championship quarter.

Marianna Tolo began a remarkable defensive run with three blocks of the 203cm Cambage’s shot while Carly Wilson bombed a three to cut the margin to one. From there it was back and forth until an Abby Bishop bomb from beyond the arc put Canberra up 72-70 with a little over two minutes remaining. Down the stretch, Bishop made one of two from the line; Jackson missed a three followed by a miss from Bulleen before Jackson was fouled with less than five seconds left. Jackson drained both free throws to provide the final 75-70 margin.

Natalie Hurst’s 21 points and 3 assists led the way for the Capitals with Lauren Jackson (18 points/15 rebounds), Carly Wilson (12 points), Abby Bishop (12 rebounds) and Marianna Tolo (8 rebounds/6 blocks) all contributing in major ways.

Jenna O’Hea (26 points/7 rebounds/5 assists/2 blocks) paced Bulleen with help from Cambage (16 points/11 rebounds) and Elyse Penaluna (10 rebounds).

Overall the coverage from the ABC network was commendable and could very well show the NBL a thing or two about free to air coverage.

For more stories from the WNBL and All-Star selections please visit the WNBL website.