Basketball On The Internet.

*FLASHBACKS, my weekly "lucky dip" where I just reach into my drawers of old Australian basketball stuff and transcribe whatever I find for you.

Time-Out was a national monthly publication out of Melbourne and here are some excerpts from the June, 1975 edition.

NO VALUE IN VICS' VICTORY

PERTH: Victoria put the wrong team on the floor for the Australian men's championship at Perry Lakes Stadium.

Sure it won the title ... with a team of "oldies".

Would you believe the average age of the squad was 26? If that is progress...

We in the West are not ones to tell the Vics how they should run their business. Let them be the masters of their fate.

But let's cut out all the ballyhoo about Victoria being the playmakers of Australian basketball.

If Victoria is going to persist in putting their battle-weary vets ahead of up-and-comers like Alan Black, Les Riddle, Kevin Boyd etc, it's time someone blew a whistle and called a substitution.

Sure, Victoria should have the likes of Rocky Crosswhite, Richard Duke, Ian Watson, Toli Koltuniewicz in the squad ... but there should have been a sprinkling of youth too.

Remember, there's always tomorrow.

The finishing order of teams was Victoria 1, SA 2, NSW 3, WA 4, Queensland 5, Tasmania 6.

Victoria 74 (Duke 20, Crosswhite 18, Maddock 12, Kerle 10, Burbridge 6, Watson 2, Simon 2, Doyle 2, Koltuniewicz 2) d SA 51 (Ali 15, Blicavs 13, Schaedel 9, Campbell 6, Marsland 2, Fullwood 2, Vitols 2, Sparrow 2) in the final. Halftime: Victoria 36, SA 35.

SNAP SHOTS

THE female Saints are hearing wedding bells. Three will go off soon.

Di Down, Di Donnelly and Vicki Anderson have become engaged and will be married within a few weeks of each other.

The weddings will be late this year or early next year. Vicki is back in her native Tasmania but will rejoin St Kilda in the New Year.

SEMI-retired Lindsay Gaze is back on the court after a troublesome knee surgery.

At one stage it appeared as though the triple-Olympian had played his last game.

THE grapevine says a star SA player, one of the best in the state, is unhappy with his club and wants to join a VABA team.

Another top South Australian is toying with coming to Victoria in January.

THE last remnants of Bill Palmer were removed from ACT basketball prior to the Australian Under-18 girls championship.

When the backboards were being cleaned, a set of Palmer fingerprints were found in the dust.

FRANK Massuger has taken over as head coach of St Kilda's women's team.

Former coach Ken Biddick has been given the job of recruiting officer.

Biddick is entertaining the idea of advertising nationwide for players.

He is sick and tired of St Kilda being a down-the-list team.

JUMPING JACKSON STICKS TO NSW

SYDNEY: "Jumping" Gary Jackson, 22 and 195cm (6ft 5in), belongs to a very rare breed.

His loyalty to NSW is such that he doesn't want to leave, even though he realises he would probably improve his basketball if he did so.

Like we said, "Jumping" Jackson belongs to a very rare breed. Loyalty is something there is not much of in basketball. Too often players play Russian roulette with clubs. Better players insist on playing for better clubs.

Some players change teams more often than they do their socks. Pew!

Jackson plays for City of Sydney (formerly Sydney YMCA) and is a high-scoring forward.

A short while back, Jackson trained with Ken Cole's South Adelaide Panthers at Albert Leslie's invitation.

Coburg Giants also were interested in Jackson.

Jackson thought about the two teams and decided the opportunities were better for him in SA. He told Cole that he would join the Panthers.

Then he gave the matter more thought. No. He couldn't run out on NSW or City of Sydney. Both teams needed every player they could get.

So he told South Adelaide he had changed his mind.

Jackson started playing basketball at 16. At 17 he made the NSW under-18 team and made the senior state side in 1973 (Adelaide) and 1974 (Sydney).

Jackson was a last minute selection last year. He took time out to find form after a bout of mumps.

GJ was NSW's fourth leading scorer in last year's Australian Championship. The players who outscored him were Keith Hart, Denis Kibble and Maris "Juggernaut" Jaunalksnis.

VICS WIN AT SALE, A.C.T.

MELBOURNE: Victoria has finally shed its Cinderella image in junior girls basketball.

Winning the Australian under-18 championship in Canberra and the Australian under-16 Championship at Sale gave Victoria its first junior titles.

Victorian girls had played in the finals on previous occasions but had never won before this year.

Sometimes their losses in the finals were by no more than one or two points.

Victoria's head coaches were Bruce Case (Under-18) and Maris Polis (Under-16).

At the Under-16 titles, the leading scorers were Debbie McLeavey (SA) 110; Daina Polis (V) 83, Kerrie Smith (NSW) 80; Judy Smith (V) 79; Kathy Davey (Tas) 78.

ROOSTERS FLEE CHOP

ADELAIDE: North Adelaide Roosters were bombed by the bigger and better Victorian teams when they skipped across the border to play in Coburg's first invitation tournament.

They lost their three games to Melbourne Tigers 60-109, CYMS Panthers 56-73 and UCA Devils 56-80.

But coach John Horsell was anything but disappoinbted.

"It's too early to expect much from us at this stage," he said. "We are virtually a new team. It's going to take at least half a season before we start to hit our straps."

The Roosters also were below strength. They left former state rep Mike Megins behind. Megins, 30, is worth a lot of points to the team.

However Horsell's confidence about North being in the play-offs must have slumped since then with Paul Franke's decision to return to Coburg.

At 205cm (6ft 8in) Franke was North's tallest player and most prolific scorer. His best game for North was possibly his tournament-high 30 points against Melbourne Tigers in the Coburg tournament.

Heidelberg-Bulleen, thanks to a great display by guard Alan Black, pipped St Kilda 76-73 in the final.

North's scorers were Paul Franke 56, Bob Hannam 35, Melvyn Need 26, Mike Miers 12, Jim Paul 10, Mal Pearn 9, Alan Smith 6, Greg Newley 6, Grant McLean 5, Scott Howarth 3.

North Adelaide is the club which produced Olympian Alan Hare who is now a member of the SA District Basketball Association's management committee.

Hare is the club's most famous player, although it is said his brother Barry would have been better had he had Alan's keenness.

The Harris brothers, "Dinks" and "Skippy" were other fine players and Basil Sellars was another of the club's greats.

Present captain Jim Paul and Mike Megins have over 300 games to their credit and should join South Adelaide Panthers Scott Davie and Dean Whitford in the 500-games club.

SLIPPERY GIANTS

MELBOURNE: Coburg Giants cannot hold on to Yanks.

Larry Yeisley is the second to slip through Coburg's clutches.

Yeisley injured a knee prior to coming to Australia about a month ago. The injury was worse than he realised - cartilage trouble.

Rather than stay and have an operation, Yeisley decided to go home. He threw scores of 24, 20, 25 and 8 points for the Giants.

Coburg is seeking another American.

BASKETBALL BEWARE

COBURG: A warning to basketball clubs - don't make the mistake of creating a Frankenstein monster like they've done in football.

Talking about four-figure transfer fees and player swaps is dangerous. Australian basketball is growing.

Let us make sure we don't create situations which will bring our game undone.

GREEN GOES

MELBOURNE: A blow to Bulleen Spectres - Fred Green is going home.

"Fabulous" Fred has decided 2-and-a-half years Down Under is enough and it is time he was making tracks back to the U.S.

That's why there's been so many parties in Melbourne lately. It seems everyone is staging one to say farewell to Fred who is a really great guy.

Great guys are not always good basketballers but Fred's lucky. He is both. There aren't many better rebounders in this country. Our players should have learned a lot from him.

Particularly Kevin Boyd. He is the one whom Spectres coach Barry Barnes is looking to fill Fred's shoes. It's a pretty tall order but Kev's a boy with a lot of promise.