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.

Yanked out a copy of "Basketball Week" from September 25, 1991. Here's some random snippets.

 

WHAT THE COACHES SAY ...

Andrew Vlahov's decision to reject an invitation to return to the Los Angeles Lakers veterans camp to remain with Perth will be enough to push the defending champions over the top for back-to-back titles.

That was the opinion of the eight coaches not involved in playoff action on the eve of the finals.

BASKETBALL WEEK asked the coaches to nominate their champion team, its greatest challenger and their choice for the outstanding player of the finals series.

Here's how the coaches assessed the playoff field:

GARY FOX (Southern Melbourne)

Champion: Perth - "They've got the defence, depth and efficiency but they do give people a chance. If they run a little bit more, the talent and the size they've got is going to be very difficult to beat in a three-game series."

Danger: Geelong

Series MVP: Ricky Grace (Perth)

BOB TURNER (Sydney)

Champion: Perth - "Perth has got to have the inside track because they've got the consistency factor on their side. They've got so much depth now and over a three-game series they should have too many variances."

Danger: Geelong

Series MVP: Ricky Grace (Perth)

BRIAN KERLE (Brisbane)

Champion: Perth - "I can't see anybody getting anywhere near Perth, especially now with Vlahov staying. They've got great depth, they've got the defence and they're very well coached. Their big advantage is that they're going to have two games at home. They're a lot better team than last year's team. They're a lot better disciplined, defensively they're stronger. They're up there with the best I've seen."

Danger: North Melbourne

Series MVP: Ricky Grace, Andrew Valhov, Pete Hansen (Perth)

DAVID LINDSTROM (Illawarra)

Champion: Perth - "It's going to be difficult to beat Perth in a three-game series. It's their defence, they're the defending champions, they've got depth and they've added Vlahov."

Danger: Geelong

Series MVP: Could be any one of six players. Grace, Gaze, Fisher, Bolden, Dozier, Hays.

TOM WISMAN (Newcastle)

Champion: Perth - "Perth has got to be considered favorites because they are a great defensive team and they've been consistent all year. Them winning in Adelaide last weekend was an ominous sign for the other teams and with Andrew Vlahov staying, that may have been the others' last chance. I've got a feeling that Adelaide could win it all and I'd like to see Eastside come good for Brian Goorjian's sake."

Danger: Adelaide

Series MVP: It depends on who wins it. Perth depends on Ricky Grace to make it work, Adelaide on Butch Hays and Eastside will do it because Bruce Bolden has been outstanding. Fisher and Gaze with North Melbourne and Melbourne. Geelong is an interesting team because they rely more on five players than any one individual.

DAVE CLAXTON (Gold Coast)

Champion: Perth - "Perth will win because they'll get two (of the three) at home. Besides I think during this year they've done such a good job defensively. They've got rebounding strength and I think the ability of Grace in organising the team should be sufficient."

Danger: Geelong

Series MVP: Ricky Grace (Perth)

CAL BRUTON (Hobart)

Champion: Perth - "It's pretty simple. I've got to go back with the crew, the Wildcats. It's their experience which gives them the edge. Nobody in this league has been there five straight years and with the addition of class players, Andrew Vlahov and Pete Hansen, they're ahead.

Danger: Adelaide

Series MVP: Mark Davis (Adelaide)

GAZE FOR ISRAEL

Melbourne Tigers champion Andrew Gaze, who last week became the first player to score 1000 points in a regular NBL season, is contemplating a serious offer to play in Israel.

Gaze revealed exclusively to BASKETBALL WEEK that he had been approached by Baytar Tel Aviv and could join the Israeli team as soon as Melbourne finishes its 1991 playoff commitments.

"It is the first positive offer I have received from Europe after a few nibbles and how far I go with it depends on the Tigers' progress through the NBL playoffs," Gaze said.

Ironically, this week's elimination series will decide the immediate playing future of Gaze and Adelaide centre Mark Bradtke. If the 36ers lose, Bradtke seems certain to take up an offer to join Detroit Pistons' veterans camp.

Bradtke is regarded as a real NBA prospect and could be joining Luc Longley on opening night on 1 November. The latest on Longley is that he is yet to sign with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

CAIRNS is likely to be the next city to apply for an NBL licence.

The wheels are well and truly in motion by the Cairns state league team toward a bid that may put the Marlins into the NBL as early as 1994.

MEL Dalgleish played out the final act of a forgettable NBL coaching career at the Palace in Canberra last Saturday.

Dalgleish announced last week pressures of family and business commitments had combined to end his brief reign as the man in charge of the Cannons.

The Cannons have not announced his successor, although Geelong coach Barry Barnes and Ballarat SEABL coach Alan Westover have both been linked to the position.

AT Illawarra, Norman Taylor, the player who became a cult figure in Wollongong, has played his last game with the Hawks.

Coach David Lindstrom said the club would search for two new imports next year to replace Taylor and Patric Fairs.

HOBART is expected to clean out almost half of its roster in time for the beginning of the 1992 season.

Coach Cal Bruton, in Melbourne last weekend for his team's final road trip of the year, said four of this year's team are likely to be axed within the next 10 days.

Among the casualties are expected to be import Wayne Engelstad and young Australian guard Luke Gribble.

FITTING FAREWELL FOR MOOSE

IT WAS the kind of spirit Ian Robilliard has been trying to engender in his teammates for the past three years.

And it seemed somehow disappointing the players would finally respond in his farewell NBL appearance.

Last Saturday's 132-114 record-breaking demolition of Illawarra was a more than fitting tribute to one of the league's most honest campaigners.

The home side banged in its highest single quarter total ever, its second highest halftime score and its alltime biggest score against the Hawks in a night "Moose" will long remember.

The final scoreline, fittingly, was Sydney's biggest of the year.

With Robilliard afforded the honor of starting in his farewell game, the Kings kicked away to a rollicking start, drilling 41 points in the first 12 minutes and 73 by halftime.

The post-match celebrations, being Sydney's last throw of the dice in 1991, centred around the culmination of Robilliard's distinguished 274-game career.

"He finished his career the way he started it - he went at it from go to whoa," said Kings coach Bob Turner. "We'd love to have him back as an assistant next year."

 

MVP CAPS MEMORABLE YEAR FOR MOYLE

JOANNE Moyle needed 13 points against Bulleen in the last home-and-away game of the WNBL season to win the competition's top shooter award.

With four fouls on the stats sheet alongside 11 points with several minutes to go in the second half, her Melbourne Tigers teammates took a collective deep breath and advised her most strongly not to foul.

The fifth foul inevitably came but not before Moyle had taken her tally to 17 and her game average to 21.7 to secure, by a meagre five points, the award from Samantha Thornton of Melbourne East Spectres.

Moyle headed to Hobart for the league's presentation dinner before the 14 September grand final expecting nothing more than a shooter's trophy. There were a couple of bonuses - she returned with a spot in the All Star Five and the league's Most Valuable Player award.

"It was definitely a very big surprise," Moyle said. "I thought maybe I was in the running for the All Star Five but the MVP?"

Moyle's coach Ray Tomlinson said the league's top individual honor was a reward for the work she had put into her game. "When you consider that Melbourne was vying for fourth spot in the last game of the season without any Americans, Jo kept our chances alive," he said. "She deserves all the accolades."

MVP Top 10: Jo Moyle 119 votes, Debbie Slimmon 111, Samantha Thornton 109, Shelley Gorman 97, Sandy Brondello 93, Michele Timms 87, Robyn Maher 83, Annie Burgess 81, Kim Foley 79, Trisha Fallon 76.

BIG NAMES, BIG WEEKEND

BRIAN Goorjian was there. Bruce Palmer was there.

Cal Bruton (and his hat) were there.

Three of the NBL's top coaches were at the SEABL men's final and like the capacity crowd, they could not have been disappointed.

Robbie Cadee, the Australian women's coach was there and he would have been impressed by the Dandenong Rangers and some of the talent NOT playing in the WNBL.

And two Canberra residents were there - Patrick Hunt of the AIS and Boomers coach Adrian Hurley.

Over the weekend, fans were treated to six top class games. Five of the 10 players in the two All Star conference teams made an appearance and four of the five women in the All Star team also played.

Fans too got a look at the women's coach of the year, Alex Palazolo and the women's youth player of the year, Illawarra's Edith Clark.

The SEABL's various award winners were:

MEN'S

MVP: Steve Delaveaga (Nunawading)

Coach of the Year: Colin Donovan (Nunawading)

All Star Five (South): Ricky Simpson (Mt Gambier), Willie Jennette (Mt Gambier), Wayne Howell (Knox), Michael Cooper (Dandenong), Joe Downs (Launceston).

All Star Five (East): Steve Delaveaga (Nunawading), Randy Anderson (Broadmeadows), Eric Cooks (Ballarat), Marc Ridlen (Sydney City), Robert Utterback (Albury/Wodonga).

Youth Player of the Year: Tonny Jensen (West Sydney)

WOMEN'S

MVP: Regina Days (Dandenong)

Coach of the Year: Alex Palazolo (Dandenong)

All Star Five: Sharon Nicola (Dandenong), Jenny Song (Broadmeadows), Lisa Mayo-Smith (Dandenong), Regina Days (Dandenong), Sue Barton (Bayside).

Youth Player of the Year: Edith Clark (Illawarra)

 

CAN THEY BE BEATEN?

TEN members of the US Olympic team were named last Saturday, with Isiah Thomas overlooked.

Two more players will be named after the NCAA Championship in April, with at least one to be collegiate.

The team so far is: Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson and John Stockton.

Detroit Pistons coach Chuck Daly will coach the team which begins practice on 21 June before playing the Olympic zone qualifying tournament in Portland.