No 'I' in TEAM as new Hall of Fame shows
TweetIT always has been a source of amazement and amusement to me that for a team sport such as basketball, our state and federal "Halls of Fame' consistently induct individuals and overlook teams. So congratulations to Basketball Australia for today inducting its historic first ever TEAM into its Hall of Fame.
In SA, we've recognised teams for years, whether it is a 36ers "Invincibles", Adelaide Lightning threepeaters or North Rockets 1990 women's dominators ... and with teams such as South Adelaide's men's side which won 52 consecutive games in the mid-60s yet to come.
Today in Melbourne, BA inducts its 2006 FIBA Women's World Champion Opals team in a bold but long overdue recognition of that moment when we truly were home to the global "golden girls".
Better late than never, with the 1993 FIBA Under-19 Women's World Championship-winning Australian Gems - our historic first-ever gold medallists - comprising Kristi Harrower, Michelle Brogan, Jenny Whittle, Carla Boyd, Jo Hill, Sally Phillips (Crowe), Samantha Tomlinson, Gina Stevens, Michelle Cleary (Chandler), Maryanne Briggs (Di Francesco), Nerida Gray (Jeffrey), Laura Pokorny (Howlett), coached by Ray Tomlinson, assisted by Phil Brown, with Norma Connolly managing and Jill Cook the physio now also hopefully on the BA radar.
Interestingly, Harrower, now an Opals assistant coach, was the only player from our first-ever golden girls to also be in the 2006 HoF inductees, placing her in a unique category all of her own.
That 2006 team was captained by Lauren Jackson, with Penny Taylor winning the championship MVP award. It also included Tully Bevilaqua, Hollie Grima, Laura Hodges, Emily McInerny, Erin Phillips, Emma Randall, Jenni Screen, Belinda Snell, Jenny Whittle.
There's a cluster of Aussie world champions, with Ian Stacker and Rob Beveridge making breakthroughs on the male side but our 2006 Opals must rank as our greatest senior team.
The truly remarkable and unique talent who is Lauren Jackson - and likely soon to be attending her fifth Olympics in Paris after leading the way in London 12 years ago - is our basketball GOAT.
But when it comes to the WNBL, the GOAT of our elite women's competition unquestionably is Suzy Batkovic, another HoF inductee today.
The Batgirl, who I recall telling when she moved to play for Adelaide Lightning she would win the MVP, showed even that was an under-estimation by winning a record six from that point forward!
From her first MVP win in 2012 until 2018, she was MVP in all but 2015, a keyway domination second-to-none.
She led the WNBL in scoring four times, was a league All Star seven times and won five championships, including three with her beloved Townsville Fire.
The WNBA and Europe both also were playing destinations and with the Opals, Suzy won silver medals at Olympics in Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008, plus bronze in London in 2012.
Attending the FIBA World Championship in 2002, it was only injury which kept her from selection in the Opals' 2006 gold medallists and two trips to the Hall of Fame dais today.
But Belinda Snell will be making two trips, as a member of the 2006 Opals and in her own right as one of Australia's all-time great off-guard/small forwards.
Snelly is a three-time WNBL champion, a WNBA champion, a Euroleague champion, a two-time Spanish champion and additionally a championship winner in France and Poland.
Where she goes, championships follow.
She enjoys the same Olympic record as Batkovic, with her halfcourt heave to send the match with France at the London Games into overtime still one of our sport's standout moments. She also boasts her own special slice of history as a gold medallist with the Opals on the two occasions the Commonwealth Games included basketball as a sport, in 2006 and 2018.
Also being inducted today are CJ Bruton, Matt Nielsen, Bradley Ness and the late Sharon Arnold.
CJ joins his father Cal in the Hall, the second father-son duo behind Lindsay and Andrew Gaze.
In a very exclusive club as a six-time NBL champion (Sydney Kings 2, Brisbane Bullets, New Zealand Breakers 3), CJ saw his #23 retired by the Breakers.
A dual-Olympian with the Boomers in 2004 and 2008, he split the Games with World Cup selection in 2006 and a Commonwealth Games gold medal that same year.
A triple-Olympian with the Boomers in 2004, 2008, 2012, Matt Nielsen was long established as an NBL force with Sydney Kings before a stellar career in Europe.
But 2004 was his peak in Australia, leading Sydney Kings to back-to-back NBL championships, claiming the Larry Sengstock Medal as championship series MVP, winning the league MVP, scoring champion and All NBL First Team honours.
In Europe he was Euro Cup MVP and champion in 2010, the first of two Euro Cup championships to go with his 2007 title win in Lithuania.
That was before turning to coaching where he was a part of three NBL championship on Perth's coaching staff, a member of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs off-court team, and an assistant with Australia's historic bronze medal-winning Tokyo OIympic team.
Brad Ness has been one of Australia's most outstanding wheelchair basketballers, claiming a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, sandwiched between silvers in Athens (2004) and London (2012).
He joined Andrew Gaze and Lauren Jackson as an Australia Olympic flag-bear (predating Patty Mills) for the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
He currently is head coach of the Rollers, Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team.
Sharon Arnold became the first female referee to call NBL games, and the first female to referee a gold medal Paralympic game.
Her death rocked the basketball world to which she gave more than 50 years of service, often unappreciated as is the lot of most officials.
At SEABL and WNBL she chalked up more than 500 games. The 2024 Hall of Fame class truly is one of our finest.