Basketball On The Internet.

APPARENTLY there was a bit of political activity around last night but don't let the Federal Labor Party's national machinations trouble you - Kristina Keneally is staying put.

BA CEO KK was on the front foot today to confirm she would not be running as a candidate for Federal Parliament in the forthcoming election.

The former NSW Labor Premier lives in the seat of Kingsford Smith which will become available now Peter Garrett has declared he will not again contest the seat, hopefully with a reunion of Midnight Oil not too far off in the distance.

(Go on. Seriously. Tell me there wasn't at least one occasion when PG was addressing Parliament that you didn't want to just see him break out and start doing his own particular brand of Elaine Benes dancing...)

"I enjoy my job at Basketball Australia. It's challenging and rewarding. I lead a dedicated team that is making innovative changes to the sport," Keneally said, hosing down speculation of a political return.

"Personally, I appreciate that my current role affords me more time with my family than politics can.

"I asked a great deal of Ben and my sons during my time in politics. Now I have a job that allows me time to be a wife and mother too, and I value that very much."

Confirming though she has no plans to do a Women's Weekly photo shoot showing how well she too can knit, Keneally said she looked forward to opening the Basketball Australia National Centre of Excellence at the AIS later this year, implementing the WNBL Business Plan and establishing a National Online Registration system for basketball.

"With four national senior teams in top ten rankings globally and over a million Australians playing the sport, the future for basketball is very bright," the BACEOKK said.

Nup. That didn't sound even remotely political.

I SEE where the NBA will play regular season matches in London and Mexico City next season.

The San Antonio Spurs will play the Minnesota Timberwolves at Mexico City Arena on December 4, and the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets will meet at The O2 in London next January 16.

The NBA says it's the first time regular-season games in two countries outside of the United States and Canada will be played in the same season.

Now for anyone in New Zealand who thinks the Breakers play in the A-NBL, could you please note, the NBA has no plans to re-brand itself as the "USA-NBA" to avoid foreign-site confusion.

Just saying.

In March, the NBA announced eight preseason games in several countries from October 5-18.

Preseason global contests include the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers on October 10 at Manila and October 13 at Taipei, the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors playing on October 15 in Beijing and October 18 at Shanghai, and the Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers on October 8 at Manchester, England.

Additionally the Thunder will face Turkey's Fenerbahce on October 5 at Istanbul, the 76ers will visit Bilbao Basket on October 6 in Spain and the Chicago Bulls will play the Washington Wizards on October 12 at Rio de Janeiro.

Russian champion CSKA Moscow also will make a US tour for exhibition contests on October 7 at Minnesota - whose T-Wolves feature Russian Olympians Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved - and October 9 at San Antonio.

With our NBL and the Breakers' ANBL tipping off on October 11, it's no wonder no-one has reached out to the NBA to showcase its preseason product in Australia, even though having Andrew Bogut and Golden State in Beijing - so close, yet, so far - would have to have been tempting.

RUMOR mill has a couple of goodies.

The first has former Boomers coach and San Antonio Spurs assistant Brett Brown not only interviewing for the vacant Philadelphia 76ers head coaching gig but also for the job at their arch rival, the Boston Celtics.

Personally, the Sixers gig would have less prestige but also less pressure because, a bit like Mike Dunlap, Brett may only get one shot at this.

In that instance, a franchise with less expectation would allow him to build. In Boston, he would inherit KG and PP on the downslide and great expectations.

That is, of course, if Brett chooses to leave the Spurs where he would be Gregg Popovich's lead assistant.

That also might speak to my second good rumor, that former 36ers coach and longtime Brett Brown disciple - he was his second assistant with the Boomers last year - Marty Clarke will lob in San Antonio.

Brown steered Clarke, one of his players at North Melbourne Giants, into coaching in the first place so the Spurs throwing Marty a lifeline - and no-one has ever disputed Clarke's knowledge or abilities as part of a coaching staff - would make some sense.

Hey. Come on now. Did you really expect Dunlap to quit Adelaide 36ers early (he lost a Grand Final series to Brown back in the day) and some 20 years later end up coaching in the NBA?

It's just a funny old world.

YOU can never have enough academies...

The good news is, the Australian College of Basketball in Melbourne has added Al Westover to its coaching panel, headed up by Guy Molloy.

Westover, a dual-NBL Championship winning coach at the Tigers, has spent the past two years in Japan as coach of Shigar Lakestars.

He has 27 years in coaching under his belt, is a great guy to boot and a terrific coup for ACB.

NOTABLE New Zealand basketball identity Jeff Anderson has passed away, with his funeral tomorrow at Purewa Cemetery (100 St Johns Road, Meadowbank).

Jeff, a 193cm guard from UCLA, came to NZ in 1989 aged 23, to play for Yarrows Hawera where he was coached by former Napier coach Graeme Dimmock.

Jeff started Auckland Kings in second division, playing against against Smoke Free Rising Suns Gisborne, Mobil Marters Northland, DB Royals New Plymouth, 96 fm Rotorua, Manukau Rookies, Smokefree Waitakere Bullets and Sunday News Hibiscus Flash.

The much-loved father of three will be deeply missed.

THE Australian teams for the World University Games have been selected - the guys play tonight in the Stankovic Cup in China - yet curiously, apart from those selections playing at US colleges, no-one else's uni affiliations have been named by BA.

Wonder why.

The teams are:

Australian Women's World University Games Team
Name / Height / Position / DOB / Team
Sara Blicavs / 188cm / Forward / 15 Feb 1993 / Bendigo Spirit (WNBL)
Natalie Burton / 194cm / Centre / 23 Mar 1989 / West Coast Waves (WNBL)
Stephanie Cumming / 178cm / Guard / 26 July 1990 / Townsville Fire (WNBL)
Katie-Rae Ebzery / 178cm / Guard / 8 January 1990 / Sydney Uni Flames (WNBL)
Alice Kunek / 187cm / Guard-Forward / 6 January 1991 / Bulleen Boomers (WNBL)
Emma Langford / 187cm / Forward / 29 Jan 1989 / Logan Thunder (WNBL)
Tessa Lavey / 170cm / Guard / 29 Mar 1993 / Bendigo Spirit (WNBL)
Tess Madgen / 180cm / Guard / 12 August 1990 / Bulleen Boomers (WNBL)
Lauren Mansfield / 170cm / Guard / 18 Dec 1989 / Adelaide Lightning (WNBL)
Olivia Thompson / 187cm / Forward / 20 Jan 1993 / Townsville Fire (WNBL)
Marianna Tolo / 196cm / Forward-Centre / 2 July 1989 / Aix-ene-Provence (France)

Australian Men's World University Games and Stankovic Cup Team
Name / Height / Position / DOB / Team
Matthew Andronicos / 208cm / Forward-Centre / 24 December 1991 / Cairns Taipans (NBL)
Cameron Bairstow / 206cm / Forward / 7 Dec 1990 / University of New Mexico (USA)
Todd Blanchfield / 200cm / Guard-Forward / 11 July 1991 / Townsville Crocodiles (NBL)
Ryan Broekhoff / 201cm / Guard-Forward / 23 August 1990 / Valparaiso University (USA)
Jason Cadee / 186cm / Guard / 15 Apr 1991 / Adelaide 36ers (NBL)
Andrija Dumovic / 208cm / Forward-Centre / 18 Apr 1993 / BA National Centre of Excellence
Cody Ellis / 203cm / Forward / 24 Apr 1990 / Saint Louis University (USA)
Igor Hadziomerovic / 193cm / Guard / 1 January 1992 / Boise State University (USA)
Mitchell Norton / 180cm / Guard / 1 Apr 1993 / Townsville Crocodiles (NBL)
Owen Odigie / 196cm / Guard-Forward / 18 Jan 1993 / Melbourne Tigers (NBL)
Clinton Steindl / 201cm / Guard-Forward / 15 Mar 1989 / Cairns Taipans (NBL)
Mitchell Young / 206cm / Forward / 6 Aug 1990 / Cairns Taipans (NBL)