Basketball On The Internet.

WHO dares wins is the motto of the Special Air Services but it also surely applies to predicting winners in NBL Round 11, another one chock-full of hazardous options and untrustworthy performers. Brisbane must be driving James Duncan crazy and Adelaide testing CJ Bruton's patience.

Can we trust the Bullets to put their best foot forward? Can we believe in the 36ers?

If the answers for you too are a resounding No, then who do you select when they play each other this round?

That's not to say we haven't also drawn a huge cloud over Sydney's ability to perform consistently and now even Illawarra has plummetted, clearly buckling under the weight of expectations.

   ROUND 11

NORMALLY this would be an easy game to tip, South East Melbourne at home, Sydney at odds with itself. The Phoenix have needed to activate Adam Gibson having now lost their match-winner at Illawarra, Xavier Munford to COVID protocols. Kyle Adnam and Cam Gliddon also still out. Sydney wins by default, maybe?

WHO wins in Brisbane? Adelaide on another magical mystery tour, or do the Bullets fire up and play to their potential at last? Has the week off through COVID protocols helped or further hindered the 36ers? Will Brisbane suit their full roster? Crazy times call for safe picks so we're favouring the home team. Either that or I couldn't find Adelaide's logo.

MIGHT be the only media believer in Cairns but I've loved how the Taipans have gone about their business. Illawarra appears to be buckling under the weight of expectations, imports Antonius Cleveland, Tyler Harvey and Xavier Rathan-Mayes each responsible for successive boneheaded play which turned a three-point lead into a loss. The Hawks must win.

THE grand final match-up celebrates Jesse Wagstaff's 400th NBL game while the Wildcats also can expect to be without Matt Hodgson after the league appealed his one-game ban for shoving Dejan Vasiljevic. I mean, you don't expect he'll be playing against the league owner's team, do you? Both teams have a backs-against-the-wall vibe. At home, United?  

DESPITE the joy Tasmania has brought many of us, it would not have started favourite against the Phoenix had South East had its full roster available. But it doesn't, and as the JackJumpers showed last round against United, home court advantage only goes so far. Mitch Creek will need tom play out of his skull to get his team across the line.

BRISBANE and Sydney met twice in a recent round and the results were reversed from one game to the next. Who can you trust? If the Kings' frontline gets rolling and Xavier Cooks doesn't inexplicably get thrown out, Sydney should get this win at home. Brisbane has loads of talent but until they're all reading from the same script, it will be the same story.

CAIRNS and New Zealand twice have fought out the last match of the season to build a rivalry based on championships. Right now it is particularly hard to get a read on the erratic Breakers but Cairns, at home? Too good to go past. This is the round which should push the Snakes into the consciousness of the league at large, especially if they also nail Illawarra, which shouldn't be ruled out at all.

STOP PRESS...STOP PRESS...STOP PRESS...STOP PRESS...STOP PRESS...STOP PRESS...STOP PRESS

THE NBL's Full Member Tribunal, hereinafter and for all time to be hallowed as the FMT, has indeed upgraded Matt Hodgson's suspension to two matches. Now there's a shock.

He now will miss the clash with Melbourne United on top of missing last week's win over South East Melbourne.

Kings coach Chase Buford, who ran on court and at Hodgson, still has no case to answer, by the way.