Basketball On The Internet.

MAY the force be with us all tomorrow but on May 10, let's again summon all our basketball community's forces and rally around behind Huw Beynon's new book, "Ballin' in Black: Our Tall Blacks Test Centurions."

I'm hanging out waiting for my review copy to lob because we know Huw as an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and Tall Blacks manager and we also know decent locally-produced basketball-based books are a rarity in Australia and New Zealand.

This is where being a basketball fan supercedes nationality and the only way to ensure we have more books such as the more recently available "Hoop Dreams Down Under", "Not Bad Thanks" and "GAZE. The Man. The Player. The Coach" is for us tio get out there and buy them.

There's a reason "Ballin' in Black: Our Tall Blacks Test Centurions" is a week away from hitting book stores.

Basketball is exploding in New Zealand as the second most played sport at secondary schools.

"Ballin’ in Black" is the only book of its kind celebrating New Zealand’s Tall Blacks Test Centurions.

‘Kiwi kids love US basketball. They should know that they too can make it to the World Cups and the Olympics and play against their NBA heroes, just like the guys in the book did,’ Beynon said.

Eleven Tall Blacks Test Centurions tell Beynon their stories that range from the hilarious to the heart-breaking, the terrifying to the tender.

From hiding in the back of Mum’s car, bleeding out on court, or living in a janitor’s closet, to squaring up to Yao Ming, dunking on NBA superstars, and falling agonisingly short of the World Championship final, these are the stories of the Tall Blacks Test Centurions.

‘This book exists to tell you about great New Zealand sportspeople who we should all know about,' Beynon said. 'Not just their stats, but their stories, where they come from, what shaped them, what guided them, what mistakes they made and what feats they conquered.’

"Ballin’ in Black" is a highly readable blend of factual, anecdotal, personal and downright hilarious text and offers depth and context to this extremely popular game.

Huw Beynon started his career as a sports reporter for 3News (now Newshub) where he covered the New Zealand Breakers' NBL threepeat, before spending three years as the producer of the Crowd Goes Wild.

Since 2016, he has been Sky Sports' primary basketball presenter and the lead commentator for the New Zealand NBL. In early 2021, he was appointed manager of the Tall Blacks. He resides in Nelson with his wife Mandy and two children, where he regularly pesters Phill Jones to be his friend.