Basketball On The Internet.

EXPECT to see some new faces in our respective national leagues this week but don't ask me if it's legal.

As far as I knew, the WNBL season is into the final third of its regular season so how SEQ can replace import Ify Ibekwe with 196cm WNBA centre Jacinta Monroe (below) is a mystery to me.

Maybe the eligibility rules changed while I was drinking eggnog and rolling Christmas snow balls.

Corey Maynard has an ankle injury which will keep him out of Townsville's team for a few weeks, opening the door for Chris Cedar to make his NBL return.

Chris is the younger brother of former Crocs 3-point sharpshooter Mick and has been starring at QBL level.

"He’s a local boy and I think over the last years he really has matured, he’s extremely motivated to do well and you’ve got to love when a guy jumps in a car and drives up from Brisbane for an opportunity," Crocodiles' coach Shawn Dennis told the Townsville Bulletin.

 

IT has been drawn to my attention the boffins at Basketball Australia are unclear on the meaning of the word "imminent" in its regular use as it relates to a soon-to-be-seen free-to-air TV deal for the WNBL competition.

So, to quote the (not Corey) Webster Dictionary, imminent means:

a. 1. Threatening to occur immediately; near at hand; impending; - said especially of misfortune or peril.

2. Full of danger; threatening; menacing; perilous.

b.1. happening very soon
We are awaiting their imminent arrival.
Their arrival is imminent.
These patients are facing imminent death.

Therefore to BA's Anthony Moore and Paul Maley, I would offer the following, paraphrasing Inigo Montoya from the magnificent movie, "The Princess Bride" when he said: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

 

BASKETBALL ON THE INTERNET, PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

PICKING the B.O.T.I. PotW for the NBL was a toughie this round because of the fine work done by both Shaun Bruce and Torrey Craig in Cairns' split against New Zealand and Sydney.

Bruce stepped up in the absence of import Markel Starks and Craig - who I've always felt should start for the Taipans anyway - showed his value, moving up the rotation for Stephen Weigh and playing accordingly.

Josh Childress also enjoyed a triumphant return with a game-high effort in the loss to Melbourne before starring again as his Kings saw off Cairns.

But perfection is such a rarity, it has to be rewarded and Daniel Kickert was perfect from the floor (and in the air) for Melbourne against Sydney.

Kicks hit the perfect 10, with 10-of-10 baskets from the floor, including 3-of-3 threes, plus 3-of-3 frees for his 26 point haul. He also had four defensive rebounds but no offensive boards ... because he didn't miss!

He wraps up this week's PotW award and can collect his prize, the last remaining Beta video copy of the movie "10", starring Bo Derek.

NBL PotW
Rd1 Todd Blanchfield
Rd2 Kirk Penney
Rd3 Jerome Randle
Rd4 Corey Webster
Rd5 AJ Ogilvy
Rd6 Al Harrington
Rd7 Corey Webster (2)
Rd8 Kirk Penney (2)
Rd9 Tom Abercrombie
Rd10 Jermaine Beal
Rd11 Kevin Lisch
Rd12 Corey Webster (3)
Rd13 Daniel Kickert

THE WNBL sparked back to life after a brief recess and had many deserving performances again right off the bat.

Kelsey Griffin led Bendigo to a solid win over Canberra with a 20-point, 14-rebound double, Denesha Stallworth starring for the Capitals with 31 points.

Suzy Batkovic had back-to-back 17-point hauls for Townsville but it was teammate Cayla George whose performances caught our eye, making her the unanimous choice for PotW.

Cayla hit 13 points (at 75 per cent) and had 10 boards in the road win over Perth, then backed that up with 26 points at 67 per cent, with 12 boards in Adelaide. Leilani Mitchell's 29 points, seven assists in a lost Lightning cause also was special but George averaged 19.5ppg at 70 per cent, with 11.0rpg and 2.0apg for the round.

Cayla can collect her prize, a jam lamington, at the B.O.T.I. offices, recently relocated to the shed behind Chuck's Boot-Sprigging and Lawn-Aerating Services of Glandore.

NOT TONIGHT: Cayla George rejects this drive by Leilani Mitchell. Picture: TREVOR KINROSS.

WNBL PotW
Rd1 Tess Madgen
Rd2 Suzy Batkovic
Rd3 Sami Whitcomb
Rd4 Suzy Batkovic (2)
Rd5 Gabrielle Richards
Rd6 Carley Mijovic
Rd7 Katie-Rae Ebzery
Rd8 Cayla George
Rd9 Leilani Mitchell
Rd10 Suzy Batkovic (3)
Rd11 Sara Blicavs
Rd12 Cayla George (2)
 

YEAH, NO KIDDING

AS difficult as this may be to believe, I have been inundated with reactions from people either outright loathing "ref cam" or requesting it be used for its one surprise innovation, catching an official admiring or checking out inadvertent cleavage.

Beyond that, no-one seems to think it adds much to the Fox Sports coverage.

REF CAM: Finally providing an insight (into the ref wearing it...)

As grateful as we all are, or should be, for the opportunity for the first time in NBL history to see every game live, what Fox Sports coverage also inadvertently has done is throw us a bunch of new drinking games.

It's a beer all around everytime Dwayne Russell says "Corey Homicide Williams" instead of just his actual name. You could become a serious alcoholic off that one.

Dwayne's regular retort, Hakim Warrick has played "532 NBA games", is another for which you won't have long to wait.

Williams appears to have reined in his "big-time" usage and now instead of something being a "big-time" play it has morphed into a "grown man" play, as in: "Now that's a grown man play."

Yeah. Because the other nine players on the court are all still growing.

And we're all still groaning.

Get ready to be wheeled off to have your stomach pumped if you're skulling a beer each time Williams calls Melbourne "The United".

Yes. Apparently the artists formerly known as Melbourne Tigers now are, in fact, Melbourne The United.

Stay off the hard stuff too if you're going to swig anytime Corey says something mind-numbingly obvious, you know, such as in the Melbourne-Perth game at 70-70 ... "This is going to the wire."

Found myself a little disappointed with Tommy Greer in that call. So far, bias hasn't been an issue but calling Melbourne's personnel as "the boys" to me comes over as too familiar.

Just saying. I wouldn't expect to hear Hubie Brown say that. Or Derek Rucker for that matter.

CJ Bruton was back for the Crocs-Hawks call and had improved 100 per cent on his first tentative outing. That game gave us some of the best-informed and insightful commentary of the month. Nice job.

Meanwhile in Cairns, Derek Rucker was killing it, as always. But going back after the New Year's Eve match to his hotel room to watch it quietly again on TV? OK Derek. If you say so. I had you playing dominoes.

Nice to have James Harvey back too for the Sydney-Cairns "upset" and showing his commentating growth as well. That may be the best aspect of the new commentary finds is that they genuinely seem to want to make the gig a success.

It does amaze me though that with the sideline stuff Dan Ewing does at Kings matches, Fox Sports hasn't picked up on Nathan Strempel's similar abilities in that area for United's home TV games. If Fox wants the kind of quirky stuff Ewing brings, Strempel also is a master of that, although he can do serious interviews as well.

Maybe 2016 holds greener pastures for Strempel and other prospects on the fringes such as 2015 Blitz callers Matt McQuade and Liam Santamaria. Fingers crossed.

 

BIGGEST WINNERS/LOSERS

THOSE pesky Hawks from out Wollongong way and now representing the Illawarra, once again have come through as the round's biggest NBL winner. The Hawks knew Townsville would be fired up after they got them previously by 38 at the Sandpit, but to steal their thunder again so dramatically in front of the Crocs' best crowd in three years makes them the round's stand-out.

HAVING taken down New Zealand to close 2015, Cairns dropped from potentially the round's biggest winner to its biggest loser when it once again could not contain the last-placed Kings in Sydney in the back-up fixture. That loss now will make any top-four return by the Taipans contingent on no further setbacks and other favourable results - yes, the recipe for disaster.

TOWNSVILLE is back in first place after successfully negotiating the WNBL version of the "Doomsday Double", first knocking Perth off its pedestal, then Adelaide on its assets to reclaim its place at the peak of the perch and in doing so, the Fire are the biggest winners of the round.

WITH a 10th defeat and season-series loss to Sydney, Melbourne has made any chance of returning to the post-season a near-impossible climb, the Boomers' likely erasure as a finals contender making them the WNBL round's biggest loser. “We’re still breathing, we’re still alive, we’re not going to give up on that at all,” coach Guy Molloy said. That's a comfort, but Christmas is gone for this season.

NBL Round 13

MELBOURNE UNITED 100 (Kickert 26, Warrick 21, Goulding 19; Majok 12 rebs; Holt 9 assts) d SYDNEY KINGS 90 (Childress 27, Garlepp 22, Brandt 15; Childress, Brandt 8 rebs; Cadee 6 assts) at The King-hit, Olympic Park Stadium. CAIRNS TAIPANS 73 (Craig 21, Bruce 17, Worthington 16, Gliddon 12; Craig 12 rebs; Worthington, Bruce 4 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 66 (Webster 24, Ch Jackson 16, Ce Jackson 8; Ch Jackson 12 rebs; Ce Jackson 6 assts) at Cairns Convention Centre. ILLAWARRA HAWKS 98 (Penney 23, Ogilvy 18, Lisch 17, Forman 16; Ogilvy 6 rebs; Ogilvy, Lisch 4 assts) d TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES 74 (Norton 18, Steindl 16, Henry 11; Kay 7 rebs; Jett 5 assts) at The Swamp, Townsville Entertainment Centre. SYDNEY KINGS 87 (Childress, Cadee 21, Garlepp, Thornton 10; Brandt 9 rebs; Cadee 6 assts) d CAIRNS TAIPANS 77 (Bruce, Craig 17, Gliddon 13, Worthington 11; 3 with 8 rebs; Worthington 6 assts) at The King-hit, Olympic Park Stadium.

WNBL Round 12

TOWNSVILLE FIRE 77 (Batkovic 17, Murray 15, George 13, Gaze 12; George 10 rebs; Cocks, Novosel 4 assts) d PERTH LYNX 71 (Whitcomb 19, Lavey 18, Laney 16; Laney 10 rebs; Whitcomb 5 assts) at The Disco, Bendat Basketball Centre. SYDNEY UNI FLAMES 86 (Tupaea 17, Swords 16, Wilson 12, Ebzery, Tinkle 11, Samuels 10; Swords 11 rebs; Ebzery 6 assts) d MELBOURNE BOOMERS 78 (Kunek 24, Madgen 16, Greaves 11; Kunek 6 rebs; 4 with 3 assts) at Study Hall, Brydens Stadium. BENDIGO SPIRIT 78 (Griffin 20, Snell 17, Richards 15; Griffin 14 rebs; Wilson 10 assts) d CANBERRA CAPITALS 68 (Stallworth 31, Montgomery 15, Talbot 13; Montgomery, Talbot 8 rebs; Montgomery 5 assts) at The Spirit Level, Bendigo Stadium. DANDENONG RANGERS 72 (Cumming 21, Pickrel 14, Kennedy 10; Kennedy 9 rebs; Cumming 4 assts) d SEQ STARS 66 (Allen 15, Mansfield 13, Jarry 12; Allen 12 rebs; Lewis 4 assts) at The Skydome, Logan Metro. TOWNSVILLE FIRE 88 (George 26, Batkovic 17, Cocks 12; George 12 rebs; Batkovic 5 assts) d MAC ADELAIDE LIGHTNING 60 (Mitchell 29, Ruef 11; Ruef 8 rebs; Mitchell 7 assts) at the Lights-Out, Titanium Security Arena.

PS

ERIC ... and Cooks