Basketball On The Internet.

THE WNBL tipped off in all its glory this week, the television coverage, sigh, again having its annual amateur hour "teething problems" while Basketball Australia also revealed its latest Boomers outfit for FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in Thailand, taking a chance on tour coach Jacob Chance.

Leading the Boomers in two fixtures against Thailand (November 21) and Korea (November 24) as qualification for next year’s Cup tournament in Saudi Arabia will be dual-Olympian Nick Kay, along with Tokyo Games bronze medallists Chris Goulding and Nathan Sobey.

How Sobey made it on current form - his turnovers, poor shot selection and decision-making in general in the second half of his last quarter for South East Melbourne in its narrow home loss to Illawarra had a big say in determining that result - suggests a few players made themselves unavailable for consideration.

Hopefully other selections such as Rocco Zikarsky and Lachlan Olbrich will be given opportunities to show their wares, Rocco in particular actually needing to play.

The team is Sam Froling (Hawks), Chris Goulding (United), Ben Henshall (Wildcats), Will ‘Davo’ Hickey (Hawks), Jordan Hunter (Phoenix), Nick Kay (Shimane Susanoo Magic), Mitch Norton (Bullets), Lachlan Olbrich (Hawks), Nathan Sobey (Phoenix), DJ Vasiljevic (36ers), Jack White (United), Rocco Zikarsky (Bullets).

Pairing longtime friends Kay and Mitch Norton back together (teammates at Townsville, Illawarra, Perth and in NZ) should be a fun watch but the man facing the greatest scrutiny of course will be Chance.

At just 31 and with assistant coach roles on his resume at Perth Wildcats, Tasmania JackJumpers and Melbourne United, and as the video analytics guy for the Boomers, he may still be wet behind the ears.

Chance and his assistants Kerry Williams and Robbie McKinlay have been roundly endorsed by Jason Smith, Basketball Australia’s Executive GM of High Performance.

“We’ve got three incredible coaches who are all experts in their areas and have a considerable depth of experience with both international and domestic programs,” he said.

“Jacob is what we need in this window with his skillset, compatibility and relationships with the playing group. We are entering an exciting phase of the program and we have the utmost confidence in this group as the process of selecting the next Boomers head coach commences.”

The willingness to take a Chance suggests lead assistant with the Boomers' Olympic campaign, Matt Nielsen, would be the frontrunner to succeed outgoing national coach Brian Goorjian.

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THE ability of BA to get it wrong with the WNBL is second-to-none. For starters, why on earth open the 2024-25 season with the Geelong United-Townsville Fire fixture?

United is new, untried, full of fresh faces and likely to spend most of the regional club's inaugural season finding and adjusting to the tempo of the big league.

For opening night - and live on ESPN TV - to give us what always looked the least competitive match of the first round's fixtures speaks volumes to how exciting the prospect of new league ownership next year is for everyone.

What, the grand final rematch of Southside-Perth could not have launched the season?

Or championship favourite Bendigo Spirit against a probable playoff outfit in Adelaide Lightning wasn't a better option?

Should it be congratulations or commiserations to the Fire for unveiling arguably the single most hideous away uniform of any team in league history?

And let's not even start on the hardy annual crap the TV serves up. No wonder Geelong lost by 26 if this was the scoreline halfway through the first quarter.

Of course it wasn't the score, as the scoreboard in the corner of the screen tells us.

But this is typical of the annual coverage incompetence viewers are subjected to - and that is only one of a dozen examples of the graphics being incorrect - before BA usually announces it has looked into it and "you should notice the difference from next week".

Let's hope so and this isn't just a further case of next week never arriving or, in the words of a former BA CEO, improvement is "imminent".

What is worth looking forward to is retired Opals captain Tess Madgen joining the commentary team. Brad Rosen and I had her as a guest this week on our Brad&Boti podcast and she clearly had done her homework and research. Her insights will be even better.

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UNITED and part-time NBA forward Jack White last night showed his bona fides with back-to-back 3-pointers that ultimately sank Sydney.

His 14-point, 11-rebound double were huge but those two shots clinched the game before Shea Ili then bobbed up with the key steal from Jaylen Adams to preserve victory.

Matthew Dellavedova was instrumental in setting up both shots.

Unfortunate that yet again, post-game, a coach - in this instance Kings boss Brian Goorjian - was less than rapt with the match's officiating.