Isaac
Years ago
NBL All-Star game to be North vs South, on Dec 23
The National Basketball League has announced that due to popular demand its showcase event, the NBL All-Star Game, will return to a North versus South format when it is re-introduced on 23 December this year.
The NBL announced in May that it would hold its first All-Star Game since December 2007 this December as a pre-Christmas classic and recently conducted a poll on its website to determine the fans' preferred choice for the event format.
Fans were given the choice of either 'North versus South’, ‘East versus West’ or ‘Aussies versus Internationals’ in the poll. Over 45% of voters chose the North versus South format which has been used in the majority of previous All-Star events, making it a clear winner with the fans.
For the purposes of team selection for the All-Star Game, the eight NBL teams will be split into two "conferences" of four teams each based on their geographical locations.
In the North conference will be the Cairns Taipans, Townsville Crocodiles, Sydney Kings and Wollongong Hawks. Making up the South will be the New Zealand Breakers, Melbourne Tigers, Perth Wildcats and Adelaide 36ers.
Two teams of ten players each will be chosen for the 2012 NBL All-Star Game, with one side representing the North and one the South.
Fans will be involved in the selection of the teams, with voting details to be announced shortly. The All-Star coaches will be chosen along North and South lines based on the win-loss record of their NBL teams at a predetermined point in the 2012/13 iiNet NBL Championship regular season. Full details of the All-Star selection process will be announced at a later date.
The venue for the rebooted NBL All-Star Game will also be announced in the coming weeks.