If Calvin Henry is at Mildura that raises questions as to why they aren't in SCM as he will be 30/20 every night in that league!

Mildura will be good without being great, 1 excellent import, one good import and then a big hole, plus no guards.

They are in the weaker conference of Div 1 this season so they will be high on the ladder but the teams in the East conference will be alot tougher.

Melbourne Boy. You are wrong, There are no weaker conferences in the BigV. The league do not allow that to happen!

Any relation to Corin?

No, he played college ball at Mercer.Before Aus played in Germany.

HO, Yes there are stronger/weaker conferences, they are split geographically in div 1, not ladder positions like the new Youth Champ.

The 3 weakest teams in div 1 will be all on the west, Sunbury, Altona and Craigeburn, plus the east will have twice the imports and alot more money being paid to Aussie recruits as well.

You are wrong.

What about Leon or Lenny or Thierry? ;)

I was being just a little facetious. I'll bet u $10 u cannot get the league to admit that!

And ladder positions is no guarantee that the YSC will be equal either.

Lol, true that, proof will be when the crossover games are almost all won by the east, at least YCM they've gone ladder positions which is the only fair way to split it evenly.

Back on topic. I haven't seen Calvin play but from what I have heard he will be the best import in Div 1. If this is true Mildura sure know how to recruit as this be the 3rd or 4th year in a row they have had the best import in there division.

When the coach gets flown to the US to find the imports they have a fair advantage, as well as being one of the only teams allowed 2 imports.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_HT8-Eftus
Watch Calvins tape from last years SEABL and you'll know what i mean. Apart from being a very good player on the court he is a quality individual off it.His work ethic is second to none.

Mildura got plenty of cash which helps so getting SEABL level imports and being able to pay them is always handy!

Melbourne Boy. Is the conference split different this year to last?

while i realise to some degree you are speculating that one conference is stronger than the other, if it is the case, and if the league know this, then it defeats everything they say they have been trying to do by moving to a conference structure in the first place.

What would an average D1M programs player budget be? How about;

D1W
SCM
SCW
SEABL W
SEABL M

I know it varies from place to place, but really, how easy is it to get the best players when you have the most money!?!?

We have played Mildura for the last 3 years and was shocked to find out that we were paying our import allot more than the Mildura imports were on, they seem to get them pretty cheap and with resect to some of the imports in the comp - the most expensive are not always the best.Mildura just seem to recruit well every year.Good luck to them they treat you so well when you travel up there and are humble when they win or loose.
Article in the local paper up there said they have lost the full starting 5 from last year - can anyone comfirm that or is the coach just playing mind games.

HO, split is the same, Werribee moved up and Craigeburn took their place in the west, so the gap became wider between the conferences with the best from the west going up and a div 2 team coming in.

With finals being 1 v 4 2 v 3 and so on cross conference i don't believe it matters too much that there is a stronger and weaker side, within a few seasons it may switch.

The problem is that 5th in one conference (missing finals) is better than third in the other (making finals) or potentially worse if one conference is really strong.

If it was like SEABL, where each team plays each other twice regardless of conference, then less of an issue (although still silly), but in the big V, weaker conference teams are seriously advantaged.

In the end, you have an eight team finals system but not the best eight teams in finals, be that SEABL or BigV. People say the AFL is compromised, this is even more the case here.

HO is the NBA and NFL compromised? A different level i know but same thing applies.

In the NBA there is the Leastern Conference and in the NFL you can have a team win their division with a losing record of 7-9 who hosts a team in the first round of the playoffs who is a wild card with a record of 12-4.

It's hard to say that HO when the 3rd team in the "weaker" conference ended up making the grand final and was 1 OT away from winning a championship. Also the 4th team in that conference were only a buzzer beater away from beating the top team in the other conference.

You will not find one league in the world with 2 exact equal conferences because the only way to do that would be to chop and change them every year.

Sorry guys, I have not made my point well.

The league moved to a conference system I think two seasons ago for Div2 and then elevated the conferences to Div1.

I am not sure they established a good case for doing so. There are always problems with conferences, so why have them if you do not need to? Why is a small, largely amateur league, satisfied with a poor league structure?

What does having D1 as a two conference structure and D2 as a league division have over three smaller divisions? ie, D1, D2 D3...

Both of you acknowledge one conference is weaker - that is not desirable - it means you have an inherent problem in your league structure. This compromises things in a league that does not need the compromise. It makes promotion and relegation muddier, and it means in this case you have a bloated D1, which will probably impact teams growing into championship through organic growth.

The NFL and NBA need the compromise - I understand that. They are commercial, multiple franchise operations with distinct market opportunities. In the NFL divisional rivalries are fantastic, its just happens to grow into a conference championship.

Sorry, some of that reads wrong. I don't mean to bag the league as small and amateur in a condescending way.

I mean small as in public presence / importance - I know the BigV is very big and I also think some of their outputs are really professional.

http://bigv.com.au/index.php?id=755&tx_ttnews%5Byear%5D=2013&tx_ttnews%5Bmonth%5D=02&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=3220&cHash=a469ef9ec864a714268307c8d133c0b9

Confirmed Mildura sign Calvin Henry and Terrel Bell but lose all 5 starters from last year. Does this make them favourites or is it to early to tell?