Anonymous
Years ago

NBL1 Championship

Scheduled for September 10-12 (subject to Covid Situations I imagine), we have a little over two months until the 'National Championship' of the NBL1 competition.

Only the winner from each conference will get an invite, which should make for a great competition.

There's been plenty of talk about who's winning in each respective conference, but who's everyone pick to take home the biggest prize ?

The Contenders (top 4 from each Conference at the moment)

Men

West
Lakeside Lightning, Perry Lakes Hawks, Willeton Tigers, Rockingham Flames

Central
Sturt Sabres, Forestville Eagles, Southern Tigers, South Adelaide Panthers

South
Frankston Blues, NW Tasmania Thunder, Geelong Supercats, Hobart Chargers

North
Logan Thunder, Mackay Meteors, Brisbane Capitals, Townsville Heat

Women

West
Joondalup Wolves, Rockingham Flames, Willeton Tigers, Warwick Senators

Central
Southern Tigers, Sturt Sabres, South Adelaide Panthers, Forestville Eagles

South
Frankston Blues, Launceston Tornadies, Bendigo Braves, Knox Raiders

North
SD Spartans, Logan Thunder, Mackay Meteors, Townsville Flames

A few programs doing very well with Teams in the top 4 in both Mens & Womens (Frankston on top of both in their conference, at the time of writing this).

Very cool initiative this. Looking forward to it and possibly the closest we will get to an NCAA National Tourney.
Who's winning the National Championship ?
Or is there a sleeper outside these top 4's that can make a late charge home ?

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Anonymous
Years ago

there used to be wildcards in the old ABA National Finals. it will be south vs north in both men and women, west and central have no chance

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Anonymous
Years ago

Of those programs, how many have a big local homegrown contingent v recruiting/spending?

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Anonymous
Years ago

It's all about buying a team , very little to do with junior development anymore

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RobT
Years ago

First I've heard of this. I thought that National C'hips would be 2 to 3 years away.

I want to throw my team's name, USC RipCity, 1 of 2 teams on the Sunshine Coast, in the hat.

Currently we are 5th after dropping our first 2 and winning our next 5. And that included defeating 3 of the top 4 teams, we haven't played top-placed Logan Thunder yet. That's 2 weeks away. Can't wait for that one.

Like most teams, we were short some key players with NBL and quarantine. We were lucky that import Eric McAlister was available from the start but we were waiting on Tanner Krebbs and Fabian Krslovic after their NBL and Kyle Zunic, a Wynthrop graduate (Aust). Still waiting for FK (injured) but Krebbs and Zunic have been awesome for us.

[By-the-way: This will be Ripcity's first and last season in the NBL1 as we and SC Phoenix will become 1 team - at this level, from next season.]

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Anonymous
Years ago

When was it ever about development. The only clubs that claim that lose and don't have the money to compete for the big names.

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RobT
Years ago

And on the statement, "Of those programs, how many have a big local homegrown contingent v recruiting/spending?", RipCity have 1 (to become 2) NBLers, 1 import, 1 x Ausie returning home and 1 x relocating Victorian. The rest of our roster are locals including juniors.

SC Phoenix already has a roster of locals and Jarrod Bairstowe. They aren't too far out of our top 4 either, 6th, atm(but currently losing badly to SDS Spartans right now).

I imagine our top 4 to be

Logan Thunder
Mackay Meteors
USC RipCity
(in any order)
and the 4th from Brisbane Capitals, Townsville Heat and Cairns Marlins.

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Bolt
Years ago

Where's the confirmation coming from? Can’t see anything on the nbl1 site...keen for this, should be fun.

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Anonymous
Years ago

NBL1 championship is still planning to go ahead this year in Melbourne. Winning state from this year will earn the rights to host the finals next year.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Is this competition going to be meaningless or not? Does each state have the same rules around team composition such as number of imports, number of restricted players, definition of a restricted player, loyalty clauses, points systems, salary caps etc etc. seems pointless playing apples against oranges

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Anonymous
Years ago

Isn't that the nbl and wnbl though, some teams have enough money, some have a truck load.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Who funds the trip for the winning team? Players? Club? State NBL1 association? Nbl1?

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Anonymous
Years ago

To those unaware of the tournament. Posted on the NBL1 website, May 12.

The Men's and Women’s Champion from each NBL1 Conference will converge on Victoria from September 10-12 for the inaugural NBL1 Finals weekend.

The winners of NBL1 Central (South Australia), NBL1 West (Western Australia), NBL1 South (Victoria, Tasmania) and NBL1 North (Queensland) from the Men’s and Women’s divisions will battle it out for the right to be crowned NBL1 Champion while also earning points for their Conference to host future NBL1 Finals weekends.

The 2021 NBL1 Finals will take place in Victoria from September 10-12.

The four-conference NBL1 Finals format is as follows:

Teams will play three games, one per day, Friday to Sunday

A random draw will take place mid-season to determine the Friday night schedule

The Saturday night schedule will be determined by the result of the Friday night games. The winner of Game 1 plays the loser of Game 2 and the winner of Game 2 plays the loser of Game 1

Sunday is Championship Day

The winners of the Saturday games play for the title of NBL1 Champion

The losers of the Saturday games play off for Host State ranking points

NBL1 Chief Commercial Officer Brad Joyner said: "The inaugural NBL1 Finals promises to be an enthralling weekend of basketball as Australia’s best teams battle it out for the national championship crown.

“Not only will teams be competing for the NBL1 Championship, but state pride will also be on the line as results in the NBL1 Finals will determine future hosting rights.

“NBL1 continues to change the game for winter basketball in Australia with increased exposure through our social media platforms, commercial partnerships and marketing power. We look forward to constant growth during the season and into the NBL1 Finals weekend."

No state can host the NBL1 Finals more than two years in a row with a points system in place across the NBL1 Finals weekend to determine future hosting rights.

The NBL1 Central, NBL1 West and NBL1 South seasons are underway while NBL1 North tips-off tomorrow, Thursday May 13. All games are streamed live and free on NBL1.com.au and the NBL App. Click here to view NBL1 fixture.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Sturt are largely home grown talent and they would be strong favourites to represent the central division in the men.

Also have a lot of talent playing elsewhere - Isaac White Ipswich, Tom Daly Mt Gambier, Alex Mudronja South

Maybe the best junior development club in the country.

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RobT
Years ago

RE: "Does each state have the same rules around team composition such as number of imports, number of restricted players, definition of a restricted player, loyalty clauses, points systems, salary caps etc etc. seems pointless playing apples against oranges."

Mostly yes. I don't think we have salary caps(?). I never hear them spoken about. Certainly, we (the North) believe that South conference is where the money is, but no beefs.

If salary caps are not intro-ed and enforced, guess we (all others conferences?) will have to think of other ways of getting the higher(est) profile players. Thankfully, Queenslanders already have (probably) the 2nd best league and a fantastic life-style to offer. Hope that that's enough to make us really competitive nationally.

As this (NBL1) competition's clubs are all State-owned, community-run, sponsorship-funded bodies and no multi-millionaire owners, economies are going to be different. That's just the way it is.

I might play Pink Ladies against Granny Smith's!

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Anonymous
Years ago

I count 4 players from Saturday's game from elsewhere. They recruit mostly in juniors then claim everyone as their homegrown talent.

Mudronja as an example.

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RobT
Years ago

Just read this; (Sturt)"Also have a lot of talent playing elsewhere - Isaac White Ipswich, Tom Daly Mt Gambier, Alex Mudronja South".

Would they qualify for another NBL1 team in national finals than the one they played for during their reg season and finals?

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Anonymous
Years ago

Still a lot less than most other clubs even if you want to count those who move in u14 etc

Reply #858276 | Report this post

';'
Years ago

Alex Mudronja South was poached from Woodville by Sturt .. Sturt talent.. yeah ok

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Anonymous
Years ago

If you include all the variations that help Sturt and dismiss all those that don't Sturt is clearly the best basketball club in the history of the world.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Last true Nationals was that every team paid their own way!

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Bolt
Years ago

Best development club in the country is Illawarra. Aussie hoopla did an article on it last year from memory.

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Looking Forward
Years ago

Not if Sturt are the best in the country, but they have been doing it very well for a long time now.

When you consider the massive difference in size between a club like Sturt and the huge Victorian associations, they are punching well above their weight.

Some talented players choose to move there because of the strength of their program.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Looking forward I think you are looking in the rear view mirror right now and looking forward at all.

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Anonymous
Years ago

So back on topic - Who are peoples thoughts on the winners ? Could Frankston make it a double ? Both teams looking strong.

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Anonymous
Years ago

As mentioned South and North will be miles ahead in both me and women.

Reply #858365 | Report this post

Hoops

NBL1 Championship

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