The St Mary's Gaels, who feature a number of Australian born players on their roster have beaten the University Richmond Spiders in their 1st round match up in the NCAA tournament. The Gaels won 80 to 71 in the end led by Omar Samham with a monster 29 points and 11 rebounds, while Mickey McConnell pitched in with 23. Our best placed Aussie was Matthew Dellavedova who scored only 6 points, but managed to pull down 5 offensive rebounds. Rebounds is what won the game for the Gaels, in all they pulled down 37 rebounds (16 offensive) to Richmonds weak 16 rebound effort.
The Gaels are now likely to face Villanova in the 2nd round which will prove a much harder assignment. Another Aussie who has been in hot form was quiet tonight in Ben Allen, look for him to come back and have a big game in the second round.
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Great news for basketball fans in Sydney, you will have a team in the 2010/11 NBL Season. Will it be called the Sydney Kings? who knows.
Sydney will once again have a team in the National Basketball League, with Basketball Australia announcing today that a club based in the New South Wales capital would be included amongst the nine teams to make up an expanded NBL competition for the 2010/11 season.
“I am delighted to announce that the NBL will be back in Sydney next season, with a very strong consortium making a compelling case for BA to issue them with a license,” said Sengstock. “Their application was unanimously endorsed by the NBL Commission last night and as a result they will take their place in the NBL in season 2010/11.
Team name? Unknown
Were will they play? Unknown
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The title says it all, Bogut's season gets better a better as the season goes on. At this rate he might just been looking at some All-NBA honours by the end of the season!
From NBA.com "Bogut led Milwaukee to a 3-0 week, which included wins over the Celtics and Jazz. Bogut led the league in blocks (3.67) and was second in rebounding (13.7), while scoring 19.3 points per contest. With a point-rebound double-double in each game, Bogut now has 32 double-doubles on the season, placing him eighth in the NBA."
Next up for the Bucks is the Clippers. Bogut normally plays well after rest, and they will have had 3 days off before this contest.
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The Perth Wildcats came into the game as hot favourites, but at half time the game very much look in the balance with the Wollongong Hawks seemingly having their way on the offensive end. But the 3rd quarter changed the game for the Wildcats, Kevin Lisch continued to play well knocking down shots (he had 29 points at the last break) and it is was the Perth Wildcats full court defense and their offensive rebounding which rattled the Wollongong Hawks,led by Galen Young among others. This combined with a bit of luck that 3 pointer by Kevin Lisch on the buzzer should not have counted. But you make you own luck in sport and this was no different, the Perth Wildcats ran away with the game (96-72) in the 4th quarter and history has been written.
The Perth Wildcats are now the most successful team in Australian history having now won 5 championships (separating themselves form the Adelaide 36ers and the Melbourne Tigers on 4)
Martin Cattalini has now retired form basketball were it al start for him, he now has 4 championship rings (2 with Perth and 2 with Adelaide)
Kudos must go to the Wollongong Hawks, they were at one stage not going to be part of the league and were always written off. The NBL needs fairytales and teams against the odds that play with heart and the Hawks have done that
Congrats Perth Wildcats, enjoy the PARTY
The Wollongong Hawks have forced a deciding game in the NBL Grand Final Series, following a stirring 75-63 triumph over the Perth Wildcats at the WIN Entertainment Centre on Tuesday night.
Wollongong protected its home court in front of a sell-out crowd for the final time this season and the result means the Hawks suffered only one loss in 17 outings at the WIN Entertainment Centre.
The teams will now battle for the championship at Challenge Stadium in Perth on Friday night.
Wollongong ahm Hawks 75 (Tragardh 28, L Martin 11, R Martin 10)
Perth Wildcats 63 (Lisch 11, Weigh 10, Redhage 9)
@ WIN Entertainment Centre, 9/3/2010. Crowd: 5786.
MATCH REPORT
BOXSCORE
Well Done To The Canberra Capitals 09/10 Champions WNBL: GRAND FINAL RESULT CANBERRA TRANSACT CAPITALS 75 (N Hurst 21, L Jackson 18, C Wilson 12) def GLOBAL METALS BULLEEN BOOMERS 70 (J O’Hea 26, E Cambage 16, S Milner 8 ) Sellout At The Cage, Melbourne
The Wollongong Hawks have advanced to the NBL Grand Final Series, following a hard fought 88-76 victory over the Townsville Crocodiles
The Hawks will now face the Perth Wildcats in the best-of-three Finals, with Game One at Challenge Stadium on Friday. The game will be aired live on Foxsports 3 from 10pm EST.
For those with out Foxtel, the games will also be live on internet via FIBA TV
Read more and discuss at the NBL Fourm
The game looked liked a complete turn around of game 1. At the final break, the Wildcats looked out of the game, they could not hit a jumper and all their around the bucket shots just seamed to bounce out. James Harvey was simply on fire for the Gold Coast Blaze and it looked smooth sailing for the Blaze and most probably a blow out. But bit by bit the Wildcats got back in the game in the 4th, Cattalini seamed to get under the Blaze's skin and all of a sudden the Wildcats were getting easy transition baskets, while the Blaze's offensive sets dried up.
With only minutes to go, the game still looked safe for the Blaze, but some big shots from Kevin (DELISH) Lisch put the Wildcats ahead and they never looked back and ended up winning the by 4 points. A great night for Perth Wildcats fans, the exact opposite for Gold Coast Blaze fans. If the Blaze can take something from this season, it is their crowds, they have slowly but surely built up a good supporter base in the Gold Coast this season
The Wildcats have booked them selves a spot in the Grand final and will play the winner of either the Wollongong Hawks or the Townsville Crocs (game 2 is Wednesday night)
BOXSCORE
Discuss at : NBL Semi Final 1 | Perth Wildcats vs Gold Coast Blaze
Just an FYI to all Australian basketball fans that the NBL Finals are being played live on Foxsports and the games are also available live online via FIBA TV for those that don't have foxtel.
Its not everyday that basketball is live and free in Australia so support it to ensure that it stays.
2009/2010 has been a great year for basketball in Australia, Foxtel is showing more NBL games than previous years, many games are available online and the coverage of the NBA has increased due to One HD.
NBL Semi Final 1 | Perth Wildcats vs Gold Coast Blaze
NBL Semi Final 2 | Wollongong Hawks vs Townsville Crocodiles
Well for Aussie basketball fans it is well known that Andrew Bogut has moved to another level in the NBA this season. Tonight was no exception.
Bogut scored 24 points (on 12 of 15 shooting), pulled down 20 boards and blocked 5 shots. For those playing NBA fantasy, that is stat line that will make you happy. For those Aussiebball fans it also makes us happy. Not only did he have a great game, he also did it against David Lee, who was picked ahead of him in the NBA allstar game. Do I sense a bit of pay back fro the Bogey Man?
Next up for the Bucks and Bogut are New Orleans and Indiana, could be some more monster games coming
Discuss at: Australian Players Overseas Forum and NBA Forum
