MILESTONE: Thursday night, Stuart Macdonald will become the 9th player to play 300 games for the basketball club.
Stu has pretty much achieved everything that is possible to achieve in the basketball club. I could do a massive write up but it would take too long – just look at the list of his achievements … almost unparalleled – in my opinion he is one of the 5 best players to ever play for our club.
2013 – Best Club Man
2009 – Club Champion
2008 – A’s MVP
2006 – B’s MVP
2007 and 2005 – Wednesday MVP
4 Time Players’ Player Winner (A’s x 2, B’s and D’s) – one of only two 4 time winners
3 Lowbrowns (Wednesday night Medal)
6 Saturday titles (A’s 4 – 2008-2011, E’s 2013, D’s 2014)
Unanimously voted in as a Member of 20 Year Team for Old Reds
4th in Points Scored All Time
7th in Points Average All Time
9th in Games Played All Time
2nd in Free Throws Made All Time
4th in Free Throws Attempted All Time
10th in Free Throw Percentage
4th in 3’s All Time
9th in Fouls All Time
6th most points for the A’s
3rd most points for Crazies
Stu joined in 2005 and will become a Life Member of the club this year.
I will tell a couple of stories, in 2011 Stu did his knee and had to have surgery that kept him out of the game for 18 months. In the game he did his knee, Stu was playing amazing – he had 21 points at half time, scored 4 more in the first couple of minutes of the 2nd half – I would argue that he having one of the best games ever played for the club. He then blew out his knee. In 2013 he came back – and it was a work in progress … he joined the F’s – they went undefeated for the season … 17-0 going into the Grand Final. For Stu he was having a quiet season – he averaged 6ppg as he slowly came back. In the final – the F’s found themselves down double figures and nothing was working. In the 2nd half – Stu tapped into his former self and went nuts – he scored 15 in the 2nd half and played unhindered for the first time in the season. He hit a huge 3 in the last minute to get them within one and then Jay hit the game winner on the buzzer. From there Stu joined the D’s in 2014 and lead the team in scoring and had a huge GF to win back to back. This season – he is improving even more averaging 14 a game for the E’s in B Grade.
In every season Stu has played in from 2008 - his team has won a title.
In no uncertain terms – he is one of the best A Grade players ever winning 4 titles, he is a Club Champion and he is one of the great club men in our club.
Most of all, to quote a great man … “he changed Palky's life”.
MILESTONE: Brad Daniel is the latest player to reach 200 games for the Old Reds.
Brad joined the club in 2000 and played his first 6 seasons as the member of the B’s and is the current leader in games played for the B’s with 108. He won his first of 3 titles in the B’s in 2004 with Max, Roughie and Palky – he was the anchor in D and a timely scorer in the post – skills that he has carried across his whole time in the club. In 2006 he moved to the C’s, where he played 2 seasons winning a title in 2007 (I think his team beat Mick Hill’s team in the Qualifying Final as I recall). He was the team's leading scorer in the 2007 and also won the Players’ Player and MVP. In 2008 Brad moved back into the B’s and was awarded Best Team Man that year.
Brad become a Life Member of the basketball club in 2009 and then as often happens on receiving this honour (see Ben Christie, Ben Foran, Phil Motteram, Andrew Sullivan) – he moved away.
On his return in 2013 he joined up with the E’s – reuniting with Roughie and Max – they fell short this year but regrouped in 2014, winning the Grand Final in dramatic fashion. Brad won his 2nd Players’ Player in the 2014 E’s in the closest count of all time – winning with the last votes of the night (sorry Bubs).
Brad can always be counted on to be at all club events – regaling us with stories of some time he blocked the shit out of some guy. As you can see – he is a winner, both of individual awards and championships – he one of only 6 guys to win 3 Saturday titles and 2 or more Players’ Players – the other 5 (Jack Harford, Stu MacDonald, Andrew Williams, Nic Blair and Tom Lunn) all members of the Team of the 20 Years … pretty good company.
Well done Brad.
To the results:
A's (5-1) - BYE
B's (1-1-4) v Gateway A (3-1-2) - Written by Jono - The Bs started the game off well with even scores against Gateway (it was still tip off), for a while the game was close and the B's were in it to win it. Then a few minutes pasted and Gateway had a lead. Joel and Brendon hit a few shots and Phil was being aggressive inside taking good shots, unfortunately they were just not dropping. Half time 29-17 Gateway were up. The 2nd half saw Angus join the team after burning a Uni exam to make the game in time but he soon realised that was a bad idea, he hit a few shots and created some movement in the Forrest that is the B's offence. The 2nd half was similar, Brendon, Joel and Tim hit a few shots and Manners and Phil were being aggressive but the ball just wouldn't go in! Joel was a great addition on Saturday and the Bs benefited from having that extra forward on the court! Lost 36-54 - Jono 14, Joel 8, Gus 6.
Palky said something after the game that has stuck in my mind "you guys are so close to being better" as harsh as it sounds it is 100% correct, there is such a little distance we need to come for our game to go so much further and the Bs can actually start to be a threat in the Saturday A grade.
Jon 14, Joel 8, Angus 6
C's/White (4-1-2) v D's/White (3-4) - Bubs: Plenty of free throws were missed, first 10 minutes were really flat from both teams. We didn't build our lead with a run, just slowly built it over the course of the game. I need to learn to run whilst watching the ball. BB: They started in man. As Bub said we were tentative at first then we started getting aggressive and began breaking them down one on one. Road Train hit a 3. They switched to 2-1-2 and then to a 3-2, but our passing game in the half court was too good. Goody: I’d say it was a balanced team effort across the board, we didn't give them easy looks or second chances and we exploited some mismatches when in offence. If we'd hit some more free throws and a few unlucky rolls dropped we would have buried them! D's win 39-22. C's - G 11, Bubs 9, Moops 6 -
E’s/Yellow (6-1) v Knightsbridge A (1-1-5) – Written by Palky – Knightsbridge are solid and have a draw, 1, 5 and 7 point loses, they have a couple of good scorers and are active on the boards – Yellow would need to shoot well. Yellow shot well – Madman was hitting his jumper early, Palky hit a couple of free throws (showing you how it is done) and two 3’s, Stu hit a 3 and got a couple of layups (cos Stu is good at layups) … Thommo also got 2/2 from the line. Knightsbridge were getting good looks every possession and it was a bit closer than the score line indicated. Yellow up 27-16 at the half. The 2nd half was the Dangerous Stu show – he hit five 3’s and two crafty layups (as you recall he is at good at layups). Yellow were moving the ball well, getting it inside out with Thommo and Big A passing the ball expertly to all the shooters. Defensively Future and Madman were out on all jumpshots and the bigs were cleaning the glass. Palky got a late 3 and two more layups (one off and awesome outlet from Tom “Big A” Brady). Yellow win 61-31. Stu had 26, Palky 16 and Madman 6. Best game of the year for Yellow.
F's (6-1) vs Unley Park A (3-4) - Written by Max - The F’s went into the game wary of Unley Park who had been dropped from B grade a few weeks earlier. However the F’s started quickly scoring off the centre tip and were never headed again. The F’s displayed good ball rotation and made the most of their open looks at the basket. Mike was hitting jump shots from everywhere. Meanwhile Cam continued his recent run of good form, dominating on the boards at both ends, and making the most of his shot opportunities around the basket. At the other end, intense man defence was denying Unley Park any easy shots. The F’s went into half time up 28-13. The second half was more of the same except for a spell where the tiring F’s took their foot off the pedal, perhaps a sign that better attendance at Tuesday training might be beneficial. The F’s ran out winners 52-30. Cam and Mike had 12 points each, and Brad had 10. Thanks to Rough Justice for scoring, hopefully we will see his return to the court next week.
G's (5-0) - BYE
H's (2-3) v Burnside City A (0-6) - The H-Bombs returned to the hardwood after their maiden win last week, to face yet another team in the lower echelon of E/F grade. The opposition gave the impression during warm-ups that they were as short on talent as they were in stature. This impression did not fade when the game started, the H-Bombs scoring directly from the tip to establish a lead they would never relinquish. During the first half they continued to score steadily, dominate the boards and play solid D, although the lack of ability of the opposition to pose a credible threat in any aspect of the game contributed significantly to the one-sided nature of the contest. In fact they only had one player who appeared to have any basketball ability or height, and they didn’t bring him off the bench until half-way through the first half. The score at intermission was 23-11. With the result of the game never in doubt, and zealous officiating causing individual foul counts to rise, the second half defence by the H-Bombs was much less intense, allowing the Burnsiders to pick up a few easy baskets late in the game and make their score respectable. The final score represented the closest margin of the second half, the H-Bombs winning 39-29. All seven Redmen scored, Rhys scoring the most with 13 and Sam backing him up with 8.
Lady Reds (6-1) v Hawthorn A (0-7) – Written by Palky – 2nd v Last … it wasn’t the best game of basketball, the Lady Reds were too big, fast and skilful for Hawthorn who were a little underskilled. Lots of layups, lots of offensive boards, lots of jumpers. Not much more to say really … other than Georgie hit a 3 (her first ever for the Lady Reds). Win 56-7. Rachel 13, Claire O 12, Alicia 12.
Palky's Player of the Week - Week 7 - Stu MacDonald
Week 8 - Game Times:
PAOCBC As vs Gateway Baptist A - Adelaide Arena - Ct 1 - 4:20
PAOCBC Bs vs SPOC A - Adelaide Arena - Ct 1 - 1:00
PAOCBC Cs vs PAOCBC Es - Adelaide Arena - Ct 1 - 1:50
PAOCBC Ds vs SPOC B - Adelaide Arena - Ct 1 - 2:40
PAOCBC Fs vs SPOC D - Adelaide Arena - Ct 2 - 1:00
PAOCBC Gs vs PAOCBC Hs - Adelaide Arena - Ct 3 - 1:50
Lady Reds vs St Casimir Catholic A - Adelaide Arena - Ct 1 - 3:30
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