Hey all,
Few things this week. Info about subs, Pub Crawl and also new format for training.
This is the last week to pay your subs or make arrangements to pay. If you have not paid or don't stick to the arrangement then you will not be able to play in Week 6 after the bye. No exceptions!
PAOCBC Eleventh Or Maybe Twelfth Annual Pub Crawl – Reminder – Saturday 7 June 2014, high noon.
Written by Big A - Clear your diary, tell your friends, put the berocca in position – Saturday 7 June looms, and with it, the Crawl.
In 2013 the Club took the tram in a line; this year, the bus in a circle. New York has five boroughs, the City of Adelaide has six quadrants (if “quad” meant “six”) – we will visit them all. Amusing things will almost certainly happen. Seven Stars is Pub Zero. We meet there at High Noon. Those who wish to, may lunch. We rally and march at 12.40 sharp for Pub One. The public bus timetable waits for no man, nor will we. For most of the distance, we ride. For part, we will walk. Dress accordingly. Make sure you have paid your subs. Bring a $2 coin and a $10 note, and also money for drinks and food. Bring your friends, and be responsible for them. Bring your “inside voice” for the times we share public transport with the public. Bring “the noise”, for when it is appropriate.The Crawl will conclude and disperse at somewhere near 8pm, somewhere near Rundle Street (bus timetables are certain, the capacity of the group, plus beer, to meet timings less so). The afternoon will by then be old, but the night young for those who wish to claim it. This will be a good event ... but not as good as this.
At the committee meeting - we discussed the format of training. It was acknowledged that while scrimmage is important/fun a number of guys have suggested that we go back to a warm-up/skills portion of training.
So we decided on this format and will try it and see how we go.
Training starts at 6pm. At 6pm sharp we will start training.
6.00-6.30 - Whole club training. (Layups, 5 man weave, 3 on 2 etc) + weekly catch up
6.30-7.00 - Divide into 2 courts - scrimmage on one court (for those who want to scrimmage) and drills/skills session on one court
7.00-8.00 - Scrimmage
To the reports:
A's (4-0) v SPOC A - Written by Orks - Coming off three wins in a row, the A's were feeling confident. Not an unwarranted confidence that my younger and less worldly sibling had in his bets with me, but a calm focus compounded by hours of training together, and most importantly, strikes on the W column. This confidence was further boosted after Old Bill informed us that Saints were without Kong and several other key players. The game started the way it ended: scrappy. There were lots of turnovers and miscues, Orken being responsible for a hefty proportion, occasioning one of them by spinning deftly out bounds on an ill-conceived post move. The scores were low and level for the first few minutes before Phil hit a 3 and we started to get a bit more flow on offense. Jack and Orken put on a glorious display of Buddy-BallTM on a 3 on 3 fast break with Jack hitting the glistening nubile Orken in stride for a monster two handed tomahawk. Orken reported seeing 2 of the saints defenders “coming at” him, but after he simultaneously glared at them both directly in the eye, they backed off and watched as he soared above them for the flush. This gargantuan feat gathered some much needed momentum for the Reds as they began to get their offense back on track and get on top of the game. Foo was back in form taking it to the hole for an and one and Old Tauny Port got the better of How Do I Hautop on multiple plays. Whilst the Reds pushed the margin out to around 10ish, the game resettled into its original scrappiness for the last quarter and a half. Good Will Hunting was having a shocker and had his last two feeble attempts destroyed by Orken. In general, the refs were their standard terrible on both ends, but one of them really distinguished himself in that field when he called Saints ball after Hautop blatantly threw the ball out of bounds all alone. After what seemed like our worst game of the year, the game was over and we had scored 48 points and won by 15. It was never in doubt but it was still a bit of a struggle to get in a rhythm on offense, something that will surely develop in the coming weeks. Orken and Jack scored 11 each (cute), Foo and Phil had 8.
B's (3-1) v Oakden A - Win by Forfeit. Angus and Jono are claiming the win due to their lewd comments last week. Here is a video on hastags instead.
C's (3-1) v D's (3-1) - Written by G - Round 4 we had the dance with your sister round (worse than a double fail), playing against the D’s. Going into this we knew that the D’s were most likely top with 3 30 point wins under their belt, with Ned and Frangas carrying most of the scoring load with a good support cast. Our focus was to stop these 2 and try and limit the damage that the role players could inflict. The first half was a very close contest on the court with the scoreboard unfortunately not reflecting this for the D’s. The C’s came out in a man and the D’s in a box and 1 on G. Early on the box and 1 allowed Goody and Fancy Krantz to work together to get some good looks and assists. Then BB nailed some jumpers to give the C’s some breathing room going into the half. For the D’s Dangerous Stu was proving very hard to stop. Driving in and getting layups or to the line. At half time the score was 15-8. In the second half the C’s were able to get in a good rythym for most of the half, getting some really nice drive and dishes, exploiting the box and 1. Hendo on the receiving end of some nice passes. Once again our FT were terrible, 2/10. For the D’s scoring was still a struggle, Stu hit a couple more layups but D’s overall accuracy around the rim hurt them all game, Goody doing a great job guarding the rim. Palky hit a pull up bank 2 from the foul line. Final score 31-18. C’s top scorers were BB and Hendo with 8, Fancy with 5. D’s top scorers were Stu with 10, Palky, Ned, and Road Train with 2.
*Last week I forgot to mention that The Marine got a huge block.
E's (3-1) vs Spicer Uniting - Written by Rough - E's went big this week; with Pritch and Foo out, Tye and Flair in. The umpires were pedantic, albeit consistent, with more off-ball offensive and defensive fouls than on-ball. Felt a little like they were protecting Spicer from a more physical game, but fouls were going both ways. In reality Spicer were never in the game, with the first half ending 21-10. Offensive boards provided easy put-backs for the whole team and defensive boards generating points for the quicker guys in transition. E's kept up the pressure to the end, allowing Spicer only 4 in the second half. As has become the curse of the E's, we managed only 1/7 from the FT line. Good all round game, though not exactly stretching the team. Win 47-14. Highscorers: Bubs 15, Brad 10.
F's (2-1) v Golden Grove A - Written by Lenny - The F's had been gathering intel from 2013 on Golden Grove A's and were expecting Stretch, Dufus and Jesus as well as a dude who flops; we didn't realise that The Pear would also be on their side as he was out umpiring and he still doesn't like us. There were 2 genuine travels called and then about another 10 iffy ones? We went out man and with Hanzo jumping out of the blocks, we were 9 - 0 up after 6 minutes (and they were 6 - 0 in terms of foul count) but it was GG who were wearing most of the wrath of the umps (and The Pear's incompetence). They called a time out and went on a bit of a run getting to the hole through the back door. At 9 - 7 we steadied, went into zone and held them reasonably well and went out to 13 - 7 score approaching half time. The F's were working on running the play from practice on Tuesday against a 3 - 2 zone and when Toma looked up and no-one was moving and no-one was really in position he exclaimed Jesus Christ (not at the GG Jesus or the real one) - whistle / tech / GG to the line and possession. Foot off the pedal and we were 13 - 13 at half time having suffered the first of many long bombs that banked. Back into man after the break and another banked tres to GG and we were 18 - 13 down. Time out called, settled and the wise man Matt Trim stepped up to the plate with 2 long bombs and we kept in the hunt; it kept being 2 down, 4 down, 2 down etc. Defence was strengthening and we were holding and up sprang Bjork - fouled - sent to the foul line - scores even 24 - 24. Fouled - sent to the foul line - scores 26 - 24. We got it out to 6 lead; they stole the ball twice in the crunch time but mostly failed to convert. Final scores 32 - 28 with a hard fought and pleasing win (especially having a 19 - 10 run in the second half to bring us back and #10 whinged and pushed and got an intentional - but he didn't flop. Even spread of points - Bjork 8 (he's coming in his best game yet); Toma & Hanzo 7; Phil 6.
G's (0-3) v Northgate A - Written by Hitman - This week the mighty G-Force faced the five-man Northgate Ballers*. From the outset the Redman were moving the ball well and getting good looks from short range, but the shots just weren’t falling. At the other end they were getting stops and rebounds. The Ballers seemed keen not to run the length of the court if they didn’t need to, and applied pressure in the backcourt rather than getting back in transition. This strategy worked as we repeatedly turned the ball over in the back-court, undoing our solid defensive work by gifting them extra shots. After giving up a multiple-basket lead, the Redmen finally got on the board thanks to a slick pass from Udit to Dillon, which stood as the highlight of the game. The rest of the half then became frustrating for both teams, even the simplest shots bouncing out rather than in the basket more often than not. At half time the Ballers had kept their early margin intact to lead 17-9, but the margin between the teams didn’t seem that great. A half-time resolution not to fall into our usual scoring drought was carried out on the court, instead it was the tiring Ballers who struggled, and we held them scoreless for 7 minutes while reducing the lead to 6 points. Unfortunately they regrouped after a timeout and pushed the lead out again over the next few minutes. The Redmen switched to a full-court man defence against the tiring Ballers in an attempt to force turnovers. Defensively this stopped the flow of points, but we still couldn’t find the middle of the hoop at the other end. The final score was 27-18 but the final margin flattered the opposition. Dillon worked hard as ever for his 9 points and James scored 3.
*That’s what it says on their uniforms
Lady Reds (3-1) v Taperoo A - The Reds were up against an unknown Taperoo team ... if they are anything like their male counterparts they might just club the girls. Jordy was the quickest player on the court and she was getting lay up after lay up running past Taperoo on the break. The Reds were up by 15 early - Wans and Claire were cleaning up on the boards and converting inside and Emma, Loz and Megan all hit jumpers. Taperoo hit some late 3's - Reds up 30-12 at halftime. I didn't get to see the 2nd half but I was informed that there were lots of fancy passes, 360 dunks, trash talking and general shenanigans. I also believe at one point someone pulled a ladder out of their afro ... no wait that was something I saw in Super Harlem Globetrotters. Reds won 39-27 - Jordy 13, Loz 7 and Wans 5 - everyone scored.
Palky's Super Top Trio - Week 4
3rd - Alex Bubner
2nd - Ben Orken
1st - Tim Wong
Game Times: Week 5:
Same as always =) I will let you know later in the week.
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
Monday, 19 May 2014
SACBA Week 3
The Reds were playing two derbies this weekend - the A's and B's and the E's and F's. Derbies are never fun ... but guess they are part of being awesome. Only 2 teams now are undefeated - the A's and the D's.
Next week I promise I will return to the sweet links that I have added in previous years. It has been a rush this year to get these reports up. If you ever have any funny links just email them through.
The stats are updated here ... including the ridiculous 62 points by Mike Hill. We have all heard the story, we will hear about it for the rest of our lives ... let's pretend it never happened.
To the reports:
Next week I promise I will return to the sweet links that I have added in previous years. It has been a rush this year to get these reports up. If you ever have any funny links just email them through.
The stats are updated here ... including the ridiculous 62 points by Mike Hill. We have all heard the story, we will hear about it for the rest of our lives ... let's pretend it never happened.
To the reports:
A’s (3-0) v B’s (2-1) - Time once again for the “Dance With Your Sister” Derby - it is quite a one sided competition - from my quick calculations we would have played each other 20 times - the A’s winning 18-2. The A’s had their familiar line-up (minus Tauny) and the B’s had their full team for the first time this year with Lachy back from his back injury, Manners in for his first game and Kartik back in the line up.
We went into the break up 24-8, and as we've done so far this year, backed it up in the second. We only allowed 3 players to score each half, #35 the most dangerous - but after drawing a charge & then a couple of cheap fouls under the ring, he was fouled off to leave Vytis with just 4 to finish the last couple of minutes. But the damage was done by then - Brendon continuing to be the Everywhere Man - getting good positions for put-backs, on the break or working that southpaw of his for an 8 pt half & 11 point game. Reg hit a couple of nice passes on the break, Ned finishing a great running game with 10 points (but only 2 from 7 at the stripe - much to Palk's amusement - and was the first time I'd heard him called Edward). Nice to have Palk coming off the bench for some shooting power, he & Josh had 6 each. Another solid win - 44-17. Only downside was our foul shooting - just 6 from 18 as a team.
Thanks to Udit for doing the heavy lifting of the pen for our game - I like that rather than signing the Scorer section of the scoresheet he just wrote 'UDIT'.
* Saint Casimir is the patron saint of Lithuania - Vytis (the White Knight) is the state emblem of Lithuania
** both a joke and a comment about him slicing to the bucket - see what I did there?
The A’s jumped out to a 7-0 start - Phil hit a 3 and Orks scored inside for a couple of baskets. The B’s shot a bevy of free throws but only scored one field goal in the first half. Jack hit a 3, Phil hit another and Orks, Hobbs and Foo kept scoring inside. A’s up 21-10 at half time. The B’s went to a man in the 2nd half - Lachy scored inside and Big Phill hit a jumper for the B’s but the A’s kept getting to the line and kept the lead in double figures. As the B’s put in one last effort to come back Jack stole the ball and scored on the break and then hit a short jumper. Jono and Mike scored some late baskets but the A’s defence was too much and the B’s lack of chemistry was all too much. A’s win 42-26 - Orks had 12, Jack 10 and Phil 9 for the A’s, Jono had 9, Angus, Lachy and Kartik 4. Captain 62 had 2.
C’s (2-1) v Hope A - Written by G - Round 3 we were up against Hope A. Hope was pretty much all they had, because they didn’t bring a lot of basketball. We started well, getting many open shots but not a lot was dropping. Goody and Nick were cleaning up on the offensive glass all game. With 3 bigs on Hendo had to play the 3 role and did a good job, hitting a nice jumper from the foul line. Half time we were up 24-5. Second half was more of the same, with the refs feeling like they were left out of the first half calling 15 fouls to 7 in the first half. Once again our shooting from the line let us down (4/14 in the second half, 29%). We won 43-15. Top scorers were G with 12, Goody with 11, Nick with 8.
D’s (3-0) v St Casmir A - Written by Sime - The D's faced up against the green machine of St Casimir (the team with Vytis on the singlet - am guessing there's some religious context - sounds like a job for Orks or Palk *). From seeing them at the court last week, they looked a decent size with a couple of athletic looking types. We started in a 2-3 zone given it had been working - it continued to work. We moved well to close out on shooters, intercepted some passes and then got running - always helps with the Road Train pulling the big boards and giving outlet passes. We opened up a handy buffer of perhaps 15 points before we let Vytis get on the board, Ned doing some damage in the first half with 8 cutting points**. With 3's in the 1st half to Reg, Stu, Brendan and Palk, Vytis came out to anything on range, further opening up the key and allowing Ned that space along with Brendon and Josh to get some good looks.
We went into the break up 24-8, and as we've done so far this year, backed it up in the second. We only allowed 3 players to score each half, #35 the most dangerous - but after drawing a charge & then a couple of cheap fouls under the ring, he was fouled off to leave Vytis with just 4 to finish the last couple of minutes. But the damage was done by then - Brendon continuing to be the Everywhere Man - getting good positions for put-backs, on the break or working that southpaw of his for an 8 pt half & 11 point game. Reg hit a couple of nice passes on the break, Ned finishing a great running game with 10 points (but only 2 from 7 at the stripe - much to Palk's amusement - and was the first time I'd heard him called Edward). Nice to have Palk coming off the bench for some shooting power, he & Josh had 6 each. Another solid win - 44-17. Only downside was our foul shooting - just 6 from 18 as a team.
Thanks to Udit for doing the heavy lifting of the pen for our game - I like that rather than signing the Scorer section of the scoresheet he just wrote 'UDIT'.
* Saint Casimir is the patron saint of Lithuania - Vytis (the White Knight) is the state emblem of Lithuania
** both a joke and a comment about him slicing to the bucket - see what I did there?
E’s (2-1) v F’s (1-1) - Written by Max - Up until Wednesday night the E's thought they had the week off with a bye, but with a late regrading of Taperoo, were suddenly facing a derby with the F's. Neither team was to be at full strength with the E's without a holidaying Bubs, and Tye still out injured. The F's were down on numbers as well, though they recruited well last minute picking up G-man from the C’s. The game started off super intense with the umpires seemingly happy to allow a physical style of play. The E's looked good rotating the ball well to find a wide open Max for a long jumpshot and a pair of 3 pointers. Rough Justice was leading the fast breaks and everyone running hard to provide support. For the F's Orken was proving difficult to handle with his athleticism around the hoop. The F's kept racking up the fouls though too, sending the E's into the bonus and to the line. The start of the second half was a grind, with more fouls than points. The E's only managed 1 point in the first twelve minutes, allowing the F's to creep closer. When G-man started to string together some points, and Hanzalik slashed through the lane for a layup, it looked like they were building momentum. However a 3-pointer from Foo and converted 3-point play by Cam kept the E's nose in front, controlling the final minutes to keep a safe lead. With only 6 teams left in the league this was the first of many derbys this season. Brad and Max had 8 points each for the E's, and G-man had 9 points and Hanzalik 6 points for the F's.
F's written by Phil - A few schedule and venue changes later and the Fs were up against our interclub rivals in the Es. The disappointment of not playing against Taperoo was soon replaced with some extensive preplanning on how to take out Bubs and nullify the influence of B-Rad down low. The morning of the game saw us with 5 players and the recruiters went into overdrive with Palky snaring club champ G and Tone ringing in the handy Nico for a very reluctant run. After asking everyone to be there early, Phil was late (buying beer and driving round the block after missing the driveway. Twice.) so the pregame chat was replaced with uniform swaps and lots of bloke in undies on the sidelines. E’s Max hit a three on their first offence but after that it settled into a bit of a grind as both teams focused down low without causing the scorers too much trouble. Meanwhile our fouls were racking up sending E’s to the line in the later stages of the half. 21-15 at halftime, Jon and Nico both having 4 on the board.
Our D in the opening stanza of part 2 was pretty damn good. We held the E’s to a single point in the first 10 min while Jon and Toma finished awesome drives and closing the gap to 20-22. A few fortuitous baskets back to back to the E’s as well as a 3 from Dan Foo pushed them ahead and although G stepped up his scoring to keep us in touch, we were never able to bridge the gap. Again our ball control let us down a bit and while we focused our D on their inside game and did really well holding them at bay, the 3x3pointers from Max and Foo stretched us too far in the end. Final score 34-26. Jon and Toma both with 5 and G with 9.
Play of the Day
Anyone who has seen Hansolo at his best knows it’s a pretty awesome sight. His drive on Saturday started well beyond the foul line and finished inches from the ring with a trademark figure roll. It’ll be tough move to beat for play of the year.
The Bjork Report.
Points required: 38, Points this week: 0, Points required for average: 58
Bjork had a tough game this week with nothing rolling his way, including his own common sense. The stakes have now been raised with additional bets made on a 25+game. Bjork is banking on us doing a Mike-esk loaded match but what he doesn’t realize is we already pass him the ball on every offense!
Quote of the week: “How about a 68? Its like a 69 but I’ll owe you one”. Reggie Miller
F's written by Phil - A few schedule and venue changes later and the Fs were up against our interclub rivals in the Es. The disappointment of not playing against Taperoo was soon replaced with some extensive preplanning on how to take out Bubs and nullify the influence of B-Rad down low. The morning of the game saw us with 5 players and the recruiters went into overdrive with Palky snaring club champ G and Tone ringing in the handy Nico for a very reluctant run. After asking everyone to be there early, Phil was late (buying beer and driving round the block after missing the driveway. Twice.) so the pregame chat was replaced with uniform swaps and lots of bloke in undies on the sidelines. E’s Max hit a three on their first offence but after that it settled into a bit of a grind as both teams focused down low without causing the scorers too much trouble. Meanwhile our fouls were racking up sending E’s to the line in the later stages of the half. 21-15 at halftime, Jon and Nico both having 4 on the board.
Our D in the opening stanza of part 2 was pretty damn good. We held the E’s to a single point in the first 10 min while Jon and Toma finished awesome drives and closing the gap to 20-22. A few fortuitous baskets back to back to the E’s as well as a 3 from Dan Foo pushed them ahead and although G stepped up his scoring to keep us in touch, we were never able to bridge the gap. Again our ball control let us down a bit and while we focused our D on their inside game and did really well holding them at bay, the 3x3pointers from Max and Foo stretched us too far in the end. Final score 34-26. Jon and Toma both with 5 and G with 9.
Play of the Day
Anyone who has seen Hansolo at his best knows it’s a pretty awesome sight. His drive on Saturday started well beyond the foul line and finished inches from the ring with a trademark figure roll. It’ll be tough move to beat for play of the year.
The Bjork Report.
Points required: 38, Points this week: 0, Points required for average: 58
Bjork had a tough game this week with nothing rolling his way, including his own common sense. The stakes have now been raised with additional bets made on a 25+game. Bjork is banking on us doing a Mike-esk loaded match but what he doesn’t realize is we already pass him the ball on every offense!
Quote of the week: “How about a 68? Its like a 69 but I’ll owe you one”. Reggie Miller
G’s (0-2) v Knightsbridge A - Written by Hitman - After a week’s hiatus, G-Force returned to the court, this week in the familiar surrounds of Cedar College. As a change from our repeated contests against SPOC, our opponents were the unfamiliar Knightsbridge, a team that had come down from the grade above in the off-season. They appeared to be a team long on youth but short on inches, and a scouting report suggested they hadn’t met a shot they wouldn’t take. As the game commenced the Redmen moved the ball well around the perimeter and got good open looks, while at the other end the White Knights considered a two-pass offence to be overuse of the ball. Neither side were causing any significant wear on the nets, though, but a surprise time-out from the Whites (they must’ve needed to rest their shooting arms) gave the Reds an opportunity to regroup and change to a more balanced inside-outside offence – the Whites were as unfamiliar with the concept of ‘second pass’ on D as they were on O. When play resumed the scoring really began, and although the Reds looked the better team, the Whites’ volume shooting started to pay dividends for them and the score remained close. The Reds went into the break leading 17-16, but came out 17-18 down; an officious twit in stripes decided that Phil standing up to speak to us before adding up the scores on the sheet was sufficient excuse to show us how important he was by awarding the opposition 2 points for “no scorer”. The second half began with a traditional Reds scoring drought and a White scoring binge as they got out to a multi-basket lead. A time-out and regroup staunched the bleeding momentarily, but then their point guard decided a one-pass offence was one pass too many and started taking crazy off-balance shots. Demonstrating this really is Church ball, his prayers were repeatedly answered. Down by double-figures, the Reds started a late come-back but the combined efforts of the opposition and the phantom no-scorer were too much to overcome, the final score 40(+2) to 39. Dillon led the way with 16 points in a superb performance, and Reid gave him strong support with 8.
Lady Reds (2-1) v St Casmir A - Two Lady Reds came out on fire - Tracey and Alicia couldn’t miss - the Reds had 22 points at half time and those two had all 22 points. Alicia was bombing from long and Tracey was getting inside and hitting runners. Up 14 at half time the 2nd half was more of a grind with the St Casmir girls hitting lots of jumpers. Tomo’s sister Claire joined the Reds this week and scored 8 points in the 2nd half. Wans scored her first basket for the year and cheered with her Wans-esque enthusiasm. Alicia hit another 3 and the Reds won by 14 - 39-25. Alicia had 17, Tracey and Claire had 8 each.
Palky’s Top 3 Players of the Week
3rd - Dillon Haydon/Josh Orken
2nd - Alicia Woodrow
1st - Jack Harford
Game Times - Week 4:
I will need to send an update during the week - the schedule is still not available.
Subs:
This is the last week to pay your subs or make arrangements to pay.
Monday, 12 May 2014
SACBA Week 2 Results
A good weekend for the club - 6 wins 1 loss with 4 teams remaining undefeated ... which will definitely be 3 after the end of next Saturday with the A's and B's squaring off this weekend.
CHANGE OF STADIUM Week 3 - the games this weekend for the men are at Cedar and the ladies are at Marion Leisure Center (sounds leisurious) - it is on Oaklands Road in Marion. State Champs are on this weekend so Adelaide Arena has been booked. There will be a few change of venues this year - Hillcrest, Cedar, Marion and CBC.
That then said - Oakden B have pulled out of the competition - so that means that they are going to need to do a regrade this week. It looks like they might reduce A Grade to 6 teams and make the C Grade the B Grade and reduce that to 6 teams. The Women's A Grade will become 6 teams and 5 teams. This is going to have a massive flow on effect - so there might be a new schedule later in the week. I will have to let you know.
PUB NIGHT This Saturday May 17th @ The Seven Stars - with the A's and B's playing each other I think it is important to start the healing process straight away. So we are going to the Seven Stars for a few cleansing ales after the games and lots of hugs. At this stage the D's are at 4.20 and the C's are at 5.10. So I reckon we just say that people can come from 4.00pm and just know that we will be there. Hope that is cool.
To the reports:
A's (2-0) v Gateway A (1-1) - A Grand Final rematch that the A's were predicted to win by 6 according to the Gateway website. The Reds jumped out of the blocks - Phil had 10 points in the first 10 minutes, Corey hit a long 2 and hit Orks with a nice pass inside. Gateway hit some 3's and kept the lead at 10. Orks then took an elbow to the face and split his lip and the Horskins arrrived. With the addition of youth to Gateway's backcourt the game became a bit of a grind. Orks was scoring in the paint and Hobbs hit a long 2 and snuck inside on a nice baseline cut. Reds up 27-14. The 2nd half Joel Horskin was on fire - hitting tough 3's all over the place but the Reds just kept Gateway at arms length all game - Hobbs hit a 3, Orks hit a tough hook in the lane, scored on a semi dunk on a nice dribble handoff, Jack scored back to back baskets and Phil made a bevvy of free throws. Every time Gateway came, the Reds were able to fend off an attack by getting scores. Orks capped it off with a massive dunk - I assume he was very happy - it was one of his best. Reds win 48-39 (they were outscored in the 2nd half 21-25 in the 2nd half). The bigs played well against Smith and Meyer holding them to a total of 2 points. Orks had 17, Phil 16 and Hobbs 8. Was not a great game but both teams are light years ahead of the rest of the competition.
This is what Gateway wrote "Prince Alfred start quickly became an 18-0 start and before you could blink - though it did take 8 minutes so if you take that long to blink, your eyes will likely dry out and you'll be blind before lunchtime - the game was over. From that point on though, the Thunder awoke from their slumber, aided significantly by the arrival of the Brothers Horskins who took time to get going but once they did, wow. From 18-0, the game turned into an arm wrestle, with only the occasional brilliance of Joel Horskins (20 points including a quartet of late triples that left the Thunder with hope) and the maroons' big man Orken, who played out of his freckle and completely outplayed the Thunder's big men. The margin narrowed to three points late in the game when a foulathon stretched the margin to nine points. Final score, Prince Alfred A 48 d Gateway 39 (J.Horskins 20, Penn 11, Gondolf 3). What did we learn? That Prince Alfred are far more prepared than Gateway, who played only their second game in seven months. Prince Alfred's bigs have it all over Gateway at the moment though you wouldn't want to tell Messrs Meyer, Sith, Smith and Stephenson that (best to let the bear sleep). And Gateway are sorely missing their injured guard duo of McKinnon and Vucetic, who are still a few weeks away.
B's (2-0) v SPOC B (0-2) - This was the first time the B's were playing Saints B in a SACBA game since 2009. Saints were very short and very young (surely a Flair joke could go in here). Saints had 6 guards and a forward. Palky had the grumpy underpants on from the start, Mike was 10 minutes late so we only had 5 to start and someone took it upon himself to shoot layups during his opening chat to the boys*. In the opening the ball guys* weren't moving to the open shooters (which happened to be Palky ... so that made him even grumpier). It was a slow start - Palk did hit a 3 when he managed to get the ball, Jono was getting to the line and Angus scored inside. The B's were playing 3-2 and were just trying to stop the Saints 3's. It was 6-6 by the time Mike rocked up. This changed the tempo of the game - Mike controlled the team a bit more and we moved Jono to the fouline in the Saints 3-2 zone. It paid off straight away with Jono hitting Angus on a baseline cut with an awesome pass. Phill and Tomo were all over the O Glass, Mike hit a 3 and Reds up 17-8. The A's were on the bench watching our game - they said "if you play this next week we will beat you by 40". They weren't wrong. The 2nd half was a lot better - we were moving the ball, Palky's grumpiness was subsiding - but still way too many dumb turnovers and forced shots (the thing that will kill you in amatuer basketball). Jono was proving tough to stop - he was able to get the basket at will and either score or get to the line. Tomo and Phil were attacking the glass hard and getting us second shots. Best passage of play for the game was when the ball went through all sets of hands - Angus cut basline, got the ball, flicked it to Jono fouline and then went for the jumper and saw Phill low for an easy two. We played Saints pretty well - they hit some tough baskets, Cane hit some silly shots and were still pushing but they were too short and were a bit outmatched. Phill got a massive block at the end - twas awesome. Reds won 37-22. Jono had 9, Tomo 8 and Mike and Angus 6. By the end Palky was less grumpy.
*This will be a ongoing trend throughout the year ... when you see the "*" you know that I am referring to one person in particular ... but I shall not tell you who. It is my Carly Simon moment. This is all in jest of course and not malicious. YOUTH - If you don't know who Carly Simon is and you don't know what I am talking about you can go here and learn something.
C's (1-1) v Unley Park A - Written by G - Round 2 we were up against Unley Park A in a Grand Final Rematch. They had their full team and we were missing Brad and Krantz. The game started out well with the Cs getting plenty of good looks but not getting anything to drop outside the key, with the big men (Hendo and Goody) able to score inside, keeping us somewhat close. Our defense was good, tight on their main scorers, with a few turnovers giving them some easy buckets. At half time we were down 12-19. With a view to keep taking the rights shots and get a bit more movement on offense we started the second half really well pulling within 3 (20-23). Then the wheels fell off. A few bad calls and some crazy turn arounds from their 21 saw them get the lead back out to 13. 5/14 from the line did help our cause either, with the other team going 15/24. Plenty of areas to improve on going forward, but there were definitely signs of some good basketball to come from the C's. Top scorers were Goody with 9, Hendo with 8 and G with 6.
D's (2-0) v Southwest A (0-2) - Written by Simon - Looking for another player to add to our 6, Palk’s scouting report said we’d be fine. A team of surprisingly tall and possibly athletic looking players strolled over - a decent sized centre, 2 or 3 utility sized players and a couple of guards. It’s fair to say we thought Palk’s judgment was as impaired as this guy’s. Interestingly, there were 4 Western brothers in the Southwest team, but no Southern. Misleading. Much like these ugly things. Moorfoot had an aggressive start to the game, driving the ball from the tip – and worked hard all game for us on the break and on the glass. The game was a little scrappy to start, Southwest starting in a man, but after a few minutes we started to expose their D and worked out their offence was all focused on passing to the centre at the foul line and him either shooting or hitting the 45 again. With Jon proving too big for him to overpower and him even getting outrebounded by Reggie (once), it wasn’t going to plan and we started to get our hands on the ball and run. They switched to a Swiss cheese style zone but it didn’t help. Brendon and Ned were particularly active on our way to a 25-6 first half demolition, Ned hitting a 3 to help their D worry about our outside game, helping him & Stu to drive. Brendon with a big first half and 9 points. Much like last week, we continued the pain for Southwest in 2nd half, sharing our scoring while allowing only 2 of their players to score. Our player and ball movement was good, but 9 from 16 at the stripe gives us something to work on (special mentions to Road Train with 3/4 and Stu 2/2). Ned dropped 7 in the 2nd on the way to 12 for the game, Brendon 11 & Reggie 6. Final score was 41-11. Big thanks to Loz for scoring.
Despite appearances, and much to the annoyance of our boys, Southwest took both time-outs but not quite sure what they were talking about as not much changed. Not to take anything away from our effort though, with a shared workload – and we played some smart ball to work out their game plan early and then beat it. Good job.
E's (1-1) v SPOC C - Written by Rough - Black and white in comparison to last week, E's had a good game on Sat against a much better team. Saints 3-2 defence was lacking strength in the middle, with baseline drives by Max and Fooey to feed the big guys cutting through the centre working a treat. The 3-2 defence did generate unforced errors around the top of the key - fast breaks and high % freethrows were the only things keeping Saints in the game. E's defence was solid, and despite a late charge by Saints, E's kept control and carried through for a sound win. Bubs and Brad did a great job around the boards, also racking up 11 and 8 respectively. E's also enjoying the addition of Pritch and Fooey for some shooting range. Win 36-30. Bubs had 11, Max 8 and Brad 8.
F's (1-0) v St Peters A - Written by Phil - It was a new look F’s who kicked off the season in the shadow of last year’s 18-0 run. With a large swag of 2013’s champs moving up grades it was left to a bunch of new players and a few seasoned veterans to fly the flag and defend the undefeated run. As such, welcome to the club Ben “Bjork” Orken, Tone Trinh, Toma Luljguraj and Dillon Haydon (filling in from the “Gs”) and welcome back to Saturday ball club legends Matt Trim and Mark “Lenny” Waters. And what a return to Saturday ball it was. The game commenced 8 minutes late in an over-officiated score bench blunder, the positives of which were we got 5 vital points and spectators could watch 8 minutes less of a terrible matchup. The St Peter’s lads were competitive enough but we soon learnt our best defensive structure was to let them throw bricks and mop up the boards, rush through offense and, as it turned out, do much the same at our end. Highlights in the first half were few and far between but we still managed a 12-8 lead with the St Peter’s scorers being out top offensive player with 5. Trimmy hit a sweet jumper on his second attempt, a great sign of things to come, and Hansolo finished a nice 3 point play on the break.The second half threw up more of the same although our defense improved as St Peters shooting, incredibly, became more diabolical. Bjork had a huge half on the boards and ran the break with vigor, yours truly took out a few defenders with the old dread-flick-to-the-eye move and Dillon maintained his cool demeanor in offence with some great passing inside. With 1:30 on the clock we held a 7 point lead, cut to 3 points after a 4 point play by their #6 on an horrific bank and success at the line. We hit one our end, they hit one at theirs and thank Christ the game was over with Bjork extending the margin to 4 with one from the foul line at game’s end. I may appear a bit negative on this game, but simply it is a tongue in check response to what was in reality a bunch of guys winging their way through their first game of the season. There were plenty of positives for us. Our defense was strong, rebounding excellent. We ran the break hard albeit without success and our perimeter passing was great. Everyone had a run and the lesson that training is just that is learnt. We are the Old Reds and our opponents will come at us hard regardless of the level. The streak is now at 19 with tougher opposition to come. Shout out to Roughy and B-Rad for scoring. St Peter’s bench 5, Hanzolo 4
Play Of The Day: St Peters rocking along without a score-sheet and then taking 8 minutes to fill in the one they pinched from us was essential in setting up a 4 point win.
Great Moments in Sport: This is a bit preemptive. With Bjork betting big bro Josh he’ll average 20 points a game we all look forward to the 38 he’s going to shoot next week to get back on track.
Quote of the Week: “I watched a bit of your game. Basketball was surely the loser there” B.Palk
G's BYE
Lady Reds (1-1) v Dunn A -With Emma and Georgie out this week - the Lady Reds employed the services of someone simply known as "Frog". The girls jumped out of the blocks fast - Megan scored on lefty of the tip, got out on the break and scored a couple of layups and some FTs. Frog was eiother scoring inside or hitting the open player from the high post - very handy. The Reds were up 16-6 at halftime. The 2nd half the Reds ran over Dunn (who beat the Reds twice last year). Megan was still scoring, Tracy and Jordy were gettingout on the break, Alicia and Loz hit a couple of jumpers. Frog and Wans controleld the boards and the Reds quickness was way too much for Dunn. Reds won 44-15. Megan had 14, Frog and Jordy 8 and Alicia 7.
Palky's Top 3 Players of the Week:
3rd - Alex Bubner
2nd - Phil Harford
1st - Josh Orken
Game Times:
A's v B's @ 2.40 - Cedar
C's v Hope A @ 5.10 - Cedar
D's v St Casmir A @ 4.20 - Cedar
E's BYE
F's v Taperoo A @ 2.40 - Cedar
G's v Knightsbridge B @ 3.30 - Cedar
Lady Reds v Unley Park B @ 3.30 - Marion
Note - this could change - I will contact you all via Facebook if it does.
CHANGE OF STADIUM Week 3 - the games this weekend for the men are at Cedar and the ladies are at Marion Leisure Center (sounds leisurious) - it is on Oaklands Road in Marion. State Champs are on this weekend so Adelaide Arena has been booked. There will be a few change of venues this year - Hillcrest, Cedar, Marion and CBC.
That then said - Oakden B have pulled out of the competition - so that means that they are going to need to do a regrade this week. It looks like they might reduce A Grade to 6 teams and make the C Grade the B Grade and reduce that to 6 teams. The Women's A Grade will become 6 teams and 5 teams. This is going to have a massive flow on effect - so there might be a new schedule later in the week. I will have to let you know.
PUB NIGHT This Saturday May 17th @ The Seven Stars - with the A's and B's playing each other I think it is important to start the healing process straight away. So we are going to the Seven Stars for a few cleansing ales after the games and lots of hugs. At this stage the D's are at 4.20 and the C's are at 5.10. So I reckon we just say that people can come from 4.00pm and just know that we will be there. Hope that is cool.
To the reports:
A's (2-0) v Gateway A (1-1) - A Grand Final rematch that the A's were predicted to win by 6 according to the Gateway website. The Reds jumped out of the blocks - Phil had 10 points in the first 10 minutes, Corey hit a long 2 and hit Orks with a nice pass inside. Gateway hit some 3's and kept the lead at 10. Orks then took an elbow to the face and split his lip and the Horskins arrrived. With the addition of youth to Gateway's backcourt the game became a bit of a grind. Orks was scoring in the paint and Hobbs hit a long 2 and snuck inside on a nice baseline cut. Reds up 27-14. The 2nd half Joel Horskin was on fire - hitting tough 3's all over the place but the Reds just kept Gateway at arms length all game - Hobbs hit a 3, Orks hit a tough hook in the lane, scored on a semi dunk on a nice dribble handoff, Jack scored back to back baskets and Phil made a bevvy of free throws. Every time Gateway came, the Reds were able to fend off an attack by getting scores. Orks capped it off with a massive dunk - I assume he was very happy - it was one of his best. Reds win 48-39 (they were outscored in the 2nd half 21-25 in the 2nd half). The bigs played well against Smith and Meyer holding them to a total of 2 points. Orks had 17, Phil 16 and Hobbs 8. Was not a great game but both teams are light years ahead of the rest of the competition.
This is what Gateway wrote "Prince Alfred start quickly became an 18-0 start and before you could blink - though it did take 8 minutes so if you take that long to blink, your eyes will likely dry out and you'll be blind before lunchtime - the game was over. From that point on though, the Thunder awoke from their slumber, aided significantly by the arrival of the Brothers Horskins who took time to get going but once they did, wow. From 18-0, the game turned into an arm wrestle, with only the occasional brilliance of Joel Horskins (20 points including a quartet of late triples that left the Thunder with hope) and the maroons' big man Orken, who played out of his freckle and completely outplayed the Thunder's big men. The margin narrowed to three points late in the game when a foulathon stretched the margin to nine points. Final score, Prince Alfred A 48 d Gateway 39 (J.Horskins 20, Penn 11, Gondolf 3). What did we learn? That Prince Alfred are far more prepared than Gateway, who played only their second game in seven months. Prince Alfred's bigs have it all over Gateway at the moment though you wouldn't want to tell Messrs Meyer, Sith, Smith and Stephenson that (best to let the bear sleep). And Gateway are sorely missing their injured guard duo of McKinnon and Vucetic, who are still a few weeks away.
B's (2-0) v SPOC B (0-2) - This was the first time the B's were playing Saints B in a SACBA game since 2009. Saints were very short and very young (surely a Flair joke could go in here). Saints had 6 guards and a forward. Palky had the grumpy underpants on from the start, Mike was 10 minutes late so we only had 5 to start and someone took it upon himself to shoot layups during his opening chat to the boys*. In the opening the ball guys* weren't moving to the open shooters (which happened to be Palky ... so that made him even grumpier). It was a slow start - Palk did hit a 3 when he managed to get the ball, Jono was getting to the line and Angus scored inside. The B's were playing 3-2 and were just trying to stop the Saints 3's. It was 6-6 by the time Mike rocked up. This changed the tempo of the game - Mike controlled the team a bit more and we moved Jono to the fouline in the Saints 3-2 zone. It paid off straight away with Jono hitting Angus on a baseline cut with an awesome pass. Phill and Tomo were all over the O Glass, Mike hit a 3 and Reds up 17-8. The A's were on the bench watching our game - they said "if you play this next week we will beat you by 40". They weren't wrong. The 2nd half was a lot better - we were moving the ball, Palky's grumpiness was subsiding - but still way too many dumb turnovers and forced shots (the thing that will kill you in amatuer basketball). Jono was proving tough to stop - he was able to get the basket at will and either score or get to the line. Tomo and Phil were attacking the glass hard and getting us second shots. Best passage of play for the game was when the ball went through all sets of hands - Angus cut basline, got the ball, flicked it to Jono fouline and then went for the jumper and saw Phill low for an easy two. We played Saints pretty well - they hit some tough baskets, Cane hit some silly shots and were still pushing but they were too short and were a bit outmatched. Phill got a massive block at the end - twas awesome. Reds won 37-22. Jono had 9, Tomo 8 and Mike and Angus 6. By the end Palky was less grumpy.
*This will be a ongoing trend throughout the year ... when you see the "*" you know that I am referring to one person in particular ... but I shall not tell you who. It is my Carly Simon moment. This is all in jest of course and not malicious. YOUTH - If you don't know who Carly Simon is and you don't know what I am talking about you can go here and learn something.
C's (1-1) v Unley Park A - Written by G - Round 2 we were up against Unley Park A in a Grand Final Rematch. They had their full team and we were missing Brad and Krantz. The game started out well with the Cs getting plenty of good looks but not getting anything to drop outside the key, with the big men (Hendo and Goody) able to score inside, keeping us somewhat close. Our defense was good, tight on their main scorers, with a few turnovers giving them some easy buckets. At half time we were down 12-19. With a view to keep taking the rights shots and get a bit more movement on offense we started the second half really well pulling within 3 (20-23). Then the wheels fell off. A few bad calls and some crazy turn arounds from their 21 saw them get the lead back out to 13. 5/14 from the line did help our cause either, with the other team going 15/24. Plenty of areas to improve on going forward, but there were definitely signs of some good basketball to come from the C's. Top scorers were Goody with 9, Hendo with 8 and G with 6.
D's (2-0) v Southwest A (0-2) - Written by Simon - Looking for another player to add to our 6, Palk’s scouting report said we’d be fine. A team of surprisingly tall and possibly athletic looking players strolled over - a decent sized centre, 2 or 3 utility sized players and a couple of guards. It’s fair to say we thought Palk’s judgment was as impaired as this guy’s. Interestingly, there were 4 Western brothers in the Southwest team, but no Southern. Misleading. Much like these ugly things. Moorfoot had an aggressive start to the game, driving the ball from the tip – and worked hard all game for us on the break and on the glass. The game was a little scrappy to start, Southwest starting in a man, but after a few minutes we started to expose their D and worked out their offence was all focused on passing to the centre at the foul line and him either shooting or hitting the 45 again. With Jon proving too big for him to overpower and him even getting outrebounded by Reggie (once), it wasn’t going to plan and we started to get our hands on the ball and run. They switched to a Swiss cheese style zone but it didn’t help. Brendon and Ned were particularly active on our way to a 25-6 first half demolition, Ned hitting a 3 to help their D worry about our outside game, helping him & Stu to drive. Brendon with a big first half and 9 points. Much like last week, we continued the pain for Southwest in 2nd half, sharing our scoring while allowing only 2 of their players to score. Our player and ball movement was good, but 9 from 16 at the stripe gives us something to work on (special mentions to Road Train with 3/4 and Stu 2/2). Ned dropped 7 in the 2nd on the way to 12 for the game, Brendon 11 & Reggie 6. Final score was 41-11. Big thanks to Loz for scoring.
Despite appearances, and much to the annoyance of our boys, Southwest took both time-outs but not quite sure what they were talking about as not much changed. Not to take anything away from our effort though, with a shared workload – and we played some smart ball to work out their game plan early and then beat it. Good job.
E's (1-1) v SPOC C - Written by Rough - Black and white in comparison to last week, E's had a good game on Sat against a much better team. Saints 3-2 defence was lacking strength in the middle, with baseline drives by Max and Fooey to feed the big guys cutting through the centre working a treat. The 3-2 defence did generate unforced errors around the top of the key - fast breaks and high % freethrows were the only things keeping Saints in the game. E's defence was solid, and despite a late charge by Saints, E's kept control and carried through for a sound win. Bubs and Brad did a great job around the boards, also racking up 11 and 8 respectively. E's also enjoying the addition of Pritch and Fooey for some shooting range. Win 36-30. Bubs had 11, Max 8 and Brad 8.
F's (1-0) v St Peters A - Written by Phil - It was a new look F’s who kicked off the season in the shadow of last year’s 18-0 run. With a large swag of 2013’s champs moving up grades it was left to a bunch of new players and a few seasoned veterans to fly the flag and defend the undefeated run. As such, welcome to the club Ben “Bjork” Orken, Tone Trinh, Toma Luljguraj and Dillon Haydon (filling in from the “Gs”) and welcome back to Saturday ball club legends Matt Trim and Mark “Lenny” Waters. And what a return to Saturday ball it was. The game commenced 8 minutes late in an over-officiated score bench blunder, the positives of which were we got 5 vital points and spectators could watch 8 minutes less of a terrible matchup. The St Peter’s lads were competitive enough but we soon learnt our best defensive structure was to let them throw bricks and mop up the boards, rush through offense and, as it turned out, do much the same at our end. Highlights in the first half were few and far between but we still managed a 12-8 lead with the St Peter’s scorers being out top offensive player with 5. Trimmy hit a sweet jumper on his second attempt, a great sign of things to come, and Hansolo finished a nice 3 point play on the break.The second half threw up more of the same although our defense improved as St Peters shooting, incredibly, became more diabolical. Bjork had a huge half on the boards and ran the break with vigor, yours truly took out a few defenders with the old dread-flick-to-the-eye move and Dillon maintained his cool demeanor in offence with some great passing inside. With 1:30 on the clock we held a 7 point lead, cut to 3 points after a 4 point play by their #6 on an horrific bank and success at the line. We hit one our end, they hit one at theirs and thank Christ the game was over with Bjork extending the margin to 4 with one from the foul line at game’s end. I may appear a bit negative on this game, but simply it is a tongue in check response to what was in reality a bunch of guys winging their way through their first game of the season. There were plenty of positives for us. Our defense was strong, rebounding excellent. We ran the break hard albeit without success and our perimeter passing was great. Everyone had a run and the lesson that training is just that is learnt. We are the Old Reds and our opponents will come at us hard regardless of the level. The streak is now at 19 with tougher opposition to come. Shout out to Roughy and B-Rad for scoring. St Peter’s bench 5, Hanzolo 4
Play Of The Day: St Peters rocking along without a score-sheet and then taking 8 minutes to fill in the one they pinched from us was essential in setting up a 4 point win.
Great Moments in Sport: This is a bit preemptive. With Bjork betting big bro Josh he’ll average 20 points a game we all look forward to the 38 he’s going to shoot next week to get back on track.
Quote of the Week: “I watched a bit of your game. Basketball was surely the loser there” B.Palk
G's BYE
Lady Reds (1-1) v Dunn A -With Emma and Georgie out this week - the Lady Reds employed the services of someone simply known as "Frog". The girls jumped out of the blocks fast - Megan scored on lefty of the tip, got out on the break and scored a couple of layups and some FTs. Frog was eiother scoring inside or hitting the open player from the high post - very handy. The Reds were up 16-6 at halftime. The 2nd half the Reds ran over Dunn (who beat the Reds twice last year). Megan was still scoring, Tracy and Jordy were gettingout on the break, Alicia and Loz hit a couple of jumpers. Frog and Wans controleld the boards and the Reds quickness was way too much for Dunn. Reds won 44-15. Megan had 14, Frog and Jordy 8 and Alicia 7.
Palky's Top 3 Players of the Week:
3rd - Alex Bubner
2nd - Phil Harford
1st - Josh Orken
Game Times:
A's v B's @ 2.40 - Cedar
C's v Hope A @ 5.10 - Cedar
D's v St Casmir A @ 4.20 - Cedar
E's BYE
F's v Taperoo A @ 2.40 - Cedar
G's v Knightsbridge B @ 3.30 - Cedar
Lady Reds v Unley Park B @ 3.30 - Marion
Note - this could change - I will contact you all via Facebook if it does.
Thursday, 8 May 2014
SACBA Week 2 Game Times
Hi all,
Below are the game times for this week's games.
Note - our F's are not playing SPOC Basketball Club - there is another club called St Peters. Also - F's you will be wearing white.
This is an interesting weekend of games.
The A's and C's are in Grand Final rematches - this is a great opportunity to see who is the Alpha Dog in the league ... woof! The B's are playing Saints B's for the first time in an SACBA games since the 2009 Grand Final (where Saints won ... I scored 7 points). The D's are playing the team the C's beat last week. The E's will need to get their season back on track against the old rivals and the F's start their season against another St Peters team. The Lady Reds are playing St Casmir who always bring out a solid squad. All in all a great weekend of games - some scary matchups ... not as scary as this.
From my email:
Below are the game times for this week's games.
| Week 2 - May 10 | |||
| Team | Opposition | Time | Court |
| A's | Gateway A | 2.40 | Centre |
| B's | SPOC B | 3.30 | Centre |
| C's | Unley A | 5.10 | Crt 2 |
| D's | Southwest A | 2.40 | Crt 2 |
| E's | SPOC C | 1.50 | Crt 3 |
| F's | St Peters A | 2.40 | Crt 3 |
| G's | BYE | ||
| Lady Reds | St Casmir A | 1.00 | Centre |
Note - our F's are not playing SPOC Basketball Club - there is another club called St Peters. Also - F's you will be wearing white.
This is an interesting weekend of games.
The A's and C's are in Grand Final rematches - this is a great opportunity to see who is the Alpha Dog in the league ... woof! The B's are playing Saints B's for the first time in an SACBA games since the 2009 Grand Final (where Saints won ... I scored 7 points). The D's are playing the team the C's beat last week. The E's will need to get their season back on track against the old rivals and the F's start their season against another St Peters team. The Lady Reds are playing St Casmir who always bring out a solid squad. All in all a great weekend of games - some scary matchups ... not as scary as this.
From my email:
We have the full schedule.
By the end of this weekend – the stats website will have the full season game
schedule. So bookmark that page and you can go there and get your game times.
We have to absolutely have our rego
cards filled in and returned to the Captain on Saturday to get to me at
training next week. NOT NEGOTIABLE.
Fill them out on Saturday and return them to the Captains.
We are having a Committee Meeting on 20th
May (most likely at the pub) at 7.45pm. You are welcome to attend and to
contribute to the discussion – you don’t have to be on the committee to attend.
We will sending the meeting Agenda next week.
One final thing I found interesting – people
in responsible positions in our club will need a NATIONAL POLICE CHECK. It
is now necessary for National Police Check clearance to be provided to S. A.
Church Basketball Assoc for Committee members of both S.A.C.B.A. and
S.A.C.B.O.A., Club Secretaries, Team Coaches, Managers, Carers, Doorkeepers,
Referees and any others as deemed necessary by the Association. We will
be providing you with further information and the process already put in place
within the next 7 days. I will have to find out more and report to the
committee.
Monday, 5 May 2014
SACBA Week 1 Results
Hey all,
The season is back - huzzah I hear you all say ... huzzah.
Before we get to the game reports - I would like to give you an update on the first two social events of the year.
Saturday May 17 after the games I think it would be good to have a casual catch up at the pub. The A's and B's are playing that day so a good way to let the healing begin. More details to come - lock in Saturday May 17th!
PUB CRAWL ALERT - Guys and girls the 11th Annual Pub Crawl or maybe 12th - has a date - Saturday June 7th. The mad scientist of Pub Crawls - Andrew "Big A" Williams has devised the most astounding Pub Crawl of all time ... the 99 Pub Crawl! Last year we did the Tram Pub Crawl ... this year we are doing the 99 Circleline Bus Crawl around Adelaide and North Adelaide. A has concocted the craziest pub crawl ever with wacky new games and activities. At this stage - all you need to know is we are starting at the Seven Stars on Angas Street from 12.30pm. More details to come soon.
We have been training now for months so it is great to finally get the games underway. I for one feel that this has been the most hectic preseason ever and I am already exhausted - getting to the games and getting everything underway was a welcome distarction. There have been a few major changes - with lots of movement from teams - older guys making way in higher teams for the younger guys to be given an oppurtunity. You could see that playing in the preseason has prepared us well - most teams we came up against looked scratchy at best.
Like last year I am updating the stats throughout the season - for both the Saturday leagues and the midweek teams. Once the final schedule comes out for the Saturday season and the midweek seasons I will update the whole schedule so you will be able to see your game times online for the whole season. Stats are here: http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=sacbaagrade- the links to the teams are on the side.
Not many jokes or links from me this week - I will get back into teasing you all next week (totally think Jono is gonna be my whipping boy this year) and find some sweet links on the net.
To the reports:
A's (1-0) v Oakden A (0-1) - Oakden are back in A Grade where they belong - they have been in the Cedar wilderness for a couple of seasons. They were however without their best player Garfoot for 2 months who did his ankle - I would argue he would be in the best 5 players in the A Grade if not in the best 1 or 2*. The A's would be returning their full squad of 8 guys - this is the first time ever an Old Reds team has returned its whole team without a change. You could see from the start that these guys have been playing together for a while - they were picking apart the Oakden defence - either getting to the basket, to the line or hitting 3's - Phil, Jack, Hobbs all hit 3's. Tauny came in and hit the O glass and Foo finished on the break. A's up 24-11 at halftime - no one had more than 5. The 2nd half Oakden were scoring a bit more easily - finishing inside and getting out on the break. The A's went through a little scoring drought - not making their open shots - Tauny change that, he came on and hit a tough 3 and was scoring inside. Phil hit another 3 and a floater. The game was never not in control - A's won 48-29 - good win without being spectacular. Tauny 13, Phil 10, Jack 9.
Having watched all the A Grade games - the best 2 teams will easily be A's and Gateway - they are clearly the best 2 teams. Saints have lost De Cure, Charles and Scammell. They are returning McMicahel, Good, Hautop, Proctor (who I've been told won't play a lot of games) and Bobo - and they have 3 younger kids - they will be around the mark as always. The B's and Oakden will be the next tier with Saints. Knightsbridge are only returning one guy and for the first time in 15 years Scott Foreman is not around. They will be ok but not a top 4 team. Saints B's and Oakden B's might not be in the grade come rescheduling.
*Think this probably goes in some order - Harfords, Orken, Garfoot, maybe someone from Saints, James Smith and me.
B's (1-0) v Oakden B (0-1) - It is not nice to judge but when I looked down the court against our opposition they didn't really look like a basketball team. With a 23-0 halftime lead my suspicions were correct - they were not. The B's were a brand new team - with only Mike returning to the team that finished 3rd last year (with me and Lachy inured). We needed to use this game to start to gel and find our identity. Angus got the scoring underway early - getting inside for two quick scores, Kartik in his first game for the B's hit a floater and scored on the break. Jono was getting to the basket easily and getting fouled - what he didn't find easy was hitting the rim on free throws - on two separate trips he made one and airlballed one. Kartik hit a couple of 3's in the first half. The 2nd half was more of a grind - Oakden clogged the lane and we were not making our jumpers and Oakden started scoring on the O Boards (they had 2 pretty decent athletes). Jono found the skiing conditions to his liking as he cruised to the basket time after time on the break. Tomo, Phill and Angus played well inside and the Mike controlled the team well. Highlight was a Kartik sweet behind the back flick at 3/4 court to Mike on a break. Reds win 49-14. Jono and Kartik scored 15, Angus had 7.
From a coaching standpoint I am always trying to work out what kind of team we are gonna be - I think we might run a bit more than last year, I am not sure we will lock down teams like we did last year so we will need to make sure to get shots up every offense, crash the glass and look to run, run, run.
C's (1-0) v Southwest A (0-1) - Written by G - Round 1 saw us come against Southwest A. Both teams came out in man defence and it was fairly close early on. 10 mins in the Cs started to hit their stride, Madman hitting a few and “Fancy Krantz*” dominating inside at both ends. The second half was a story of missed free throws. Early in the half we were getting good looks, making a few and “Fancy Krantz” mopping up the glass. Then they just started fouling and sending us to the line…5 of 14 for the half…not good. Southwest weren’t doing much to trouble the scorers and we ended up with a comfortable win, 43-24. Top scorers were Krantz with 15 (3 of 9 FT), Kirkham with 9 and Madman and Wildy with 6.
*Verdict still out on this nickname Palky…
D's (1-0) v Hope A (0-1) Written by Simon - A new season and a very new team – only 2 guys on Saturday had a returning team-mate from 2013. So we expected it might take a little bit for the team to find its groove. We were facing up against Hope Church A, a team that had delivered a GF loss to our C’s a couple of years ago, their El Palko beating our Palk (the original and still the best) on the day. But El Palko was nowhere to be seen, perhaps also suffering a mysterious leg injury? The D’s started slowly in a scrappy first few minutes, and while we were controlling the play reasonably well, we couldn’t score. Road Train’s game plan was simple – let’s put the little orange thing in the round thing more than they do. As the half wore on we got our run on a bit, Brendon getting amongst it with 6, and almost everyone doing what they do best – Jon inside, Stu on the 3, Kobe on the reverse, Ned on the drive – and with 5 bonus points we had a 25-10 halftime lead. Funniest thing from the 1st half was Ned drawing 2 players as the shot clock wound down, the mid-court umpire counting it down and Reg hitting a jumper with 2 seconds being the call – only to have it waved away by the other umpire who apparently counts more quickly… The D’s dominated the first few minutes of the 2nd half, our opponents living up to their name and with great D, forcing them to ‘hope’ on a lot of turnaround jumpers etc. We held them scoreless for the first 10 minutes, and getting our running game working we piled on the points, B. Frangars in everything and Moorfoot hitting a couple of nice mid-range shots and icing some free throws. Hope pulled out 10 points again in the 2nd – but all from one player - while we shared it around. We ran away with it, 55-20, Brendon with 17, Moorfoot with 10, Ned 9. Thanks to G-Man for taking the pen for the game, much appreciated.
E's (0-1) v Golden Grove A (1-0) - Written by Max - When I went to get ready for the game on Sautrday I discovered that my uniform was still in the laundry basket from my Thursday night match. This predicament was much like the E’s this week, unorganised and smelly. The first half we eked out a 14-7 lead, but in the second half we only managed 7 points, going down in the final seconds 21-22. At times we showed glimpses of our potential as a team. Brad fought hard around the basket to get some space, and Rough Justice rewarded him by threading the needle to him on multiple occasions. Bubs was aggressive slashing to the hoop but didn’t have any luck with the roll. Foo hit a sweet 3 pointer from the top. Mostly though we looked stagnant at both ends of the floor and never really found our rhythm. Brad top scored with 10, and Bubs had 5.
F's BYE
G's (0-1) v SPOC D (1-0) - Written by Hitman - Last season, G-Force’s final four games were against SPOC E, SPOC D, SPOC E, and SPOC D. Continuing the tradition, we started this season by playing SPOC (D version), who featured the same players as last season. Not surprisingly, we knew exactly what their game plan would be, and thus our pre-game defensive plan was to play tight on their only outside shooting threat and box out strongly on the defensive boards. On offence, we planned to continue with the good ball movement we had exhibited at Tuesday’s training. We did all of these things, although we were over-doing the ball movement and not looking to get shots up. Eventually we worked out we had to take shots before we could score, and got a couple of baskets ahead, but SPOC finally pegged back our early advantage and took the smallest of leads into the break, 14-13. The second half was a scrappy affair and SPOC did the better of the scoring early, and got out to a six-point advantage, the largest of the game. Unable to score inside, G-Force resorted to an aerial attack, and scored four straight threes. Unfortunately we didn’t get all the stops we needed at the other end during this barrage, leaving us still trailing by a basket with under a minute left, when Reid drove for a lay-up to tie the scores. With under 24 seconds left, SPOC brought the ball up under pressure and desperately looked for a shot but weren’t able to find one, in fact they couldn’t even get to the three-point line. A desperate drive was headed for the corner but with a second on the clock, a whistle was blown for a foul. G-Force were in the bonus and a very nervous SPOC player went to the line for shots after the siren. The first attempt never had a chance, but the second went through to give them the 30-29 win. This game was literally won and lost at the foul-line, as G-Force combined to go 0-7 from the stripe. Dillon top-scored on debut with 12, and James scored 8 in his debut as team captain.
Lady Reds (0-1) v Adelaide A (1-0) - 3rd year in a row the girls started off against Adelaide A. Adelaide are the best team in that great and they have a wide array of skills. The Reds haven't played together since last year - you could tell. Adelaide got off to a 20-3 start with only Alicia banking a 3 - haltime was 3-23. The 2nd half was a lot better - with the girls only just losing the half 15-20 - Emma hit a jumper, Loz drained a long 3 and scored a 2, Tracy hit a couple of baskets and Jordy scored. Final score was 43-18. Loz had 6. We will put that one behind us and use it as a "rust get rid of-er".
Palky's Top 3 Players of the Week
3rd - Nick Krantz
2nd - Tauny Schmidt
1st - Brendan Francesca
This is where I usually give you game times for this week. We don't have the full and final schedule yet - so I will hold off until later in the week. It looks like the A's are playing Gateway and B's are playing Saints B - so they are fun matchups and the G's have a bye ... but I will let you know more when I know.
Keep the subs coming ... next Friday May 16 is the date where they all have to be in. So if they are no in and you haven't made arrangements - then we will start cracking down - this may even mean not playing ... especially for guys who owe more than one year of subs.
Full Time Employed: $120
Student/Part Time Employed: $80
Reimbursement Fee (Lady Reds): $25
Account Name – Prince Alfred Old Collegians Basketball Club
Account Number - 284123837
BSB - 085005
Reference – [Your Name] Subs 2014
The season is back - huzzah I hear you all say ... huzzah.
Before we get to the game reports - I would like to give you an update on the first two social events of the year.
Saturday May 17 after the games I think it would be good to have a casual catch up at the pub. The A's and B's are playing that day so a good way to let the healing begin. More details to come - lock in Saturday May 17th!
PUB CRAWL ALERT - Guys and girls the 11th Annual Pub Crawl or maybe 12th - has a date - Saturday June 7th. The mad scientist of Pub Crawls - Andrew "Big A" Williams has devised the most astounding Pub Crawl of all time ... the 99 Pub Crawl! Last year we did the Tram Pub Crawl ... this year we are doing the 99 Circleline Bus Crawl around Adelaide and North Adelaide. A has concocted the craziest pub crawl ever with wacky new games and activities. At this stage - all you need to know is we are starting at the Seven Stars on Angas Street from 12.30pm. More details to come soon.
We have been training now for months so it is great to finally get the games underway. I for one feel that this has been the most hectic preseason ever and I am already exhausted - getting to the games and getting everything underway was a welcome distarction. There have been a few major changes - with lots of movement from teams - older guys making way in higher teams for the younger guys to be given an oppurtunity. You could see that playing in the preseason has prepared us well - most teams we came up against looked scratchy at best.
Like last year I am updating the stats throughout the season - for both the Saturday leagues and the midweek teams. Once the final schedule comes out for the Saturday season and the midweek seasons I will update the whole schedule so you will be able to see your game times online for the whole season. Stats are here: http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=sacbaagrade- the links to the teams are on the side.
Not many jokes or links from me this week - I will get back into teasing you all next week (totally think Jono is gonna be my whipping boy this year) and find some sweet links on the net.
To the reports:
A's (1-0) v Oakden A (0-1) - Oakden are back in A Grade where they belong - they have been in the Cedar wilderness for a couple of seasons. They were however without their best player Garfoot for 2 months who did his ankle - I would argue he would be in the best 5 players in the A Grade if not in the best 1 or 2*. The A's would be returning their full squad of 8 guys - this is the first time ever an Old Reds team has returned its whole team without a change. You could see from the start that these guys have been playing together for a while - they were picking apart the Oakden defence - either getting to the basket, to the line or hitting 3's - Phil, Jack, Hobbs all hit 3's. Tauny came in and hit the O glass and Foo finished on the break. A's up 24-11 at halftime - no one had more than 5. The 2nd half Oakden were scoring a bit more easily - finishing inside and getting out on the break. The A's went through a little scoring drought - not making their open shots - Tauny change that, he came on and hit a tough 3 and was scoring inside. Phil hit another 3 and a floater. The game was never not in control - A's won 48-29 - good win without being spectacular. Tauny 13, Phil 10, Jack 9.
Having watched all the A Grade games - the best 2 teams will easily be A's and Gateway - they are clearly the best 2 teams. Saints have lost De Cure, Charles and Scammell. They are returning McMicahel, Good, Hautop, Proctor (who I've been told won't play a lot of games) and Bobo - and they have 3 younger kids - they will be around the mark as always. The B's and Oakden will be the next tier with Saints. Knightsbridge are only returning one guy and for the first time in 15 years Scott Foreman is not around. They will be ok but not a top 4 team. Saints B's and Oakden B's might not be in the grade come rescheduling.
*Think this probably goes in some order - Harfords, Orken, Garfoot, maybe someone from Saints, James Smith and me.
B's (1-0) v Oakden B (0-1) - It is not nice to judge but when I looked down the court against our opposition they didn't really look like a basketball team. With a 23-0 halftime lead my suspicions were correct - they were not. The B's were a brand new team - with only Mike returning to the team that finished 3rd last year (with me and Lachy inured). We needed to use this game to start to gel and find our identity. Angus got the scoring underway early - getting inside for two quick scores, Kartik in his first game for the B's hit a floater and scored on the break. Jono was getting to the basket easily and getting fouled - what he didn't find easy was hitting the rim on free throws - on two separate trips he made one and airlballed one. Kartik hit a couple of 3's in the first half. The 2nd half was more of a grind - Oakden clogged the lane and we were not making our jumpers and Oakden started scoring on the O Boards (they had 2 pretty decent athletes). Jono found the skiing conditions to his liking as he cruised to the basket time after time on the break. Tomo, Phill and Angus played well inside and the Mike controlled the team well. Highlight was a Kartik sweet behind the back flick at 3/4 court to Mike on a break. Reds win 49-14. Jono and Kartik scored 15, Angus had 7.
From a coaching standpoint I am always trying to work out what kind of team we are gonna be - I think we might run a bit more than last year, I am not sure we will lock down teams like we did last year so we will need to make sure to get shots up every offense, crash the glass and look to run, run, run.
C's (1-0) v Southwest A (0-1) - Written by G - Round 1 saw us come against Southwest A. Both teams came out in man defence and it was fairly close early on. 10 mins in the Cs started to hit their stride, Madman hitting a few and “Fancy Krantz*” dominating inside at both ends. The second half was a story of missed free throws. Early in the half we were getting good looks, making a few and “Fancy Krantz” mopping up the glass. Then they just started fouling and sending us to the line…5 of 14 for the half…not good. Southwest weren’t doing much to trouble the scorers and we ended up with a comfortable win, 43-24. Top scorers were Krantz with 15 (3 of 9 FT), Kirkham with 9 and Madman and Wildy with 6.
*Verdict still out on this nickname Palky…
D's (1-0) v Hope A (0-1) Written by Simon - A new season and a very new team – only 2 guys on Saturday had a returning team-mate from 2013. So we expected it might take a little bit for the team to find its groove. We were facing up against Hope Church A, a team that had delivered a GF loss to our C’s a couple of years ago, their El Palko beating our Palk (the original and still the best) on the day. But El Palko was nowhere to be seen, perhaps also suffering a mysterious leg injury? The D’s started slowly in a scrappy first few minutes, and while we were controlling the play reasonably well, we couldn’t score. Road Train’s game plan was simple – let’s put the little orange thing in the round thing more than they do. As the half wore on we got our run on a bit, Brendon getting amongst it with 6, and almost everyone doing what they do best – Jon inside, Stu on the 3, Kobe on the reverse, Ned on the drive – and with 5 bonus points we had a 25-10 halftime lead. Funniest thing from the 1st half was Ned drawing 2 players as the shot clock wound down, the mid-court umpire counting it down and Reg hitting a jumper with 2 seconds being the call – only to have it waved away by the other umpire who apparently counts more quickly… The D’s dominated the first few minutes of the 2nd half, our opponents living up to their name and with great D, forcing them to ‘hope’ on a lot of turnaround jumpers etc. We held them scoreless for the first 10 minutes, and getting our running game working we piled on the points, B. Frangars in everything and Moorfoot hitting a couple of nice mid-range shots and icing some free throws. Hope pulled out 10 points again in the 2nd – but all from one player - while we shared it around. We ran away with it, 55-20, Brendon with 17, Moorfoot with 10, Ned 9. Thanks to G-Man for taking the pen for the game, much appreciated.
E's (0-1) v Golden Grove A (1-0) - Written by Max - When I went to get ready for the game on Sautrday I discovered that my uniform was still in the laundry basket from my Thursday night match. This predicament was much like the E’s this week, unorganised and smelly. The first half we eked out a 14-7 lead, but in the second half we only managed 7 points, going down in the final seconds 21-22. At times we showed glimpses of our potential as a team. Brad fought hard around the basket to get some space, and Rough Justice rewarded him by threading the needle to him on multiple occasions. Bubs was aggressive slashing to the hoop but didn’t have any luck with the roll. Foo hit a sweet 3 pointer from the top. Mostly though we looked stagnant at both ends of the floor and never really found our rhythm. Brad top scored with 10, and Bubs had 5.
F's BYE
G's (0-1) v SPOC D (1-0) - Written by Hitman - Last season, G-Force’s final four games were against SPOC E, SPOC D, SPOC E, and SPOC D. Continuing the tradition, we started this season by playing SPOC (D version), who featured the same players as last season. Not surprisingly, we knew exactly what their game plan would be, and thus our pre-game defensive plan was to play tight on their only outside shooting threat and box out strongly on the defensive boards. On offence, we planned to continue with the good ball movement we had exhibited at Tuesday’s training. We did all of these things, although we were over-doing the ball movement and not looking to get shots up. Eventually we worked out we had to take shots before we could score, and got a couple of baskets ahead, but SPOC finally pegged back our early advantage and took the smallest of leads into the break, 14-13. The second half was a scrappy affair and SPOC did the better of the scoring early, and got out to a six-point advantage, the largest of the game. Unable to score inside, G-Force resorted to an aerial attack, and scored four straight threes. Unfortunately we didn’t get all the stops we needed at the other end during this barrage, leaving us still trailing by a basket with under a minute left, when Reid drove for a lay-up to tie the scores. With under 24 seconds left, SPOC brought the ball up under pressure and desperately looked for a shot but weren’t able to find one, in fact they couldn’t even get to the three-point line. A desperate drive was headed for the corner but with a second on the clock, a whistle was blown for a foul. G-Force were in the bonus and a very nervous SPOC player went to the line for shots after the siren. The first attempt never had a chance, but the second went through to give them the 30-29 win. This game was literally won and lost at the foul-line, as G-Force combined to go 0-7 from the stripe. Dillon top-scored on debut with 12, and James scored 8 in his debut as team captain.
Lady Reds (0-1) v Adelaide A (1-0) - 3rd year in a row the girls started off against Adelaide A. Adelaide are the best team in that great and they have a wide array of skills. The Reds haven't played together since last year - you could tell. Adelaide got off to a 20-3 start with only Alicia banking a 3 - haltime was 3-23. The 2nd half was a lot better - with the girls only just losing the half 15-20 - Emma hit a jumper, Loz drained a long 3 and scored a 2, Tracy hit a couple of baskets and Jordy scored. Final score was 43-18. Loz had 6. We will put that one behind us and use it as a "rust get rid of-er".
Palky's Top 3 Players of the Week
3rd - Nick Krantz
2nd - Tauny Schmidt
1st - Brendan Francesca
This is where I usually give you game times for this week. We don't have the full and final schedule yet - so I will hold off until later in the week. It looks like the A's are playing Gateway and B's are playing Saints B - so they are fun matchups and the G's have a bye ... but I will let you know more when I know.
Keep the subs coming ... next Friday May 16 is the date where they all have to be in. So if they are no in and you haven't made arrangements - then we will start cracking down - this may even mean not playing ... especially for guys who owe more than one year of subs.
Full Time Employed: $120
Student/Part Time Employed: $80
Reimbursement Fee (Lady Reds): $25
Account Name – Prince Alfred Old Collegians Basketball Club
Account Number - 284123837
BSB - 085005
Reference – [Your Name] Subs 2014
Friday, 2 May 2014
Palky‘s Top 5 Favourite Old Red’s Saturday Teams – Number 1 - 2008 Saturday C’s
What the hell is that sound? It is getting closer. I can’t
make it out. It sounds like … it can’t be … it sounds like a train!
That’s right … it is the C TRAIN! TOOOOOOT TOOOOOOOT! The C
Train was and is my favourite team for the Old Reds basketball club … and not
just cos I was on it. We were amazing.
We were an amazing team and it all pretty much came together
as a stroke of fortune – one thing after another just lined up.
I was captain of the C’s – I had run the C’s the year before
when we went on to win the title (over Mike’s Seaton team as you recall … I top
scored). The C’s had a few guys that needed to go up into the B’s – Brad Daniel
and Jay. Hendo, Pez and Matt Will went away and Cliffy went down to help the
D’s. So I was basically left with me and Flair. I needed to build a new team.
First move was I bought up 2 guys from the epic 2007 E’s –
BB (who was and is one of my favourite players in the club) and this character
called Yates (who I already covered … not romantically). With the B’s set – the
pool of guys that I could get was limited. I heard that Lachlan Griffiths (a
mate of Spangles) was keen for a run – he was an athletic 4 so I snapped him up
– Flair said he was a gun even though none of us had seen him play. Purge then
said that he had a mate that was keen – turned out to be Heath Jury. What I
didn’t know at the time was, he played ABA and was the current coach of the
Southern Tigers ABA side – our timeouts to him must have been farcical.
So I had 6 guys and 2 more spots left.
There was this goofy tall skinny kid who I seen the previous
year when he was in Year 12. He was all arms and legs and was always messing
around doing stupid reverse layups and weak dunks. He looked like trouble. When
he came into the club he had some ok skills so I thought I could use him … his
name was Josh Orken – everyone called him Orks. So that was it - I had 7 and I
needed one more.
About 6 weeks before the season started – the previous
year’s School Captain of basketball came out to training. When I asked Orks if
he was any good – he said he was kind of like Nic Blair. He waxed lyrical about
him for a while. When I saw him play I thought he was ok – but wasn’t great –
he was no Nic Blair. Then 30 minutes into training – he rolled his ankle. He
would miss the next 6 weeks of training. When it came to pick teams no one knew
if he was any good – so I rang him and told him he would be in the team with
me. He was cool with it – no whinging he was in the C’s – was just happy to be
in a team. The wraps on him were high but as I say no one had seen him play.
The first time I saw that kid play was the first game of the
season. We played the team that we would
go on to play in the Grand Final – he scored 17 and he hit a shot on the buzzer
to win the game. That was my introduction to guy known as “Captain” Jack
Harford. He was our best player by a
mile … probably as good as Blair too.
It was the best team to be on – we could score at will –
there was no one guy – it was all of us, we were so unselfish. There was no ego
– whoever was open shot the ball. Orks and Loky inside, Jack and Yates from the
perimeter, Heath was super smooth and could read the game so effortlessly
– BB, Flair and I chipped in where we
could. We won 8 games in a row and then we got word that Heath had to leave the
team. He had a back injury and couldn’t carry on.
A few weeks before this – Loky was bringing a mate to games
– he was this short guy with a little goatee. When Heath went down, Loky said
“my mate Brad can play”. So this dude Brad came into the team. What Loky failed
to tell us was … Brad was the best shooter in the history of basketball. Brad
scored 27 points in his first game. So now we went from a good team to a great
team.
At some point Yates had a 20 point game … I only mention
this for 2 reason … 1. He was so on fire he scored the 20 points in one half
and 2. It is the last good thing he did on the basketball court.
By the time that Brad had joined the team we had dubbed
ourselves “The C Train” because we were just rolling through the competition.
We would blow out teams, we would grind out wins, every week someone else
stepped up - I had two big weeks with back to back 16 point games. Jack even
said “I didn’t realise you could actually shoot”.
We had so much fun – most of our games were at 1pm. So we
rocked up early to shoot around and hang out. We stayed around after games when
you could still drink beers in the Mars caf. It was here I learnt that the tall
goofy kid called Orks was a comic genius and one of the funniest people I have
ever met. He started calling himself “Playa of the Week” – started his own
Facebook page about it too. It was here he also came out with the line “I was
at the Palace the other night and I saw the owner Tony Tripiano. He knows my
dad so I went up to him and said ‘hey Tony … you know my Dad … well I am his
son’”. I think I laughed for 5 straight minutes … the pure idiocy of it.
We won Intercol by 40 – which I think might be the biggest
win ever. Brad had 31 points and 9 threes.
In the Saturday season we won 19 straight games – we needed
to win one last game to go undefeated for the minor round but the longer the
streak went the more and more up tight we got. We lost our rhythm – I was a bit
grumpy with how we were playing and it started to affect the team. We dropped
the last game – a guy hit 2 free throws after the buzzer to win them the game.
We all agreed it was the loss we had to have.
We played the Qualifying final against Modbury (who are now
Dunn):
Coming off their only loss for the year the C’s
were determined to get their season back on track (ehh …
on track – a C Train metaphor …
get it?) Modbury would line-up with only 5 and the
Train would have 8 for the first time in 2 months. We
knew if we pushed and ran the ball Modbury would run out of legs. The first
half was good basketball – Modbury were making incredibly
difficult shots in the face of good defence and the C’s only
stayed in touch with hit 5 3’s
(from 5 different contributors). Half time 24 –
24. The second half we started to run a bit more and our pressure D from BB,
Brad, Yates and Jack started to prove too much. Brad hit
his 3rd 3 and Modbury had to stretch their
D to match up to all our shooters – this left Loky
inside one on one and he managed to get to the basket time after time. Our
offense still did not look great but was ok and our defence
inside in
the second half was great with Orken, Loky and Flair shutting down the Modbury
big guys. Great win guys and now we await the winner of Modbury v SPOC B.
The Grand Final … again was against Modbury:
Greeted
with the news that arguably Modbury’s 2 best players were not playing, the C’s
Train
knew
that all they needed to do was play a decent game of basketball and we would
come away with the chocolates … or so we thought. We got off to and 11 – 0 start and
were up 20 –
3 through 5 3’s from Brad. Modbury didn’t lie down – switch to a
3-2 and started to make some 3’s of their own and got it back to 20
– 17
… Game
On. At half time the score was 28 - 21 through some late baskets from Flair
and Jack and
we needed to lift our defensive intensity. The 2nd half we were in 2nd
gear and were really struggling to put together some decent offense. Yates then
stepped up and made 3 crucial baskets to get the lead to 8 with 3 minutes to
go. The lead went from 4
to 8 for
the next couple of minutes with Brad making 4 of 4 free throws. Jack then made
a massive 3 and 5 of 6 free throws and it was all over. We ended up winning by
10 but Modbury pushed us the whole way – they played really well and made 3’s
every time we threatened to pull away. As I told the boys this is not only the best team I have ever been a major part of but also the funnest team I have been on. Such a joy to rock up Saturdays and to play ball with these guys – we had a nice mix of young and old guys, rookies and older heads – to lose only 1 game was incredible.
The only blip is that one loss – it still annoys me.
That aside … we will always be The C Train … and Toot …
fucking … Toot – my favourite team ever.
PAOCBC Team Stats 2008
|
|||||||||||
Saturday C's
|
|||||||||||
Player
|
Games
|
Points
|
Pts Avg
|
FTA
|
FTM
|
FT%
|
3's
|
Fouls
|
FO
|
Hi
|
|
Altmann
|
14
|
208
|
14.9
|
16
|
13
|
81.3%
|
48
|
12
|
0
|
27
|
|
Griffiths
|
21
|
171
|
8.1
|
103
|
45
|
43.7%
|
0
|
53
|
0
|
16
|
|
Harford
|
17
|
159
|
9.4
|
40
|
33
|
82.5%
|
18
|
24
|
0
|
17
|
|
Orken
|
20
|
150
|
7.5
|
38
|
18
|
47.4%
|
2
|
40
|
0
|
15
|
|
Yates
|
19
|
146
|
7.7
|
28
|
11
|
39.3%
|
13
|
19
|
0
|
20
|
|
Palk
|
20
|
101
|
5.1
|
7
|
6
|
85.7%
|
25
|
12
|
0
|
16
|
|
Wong T.
|
19
|
48
|
2.5
|
16
|
5
|
31.3%
|
1
|
32
|
0
|
6
|
|
Jury
|
3
|
30
|
10.0
|
0
|
0
|
~
|
9
|
2
|
0
|
15
|
|
Collins
|
16
|
26
|
1.6
|
2
|
0
|
0.0%
|
2
|
26
|
1
|
4
|
|
Golding
L.
|
1
|
13
|
13.0
|
0
|
0
|
~
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
13
|
|
Donaldson
|
1
|
12
|
12.0
|
3
|
2
|
66.7%
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
12
|
Low
|
Totals
|
22
|
1064
|
48.4
|
253
|
133
|
52.6%
|
119
|
222
|
1
|
81
|
27
|
Opposition
|
665
|
30.2
|
46
|
16
|
|||||||
First Half
|
Avg
|
Second Half
|
Avg
|
||||||||
PAOCBC
|
585
|
26.6
|
508
|
23.1
|
Minor Round
|
Playoffs
|
|||||
Opposition
|
324
|
14.7
|
341
|
15.5
|
1st
|
Champions
|
|||||
Total
|
Streak
|
||||||||||
Wins
|
21
|
19
|
|||||||||
Loss
|
1
|
1
|
|||||||||
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