Basketball On The Internet.

*FLASHBACKS, my weekly "lucky dip" where I just reach into my drawers of old Australian basketball stuff and transcribe whatever I find for you.

I don't believe in coincidences so it always strikes me as odd but amusing when something like this happens. It was Bruce Palmer's birthday this week past so I sent the former great player and championship-winning coach regards, and received a very humbling anfd generous response. It also is the 30th anniversary of West Adelaide's 1982 NBL championship. So it cracked me up when I pulled out my filing cabinet drawer and staring at me was this - the program for the Bearcats versus Coburg Giants match at Apollo on February 7, 1982. Here's some random snippets.

HOOP SCOOP

Welcome to the first National Basketball League game for 1982. What a season it promises to be!

New teams are Geelong, Adelaide City Eagles and Weststate Wildcats (Perth), plus St Kilda, Launceston, Nunawading, Brisbane, Illawarra, Canberra, Sydney, Coburg, Newcastle, Bankstown and West Adelaide.

As new fulltime Commisioner, Dr John Raschke will make sure things run smoothly from his Sydney office.

Increased television coverage by ABC-2 will add further excitement to the season and the first telecast takes place on February 20th, with Perth v Geelong.

In 1982, West Adelaide will officially be known as the "Acacia Bearcats". Along with this new name, we have our new prestigious game program. It will include previews, team and player profiles, NBL records, statistics, photos, NBL gossip, youth team reports, plus the chance to win great prizes and vote for your favourite players.

And if this is not enough, we have a new Bearcat Booth selling souvenirs, the Red Robins cheer squad and a new Master of Ceremonies, Stan Wickham.

Enjoy the basketball, cheer for our team, have a drink after the game and be a part of Bearcat Basketball in 1982. - EDITOR

TONIGHT'S GAME

What a start to the 1982 NBL season! Two of the most respected teams in Australia- the West Adelaide Acacia Bearcats and the Coburg Giants.

West have recruited wisely, adding even more depth to their 1981 NBL semi final side. They have gained the services of 6'5" hot shot Leroy Loggins from the Brisbane Bullets.

Leroy shot his way into the NBL top 10 scorers last year and is itching to show the Bearcat fans just how good he is. The return from injury of 1979 All Star Ken Richardson has given the team unbelievable strength on the bench.

Coburg Giants haven't been caught napping in the off-season either. They simply ooze talent. They have recruited star black guard, Benny Lewis, from Illawarra. He averaged 20 points per game through the 1981 season and his duel with Green and Wood will be spectacular.

Australian forward Wayne Carrol is well known to Adelaide fans and his match up with Bearcat captain Peter Ali may have a big bearing on the game. Peter Blight and Tony Forbes are two more power house forwards who have played for Australia, but they'll have their hands full stopping Loggins, Richardson and super sub Joe Theil.

West will have to counter the ever-cool Olympian Les Riddle, and the Longstaff brothers will make their presence felt. Opposing them will be Green, 'Mr Defence' Ray Wood, and, as backups, the hustling Trevor Maddiford, Peter Dawe and Max Mules.

The biggest shock for Coburg is that centre Howard "Shocker" Shockley can't play (ankle) and the absence of Australian U/20 Ray Borner.

Brad Dalton should have a picnic on the boards but it will be good practice because he's got St Kilda's 7'2" man-mountain to compete against in his next two games.

 

TEAM SQUADS

Acacia Bearcats

4 Greg Mules, 6 Joe Theil, 7 Peter Dawe, 8 Peter Ali (capt), 9 Ray Wood, 10 Ken Richardson (coach), 12 Leroy Loggins, 13 Trevor Maddiford, 14 Brad Dalton, 15 Al Green. Bench coach: Mike Degaris. Manager: Keith Woods.

Coburg Giants

4 Graham Longstaff, 5 Les Riddle, 6 Wayne Carrol, 7 Brian Longstaff, 8 Peter Blight, 9 Bruce Palmer (captain-coach), 10 Benny Lewis, 11 Tony Forbes, 12 Tony Marcucci. Bench coach: J. Pedlar. Manager: S.Kealey

 

NBL Stats

From game to game we plan to keep an uptodate report on all NBL statistics. As this is our first game of 1982, here's some statistics compiled by the NBL from 1979-1981.

Only four coaches have survived the three years of the NBL. They are our own Ken Richardson (West), Brian Kerle (St Kilda), Barry Barnes (Nunawading) and Charlie Amitt (Sydney).

Of the 276 players who have played NBL, 59 are from overseas.

Only 10 players have made interclub transfers upto 1982. They are: Brian Lester (from West Adelaide to Forestville), Rick Hodges (from Glenelg to West Adelaide), Geoff Schaedel (from Glenelg to West Adelaide), Brad Dalton (from Sydney to West Adelaide), Ian Robilliard (from Sydney to Newcastle), Len Solman (from Sydney to Newcastle), Cal Stamp (from Canberra to Newcastle), Glen Ryan (from Newcastle to Sydney), Dean Templeton (from Nunawading to St Kilda), Robbie Cadee (from St Kilda to Bankstown).

1981 All Star Five: Owen Wells (Newcastle) 22.1 ppg; David Nelson (Canberra) 25.0ppg; Rocky Smith (St Kilda) 28.8ppg; Danny Morseau (St Kilda) 20.0ppg; Al Green (West Adelaide) 27.4ppg

 

1981 Backtrack

South Eastern Conference: Geelong 83 d Frankston 69

Converse Challenge Results: West Adelaide 87 d Launceston 86, Geelong 90 d St Kilda 85, Launceston 80 d Geelong 77, West Adelaide d St Kilda, Launceston 97 d St Kilda 84, Geelong 88 d West Adelaide 70.

1981 NBL Finals

For 3rd: West Adelaide 78 d Brisbane 75

Final: Launceston 75 d Nunawading 54

NBL RECORDS

Individual

MOST GAMES PLAYED:

66 Ray Wood (West Adelaide), Colin Varian (Brisbane), 66 Peter Stacker (Nunawading)

65 Rick Hodges (West Adelaide 48, Glenelg 17)

MOST POINTS SCORED:

1 Rocky Smyth (St Kildaq) 1426

2 Herb McEachin (Canberra) 1374

3 Jim Slacke (Illawarra) 1206

4 Rick Hodges (West Adelaide) 1171

MOST POINTS IN ONE GAME

63 Reg Biddings (Forestville) 1981

56 Ken Richardson (West Adelaide) 1979

51 Calvin Bruton (Brisbane) 1979

HIGHEST SCORING AVERAGES

1 Rocky Smith (St Kilda 1980) 33.4

2 Calvin Bruton (Brisbane 1979) 32.8

3 Michael Jones (Illawarra 1981) 30.5

4 Rocky Smith (St Kilda 1981) 28.8

5 Reg Biddings (Forestville 1981) 27.9

6 Ken Richardson (West Adelaide 1979) 27.4

7 Al Green (West Adelaide 1981) 27.4

Team Records

HIGHEST SCORE

West Adelaide 120 v Brisbane 1979

St Kilda 120 v Launceston 1981

LOWEST SCORE

Illawarra 47 v Nunawading 1979

Coburg 47 v Nunawading 1980

HIGHEST TEAM OFFENSIVE AVERAGE

St Kilda 97.0 1981

St Kilda 95.8 1980

St Kilda 93.8 1979

LOWEST TEAM OFFENSIVE AVERAGE

Nunawading 72.0 1980

Nunawading 73.8 1979

Canberra 75.5 1980

WINNING STREAK

St Kilda 14 games

West Adelaide , Nunawading, St Kilda 8

 

NBL COURTSIDE

West Adelaide are preparing for their "horror weekend" next week. They play St Kilda and Nunwading in Melbourne. Also accompanying them will be the Bearcat Youth Team coached by John Wright. Good luck to both teams.

NBL FINALS: The Finals of the NBL for 1982 will be held in Newcastle. The terms under which Newcastle has been granted this honour are:

1 Newcastle Basketball are prepared to pay the NBL the sum of $10,000.

2 The club is prepared to pay the sum of $1,000 to each of the teams successful in reaching the semi finals.

3 The club is prepared to meet the air fares and travelling costs of those teams qualifying for the semi finals.

4 The club is prepared to underwrite the cost of travelling and accommodation for players invited to play in special fixtures other than those previously mentioned before the semi finals.

5 The club will pay accommodation of those teams to a maximum of 12 representatives, of the clubs qualifying for semi finals.

6 The club will meet the cost of providing transport for all players and officials on the night of their matches.

7 Newcastle is currently spending $500,000 on additions to its stadium. This will then allow them to accommodate 4,000 seated spectators.

RECRUITING

Westate Wildcats are on the recruiting trail. They've secured the services of 6'10" Dan Hickert from the Brisbane Bullets and 6'6" guard Tim Evans who has spent three years on the European circuit. Local lad Peter Vitols is also a member of the team.

NEUTRAL UMPIRES

All umpires in the NBL this year are sponsored by Pioneer Concrete. They have new green pants, green and white shirt and a smart warmup jacket. Money from the sponsorship will basically provide air fares for at least one neutral referee to umpire each NBL game.

THE great St Kilda Pumas will be in Adelaide in two weeks' time to do battle with the Bearcats. They have the tallest player in the NBL at 7'2" plus Phil Smyth and Tony Barnett. Don't miss out!

NBL games will be shown on Channel 2 this year. Check your local paper for details.