Basketball On The Internet.

WHAT the??? Wollongong didn't have a player in any of the three NBL All Star Fives?

To quote Wallace Shawn's character Vizzini in The Princess Bride - if you haven't seen it, seriously, go find it - "inconceivable."

OK. You just know someone will say Rhys Martin was a chance, or Lance Hurdle or Glen Saville ... and we all know what happened there.

But Adris Deleon? The Best Sixth Man starter in the iiNet Championship?

2Hard2Select?

Despite three Player of the Week wins?

That was second only to Cedric Jackson's four PotW wins and Cedric was named league MVP!

When even two-time PotW "The Pledge" tweets: "Hawks finish 3rd and have no players on any all nbl teams. 36ers come 8th and have 2...no disrespect at all, but that makes no sense to me!"

(I am going to have to revisit and upgrade my opinion of 7-foot Kiwis now, thanks Alex.)

Check the teams out and decide for yourself.

All-NBL First Team
Cedric Jackson (New Zealand)
Kevin Lisch (Perth)
Ben Madgen (Sydney)
Matthew Knight (Perth)
Seth Scott (Melbourne)

All-NBL Second Team
Gary Ervin (Townsville)
Jonny Flynn (Melbourne)
Damian Martin (Perth)
Mika Vukona (New Zealand)
Daniel Johnson (Adelaide)

All-NBL Third Team
Thomas Abercrombie (New Zealand)
Jamar Wilson (Cairns)
Adam Gibson (Adelaide)
Shawn Redhage (Perth)
Ian Crosswhite (Sydney)

No offence intended but Deleon was tougher than at least four guards I can spot there and for that matter, Larry Davidson had a pretty decent season also.

Seth Scott - First Team?

Come on now. I liked his odds better of being the next Pope.

And no Chris Goulding?

Since his All Star Game MVP, he has been one of the breakout superstars of 2012-13.

HERE'S a surprise.

Larry Davidson is the Player of the Week.

OK. Not really surprised since his game against the 36ers to clinch third spot for Wollongong stood out as a performance of true commitment to a cause.

Not good enough to be considered for an All Star Five though, heaven forbid.

Davo went for 20 points at 75 per cent and 15 boards in the 74-64 success. But if you've been here lately, you already know that.

In fact, with so much riding on each night's results in that fateful final regular season round, Round 24 has already been covered in previous blogs. That said, here's the rest of the review(s).

NBL Review

Tigers v Crocodiles

THE dead rubber is always a tough one to play but as Townsville forward Jacob Holmes said last night, it's not like a pre-season game because, after all, you are still playing in front of 5,000 fans.

And they came to see quality ball.

A 28-10 first quarter by a depleted Melbourne set up the victory, a 78-70 win which left the Tigers a claw-nail out of post-season action.

Bennie Lewis and Adam Ballinger led the Tigers while for the Crocs, Ben Allen looked at the match as his SEABL pre-season and therefore was impressive with 13 points.

CONGRATULATIONS too, by the way, to the WNBL, this year correctly naming five players in its All Star Five.

As opposed to last year.

Yeah. Last year there were, um, six.

HOW much fun has the NCAA Tournament been so far?

Loved Arizona schooling Harvard, for example. (Yes. Had that in the computer for days waiting for the chance...)

WOW. Just had a good thought. (Yes, I know it is rare.)

Maybe the NBL should have considered adding a sixth player this year to one of its All Star Fives, a la the gals in 2012.

That would have solved the Deleon/Davidson dilemma.

PS

ADELAIDE 36ers icon Brett Maher, who before the NBL season tipped-off said the 2012-13 line-up was the best Adelaide team since the 1998-99 champion, has finally got it right and amended that to be the best team since Adelaide's 2011-12 team.