Basketball On The Internet.

THE old "third time lucky" mantra may need upgrading for the WNBL's storied Adelaide Lightning franchise, saved from extinction for the fourth time now but in Melanie MacGillivray, securing arguably the best credentialled CEO currently at any level of basketball in Australia.

It was quite the coup and good fortune to find the former head of Bundesliga Americas and the previously New York-based director of International Media for Major League Soccer now married to an Adelaide man and living in the state.

Those past positions are merely the tip of the iceberg on a stunning resume which strongly - fingers and toes crossed - suggest she could be the antidote for this WNBL club's prolonged woes.

Despite having a truly enviable public level of visibility and appreciation for the Lightning across South Australia - championship-winning players such as Rachael Sporn, Marina Wood, Erin Phillips, Jo Hill (below) are part of the state's zeitgeist and fabric - to this point no club management has managed to transfer that into something as basic as bums-on-seats.

Despite drawing a (then-record) 7,100 supporters for the 1995 WNBL championship grand final at Adelaide 36ers Arena, since the inevitable dissolution of the NBL-WNBL double-headers, the standard genuine crowd for the Lightning hovers at 500 diehards.

A new look, new colours, a new rookie coach in Kerryn Mitchell, a new home venue at the State Basketball Centre and new state-of-the-art facilities at SASI augur well for the longer-term.

But the truth is, the WNBL is a super competition. Unlike the NBL's absurd and erroneous claims of being the No.2 league in the world behind the NBA, the WNBL legitimately can make that claim.

Certainly, it does not pay anywhere near as well as leagues in Europe and Asia but for sheer competitiveness and talent, it has a genuine case to claim silver behind the WNBA's gold.

In fact it is often irritating to see how little credit the WNBA and its so-called television "experts" afford the WNBL, preferring to pat college programs on the back for the players they have produced.

Frankly, I seem to recall Sophie Cunningham running with Melbourne Boomers before she ever enjoyed WNBA success. So too Perth Lynx alumni such as Aari McDonald and Courtney Williams - both now WNBA stars ... post WNBL careers.

Yes, the list could also include Jackie Young (above) and a holy host of others but it's not the point. The point is the WNBL is very much an elite league, launched in 1981 and now the longest existing national women's sporting competition in Australia.

For a long time, Adelaide Lightning - its 1994-95-96 teams long ago inducted into the SA Sports Hall of Fame - was a WNBL pacesetter.

Great enthusiasm and a facelift will be insufficient to restore Lightning back to where the club belongs but it's a start. MacGillivray and Mitchell have their work cut out.