Basketball On The Internet.

UNLIKE the NBL, whose absurdist claim to be the world's No.2 league behind the NBA is beyond laughable, the WNBL really can say that while it may not be the second-highest paying league on the globe, the playing standard is second only to the WNBA. The proof is in how many US players come here to get their break. 

And frankly, it is remiss of the WNBL - an oversight at best, ignorance at worst - not to make more noise about how many players it consistently has turned into WNBA stars, if not superstars.

Yeah, it dates all the way back to Kelsey Griffin, who originally played for Bendigo Spirit as an import, then returned to the WNBA to be a much better baller. 

So too Sami Whitcomb. But Griffin and Whitcomb - who both ultimately naturalised, represented Australia and are settled here - are not the primary examples of what the WNBL has failed to truly capitalise on.

For example, who was Jackie Young before she played for Perth Lynx? She's now not only a bona fide WNBA star, but has been a regular starter for the USA's gold medal winning teams!

Marina Mabrey (pictured) has just enjoyed a record-equalling 53-point game for Sandy Brondello's Toronto Tempo. She was 60 per cent from the field and shot 9-of-18 threes in the Tempo's rout of the LA Sparks, matching the WNBA's all-time pointscoring record she now shares with Liz Cambage - remember her? - and A'ja Wilson.

The WNBL is missing a golden opportunity for positive and REAL self-promotion when it doesn't bang on about something like that. Who was Mabrey when she was running around on a WNBL court? 

I'll tell you. She was a good player recognising she could be great, courtesy of our league.

How much of a buzz has Indiana Fever's Sophie Cunningham caused by pointing at Phoenix Mercury's DeWanna Bonner after another unnecessary hard foul against Caitlin Clark.

(Don't anyone dare suggest Clark's not being targeted or that it's about racism. If it was, Breanna Stewart and a holy host of others would've been targeted long ago. No. Whacking Clark is about jealousy, pure and simple.)

But what about Cunningham? 

How funny was her continued pointing at an enraged Bonner?

For a few minutes, she became one of the most recognisable WNBA players on Planet Earth.

And where did she learn to be a real player? At Melbourne Boomers in the WNBL, that's where.

Have you seen how good Naz Hillmon and Jordin Canada have been this season? Yes, they're also former Melbourne Boomers imports.

WNBA stars such as Nia Coffey have had two WNBL stints, as have Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Brianna Turner.

Yeah, the list goes on and on.

Courtney Williams, Kia Nurse, Mackenzie Holmes, Sania Fegan, Lucy Olsen - that's just lately.

Go back to Mercedes Russell or Lindsay Allen and you'll quickly see our WNBL has made stars of players for the WNBA.

The second best (playing) league in the world? Yes it is. The WNBL grabbing that recognition and patting itself on the back for it is long overdue.