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THE Kings at full strength to host Perth, Gary Ervin going back to Wollongong in pursuit of his first win at The Sandpit in opposition colors, and another Dandenong-Townsville WNBL preliminary final - it's a big round coming up.

With The Colonel back for Sydney, it finally has excellent coverage at point guard, off guard, small forward, power forward and centre and while a week may not be exactly enough time for Jesse Sanders to find his very best, the Kings have been itching for months to have another crack at the Wildcats.

You think Cody Ellis won't want to do well? Or James Harvey? AJ Ogilvy gets a thorough test too from the Matt Knight-Tom Jervis tandem.

Young V Ennis is whet-your-appetite stuff.

But before that even happens, the Breakers - their Championship defence effectively over - can still take it out on Queensland's NBL pair this round, starting at home against Townsville before hitting the road to Cairns.

Gary Ervin won a league MVP award in Wollongong but hasn't won any games there since in rival colors. In fact last time out, his Adelaide 36ers took a 22-point belting. The Sixers are back to who they want to be now so this one could be the unexpected game of the round.

It's WNBL preliminary time and Dandenong again hosting Townsville. This will be one of the best women's games of the year and worthy of a huge crowd and big ABC TV audience. Then it's on to Bendigo!

UNRELIABLY informed Adrian Preposterous, er, Adrian Proszenko, the "chief rugby league writer" for Fairfax Media, who magnanimously dubbed Kings' import Sam Young as "the best basketballer to step foot on to an Australian court" agrees with the ABC's Darren Boyd that Phil Brown is one of the greatest coaches in Australian history.

Apparently Brown was a leader in getting women the vote in Australia.

RANKINGS

NO emails please. Yes, I know Townsville beat Sydney last week, that's why the Crocs have risen up the rankings. So why aren't they ahead of Sydney, you ask? Well, the Kings did already smack Cairns the night before and now regain Jesse Sanders so I just have them ahead of Townsville at this point. Let's see what this round brings.

NBL Rankings

This Wk - Prev

8 (8) TAIPANS – The post-season dream is over. Now it is time to play for a contract.

7 (4) BREAKERS – Needed a split and didn't get it. The title defence is officially over.

6 (6) TIGERS – Have been pretty consistent here and must now make their move.

5 (7) CROCODILES – A very good win under the circumstances and split this coming trip previously.

4 (5) KINGS – Jesse is back so now we find out if he was, in fact, the missing piece.

3 (3) 36ERS – Got the job done, just. But beating the Hawks now is a very big challenge.

2 (2) HAWKS – Kevin Tiggs has been big against the 36ers and his absence will hurt.

1 (1) WILDCATS – Back to focusing on basketball and that's what they do best.

THIS WEEK'S TIPS

WITH their shot at a fourth straight title gone, the Breakers will still want to finish the season strongly, especially at home. Having already beaten Townsville in Auckland (after two road losses) expect New Zealand to just sneak home.

WOLLONGONG has been serving up some big wins over quality teams while compiling its current league-best four-win streak by an average of 18.8 points per game. This is a huge one against Adelaide, worthy of a big crowd, with the 36ers just slightly favored.

THE last time Townsville flew into Melbourne after a game with New Zealand, the Tigers stopped playing at the 9:55 mark of the third quarter and The Marksman nailed a morale-boosting halfcourt heave for the Crocs. They won it from there but this time Melbourne has too much to lose to lose, as Toulouse Lautrec would say.

NZ at Cairns is a battle between the league's two biggest 2013-14 disappointments, with a largely irrelevant result. The Taipans' somewhat flippant treatment of their fans' pain last week was surprising, as was their vapid on-court performance. Do they rise for this game? It's a coin flip and I'm guessing yes.

THIS is the one Sydney has been waiting for, the shot at Perth with the line-up finally boasting strength at every position and a Jesse Sanders-Damian Martin match-up Kings coach Shane Heal would love. The Wildcats are nobody's patsies though but why not predict a Kings upset at home?

DANDENONG put in a convincing performance last week in the double chance semi against Bendigo and still came up short. While the Rangers dearly would love a (grand) final crack at the Spirit, Townsville dusted out the playoff rust last week and look to have the depth to over-run Dandenong in the Preliminary Final.

DEAR WNBL Coaches & Captains
Can you please urgently return your All Star Five, Coach of the Year & Best Defensive ballots for the 2014-15 season. With the money saved on a dinner this year, we will all be off on a long vacation so need those tips in early please.
Sincerely
Basketball Australia