Basketball On The Internet.

THEY threw away the mould when Tom Maher emerged, as he reminded again last night while steering China from the sidelines against Adelaide Lightning at Adelaide Arena.

The man is a women's basketball coaching phenomenon, in Rio 2016 heading for his sixth straight Olympics after medalling with Australia's Opals in 1996-2000, somehow taking New Zealand into the quarter-finals at Athens 2004, China back to the medal round at Beijing 2008, Great Britain to respectability at last year's London Games and now charged again with re-establishing China as a powerhouse.

There's a wonderful irony in that, not lost on those of us who recall his first time at the helm of the Opals at the 1994 World Championship.

At that time, China was a women's basketball superpower behind its imposing 203cm centre Zheng Haixia and had few issues regularly disposing of the courageous but overmatched Aussies.

These mystical stars from the Orient who the Opals would only see every few years at a World Championship or an Olympics already started with a 15-point advantage every time they ran on-court.

So Maher demystified them.

Australia played games against China in China. It played games against China in Australia. It competed in tournaments where the Chinese would be. There was a series here, a series there and by the time they were finished, the Opals were doling out massive losses to the nation the girls once revered, if not feared.

The irony then is that it is now Maher (once again), trying to re-establish China to past glories after largely being the man responsible for the Great Wall's downfall.

He is committed to it too, just as he has been to the WNBL, winning its first Coach of the Year award with Nunawading Spectres in 1987, then again in 1992 at Perth Breakers and two more at his beloved Bulleen (now Melbourne) Boomers in 2010 and 2011.

His brief foray into NBL coaching yielded a 17-37 return rate at Hobart and considerable disappointment his methods did not translate from women's coaching to men's.

And his stint in the WNBA coaching Washington Mystics was cut short when his methods did not translate well in an American environment where honesty with a pro athlete is far from the best policy. They stay. You go.

But Maher has mellowed somewhat and his methods and success rate mean going down as one of the greatest women's basketball coaches in the world - no-one else comes close to six consecutive Olympics - won't be such a bad legacy.

"Alice, if you'd boxed out in the first place you wouldn't have fouled and you wouldn't be complaining now," is one of my personal Maher favorites, directed at one of his Bulleen players just a couple of years ago.

Yesterday, during the closed session scrimmage against the Lightning, he was more demonstrative. "Yeah I'm subbing you out. What did I just say at that time-out 10 seconds ago? What was the point if you're not going to listen?"

Old school. No BS. Cut to the chase, something he learned from a young age even before he paid his own way to watch the Olympics, well before he ever won the national coaching role.

He sought the advice of the best minds, cut the crap from the crystal and ploughed a path of self-belief which now has him, once again, preparing for a major international event.

Women's basketball players the world over swear by him, just as a few past players swear about him.

Tonight at Adelaide Arena from 5pm, he once again will prowl the sidelines like some demented mad scientist, lost briefly in thoughts he will share with his charges in no uncertain manner as they play Adelaide Lightning in a public international exhibition.

Tom Maher - still one of a kind and still going strong.
 

MELBOURNE, down Steve Dennis (for the season), Chris Goulding (ankle), Tommy Greer (pectoral tear), Lucas Walker (osteitis pubis) and Mark Worthington (rested/shoulder) would have felt pretty darn good with last night's preseason hitout in Millicent.

The Tigers lost 84-88 to Adelaide 36ers who, admittedly, also were down Adam Gibson and Luke Schenscher, but did enough to reassure Melbourne fans that the 2013-14 NBL campaign is still on track.

Canadian big-man Scott Morrison had 26 points at 53 per cent and 16 rebounds to lead the Tiger cubs who had Greg Page starting (and finishing with 13 points) and further hamstrung with Adam Ballinger in foul trouble.

Auryn Macmillan grabbed 10 boards and Anthony Petrie led the Sixers, also with 10 caroms.

Daniel Johnson (17 points) led the 36ers, BJ Anthony next with 13 points. Jarrid Frye hit a late three and free throws down the straight by DJ and Mitch Creek preserved the win.

The sides clash again tonight in Mount Gambier. Tip-off is 7.30.

Schenscher will play for the 36ers and so too Wortho and Walker for the Tigers. Be early.