Basketball On The Internet.

THE poll is complete. Adelaide 36ers today became the first NBL club this season to release an import, mightily unlucky Kenyon McNeaill.

Few would have had him on their lists for "which import goes first" because he is NBL quality.

But his shoulder injury leaves him out of action for a further 4-to-6 weeks at best, prompting the 36ers to move on seasoned vet Jerome Randle.

JEROME RANDLE: In his Cal Bears days.

The Sixers have not yet formally confirmed Randle but he fits the mould of players coach Joey Wright likes - such as McNeaill and Adris Deleon.

Racing to have him in Adelaide and able to suit Thursday against Cairns and Friday in Sydney, the 36ers maybe should call Melbourne United or Sydney Uni Flames to find out how they got Hakim Warrick and Carolyn Swords respectively on court so soon after touching down.

 

BASKETBALL ON THE INTERNET - PLAYER OF THE WEEK

IT was a toughie this round because there were so many single-game stand-out performances but less consistency over the round's full journey.

In the end though, it was Kirk Penney who stood out as the B.O.T.I. winner in the NBL for first delivering a season-best 36 points to steer Illawarra to its maiden win of the season and against his former club New Zealand.

Then, as the Hawks backed up with a second win in Sydney, Penney took a lesser role but still had 16 points, giving him 52 for the weekend at an average of 26ppg, still better than any other single-game performance.

Yes, Daniel Kickert was huge against Adelaide, Cam Gliddon sharp against the Crocs. But it is Penney who rolls into the B.O.T.I. PotW list for Round 2.

NBL PotW

Rd1 Todd Blanchfield

Rd2 Kirk Penney

AS tempting as it is to award the WNBL PotW to Carolyn Swords, Townsville superstar Suzy Batkovic gets the B.O.T.I. Round 2 nod.

Suzy cracked the 4,000-points barrier with a season-high 30-point haul at 70 per cent as the Fire torched Canberra by a gazillion points. And The Batgirl played less than 25 minutes!

I liked Swords because she played a meagre 12:13 against Adelaide but that included a 10-0 third quarter outburst in a 17-point game at 6-of-6 shooting, with five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

That was Swords' follow-up game to a 13-points in 14-plus minutes effort against Canberra, giving the WNBA centre 30 points in under 27 minutes of action! Pretty amazing too. 

WNBL PotW

Rd1 Tess Madgen

Rd2 Suzy Batkovic

 

NBL RD 2

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 96 (Penney 36, Ogilvy 23, White 10; Ogilvy 10 rebs; Demos 5 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 75 (Ch Jackson 20, Wesley 14, Ili 12, Abercrombie 11; Ch Jackson 9 rebs; Ce Jackson 6 assts) at The Sandpit. TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES 80 (Jett 22, Steindl 18, Conklin 11; Young 6 rebs; Jett 6 assts) d SYDNEY KINGS 77 (Khazzouh 15, Markovic, Cadee 12; Hill 9 rebs; Garlepp 4 assts) at the Kingdome. MELBOURNE UNITED 84 (Kickert 22, Warrick 16, Goulding 14, Holt 11, Blanchfield 10; Majok 8 rebs; Holt 7 assts) d ADELAIDE 36ERS 75 (Gibson 17, Johnson 15, McNeaill, Ere 10; Johnson 10 rebs; Gibson 3 assts) at Hisense Arena. PERTH WILDCATS 83 (Beal 19, Knight, Wagstaff 14, Prather 11; Knight 12 rebs; Beal 6 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 80 (Abercrombie 23, Ce Jackson 19, Bartlett 17; Ch Jackson 15 rebs; McDonald, Ce Jackson 3 assts) at The Jungle, Perth Arena. ILLAWARRA HAWKS 100 (Forman 24, Coenraad 18, Penney 16, Ogilvy 15, Weeks 10; Forman 10 rebs; Ogilvy 6 assts ) d SYDNEY KINGS 86 (Khazzouh 21, Thornton 19, Cadee 16, Garlepp 14; Khazzouh 10 rebs; Cadee 6 assts) at the Kingdome. CAIRNS TAIPANS 80 (Gliddon 16, Burston 13, Weigh, Bruce 12; Burston 7 rebs; Starks 6 assts) d TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES 74 (Steindl 13, Conklin 12, Kay 10; Henry 5 rebs; Conklin 5 assts) at Cairns Convention Centre.

WNBL RD 2

SYDNEY UNI FLAMES 85 (K Ebzery 21 J Tinkle 14 C Swords 13; Boag, Tinkle 6 rebs; Tupaea, Ebzery 7 assts) d CANBERRA CAPITALS 67 (A Bishop 17 S Talbot 12 J Bibby 11; Talbot 6 rebs; Wilson, Haynes 3 assts) at Brydens Stadium. DANDENONG RANGERS 89 (Cumming, Bunton 17, Pickrel 16, Blicavs 12; Pickrel 8 rebs; Blicavs 7 assts) d SEQ STARS 81 (Stallworth 23, Jarry 21, Mansfield 17, Lewis 10; Stallworth 13 rebs; Payne, Ibekwe 3 assts) at Dandenong Stadium. PERTH LYNX 71 (Tomlinson 24, Whitcomb 14; Burton 9 rebs; Whitcomb 4 assts) d MELBOURNE BOOMERS 62 (Garrick 20, Kunek 16, Penaluna, Madgen 11; Kunek 10 rebs; Madgen 3 assts) at State Basketball Centre. SYDNEY UNI FLAMES 88 (Swords 17, Tinkle, Ebzery 16, Tupaea 13, Wilson 12; Wilson 8 rebs; Ebzery 7 assts) d ADELAIDE LIGHTNING 71 (Ruef, Mitchell 20; Ruef 6 rebs; Dombkins, Bowen 3 assts) at the Lighthouse, Wayville. TOWNSVILLE FIRE 104 (Batkovic 30, Murray 18, Novosel 17, Tatham, Cocks 10; George 9 rebs; Murray 7 assts) d CANBERRA CAPITALS 60 (Talbot 24, Wehrung 11; Talbot 5 rebs; Zavecz 4 assts) at Townsville RSL Stadium. BENDIGO SPIRIT 81 (Snell, Griffin 20, Richards 13; Richards 11 rebs; K Wilson 7 assts) d PERTH LYNX 65 (Lavey 15, Laney, Tomlinson 12, Whicomb 10; Tomlinson, Laney 6 rebs; Laney, Whitcomb 3 assts) at Bendigo Stadium.

 

YEAH, NO KIDDING

WAS enjoying the Matt Russell/James Harvey call of the Hawks-Breakers - loved Russell poking fun at himself with his Jarrad "Air-Jordan" Weeks comment - before the commentary hit a personal bug-bear.

Harvs made the type of blue that really wrankles. He posed Matt the question as to why Sydney could be top on a 1-0 record and Melbourne second on 2-0 ?

Aaargh!

Mate, you're on air to tell us, the simple viewers, why the ladder works that way, NOT rabbit on about how it makes no sense to you. If it doesn't, go find out so you can explain it to other plebs watching who might be bewildered by it too.

THAT'S. YOUR. ROLE.

Now just for your information, until the regular season concludes and head-to-head results split any win-loss record ties between teams, the table reflects how many wins a team has had from how many games it has played.

It means if a team is, say, 3-1, it still will be behind a team which is 1-0, even if it has played three more games. So Team A (3-1) has a 75% success rate and Team B (1-0) is 100%, so Team B has the higher ladder position.

In a season such as this, when games-played will at times vary wildly between teams, winning percentage is the fairest system.

But to your specific issue. If Team M, for example, is 4-0 but has won all four games by a handful of points, and Team S is 2-0 but won by 30 and 20, they both will show 100% records. But Team S's points percentage will be better because of its bigger wins, hence it will take the higher ladder position.

By all means debate whether that's the best way to reflect true positions - I believe it is - but at least know what you're debating so you can enlighten viewers.

Fast forward to Adam Papalia and Brad "The Pirate" Robbins on the Perth-New Zealand call.

No sooner had the telecast started when Robbins, in response to a question, said: "...it's quite natural when these guys verse each other..."

Say, what?

When they "verse" each other?

Verse is not a verb mate. It is something kids say because they are shortening "versus" and don't know any better. But adults? Well, they kind of should.

Verse is a noun
1.
writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme.
"a lament in verse"
synonyms: poetry, versification, metrical composition, rhythmical composition, rhyme, rhyming, balladry, doggerel; More
verbarchaic
1.
speak in or compose verse; versify.
"he began to verse extemporaneously in her ear"

So that's what verse means. It does not mean "play against each other".

I know, these are tough times in which to be a grammar cop, especially when you see so many messing up your and you're, or their, there and they're.

I should HAVE known better (not should OF) but I can't help it.

Versus means against (especially in sporting and legal use).
"England versus Australia"
as opposed to; in contrast to.
"weighing up the pros and cons of organic versus inorganic produce"

So maybe let that one go. Good idea?

"Absolutely".

 

BIGGEST WINNERS / LOSERS

ILLAWARRA, still down Kevin Lisch and Rhys Martin and staring at a 0-4 season-start, is this round's biggest NBL winner after turning away both New Zealand and Sydney in two comprehensive team-driven performances.

BEATEN by Townsville, then falling off in the NSW derby to the Hawks, Sydney comes out of the round as its biggest loser. Of course, all that will change when Josh Childress pulls on his boots.

THE Flames pip the Fire as the WNBL's biggest winner this week, after seeing off both Canberra and Adelaide while still finding the new groove import centre Carolyn Swords provides.

LOSING to Sydney may have stung for Canberra but getting belted 104-60 by Townsville made the Caps this week's biggest losers while they continue to wait for their full team to be available.

 

Online

Kenyon is going, going ... http://bit.ly/1GdHxZd?

Kenyon out, Randle in? http://bit.ly/1PBogTD

 

TIME-OUT

DANG it but Dean Demopoulos was on course to break his own "Awriight?" time-out record of seven - still way short of Brian Goorjian's 19 many years ago - but, incredibly, dropped in two "OKs?" at the last second!