Thursday April 26, 2007

Hi there

This week saw the first of Baketball New Zealand's age group tournaments with the completion of the Oreo NZ U21 Championships in Christchurch. Congratulations to the Harbour men and Canterbury women for their success. It was exciting to see the talent level among these players, many of whom have left school and are now trying to find their place in the sport long term. Some are on NBL squads, some are looking to US colleges and others are already in or trialling for NZ Tall Blacks or Tall Ferns.
The benefits of this event could be seen when Dylan Perfect-Tait, who scored 34 points in the men's final, returned to the Bay Hawks and had the best game of his NBL career the following night, obviously gaining in confidence from competing so well at his own level.
Early next month, we have the U19 premierships with the national tournament scheduled for June 2-4.
Cheers
Chappy

After The Rain

Habour had to contend with the intervention of a third element before snatching the Oreo NZ U21 Championship men’s title with a 97-94 win over Waikato in Christchurch.

If Waikato centre BJ Anthony was fire and Harbour guard Corey Webster was ice, shooter Dylan Perfect-Tait became the water that threatened to rain on the northerners’ parade.

While much of the pre-game attention surrounded the Anthony v Webster rivalry, it was Perfect-Tait who put Waikato into a 54-43 halftime lead, scoring 18 points (including five three-pointers) in their 32-20 second quarter raid.

New Lease Of Life

Coach Chris Sparks and his Scenic Circle Canterbury Rams have had nearly a fortnight to savour their first win of the Dominion Finance NBL, but are determined not to rest on the laurels now the drought is over.

Through yet another quirk of the draw – there have been so many this season – the Rams’ 72-64 televised home win over TET Taranaki Mountain Airs on April 12 has been their only outing in almost a month.

“Everyone was happy with the way we played,” recalls Sparks. “It was nice to get that first win and take a load off.

Dominion Finance NBL Guide (Round Eight) (pdf 1.2MB)

Capital Tipped For Test

Toby Robson, Dominion Post

International basketball is set to return to Wellington for the first time in six years when the Tall Blacks play Venezuela in the capital in July.

Though the test series has not been officially confirmed, Basketball New Zealand marketing manager Andrew Alleway said yesterday that the South Americans had conditionally agreed to make the trip down-under.

“We are getting very close to finalising discussions with Venezuela, who are ranked 21 in the world.

Perfect Vision

NZ Tall Fern Charmian Purcell continued to do double duty on both sides of the Tasman, wracking up a “20-20” in Parramatta Wildcats’ 76-47 win over Maitland Mustangs in the NSW Waratah Basketball League.

Purcell, who returns to New Zealand each week to play for Harbour Breeze in the WBL, had 25 points (9/19 FG, 1/1 3pt, 6/7 FT), 21 rebounds, four assists and a block as the Cats improved to 3-3 for the season.

Meanwhile, former Tall Fern Adrianne Gilbert led Bankstown Bruins to an 83-47 win over Hills Hornets, contributing a game-high 22 points (9/20 FG, 4/6 FT), six rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Bankstown are an unbeaten 4-0 for the season.

Kerr Laughs Last

Kiwi Gemma Kerr secured bragging rights over NZ Tall Fern guard Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe, helping her Kilsyth Lady Cobras to an 88-76 win over Frankston Lady Blues in the South East Australia Basketball League.

Kerr had 14 points (4/9 FG, 1/5 3pt, 5/7 FT), five rebounds, four steals and an assist in the result that extended Kilsyth’s record to 6-4 for the season.

McMeeken-Ruscoe led the Blues with 18 points (9/16 FG), three rebounds, three assists and two steals, but was later held to nine points, four rebounds and three assists in a 56-65 loss to Knox Raiders.

Frankston languish at the foot of the table with a 1-9 record.

Tait Repeats

Dominion Finance NBL Player Of The Week - Lindsay Tait (Youthtown Auckland Stars)
34 points (11/18 FG, 2/6 3pt, 10/11 FT), five assists, two steals, two rebounds and a block v Cartridge World Otago Nuggets

For the second time this season, Tait has emerged as the round’s best performer on the back of a big scoring effort against the Nuggets.

Incredibly, he had to watch his franchise scoring record wiped from the books by an even more prolific display by American team-mate Tashaan Forehan-Kelly (37 points). Tait gets the POW nod on the basis of his superior all-round contribution.

Includes Stat Leaders & Player Power Rankings Top 50

Read More ...

Dominion Finance NBL

Monday, April 23
New Plymouth
U Park It Waikato Pistons 106 (Jason Fraser 32, Kevin Smith 24, Luke Martin 18, Pero Cameron 11) TET Taranaki Mountain Airs 99 (Damon Rampton 23, Garry Hill-Thomas 20, Ben Jeffrey 20, Link Abrams 16, Kaine Hokianga 11)
Quarter 26-25
Halftime 51-45 (25-20)
Threequarter 72-69 (21-14)
Fulltime 106-99 (34-40)

Box Score - Mountain Airs v Pistons (html 20KB)

Wednesday, April 25
Napier
Easy LPG Bay Hawks 95 (Everard Bartlett 26, Paora Winitana 16, Andrew Rice 13, Kareem Johnson 12) Inspire Net Manawatu Jets 83 (Aaron Nowell 20, Reece Cassidy 15, Matt Te Huna 15, Brandon Payton 14, George Byrd 10) OT
Quarter 18-17
Halftime 33-30 (15-13)
Threequarter 59-55 (26-25)
Fulltime 75-75 (16-20)
Overtime 95-83 (20-8)
Box Score - Hawks v Jets (html 22KB)

Nelson
Blue Chip Nelson Giants 90 (Josh Pace 26, Mika Vukona 16, Ed Book 15) Scenic Circle Canterbury Rams 76 (Michael Joiner 24, Mychal Green 22, Mark Morrison 13)
Quarter 23-13
Halftime 46-29 (23-16)
Threequarter 68-55 (22-26)
Fulltime 90-76 (22-21)
Box Score - Giants v Rams (html 21KB)

BBNZ Cluster Camp Coaching Clinics

Saturday, April 28
3.30pm

Unitec, Auckland
Rotorua Girls High School
Arena Manauwatu, Palmerston North
Pioneer Stadium, Christchurch
SBS Events Centre, Timaru

The Teaching Makes The Drill

Presenters - Murray McMahon, Trent Adam, Ollie Dudfield, Dave Harrison, Mark Rogers

Free

BBNZ Cluster Camp Coaching Notes (pdf 44KB)

X's & O's - Developing Offensive Understanding

The following drills demonstrate how to structure a build-up sequence of practice in order to develop an aspect of team play.

The drills progress from an initial focus on developing the individual fundamental skills players require to be success at executing on-ball screens, onto improving players’ tactical understanding of half-court offensive concepts, to finally working on the players’ ability to execute aspects of team play featuring on-ball screening.

It is important to note that although each stage of the drill focuses on a particular aspect of the game (individual fundamentals, tactical understanding or team play) the drills are designed so players practice other elements of the game within each drill.