Category: Basketball Features

These lineups would be something to behold and showcase the best the league has to offer to the rest of the nation. Pictures by Picture IT Sports Photography and NBL1

3-Minute Read

My format would be as so in the form of four games across the weekend with the North taking on the South clubs with two different selections. Each club must have at least one nomination suit up for their respective conference all-star team.

North (Central District Lions, North Adelaide Rockets, Norwood Flames, West Adelaide Bearcats and Woodville Warriors)

South (Southern Tigers, South Adelaide Panthers, Sturt Sabres, Eastern Mavericks and Forestville Eagles)

• NBL1 Central All-Stars (Mens and Womens)
• NBL1 Central Rising-Stars (Mens and Womens born after 2002)
• NBL1 Central Three-Point Stars (Four of the best from the league, Mens and Womens: can be an all-star player)
• NBL1 Central All-Stars Skills Comp (Four of the best from the league, Mens and Womens: must not be in all-star game)

Here is my list of the above I’d nominate from the clubs in a three guard and two forward selection

*Denotes second year all-star

North All-Stars (Women) – coached by Brenton Johnston

Guard – Lauren Mansfield (Rockets)

Guard – Brooke Basham* (Rockets)

Guard – Ally Wilson* (Flames)

Forward – Nicole Fransson (Warriors)

Forward – Tiahna Sears (Lions)

Guard – Jasmin Fejo* (Bearcats)

Guard – Jaedyn De La Cerda (Lions)

Guard – Sharna Thompson (Flames)

Forward – Molly Coleman (Bearcats)

Forward – Katherine Perkas (Warriors)

This team was one of the toughest to pick in 2023 with an enormous amount of talent at the guard positions particularly – in the end you couldn’t ignore that starting lineup is pretty much almost WNBL quality. The trio of Mansfield, Basham and Wilson is a dangerous combo for North with Lions forward Sears providing some huge punch from one of the forward positions and Fransson hauling in big boards and inside paint work.

The bench is just as star studded and tough with a second appearance from Fejo and De La Cerda keeping the quality up in rotations. Thompson is a star shooter that can come in and impact and then the toughness of Coleman and reward for an underrated season for Perkas to back up Fransson and Sears.

South All-Stars (Women) – coached by Tim Shortt

Guard – Jordan Hunter (Panthers)

Guard – Tayla Brazel (Sabres)

Guard – Maddy Freer (Eagles)

Forward – Mollie McKendrick (Tigers)

Forward – Mikayla Williams* (Sabres)

Guard – Tayla Levy (Mavericks)

Guard – Morgan Yaeger* (Tigers)

Guard – Olivia Bradley (Mavericks)

Forward – Holly Forbes (Panthers)

Forward – Rachel Hines (Eagles)

The South side is an assist and stealing machine in setting up its key scorers in the front court in McKendrick and reigning Halls medallist Williams. The nightmare of encountering Hunter, Brazel up the top of the arc with Freer to space the floor rounds out the starting five. It was tough not having the next lot of guards start in this lineup but purely for balance and only cause Yaeger started this season a little later due to injury does she come off the pine.

Levy and Yaeger backup Hunter and Brazel to continue the defensive strength while by adding Bradley (rising star team 2022) adds some potency to the scoring punch of the back court. Front court has some rebounding power and punch from the pine with first timers Forbes and Hines rounding out a strong south lineup.

North All-Stars (Men) – coached by Dean Nyberg

Guard – Mitch McCarron (Bearcats)

Guard – Branden Jenkins* (Lions)

Guard – Anthony Drmic (Bearcats)

Forward – Koop McCalop* (Rockets)

Forward – Lachlan Olbrich* (Bearcats)

Guard – Jawan Stepney* (Warriors)

Guard – Jack Stanwix (Flames)

Guard – Riley Harrap (Rockets)

Forward – Akech Aliir (Rockets)

Forward – Kevin Baker (Lions)

An NBL quality starting five is what you’re looking at for North with three Bearcats making the starting five rounded out by McCalop and Jenkins two scoring and defensive machines.

The back up is just as strong with match winners in Stepney, Stanwix and Harrap bringing the carnage and Aliir and Baker I’ve rewarded for consistent form across the front court. One of the big strengths of this team is the outside arc of the bigs with all of them able to stretch the floor with their shooting.

South All-Stars (Men) – coached by Andy Simons

Guard – Adam Doyle* (Eagles)

Guard – Jordan Forbes (Sabres)

Guard – Malith Machar (Eagles)

Forward – Daniel Johnson* (Panthers)

Forward – Alex Starling* (Panthers)

Guard – Jasper Rentoy (Mavericks)

Guard – Jacob Rigoni* (Sabres)

Guard – Apiok “Jimma” Dau (Tigers)

Forward – Greg Mays (Eagles)

Forward – Jack Hemphill (Mavericks)

The starting five for the South team can lead the way with plenty of its own NBL experience in Doyle, Machar and Johnson with newly minted Sixer Starling and one of the recruits of the year in Forbes.

The bench looks high quality coming in with plenty of ability to win the glass as well as keep the scoreboard ticking over. Its great to see some players of previous seasons win their positions after consistent seasons like Dau and Mays. The Eagles win three selections in this year’s lineup showing their starting five has been a big part of their current second place positioning.

North Rising Stars (Women) – coached by Will Smith

Guard – Ashalea Perry (Warriors)

Guard – Grace Facchini* (Rockets)

Guard – Sarah Deng* (Lions)

Forward – Abby Brenton* (Bearcats)

Forward – Lily Zbierski* (Rockets)

Reserve – Sienna Grieger (Bearcats)

Reserve – Annika Uzcategui Montenegro (Flames)

A youthful lineup led by second year returnees in Brenton, Deng, Facchini, Zbierski – features a look into the future. Perry, Grieger and Uzcategui are those who’ve had a taste at senior level and would be great to see in a showcase like this.    

South Rising Stars (Women) – coached by Matt Clarke

Guard – Jess Simons* (Eagles)

Guard – Emily Close* (Sabres)

Guard – Margot Hall* (Tigers)

Forward – Bianca Stasinowsky (Tigers)

Forward – Stephanie Formby (Mavericks)

Reserve – Mia Walker-Roberts (Sabres)

Reserve – Alannah Morello (Eagles)

The DBG duo has returned – the designated bucket getters led by the shooting of Close and Simons. Hall is a starter this year followed by strong seasons from Stasinowsky, Formby, Walker-Roberts and Morello getting the nod in this year’s edition.

North Rising Stars (Men) – coached by Scott Whitmore

Guard – Kalani Sapwell (Lions)

Guard – Sean Stock (Bearcats)

Guard – Cooper Osborne* (Warriors)

Forward – Fraser Roxburgh (Bearcats)

Forward – Magok Manyang (Lions)

Reserve – Alex Dodson (Flames)

Reserve – Steve Parfitt* (Rockets)

Plenty of this lineup have taken another step in their development in 2023 with first time appearances from Sapwell, Stock, Roxburgh, Manyang (second appearance but unlucky to be pushed out of his 2022 All-Star position by a strong North conference) and Dodson. Parfitt and Osborne’s second appearances continue to show the important minutes in strong teams they will have in their future roles in coming seasons. The all-roundness of this side would be exciting to see on the floor.

South Rising-Stars (Men) – coached by Scott Ninnis

Guard – Jett Thompson (Tigers)

Guard – Keanu Rasmussen (Sabres)

Guard – Lloyd McVeigh (Panthers)

Forward – Stefan Gould (Eagles)

Forward – Jamie Smith* (Sabres)

Reserve – Owen Raneburg* (Mavericks)

Reserve – Alex Dickeson (Tigers)

The talent the under 21 in South team has changed dramatically with six of the seven players all starting in their teams at some time in season 2023. An incredibly strong back court and backup to the back court features in this lineup with a lineup that actually makes you question if they are under 21 with the skills they bring to the floor.

And last of all my nominations for the three point and skills stars competition…

NBL1 Central Three-Point Shooting Stars

Womens: Morgan Yeager (44.4 percent for the Tigers), Abby Beeche (42.3 percent for the Tigers), Alannah Morello (40.7 percent for the Eagles), Jade Johnson (40.6 percent for the Panthers), Brooke Basham (40.3 percent for the Rockets)

Mens: Andrew Barton (48.4 percent for the Panthers), Lachlan Olbrich (47.2 percent for the Bearcats), Jack Turnbull (47.1 percent for the Sabres), Kevin Baker (44.9 percent for the Lions), Matt Lycett (42.2 percent for the Flames)  

NBL1 Central Skills Stars

Womens: Kayla Mathews (Sabres), Sophie Kerridge (Flames), Mariah Martin (Tigers) and Tia Bails (Rockets)

Mens: Sam Daly (Sabres), Sunday Bol (Lions), Trey McBride (Flames) and Fabian Johnson (Tigers)

Well I guess its time to debate and decide your lineup and who would win with these teams…

We are back to doing recaps for the NBL, Catch all the NBL1 Central action this weekend on the NBL1 website, app and game of the week in Round 11.

NBL1 – Australia’s League

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The Defensive Player of the Year is likely to be one of the hotly contested awards this season with several worthy candidates in the running

3-Minute Read

MVP

The Most Valuable Player Awards for the Premier League are determined by a system in which each team’s head coach allocates votes after each minor game of the season. After the completion of the minor rounds a list of the top 15 vote recipients is compiled, based on this voting system and sent to each team’s head coach who then allocates 3-2-1 votes to players for this award from that list.

Based on this here is the list of my candidates MVP for Womens and Mens

Womens

Brigitte-Lefebvre Okankwu

In all but four games she is likely to be ranked best on court for the Mavs making her a highly desirable MVP choice to her team and fits the description of the award.

Sam Simons

Potential double possibility of a dual medallist off the back of 13 best on court for the Eagle performances.

Mikayla Williams

Another potential dual medallist with the possibility of 11 best on courts for the Sabres.

Mens

Joel Spear

Again Spear’s value can’t be underestimated to his team and the league, particularly in wins I predict for him to grab best over half of the Sabres games.  

Jeremy Smith

Will be getting plenty of threes from the coaches and the value is when he doesn’t have an impact, in the Panthers losses he’s got an average of 20.4 compared to his season average 26.6; that’s a valuable player to their team and the league.

Lachlan Olbrich

Was best on court for his team seven of his twelve games played and a close second in the others. Not only will he poll well in his games; he’s been the standout in his Tigers team this season.  

Best Defensive Player of 2022

Womens

Kayla Mathews – Tough lock down defender and has nullified some of the league’s best

Jasmin Fejo – Huge improvement in defensive game and not only steals off her opponents but has blocked several this season at that end of the floor

Bella Stratford – Assigned to the opposition’s best guard and done some quality jobs shutting down some key players

Mens

Jawan Stepney – The steals he’s chalked up have been converted several times by Warriors offence

Trey “Walter” McBride – Gone toe-to-toe with some of the league’s best guards and setup from the defensive end of the floor his team extremely well

Alex Starling – Block parties and dominated rebounding at the defensive end of the floor

Youth Womens and Mens Medals

The Merv Harris (women) and Frank Angove (men) medals are presented to the NBL1 Central player aged Under 21 years on December 31 of the year in which the competition is played, who polls the highest number of votes towards the Halls or Woollacott medal.

Merv Harris (U21 Womens) Medal

Chloe Dumesny – Expect a set of votes in the second half of the season

Maddy Freer – The last three rounds could win it for her

Caitlin Dyer – Huge stretch from Round 12 could net her a bunch of votes

Frank Angove (U21 Mens) Medal

Lachlan Olbrich – Incredible season for his age; the very warm favourite

Luca Barei – Will poll some votes and be a strong second

Fiston Ipassou – Can he net votes with so many other guys around him, he’s been ultra-impressive in his return to the league though)

Coach of the Year

The “Coach of the Year” is awarded based on 3-2-1 votes by fellow coaches at the end of the minor rounds.

Womens

Kay-Lee Stuart – Taken the Bearcats back to the finals and top of the table.

Richard Dickel – Had plenty of things thrown at his team this season and still managed to steer them back to consecutive finals appearances.

Scott Herriman – Taken the Lions back to a competitive outfit all games in the season and to one of their most successful seasons in half a decade.

Mens

Scott Whitmore – A huge reason for the Warriors finishing top of the ladder and has balanced a very even squad.

Scott Ninnis – The Panthers first finals appearance in 14 years and been clutch in his calls from side-lines in red-time several times this season.

Dean Nyberg – Considering what they lost from their championship side, he’s managed to score back-to-back finals appearances and that should be recognised.

Phillip Yuill Medal

The “Referee of the Year” is awarded based on 3-2-1 votes by coaches at the end of the minor rounds.

Women – Danika Shepherd, Emma Caeron, Maddie Shaw 

Men – Bailey Dyer, Nathan Davis, Brandon Doctor

All Star Five – These have been selected based on the most votes in their position in the medal with three guards and two forwards per team

Women

Alex Wilson

Jasmin Fejo

Sam Simons

Ash Spencer

Mikayla Williams

Men

Adam Doyle

Jeremy Smith

Jawan Stepney

Terry Winn

Alex Starling

We all wait with anticipation of Sunday afternoon to see who will be crowned for these awards and the prestigious Halls and Woollacott Medals.

We are back to doing recaps for the NBL, Catch all the NBL1 Central Finals action this weekend on the NBL1 website, app and game of the week.

NBL1 – Australia’s League

Please continue to support SA basketball news and features content being written, with our recent influx of work we are making content all free to read again but need constant contributions to make this happen