Basketball "IPL" ?

[brod]

DETAILS of a revolutionary new "IPL-style" basketball concept tipping off at Brett Maher Court in April will be revealed today.

The prizemoney tournament with newly-formed teams coming in and playing under predesignated banners for private owners, is being launched in Adelaide because of the city's nationally-recognised basketball-crazy fan base.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 28,00.html

[Gozu]

It does sound pretty interesting. Either way it's good for aussie basketball to be back on free to air TV and should generate more interest in the NBL given the people involved:

THE inaugural "Foot Locker Elite Classic High Stakes Hoops Classic" hopes to bring non-stop basketball action to Adelaide in April.

Eight teams - the Pythons, Coasters, Rush, Fleet, Rays, Reef, Cyclones and Monarchs - will compete for $250,000 in prizemoney from April 6-11 at Brett Maher Court with all matches televised live on Network 10's One HD channel.

Details of the series were announced today by Elite Classic Basketball managing director and prominent national basketball identity Jeff Van Groningen, a past chief executive of the Brisbane Bullets and Melbourne Tigers NBL clubs.

Hawthorn AFL star Lance "Buddy" Franklin (Pythons), Melbourne Vixen and national netballer Julie Corletto (Coasters), and future NBL Hall of Famer Lanard Copeland (Rush) - in partnership with retired 14-year NBA guard Sedale Threatt (LA Lakers, Philadelhpia 76ers, Seattle SuperSonics) - are some of the Classic' inaugural club owners.

Adelaide 36ers legend Brett Maher will steer the Fleet.

"I'm hoping with my contacts, I can pull a few good players into my team," Maher said.

Filling up the teams seems the biggest issue with NBL players contracted until June and clubs unlikely to freely release them for the five-day series.

"There are no import restrictions and we'll also have access to NCAA college players who are coming home," Van Groningen said.

Foot Locker is heading corporate support for the event and closer to its tip-off, Nike will reveal spectacular new uniforms for each team.

Spalding has jumped aboard to provide the official ball and Triple M is the event's official radio partner.

One HD will show eight hours of live action every day, with three matches each day.

New - and old - rules will highlight the event with jumpballs back and the possession arrow dumped.

Matches will be of four 12-minute quarters in length but the NBA 48-minute game format will actually lead to shorter games as only two time-outs per half - one regular, one 20-second - will be allowed, with no carry-over.

Winning quarters will carry bonus points making every quarter important.

On two occasions in each game, one per half, the coach or on-court captain may opt for the "game-breaker" power play which means for three minutes, any three-point basket will be worth four points, the backboard lit in green to signify the phase is in effect.

"I'm a big fan of basketball and always have been," Franklin said.

"I'm looking forward to putting a squad together to try and win this event.

"I like the format - it's so unique."

Van Groningen said with the prize pool, free-to-air television, game innovations and celebrity involvement, the Foot Locker Elite Classic High Stakes Hoops recognised global trends explored by cricket's Indian Premier League.

"This event is innovative and ground-breaking and has the potential to really engage fans," dual-Olympic and six-time NBL championship coach Brian Goorjian said.

"I like the ingredients.

"Former players and coaches are involved and the whole thing is dynamic.

"Team rights owners are coming in to this from other sports because they believe in it and I have no doubt it will attract top players."

Today's announcement-generated excitement lacked that one final component - a marquee player or players to associate with the series.

But staged, as it will be, during school holidays and bringing Australian-flavoured basketball back to free-to-air television, can only be seen as pluses for the sport.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 71,00.html

[Gozu]

Just retired NBL legends Chris Anstey & Sam MacKinnon have signed on to play in this tournament at the Dome.

[Gozu]

Brett Maher has announced he will be coming out of retirement to play in this tournament and NBL legends Mark Bradtke & Darryl McDonald have each signed on to coach.

[CK]

A great idea in theory, in terms of bringing the sport back to free-to-air (albeit Digital) TV in Australia for this series, and some of the rules will be interesting also. Not sure if any will translate into the 2010-11 season of NBL, but its worth having a try at this to generate further interest in NBL in Australia.

[Sorry Dude]

I am keen to watch it wether it be on One or live (hopefully i can get to a game or two live).

[Sorry Dude]

the first list of names for the auction are available now, with more info and players being added on wednesday.
http://www.highstakeshoops.com/

[Gozu]

Former 36ers championship winning coach Ken Cole will now coach Brett Maher's Fleet team in this tournament.

[Gozu]

Former 36ers championship winning import Willie Farley is expected to team up with Brett Maher again and play for his Fleet team.

[Sorry Dude]

Former 36ers championship winning import Willie Farley is expected to team up with Brett Maher again and play for his Fleet team.

will team up with maher. (if the tiser got it right)

[Sorry Dude]

http://eliteclassic.wordpress.com/2010/ ... r/#respond
overseas player draft times and selection order. was due to start this morning at 9am.

[brod]

http://eliteclassic.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/overseas-player-draft-times-and-selection-order/#respond
overseas player draft times and selection order. was due to start this morning at 9am.

Players picked today

MONARCHS
Isiah Victor
Scott O’Gallaher

COASTERS
Mike Helms

REEF
Shane Edwards
Jelani Gardner

RUSH
Lonnie Harrell
Michael Boone
D’Lancy Carter

RAYS
Freddy Robinson
David Fisher

PYTHONS
Vernon Goodridge

CYCLONES
Terrance Woodbury
Mario Brown

FLEET
David Carson

[Sorry Dude]

Luck Schenscher added to an already strong Brett Maher Fleet roster.

[Gozu]

Supposedly most of the rosters are filled with NBL players but they had to wait until the NBL deal with One HD was complete.

[Gozu]

The rosters are starting to look a lot better for this High Stakes Hoops tournament at the Dome next week (and live on One HD all week). Supposedly a few more big name signings to come over the next week.

Rush
Team Rights Owner - Lanard Copeland
Coach - Sedale Threatt.
Michael Boone
Lonnie Harrell
Chris Brown
Michael Rose
Brad Bridgewater
Sedale Threatt Jr
Yusuf Qaafow
Daniel Dillon
Matt Smith
Thalo Green

Fleet
Team Rights Owner - Brett Maher & Consortium
Coach Ken Cole
Troy Jackson
Willie Farley
Brett Maher
Chris Goulding
Riley Luettgerodt
Luke Schenscher
Tom Daly
Chris Molitor
TBA

Rays
Team Rights Owner Pat Reidy & Matt Shanahan
Coach - Matt Shanahan
David Fisher
Freddy Robinson
Kevin Lisch
Peter Crawford
Tony Ronaldson
Damien Martin
Adam Gibson
Brad Hill
TBA
TBA

Cyclones
Coach - Bruce Bolden
Terrence Woodberry
Mario Brown
Graeme Dann
BJ Carter
Steve Markovic
Clint Reed
Brad Gerlach
Ryan Kersten
TBA
TBA

Monarchs
Team Rights Owner - John de la Torre
Coach - Al Green
Isiah Victor
Scott O'Gallagher
Martinis Woody
Wayne Oliver
Ed Millard
Rashard Tucker
Galen Young
Nick Brear
TBA
TBA

Coasters
Team Rights Owner - Julie Corletto
Coach Darryl "D Mac" McDonald
D'Lancy Carter
Mike Helms
Bennett Davison
Sean Lampley
Sam Mackinnon
Luke McMillan
Kevin Ratzch
Brad Davidson
TBA
TBA

Pythons
Team Rights Owner - Lance "Buddy" Franklin
Coach - Mark Bradtke
Tony Danridge
Kevin Johnson
Harry Lum
Corey "Homicide" Williams
Dante Sykes
Geremy Robinson
John Rillie
Michael Florence
Mike McDaniel
TBA

Reef
Team Rights Owner - Stewart Briggs & Dale Ryan
Coach Dale Ryan & Mick Downer
Shane Edwards
Jason Cameron
Nathan Niesler
Todd Blanchfield
Blogoj Janev
David Bartholomaeus
John Fitzgerald
TBA
TBA

[bloods08]

Noticed in the paper today that Julius Hodge has signed for the monarchs.

Honestly thought we would never see him in Adelaide again after his antics last time.

Really looking forward to wednesdays match against Brett Mahers team the fleet. Should be interesting thats all I'll say.

[CoverKing]

Good crowd by the looks on oneHD at the slam dunk thingo!

players being announced to a crowd of 30 people haha

[Brucetiki]

Watched part of the first game on One.

Whoever decided to play it during weekday's should be shot. What were they thinking.

Has the feel of a social comp at the local rec centre and was quite underwhelmed watching it.

Finally, I hope this isn't a sign of what to expect from One when they cover the NBL - the shot clock is up to 3 seconds behind the official shot clock!

All up, it's a flop!

[Gozu]

I disagree the standard is pretty high for mine. Maher's Fleet team would challenge most NBL teams. It's a made for TV tournament with 4 games per day during working hours this week. If it wasn't played during the day it wouldn't get shown on TV and the crowds wouldn't be much better anyway.

One area where I think they made a mistake was charging $30 for tickets. They should've made it free entry given it's a TV tournament so would've increased the atmosphere.

[the big bang]

i would have have been interested in making a weekend out of it, but after seeing most of it on tv today, will probably give it a miss.

i think in the "gamebreaker", every dunk should be worth 3 points aswell. would result in more exiting plays, rather than just a few extra 3's being taken. although, from what i watched, not many teams actually looked like they were actively taking advantage of the 4 pointers.