Hoops

Current Gael signed at Cairns

Naar, Neal and Ford to an extent can play 1 or 2, Krebs will be a 2/3 I imagine. I can't see Zoricks getting much court time. Typically (Delly and Patty aside) RB doesn't give freshman G's big minutes. He usually plays a shallow bench but there is some good depth on that line-up. Especially at the 4/5. With BYU big Eric Mika signing with an agent and staying in the draft, Karnowski graduating and Collins going pro, Landale should have his way with the WCC this coming season (more so than he did last season if that's possible).

15 man roster =

PG Naar(Sr)/Ford(Soph)/Zoricks(fresh)
SG Neal(Sr)/Krebs(Soph)/Kuhse(Soph)
SF Hermanson(Sr)/Thomas(Soph)/Sheets(soph)
PF Fitzner(Jr)/Clark(Jr)/Fitts(fresh)
C Landale(Sr)/Hunter(Jr)/Perry(Fresh)

Hermanson will start at the 3.

Bennett has run three guard starting lineups previously with delly, holt and giusti so maybe 3 of neal, naar, krebs and ford will start? Especially with Landale anchoring the middle

And have Neal and ford at the point?

Might be Naar. Big loss for the gaels if true.

Narr was red shirted first year so maybe has finished his degree, he's 23 so not a bad idea if available.

Had wondered if fearne was trying to turn weeks into a straight-up point guard by the way he was using him last week. What you laid out above almost makes sense. Madness if you ask me, every Nbl team in Australia lives and dies by its import pg these days..

Naar or Landale. Very much doubt it.

Christ, I hope we don't end up with Barlow. That would be a disaster. Still, it would fit with Fearne's model of getting experienced veterans with only a year or two left in the tank, and with the capacity to play 3 or 4. At least he's a decent shooter.

I really like the look of Jordan Hunter; he's got some moves and a good sense of the basketball court. I don't see where he'd fit in the Taipans rotation, though, because he's not a starting 4. Unless Fearne plans to start Egwu at 4 and Jawai at 5, backing them up with Hunter and Loughton, which I just hate the thought of. He could be an interesting pick up as 11th man if they don't sign Heuir.

Snakes need starters at 1, 3 and 4.

It could be Naar. It would be a huge risk to start him, he's only a junior at college level now, and it would be point guard by committee, if Fearne were to start with Weeks:

Weeks/Naar
Gliddon/McCarron
Import 1/Weigh
Import 2/Loughton
Jawai/Egwu
Heuir as 11th man

I would imagine he'd be looking to Gliddon to run the point a bit more, like he did in his first year.

It kind of makes more sense, with Jawai going to miss the start of the season, for them to go with greater depth at the big positions, but I've always thought Stevie should play more 4, especially as he's not as quick as he progresses in age.

I hope Fearne has someone really good up his sleeve.

Maybe it's Jock Landale.

Not an Aussie as I heard Barlow will end up in Cairns.

Back on topic.... so who did the Taipans sign?

Neal could be a great acquisition and Ford should see an increase in minutes. If Hunter can show progression to replace Dane's minutes somewhat, they should be in a pretty good spot. I can see Kreb's starting at the 2 spot and Ford coming in off the bench along with Neal as the 2 backup guards. Bennet isn't scared of playing the lead guard with heavy minutes so I wouldn't expect Naar to see much pine.

Which Aussie player will they go after in 2018 season?

Cullen Neal might be ahead of ford.

With rahon and Pinaeu gone.
Porter left, then Gonzalez. (2 really good players I thought)
Glover turning pro.

Will be interesting to see how they go with Ford, Naar, Hermanson, Fitzner, Landale the starting 5 with really only krebs, coming of the bench.
3-4 guys we haven't really seen do anything. (Kuhse, sheets, thomas)
Zurics the new pg coming in and no one else signed.
Perry untested.

They are the 2 logical potentials. I think Hunter showed enough late in the year to gain some interest as a backup backup 5 man in the NBL at a young age. The recent recruiting by SMC and Kreb's development in the latter stages of the season could give Clarke reason to think he may not get many minutes in the upcoming season. Those two however would have invested serious minutes into earning their degree's and staying to complete the education would have some validity with basketball aside.

Maybe Clark or hunter?
An undersized pf and a c that gets few minutes.

He wouldn't technically be a current Gael nor is he Australian. As an SMC fan I hope that is the case though!! I know Joe played out last season on a bung knee and has had some surgery since losing to Arizona in NCAA's. He would be a great get for any NBL side. A poor man's Delly (which isn't a knock on Joe by any means)

Maybe joe rahon?

That be awesome for cairns.

Thursday night @ NSEC the Breakers and Wildcats start their scrap for a spot in the finals Vs the Crocs or Taipans.
I'm picking this series to be the one to watch as there is no love lost between these two teams.

The war of the words has already started lol with 6th Man of the year Kevin Braswell having this to say on the NZ Herald site


Asked whether he expected to be pushed around tomorrow night, he said (Kevin Braswell): "It will never happen. They say Damien Martin is the best defender in the league and all of this stuff. Blah blah blah. I thought Mika Vukona should have won defensive player of the year. He is a guy who goes out there and gets 16, 18 rebounds a game and dives for every loose ball.

"For me, the chance to attack the Perth guards this series ... it will happen."

Asked if he backed a Breakers guard line of himself, Penney and CJ Bruton against Martin, Brad Robbins and Kevin Lisch, he said: "All day. We are 22-6.

"But it is going to be a scrap. They have been sending two Australian referees to referee our games for the last two months. Everybody across the water is against us. We need everybody here to be with us. That's all we are asking."