Hoops

NBL to develop University Basketball League

Not sure how this works and haven't thought hard enough about it but it would seem to kill off any U23 leagues that States are running (YL in BigV comes to mind) but shouldn't effect State League Teams except maybe lower ranked Div2 sides made up of young uni guys who enjoy playing with school than club.

Has the ability to open up more jobs in basketball, coaches, strength coaches, administrators etc so not a bad thing and potentially better facilities as the uni's have more cash than clubs do and don't always have to deal with councils when wanting to upgrade or build - just look at LaTrobe Uni going nuts with sports facilities.

Not really. What you study is the key. It's easy to choose many of the junk degrees on offer to be on easy street. Those won't get you a job in the US let alone Australia.

AD

Not entirely true.

Some undergrad degrees are valued. Definitely not “communications” type degrees though.

There are also Board exams to aging eligibility for professional associations. In some cases it’s more regulated than here in Australia: even with Federal govt funding of the industry and reviews of evidence based practices the feds still let new graduates practice in spite of their quals not requiring them to learn evidence based practices.

Dazz it's the weekend so hurry on to your property outside of Perth!

Better off having an academy league.

Like to see this succeed but I have reservations. Having said that a number of universities are sponsoring top level clubs already. So it is not such a stretch.

Players will want in if it includes a scholarship.

In the US
High School
College
G-League
NBA

In Australia at present
Club Juniors
ABL (at same Club as Juniors)
NBL

Is this how the new model would work?
Club for Juniors
University (leave your Club, scholarships?)
ABL (come back to your Club)
NBL

Reality

No Australian uni has more international students than local students:

http://theconversation.com/who-goes-to-university-the-changing-profile-of-our-students-40373

I looked at other web pages. Highest % I saw was 40.9% at Murdoch.

Another revenue stream?

Uni basketball would be a losing proposition, wouldn’t come close to making any cash!

There is an assumption that all good ballers want to go to the US college system. That’s incorrect. Many great junior ballers are more than happy to go to a world class university here in Aus knowing their future beyond ballin is secure, they have family, friends, financial support and lifestyle. They may be realistic about their opportunity to make NBA. They pursue SEABL, ABL QBL Premier league etc, and try for a development spots with NBL and some make it to other leagues overseas. Many college players end up right back where those that didn’t leave are or in worse position ball and afterball career wise, we never hear about those and there are many. Those who stay have forged a life for themselves and most importantly happy. We need to remember for all the success stories we hear there are hundreds and thousands of those that are not. Financially most college placements are not fully funded as well so that plays a huge factor for some talent as well. We should celebrate those that stay as they are maintaining the grassroots of our state leagues and backfilling NBL teams. This keeps basketball alive in Aus and thats important as well. They are coaches and junior development leaders. We need them as much as college reps.

Nope. There already are World Uni games.

It would dilute ABA etc, im guessing this aim is to eventually be above those leagues cos it wouldnt work without the travel given theres only 3 unis in SA. Is SEABLs demise anything to do with this?

Is this a replacement for SEABL?

A good idea for the NBL to partner with the Unis and get them to host and fund the next tier of talent

Be interesting to see how this league turns out and what players participate in it

Not a bad idea...but first get the NBL right, and get 3x3 Hustle right, and then...

Should fix the wnbl first Larry. Please...

I think this will be tough in Australia. Good talent will go to NBL or NCAA or be at the Centre of Excellence. Will be tough to have a strong league.
Furthermore, they’ll be competing with club teams Australia wide.

I’d like to see anything basketball related succeed, and I’m happy to be proven wrong on this.

Suggested by Tiger Watcher in another thread. They've been right before, so I figured it might be worth starting a speculative thread now. Question mark is there until it's confirmed or outright denied.