fair comments - u20s / 21s will depend heavily on teh big guns that surface for all teams

Makes the point what a useless event this is most years when your predictions are hard to fault.

If North 21 girls would actually give a damn about State Champs i believe the final would be West and North.
In the boys 20's i think Sturt with Dodman playing will be in good shape, most of those guys are playing ABL this year and will be better for the experience.
have to agree with all other predictions, good job not far away.

Forsetville are a very deep lineup & well balanced. Sturt could get to the semi by knocking off South or North, but I don't know that they could get past Forestville or even maybe Norwood in the cross over game.

Sorry i should have been more clear i meant to make top four, i think Forestville have got the 20 boys sown up, most likely against Norwood or North, but neither of them will be any real competition.

forestville are down a state quality big man? if i have heard correctly that will hurt when playing sturt and dodman

measles,

Why such a sook.

If it is not worth it, don't play.

Measles,

It may look straightforward & on the money now, but by the end of the weekend you might all be laughing at these predictions. Funny things happen at state champs!

Now, just for fun, IF my predictions were to magically come true, this is how the club champs would look:

Boys
Sturt - 17
West - 12
North - 6
Forestville - 6
Norwood - 5
South - 3
Southern - 3
Eastern - 3

Girls
Sturt - 16
Forestville - 11
North - 9
Southern - 6
Norwood - 5
West - 4
Eastern - 2
South - 2

I actually think the girls champ should be closer between Sturt/Forestville/North. There are plenty of games (especially in the U16s & U18s) which could have a big impact on the final club results.

The boys will be a two horse race between Sturt & West. These two clubs should have close games in nearly every boys grade (either in the rounds or semis/grand finals) and the results of those games could well decide the boys club champ.

Is there anything in it for the clubs. Do BSA reward the champion clubs or is it for pride alone?
My point is, with very, very few exceptions you could write the results now in such a weak competition.
Most of the top clubs booked their Classic's trip in february and some have annual bookings. Maybe run a two tier comp instead where the top teams played each other more would yield better results. No point in most age groups playing half of their games as they are non competitive lay up drills.
Saying it isnt so is just being blind to the quality of district basketball in SA.

Measles, please close that can of worms and visit some other threads on pro/rel.

Good point measles - the comp is very weak and predictable.

We book with great confidence our accommodation 2 years in advance for the classics at sturt.

My lad will be 18's at that stage in 2009 so have booked already !!!!

Measles,

Let's not turn this into a pro-rel debate. Yes, there will be a lot of blowouts on the weekend. No, the results are not set in stone.

There are a few comps where there's not much difference bettwen the top tier of teams & the middle of the road teams.

As an example, let's look at last weeks results:

U12 boys 2nd seed Southern defeated 6th seed Eastern 39-35
U14 girls 3rd seed South beat 7th seed Woodville 60-51
U18 boys 1st seed Sturt beat 8th seed Forestville 70-62
U18 girls 7th seed Forestville beat 2nd seed Sturt 50-47.

That's just after a quick look at SportingPulse.

There will be upsets over the weekend, and there will be plenty of close games to balance out the blowouts. As I said, look back on these predictions at the end of the weekend & I might look a complete fool.

The clubs are playing for the trophy & the pride of the result.

Blueboy, this is why this forum is degenerating.
You are so good, lets hope a country kid is recruited and you lose your deposit for 2009.

Southern under 16 girls might struggle as one of there best ball handlers has gone down with an ankle injury which may make her miss the championships.

Dr Damage (MR Norwood), how is your club's junior program going? Look at the planned results above. What has been consistently happening (has it improved or gone backwards??) to your junior program over the past 10 yrs?????? How can you explain this?

I don't think that booking ahead (certainly booking 6-12 months in advance) is necessarily a sign of arrogance. You generally have a good idea of if the team is around the mark for top 4 or not, and even if disaster strikes & your team misses top 4, often the 5th & 6th placed teams will get an invite as well (especially true for younger age groups).

Booking 2 years ahead may be a bit presumtuous, but booking in advance is essential. There's no way you could "wait and see" & try booking after this weekend if you happen to make it.

... and blue smoke screen is back!

Let's keep this thread on track, everyone hates all these threads that turn into club bashing or pro.rel debates, there are other threads for that.

I think West are gonna win 12, 14 and 16 boys, and final in the 18's.

Dr Damage,

Would think that you should be pointing the finger at your own club rather than some obvious sarcasm.

Poor results, especially from the teams you have been coaching. Teams playing nothing but zone defence. Norwood coaches cheating at your own tournament. Players behaving inappropriately.

What is going on down there?

What about the reserves grade?

Secret Sabre .

"Poor results, especially from the teams you have been coaching"

If you are a Sabre, truly, then you show no respect at all for the improvement of my teams over the last couple of years.
Or you are ignorant?
I have not had the talent at my disposal to contest for a State Championship nor will I this year. The players I have coached deserve the best coaching they can get regardless of their ability, and thats what I try to give them.

I find the arrogance of blueboy pathetic and useless because we all travel to Melbourne every year and making a atatement like "My lad will be 18's at that stage in 2009 so have booked already !!!!" was not sarcasm it was arrogance.

This is off topic, but I agree with 'Not Far Away' his /her read is pretty accurate. QED

Can Chris Molitor reproduce the clutch and magic of last years overtime thriller?

Will West even make it that far?

Sturt
14's + 16 boys will win

Blueboy you arrogant bugger !

I see your point in that the group of boys you are talking about has won everything as second years since under 10's - that I can understand and yes do agree that they are never really challenged.

You do not have to declare it though. The other clubs have an inferiority complex as it is.

Lucky that we up the hill here don't have any hang ups we are just glad to have a sporting complex.

No doubt sturt will win everything again - boo hoo to you blue !!!

Woodville should be top four in the under 14 boys. Have beaten south by 20 and just last friday norwood and only losing to eastern by 4 at the start of the season up at the hills. Sturt defiently favs, but woodville, west and eastern should fill put the four. (Thats if there are two in each group). Dont know the draw.

CP3,

Yep there are two in each pool from the final 4 you've picked. I'd suggeest West & Sturt should get through relatively easily on their side, and their match should determine who avoids Eastern in the semi.

The other pool is wide open. Eastern would be expected to go through unscathed, while South, Woodville & Norwood all have a legitimate chance of snagging the 2nd finals spot. Will just come down to who plays the best over the weekend.

Blueboy, its easy to get to the classics in SA right now. The question is how many Classic GFs will they play in ? Keep booking those tickets and bragging about "making" the classics if that what rocks you jocks - then good luck!

BeenThereDoneThat,

Last year Sturt won 2 Gold medals and 2 Bronze medals.

Only 1 other club equaled that standard, Dandenong.

But, don't let the fact sget in the way of a good bitch.

It would be sad if Sturt were not as good as they are considering they have so many players. More to the point is Norwood's huge numbers and modest results

Sturt ARE very good.

Most of us can't work out why they keep spruiking though?

Measles,

1/ Not sure what that has to do with it. Forestville and Southern both had high numbers at the start of summer and aren't near that level of success.

2/ Melbourne clubs like Knox, and Eltham have domestic comps that are as large as the BSA competition. But they didnt do that well at that level.

secretsabre, its not a Norwood bash just I believe they have the most junior teams and you'd expect better returns when you have choice through such numbers.
I'd also expect Forestville and Southern to finish higher than Norwood in the girls and forestville to finish higher in the boys.

measles,

Maybe your just not that smart?

(Mod: Deleted. From zero to smirking attitude in just 4.6 seconds! Let's keep it on track please.)

u21s how can north put a side in when they dont have a side in the winter season.
most of the players play aba and south who plays in the comp did not put in a side ??

So North will play in the finals and one of the other side will miss out who plays all season.

U14 Reserve should be interesting since Sturt seem to be losing players left right and centre these days!!!

Girls that is sorry

Hey Blueboy, you are full of it!

You have NOT made a firm booking so far in advance.

You are confusing "wishing to book" with actually "booking"

Lets see if your son is still interested in 2009, hey?

Such a tool on line and in person as well... you get the double buddy!

To those above who said my initial predictions were "on the money" and that there was hardly any point to playing this weekend  here are some upsets for you.

U12 boys  Woodville made the GF (not mentioned in my top 6)
U14 boys  West (predicted 3rd) didn't even go close to making the semis
U18 boys  Eastern making finals & Southern upsetting South
U20 Men  Sturt winning (predicted to "maybe" make the top 4)

The girls were perhaps a tad more predictable, with the only real exceptions being Forestville's U18s making the top 4 ahead of West & the U21 women, with a Forestville/North GF (though I wasn't aware at the time of exactly who was lining up for either team).

I'm sure there are probably even more upsets, and there were some upsets in reserve grades, too.

I think this just proves that anything can happen on the weekend & it is definitely a worthwhile exercise for all. No matter what may've happened on Friday nights between November & May, you can always count on some teams over-achieving for the weekend, and others under-achieving.

And another - Southern for 3rd in U14 boys.

Blue as well

just goes to show how stupid you are if you believe everything the blue boy says - sucks you in every time. What will he post as next. - get a life .....

#132897, well excuse me anon, or is it "Blueboy"; reading my 1st post, I cant see anything that would even suggest to you that I believe anything Blueboy is saying, matter of fact I am suggesting the opposite you moron.

Your comments regarding "how stupid you are" & "sucks you in every time" I think maybe it is time for you to have a little inward reflection, don't you think? It is nut cases like this, and I would suggest you add yourself to the same category, that give our club a bad name.

To quote an idiot - "get a life ....."

#132925,

Not necessarily true. Sometimes I wonder just how well teams will go when they slot in a "superstar" player just for state champs.

In fact, of their 10 players, I believe 8 have represented the state at a nationals - very very impressive depth.

Either way - they were impressive all weekend, I don't think they dropped a game? Stuck to their game plan & played well in the GF.