Appreciate the effort as always (for three values of always now). Didn't see three of yesterday's games, but what about a mention for Ng who was decent in his first two games at least?

Not 100% on the choice of Hoare as second centre, but I guess there aren't a tonne of alternatives unless you do some rearranging, maybe to put Davison in the second team at C. Davison was a bit average in his first game.

What about a tournament MVP? Goulding has been really impressive.

Not irrelevant to those who saw sixers first championship. - The obituary is premature.
I knew he had it.

In regards to Ken Cole, if you listened to what he had to say and the way in which he said it during time outs and half times, it showed what a good Coach he was. He was straight to the point, didnt waste any words and got his team to do exactly what he wanted them to.

Contrast this to the double dutch most modern coaches speak or in the case of several coaches, they spend half of the timeouts talking between themselves, not to the players. If you are on the ball and constantly anylising the game, you shouldnt need 30 seconds to work out what you need to say. Smyth and Breheny were a classic example of this in their later years

Come on - Ken Cole too old to coach?
Tell me what has changed in basketball over the last 30 years that is that significant.
What you saw this week is a guy that commands respect, has a plan, and has a team that plays to that plan.
Compare that to the sixers teams since he was booted out and there are VERY FEW years that we can say we got that from our coach and team.

For mine, I think Goulding has been the player of the tournament. A promising young Australian talent given an opportunity to be the focal point at the offensive end and he is shining through. We could be witnessing the emergence of a potential Boomer for years to come if he can continue to improve.

Homicide has been very good too, but he has also looked horrible at times on a horrible team.

Schenscher has also been very good. It is amazing how efective he is when given the ball as the focal point of the offence. We must also consider that he has not encountered any decent opponent in this tournamet as none exists at his position IMO.

I also think Bennett Davison has also been fantastic and is now realy hitting his strides. He would be a huge signing for an NBL team for next season.

Daniel Dillon has also impressed me. Again, I hope he can continue to improve and get a chance at NBL level next season as he never really got a chance at the Tigers.

Farley has also been very good and a few NBL teams could do worse that sign him as well.

It was great to see Todd Blanchfield fire up in his first game, however he has not replicated that form since which is a bit of a shame IMO. I hope it was not a flash in the pan, as I love to see young Aussie talent rise to the top.

John Rillie for mine has also been a highlight. He can still hoop!

Someone posted on here a few days ago asking whether Bennett Davison would be god for the Sixers, and I said no because his jumpshot is too inconsistent, but it has been pretty good in the HSH tournament so he might be exactly the player Adelaide need to complement Johnson and Ballinger, and give the Sixers the option of going tall with all three on the court.

does Lisch not even get a gig? he has been awesome aswell over the week!

Lisch has been solid for mine without being outstanding.

Paul, seeing Davison's numbers and hearing that he now has a jumpshot made me wonder if he could play as a big SF for the Sixers. I haven't seen him at this tournament though and don't think I ever saw him play in the NBL. Does he have enough footspeed to play SF?

Generally agree with your all tourney teams. Maybe Bridgewater deserves the nod ahead of Hoare though. Not great skill level, but he has done a lot of damage under the basket in this tournament.

Dillon has been good, but would probably have gone with Lisch ahead of him. Lisch took over at times, whereas Dillon tended to blend into the background at times.

LOL at Rillie as all 2nd team centre!

Bennett Davison has serious hops, and was an athletic swing man for the Tigers many moons ago, but had no jumpshot.

Now a 34 year old veteren, he still has hops but also now has a jumpshot all the way to three-point land. He has some very good post moves too, and has made a few people look stationary woring low in the post. He would be a very god SF in the NBL.

Bennett Davidson has been very good but would the rigours of a full NBL season and high expectations on the import be too much to ask of his body.

Athletic players experience more soft tissue injuries after they turn 32 so this might work against him.

That said, he would be great for the league, a quality person with great athletic (and more recently shooting) abilities.

I liked the idea of this thread, so I thought I would put together my All-Tourney teams. Not bad selections BanksOpen but some of them I'm not sold on. I went everyday of the tournament so based on my observations and some time wasting with stats (from the box scores) I came up with this:

FIRST TEAM

PG: Adam Gibson (Rays) - Statistically the best PG in the tournament (Split minutes at PG with Damien Martin). Ran the team well, hit his shots, distributed the ball (7.3 APG by my count) while limiting turnovers (1.0 per game). Team is contending for $175,000 on Sunday, so he must be doing something right.

SG: Chris Goulding (Fleet) - Player of the Tournament (IMO). Has shown he can do it all, get to the ring, hit the long range shot, play the mid-range game. Has had flashes of brilliance on defense and shown great hustle, hasn't taken a play off all tournament.

SF: Terrence Woodberry (Cyclones) - Wasn't the highest scorer at his position, wasn't on the best team, but I feel he had the best all-round game, and contributed will in all of the games he played.

PF: Bennett Davison (Coasters) - Averaged close to a Double-Double (according to my calculations) and has helped lead his team into the final. Played well all week, putting up decent numbers, shooting at a good rate, clear cut decision IMO.

C: Luke Schenscher (Fleet) - Best 7-Footer in the tournament, helped lead his team to the Semi's while averaging a Double-Double (by my calculations). Wasn't a standout statisically, but was near impossible to guard on the court due to his size.

SECOND TEAM

PG: Troy Jackson (Fleet) - Unlucky to miss out on first team honours from me, but stats proved to be the deciding factor between Jackosn and Gibson. Statistically speaking, was almost identical to Gibson (Gibson had an Assist/Turnover ratio of 7.3, Jackson 1.5) but turnovers proved to be the difference in my voting. Showed good control of the tempo and good ball distribution, played within the team structure (most of the time). Had a few moments where he tried to do too much and play above his limits, but overall a good tournament.

SG: John Rillie (Pythons) - Playing on a winless team was what kept JR out of the All-Tourney First Team. Averaged an amazing 20.7 PPG, 13.7 RPG (most RPG in tournament by my stats). Struggled slightly with his shot, but managed to play like the JR we all know and love to watch. Did a good job for OneHD from what I have heard, maybe a commentary job is the next career move?

SF: Julius Hodge (Monarchs) - Was the Julius we have all seen before, lacking a jumpshot, padding stats by collecting his own missed shots and leaking out early for easy baskets instead of boxing out on the defensive glass. Averaged 24.7 PPG and 7.7 RPG but was unable to help his team out of the Semi's.

PF: Tony Ronaldson (Rays) - Just beat out Galen Young for this spot, with the deciding factor being team success. Ronaldson was consitant with his performance, provided veteren leadership and has managed to stop his body from breaking down after all these years and will be playing for $175,000 on Sunday.

C: Mario Brown (Cyclones) - Played a decent tournament, but appeared to be troubled by an ankle injury he got on Day 1. Managed to play through the pain and put up decent numbers on an average team. Was a part of the 2 biggest highlights from the tournament IMO, a MASSIVE dunk and the foul on one end, and also got one attempt smashed back to where it came from against the Monarchs.

Honourable Mentions

Corey Williams (Pythons) - Played a good tournament. Spent alot of the time looking to get his stats rather than playing the team game, couldn't pull his team to a single victory. Box scores had him with a Triple-Double against the Rays (27 points, 12 rebounds, 11 turnovers)
Kevin Lisch (Rays) - Was relentless all week, never backing off and always pushing harder and harder. Clearly wanting to win it all, was doing whatever his team needed to get the win.
Rashad Tucker (Monarchs) - May be getting older, but was able to show he still has some skills. Found was to get his points and be in all the right positions, while mostly flying under the radar.

Long post, but figured I would give reasons for my choices...

my bit about Hodge SHOULD say "was unable to help his team to the semi's" not "out of the semi's"