I think it is a complement to the AIS, an Australian alternative for college age students. Brilliant idea, I hope it succeeds.

It is offering a TAFE-type qualification in sport that can be of career value in terms of playing the sport, or coaching, or refereeing, as well as leading to the 2nd year of uni in such courses as Human Movement, etc.

Basketball, and I think, golf.

I guess it is aimed at those players leaving high school wanting to maximise their basketball opportunities if not in the AIS stream or US college stream, by having further study rather than paid work as the background/foreground of their efforts.

Its had incredible success with golf and now they are doing the same with Basketball. from what I can see they are laying some very solid foundations for continued success with the personell they have involved, programs, services and technology.

I wish them good luck and will watch them with great interest.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't going to this 'college' take away USA College eligibility in the future. Tafe or UNI in Aus counts to years in College in the USA. So its prepping you for USA but you will essentially get less years over there if thats your choice.

I think this is aimed more for the kids who are not good enough for college in the USA at any level or the NBL, and are maybe just good enough for SEABL/ABA levels in Aus. So basically they can hang on to their dream an extra couple of years, albeit with a bigger HEX bill in the future.

Decent idea, but in reality I don't see any kids who go here ever being top level talent.

Any idea if there is anything similar here in Adelaide?

Is this just for men?

Its a private enterprise with a Tafe connection. Not really going to offer anything that a decent club coach can offer.

When we first heard about it , on the radio commentary of a 36ers game , a few months ago ,
they said that Maher was helping out with this in Adelaide.

ok, we know there are several problems with the level of talent in australian bball,

one is the base talent itself, ie, its spread across alot of sports many of which are more popular than bball.

so this wont make a huge dent in that but supplying another pathway should be an incentive to keep more in the sport and less from leaping across to something else.

another problem is the talent identification, and development ( or continued development ie no gaps as they progress).

this will surely help. having more opportunity will keep more kids playing and get more into the level of coaching needed.

as for those saying that this is an area already covered by us colleges i dont think it hurts at all to have this. one thing we need to get is that not all top level talent establishes itself at the age of 16/17. !!!!!!!!!

any kid who at the age of 16 doesnt look like a possible future boomer probably doesnt get looked at by college and has to either go out into the workforce or to uni. playing district ball and doing the extra % that they should be doing to reach the next level doesnt happen when you have these things to worry about. do you know how many afl players that were never in the top so many players as 16 yr olds are having great careers right now? because even if they miss out on the draft they can still get very good training even far outside the pro leagues and the afl has the people who can identify the talent and also pathways for these kids to come into the league whether they are 19 or 29.

bball cannot match the afl for the scale that they do these things. but they can still be replicated. the worst thing you could do is nothing.

i follow aussie rules alot, and particularly the drafts and the young kids coming into the league. do you know how many times ive read that so and so player comes from a bball background but started playing footy a year or so before... why do you think that is?? because when they get to 15 or 16 and dont have colleges knocking on their door they dont see too many other paths to becoming a professional baller. football becomes very tempting. every draft this is the story of close to a dozen guys that get drafted.

As long as the AFL has bought out the media of this country, bb will struggle for attention.

We used to be able to poach good juniors because of their dreams of going to the NBA or playing for their country. So what's changed? Are we still getting lots of good juniors playing bb but just not at home?

yeah i doubt many of them have "backgrounds" in another sport like tippett and pendlebury have backgrounds in bball.

its not so much about the afl "pinching" athletes as it is about athletes getting to a certain point where they are thinking about what they are gonna do after they leave school and if you dont have a college knocking on your door then bball does not seem a viable option. it then becomes something you might do outside of a career not something you could strive to do for a career. then your buddies that have been saying all along come out and play football for a season see how you go at that and they think, yeah why not. what have i got to lose. that must happen to hundreds of kids across australia every year.

anything they can do to one day have it known that if a college isnt knocking on your door there are other options and we keep kids in the game than the better for australian ball.

yeah and while some of those kids probably thought they could be good enough to play at some level of bball they just didnt see a clear pathway when a college isnt talking to them.

HECS fees for Vocational courses (TAFE) are nothing like $50K.

The Aust College of BBall website describes how the fees are paid for.

See http://www.basketball.edu.au/admission/vet-fee-help

There are over 280 kids from Australia over at different colleges at the moment most will leave early because they hate it.Those that finish there 4 years return to Australia with a degree if they complete it only to find it is worthless and they have to start all over again with study.College is only part time the players only play 20 weeks a year and they are rarely developed as there is not enough time.Great sales people the Americans Europe does a much better job of developing players.This program at least gives the players a chance to develop and if a college really wants them they will play them instead of red shirting them as they cannot afford to waste a year with them.Why so negative with something that can help kids stay in the game longer and develop.Ian Stacker spoke recently about how college has actually made players worse off by going there instead of playing here in Australia and gave the facts to support his claim.Quite damning on the USA college system.

Maybe a stupid question, but 'if' a SA player is successful in gaining a USA scholarship, what does it include, and what does it cost the family?
Does it depend on the level of the scholarship?
Does the scholarship cover tutoring, accomodatiom, meals etc?
We hear of so many players going to the States, but is it really worthwhile for those going to some of the 'lower' colleges?

awesome so good to know all the American players(other than Brendan Jennings) in the NBA are just super talented that don't need decent development?

like come on man, when the majority of elite players in the sport has gone through this system, why down talk it like that?

bare in mind almost every import signed internationally has attended college...

success in college is largely dependent on work ethic of the kid, just like NBA (recent success of Jeremy Lin). you get access to the best facility and support staff and it's up to you to use it. So what you play 20 weeks in a year but you get access to the gym year round.

in saying that does AIS kids really even have a season nowadays?

whilst I have full respect for Ian Stacker but I will always choose a program that's a proven success over some idea people have. for every player out of Europe there's literally 5 Americans in the same league.

Absolutely agree with 'interesting'; it fits with my experience in bball over more than 50 years, including playing and coaching at ABL/ABA/SEABL level and US tours, etc., and yes still involved at district club level.
Can't really comment on how well Europe does it.

Division 1 colleges provide money for tutition, accommodation, food and books. Kids need to find their own way there (except free for visit to sign) and back home (airfare)and Health insurance (all sports related covered). Sundries (extras for clothes, movies etc) are not paid but they may be offered minimal pay on campus for basketball camps during the summer other jobs around the campusin the off-season. Yjese are full scholarships. There are also a small number of walk-on athletes (no scholarship).
Division 2 limited number of full scholarships and some partial scholarships.
Division 3 scholarships only for academic - no atheletic scholarships offered.
All Division 1 courses are recgnised to different degrees depending on the course. Generally Division 1 equivalent to major universities here, Division 2 equivalent to lower universities here and Division 3 equivalent to TAFE courses. All offr equivalent courses but some course subjects/degrees not recognised.

Thats not completely true. Div 3 schools aren't equal to tafe, some might be but the majority and legitimate universities. The Division they are in is in relation to athletics not academics. Some div 2 schools are better academically than div 1 schools but it varies alot, obviously the majority of div 1 schools are huge and good schools.