Men- I believe Bulleen will simply be too strong for the others. It will be a Corio Bay and Bulleen Grand final. If Corio Bay don't make the final surely they would have to consider their season a failure.

Women- Ringwood. To put it simply, their imports are too strong.

Should be a sell out crowd down at CB this Saturday night against the Falcons, if the Bay can secure that home win they will no doubt be a big chance to pinch an away game...

Falcons TV should be all over this one!!?

Bear, Falcons TV is yet to realise that games happen outside of Waverley stadium.

Oh, so they aren't gonna come down and set up a camera at the CB stadium, shame that...

Well, I guess we will have to wait and catch the next game on the flip side. You know HO, if more Associations had the passion to try something like what Falcons TV are doing it would really improve our promotion of the game, anyway just a thought!

Stingrays v Falcons is going to be an absolute cracking game. Last time they met Ma'alo hit the winning basket with 5 seconds to go to win the game for the Rays in front of a big crowd. The positive for the Stingrays in that win was Osborne tore his hamstring in the first half, Williams barely played due to foul trouble and Walker was ejected before half time too. It demonstrated the depth of the Stingrays side and something they will want to use in finals especially if there are back to back games.

Last time Platenik had a very quiet game by his standards with 14 pts and 5 rebounds, I personally don't think he will repeat that again.

If the Stingrays can keep the Falcons off the line, they will win the game. They go to the free throw line nearly 3x more than any other team during the season.

Expect a close fought out game with plenty of class in both sides. Stingrays to win at home in front of a huge vocal crowd.

Its disappointing that D1M & VYC don't have Best of Three finals Format.

One of the best things about Big V is the opportunity for Clubs to get Home Final.

Predictions Week 1:

CM - Bulleen & Corio.

CW - Hume & Ringwood.

D1M - Latrobe, McKinnon, Hawthorn & Whittlesea.

D1W - Warrandyte & Craigieburn.

D2M - Keysborough & Pakenham.

D2W - Casey & Werribee.

If anyone thinks that Ringwood's juniors pay for their seniors they clearly have ZERO idea about the workings of the Hawks associations. Get your facts right first.
Anyhow tips for this weekend:
SCM- Corio Bay and Bulleen
SCW- Ringwood and Hume City
DIV1- Latrobe City, Whittlesea, McKinnon, Hawthorn
DIW- Warrandyte, Craigieburn
DIV2- Keilor, Melton
VYC- Waverley, Diamond Valley
VYCW- Dandenong, Sandringham
Y1M- Devils, Thunder
Y2M- Camberwell, Keysborough
Y1W- Warrandyte, Hawthorn

Should be a good weekend of games.

SCM - Corio Bay
SCW - Hume city
D1M - whittlesa
D1W - warrendyte
D2M - Melton
D2W - Casey

Bear, I have no problem with Waverley doing their livestreaming thing - good on em.

But I doubt for the cost and effort it adds much to the promotion of the game at all.

I wonder how much it actually costs them? Sure, you gotta pay someone if they are not volunteers, but wages aside what other costs would they have?

Equipment, Internet data costs...

Solid win by CB tonight, I thought Ma'alo owned the first half and really caused the Falcons some problems, but the shooting from Waverley kept it close. Then Eric Williams turned it on and dominated the second half with great support from Jason Reardon and Steffens Osborne, well done great game and should be a ripper game two next week!

Eric could play NBL, should be considered by a team, their loss IMO...

Great win by Stingrays in front of a large crowd at Stingray Stadium. It was basket for basket for most of the first half. In the second half the Stingrays started to get stops and eventually won 119-106 in a very exciting game with plenty of transition basketball.

Eric Williams had a monster game with 45 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Ma'alo Hicks couldn't contained down low and ended up with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 2 assists. Stefan Osborne 17 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block. Liam Norton finishd with 16pts, 5 assists and 3 boards. Jason Reardon 15 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds. A really good spread of scorers especially when E-Will drops 45.

Stingrays shot incredibly well 53.5% from the field, 48.5% (16/33) from 3 as well as 84.6 from the FT line.

Waverley shot quite well too shooting 47.1% from the field, 43.8% (14/32) from the 3 but a poor 60% from the FT line.

Kelleher was big for the Falcons and kept them in it for most of the game and had 28 points. Arkell finished with 27 but a lot of his points were junk time and the game was done. Boyle finished 18 pts and was deadly early. Ivan Platenik was contained to only 12 points and 6 rebounds, which could be the big difference as he can seriously fill it up. Sedale Threatt was kept quiet with only 6 points and 5 assists.

Game 2 is at Waverley next Saturday night. Tip off 8pm. I expect another free flowing game with plenty of run and gun. It will be a tough encounter as the Falcons are tough at home and will be seeking revenge. The Falcons will need to find ways to contain Hicks and Williams who have been damaging the last couple times they have met and need to find a way to get Platenik up and about.

GO RAYS!

Any defense played in the game? I think not!

ANon, the ball was moved very quickly by both teams, both teams shot the perimeter very well which made defending in transition quite difficult. There were key blocks, pressure turnovers and plenty of switching on the D for both teams. But what was refreshing to see was a high quality game of entertaining basketball with plenty of highlights.

There were dunks, physical hits, awesome moves to the rack, outstanding shooting and high scoring!

Forgive me for thinking your comment is one of misjudgement and lacking in forethought...

There was plenty of defence, just more emphasis on playing quality offence which may have overshadowed the D to those who only focus on perceptions.

I actually thought the crowd was down a bit, expected about 100 or so more, just goes to prove how badly the promotion of the game is in the local newspapers down Geelong way IMO...

Cats lose the AFL and I expect still there will be 15 pages dedicated to AFL on Monday, wake me when it's over please...

Agree with those comments Bear. When teams are shooting that well and 5 players from both sides get double figures it stretches the defence. Both teams are deep with scorers and can score inside and outside which is a difficult task to contain. Plenty of highlights from the night, looking forward to the highlights thanks to StingraysTV on YouTube.

The crowd probably wasn't where expected but still plenty in the standing area and the stand is always packed. If the Rays make it to the GF, then I think crowds will increase dramatically.

In regards to local paper, you are very right. The GA only look after the GFC and local football/netball leagus and basketball usually get a side note. In saying that I thought the article in the paper this week was decent with a large photo and reasonable size written piece.

StingraysTV presents Stingrays highlights v Waverley Falcons in the Semi Final Game 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdYbbdCm4Fw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUf3F7-O1S468kQovX_nlJuQ

It is the Stingrays to loose this year....after the dollars they have spend & with the likes of Williams, Reardon, Hicks & Norton it will be considered a disappointment if they can't get it done.

That said was any defence played??

Upsets all over the Divisions this weekend in Big V finals.

SCM - Ringwood 4th & Corio Bay 3rd have upset the Top 2 teams Bulleen & Waverley with both going to three games and having to be won away from home. Whether it was due to player injuries or availability these two teams have prevailed in a very intriguing semi-finals match-ups. Ringwoood to continue their giant killing rein.

SCW - Hume & Ringwood were favourites to go through and both were clean sweeps. Fortunately for Hawks they have home court advantage so I think Ringwood will win the Grand Final series.

D1M - Whittlesea & Mildura prevail through the cut throat finals series for Div 1M with both being the top 2 in Terril conference. Whittlesea to just get over the Heat.

D1W - Warrandyte & Geelong are to face each other in a bit of an upset with the Cats just getting over Craigieburn by 1 point in a tight game 3. Warrandyte did it easy and should clean sweep Geelong.

D2M - Melton & Keilor to face each other and rightly so being the top 2 teams. While the Thoroughbreds are expected to be favourites Keilor have caused major upsets this weekend in D2W & YLM1 so don't expect this grand final to be handed to Melton. It should have plenty of spice no doubt. Melton should take the series.

D2W - Casey 3rd & Keilor 4th have caused major upset defeating Werribee & Southern Pen in clean sweeps which was a huge surprise. There must be something about finals which brings out the best in some teams and the worst out of others. Casey to get the series win over Keilor.

YL1M - Werribee undefeated all year get beaten by Keilor in the grand final.

The last time the two teams played each other at Werribee the Devils won by 38 points so this was a massive turn around.

Sentiment aside, reading some posts on the finalists for BigV Championship it appears many out there believe these two Associations (Corio Bay and Ringwood) have somewhat bought their privilege to play off in the grand final series...

Interesting, I'm sure they both spent their recruitment dollars wisely, but other factors such as injuries, unavailable stars, form, coaching and team cohesion are also major forces in any finals series I would think.

Hopefully officiating is not the deciding factor in any of the final games!