In the June edition of ‘Beyond Regulation’ for the men, the hot topics are the Sabres’ rally from nowhere, Woodville’s unlikely star quartet, and the impact of North’s come-from-behind win over Centrals. Also, keep an eye on the Team of the Month and Power Rankings – do you agree?

They couldn’t, could they?

We are now at the start of June. In one game’s time, it will be the halfway mark of the season, and everyone will have played one another once. As it currently stands, eight of the competition’s 10 teams have a record of .500 or better.

The same could not be said at the start of May. At that stage, Norwood and North were sitting 2-3, but both have won two of three since. Still, that makes only seven teams with four or greater.
Hold on – did someone forget to mention Sturt? Yes, that name, the most feared name in male basketball from U10 to the elite. SA Basketball’s version of Collingwood – you either love ’em or you hate ’em.

Any other club who loses the Woollacott Medallist, a CABL All Star Five member, one of the greatest shooters this state has ever produced and perhaps its best up-and-coming young player – and not find any household names to replace them – would surely be out of the finals picture the following season.

Not Sturt! Not this proud club who hate losing! Even when they are expected to lose, they will not accept defeat!

In the last two weeks in particular, the Sabres’ unsung heroes have found something. First, they pulled off a resilient 79-75 win over premiership contenders Woodville. A competitive effort would surely be enough against that club they lost that great shooter to? No! They surrendered a double figure lead, but when all looked lost in the fourth period, they fought back once more.
To prove it was no fluke, they went out and dismantled Norwood the following week. Only West has beaten Norwood by more than 21 points the Sabres clipped them by. Their 51 points against was also the lowest points allowed total of the whole year.

We all know how much they and West don’t get along – that is this week’s match for the Sabres. Expect a bloodbath. Imagine if Jacob Holmes pulled on the jersey once more!
Right now, the Sabres are in fifth place. If they can be there again in 10 rounds time, then Tom James-Martin deserves another Coach of the Year trophy!

Dusty Junior, Wyyyyy-aaaaattttt, Leave it to Steve and Darren on Cue

When I was nine, my sister gave me the nickname “Stat-Man”. She even registered me under that name for her footy tipping comp last year.

One stat that “Stat-Man” cannot give you is the last time the Woodville Warriors were 6-2 at this point of the season. The only hiccup thus far is their loss to the scorching under-cats Sturt in Round 7.

So who are the men behind this renaissance?

To start with, there is Luke Stanbridge, who has been predominantly used as a sixth man. Definite sixth man of the year winner at this point if there was an award for the CABL’s best non-starter. I have seen a couple of his games, and boy does he remind me of Dusty Rychart! Not overly tall or athletic for someone of his position, he has an uncanny habit of being in the right place at the right time.

He also wears number 23, which is half of the former 36er’s number. Didn’t someone else where 23 because it was “half of 45”? Yes they did – any Michael Jordan fan will know he chose 23 because it was half of brother Larry’s 45 (rounded up)! Maybe Luke wants half the number of the greatest ‘Garbage Man’ of all-time?

The star of the show has been Aaron Wyatt, who was unlucky not to be named in the Team of the Month for a second time. In his first year as a CABL player, Wyatt has taken little time to settle down. He does whatever his team needs, whether it be shooting threes, attacking the bucket, playing the tough D, producing human highlight reels or a little bit of everything. If there is a weakness amongst the Warriors, it is that they have a lot of one-dimensional players. Wyatt provides the balance.

He may not have the sort of name that makes you think “superstar basketballer”, but Steve Pilkington has been on fire this season. Shooting the ball at 61 per cent, it is hard to believe this guy a) is not taking more shots and b) isn’t getting more minutes. The most court time Pilkington has had all season is 26:59 against South. Despite that, in the last three weeks Pilkington has averaged 18.7 ppg at 63 per cent with 11 boards.

If I were Coach Green, I’d be getting the ball to this tall, athletic and skilful big man down on the block as much as possible – and giving him a superstar’s minutes! Then again, I have faith that the legend out of LSU has his gameplan intact – his side’s record speaks for itself!

For Darren Ng, let’s take a quote from the Round 8 previews.
“Darren Ng is averaging just 14.1 ppg on 32% FG and 28% 3FG, his worst percentages in the last eight years. It is surely only a matter of time before he fires.”

On cue, the doctor shot 5/8 from downtown in the first half, scoring 21 points and helping his team build a 55-30 half-time lead of reigning premiers Forestville. Enough said Darren, good job!

On the same topic but a different player – it really was ‘Breakout Round’. With mention to the numbers for Codey Ellison being “down on last year”, the young Tiger had season highs of 23 points, 10 rebounds and 5 made free throws, as the Tigers ended a season-high two game losing streak with victory at Eastern.

The shake-up

In what is promising to be one of the most thrilling and competitive seasons of all, the little things could make all the difference. Little things like making sure you win a game when you are in front by double digits with a quarter to play.

The Central District Lions had made a great start to 2013.  They won four straight games, were coming off a big win over premiership favourites West, they were playing good basketball and they had a 54-42 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Their opponents were the North Adelaide Rockets. The Rockets had had a disappointing start to the season, losing games they would have expected to win. They were not getting the job done offensively, were missing prized recruit Anthony Petrie, and not looking like the top three team of 2012.

The Lions were going to be 6-2 an established top three side with some breathing space; the Rockets 3-5 and falling away from the top five.

Then one quarter changed everything.

The Lions went cold offensively, the Rockets got hot. The Rockets outscored the Lions 23-9 in the final 10 minutes and came away with a 65-63 win.

How big was this match? Just one game separates third and eighth – it could have been three.
The Rockets also have head-to-head in their favour, which given the evenness of the competition, could prove vital come Round 18.

And with the competition so even, South and Eastern should remain optimistic until mathematically out of the finals race. If results go their way, the two bottom sides could be within two and three games respectively of the top five come the halfway point.

The latest streak-busters and curses summary

Round 6:Sturt wins at Adelaide Hills against Eastern for ninth consecutive year
             Norwood wins fourth straight at home to Centrals
             Forestville wins 10th straight over Southern
Round 7: North wins 14th straight over Southern
             Norwood continues hot form at Marion – have not lost to South away since April 22, 2005
             Sturt’s winning streak over Woodville reaches double digits
             Forestville wins for 16th consecutive time against Eastern
Round 8: West wins fifth straight at Port Adelaide over South
 

Team of the Month                    Statistics for May
G  Kyle Miller (Centrals)              20.7 ppg, 41% FG, 35% 3FG, 85% FT, 4.7 rpg, 6.3 apg, 1.3 spg 
G  Adam Doyle (Forestville)         29.3 ppg, 48% FG, 57% 3FG, 89% FT, 8 rpg, 2.7 apg, 2.3 spg 
F  Samuel McDaniel (Southern)    18.7 ppg, 61% FG, 43% 3FG, 64% FT, 8.7 rpg, 2 apg, 1.3 spg 
F  Matthew Dougherty (Sturt)        20.7 ppg, 40% FG, 39% 3FG, 75% FT, 4.7 rpg, 1.7 apg 
C  Steve Pilkington (Woodville)    18.7 ppg, 63% FG, 76% FT, 11 rpg, 1 apg, 1 spg, 1 bpg  
Coach Tom James-Martin (Sturt)  3-0, 1st

POWER RANKINGS

	Club Ladder Position	ladder Pos	Record	Streak	Next 4 Matches	Projected Record
1 (1)	West Adelaide 1	1	7-1	won 1	@ Sturt, @ Forestville, v Southern, @ Eastern	11-1
2 (2)	Woodville 2	2	6-2	won 1	@ Southern, @ Eastern, v North, v Norwood	9-3
3 (5)	Forestville 4	4	5-3	lost 1	v Norwood, v West, @ Centrals, v South	8-4
4 (7)	North Adelaide 7	7	4-4	won 2	v Eastern, v South, @ Woodville, @ Sturt	8-4
5 (3)	Central Districts 3	3	5-3	lost 1	@ South, v Sturt, v Forestville, @ Southern	7-5
6 (4)	Southern 6	6	4-4	won 1	v Woodville, v Norwood, @ West, v Centrals	6-6
7 (8)	Sturt	5	4-4	won 3	v West, @ Centrals, @ South, v North	6-6
8 (6)	Norwood 8	8	4-4	lost 1	@ Forestville, @ Southern, v Eastern, @ Woodville	5-7
9 (9)	South Adelaide 9	9	1-7	lost 3	v Centrals, @ North, v Sturt, @ Forestville	1-11
10 (10)	Eastern  10	10	0-8	lost 8	@ North, v Woodville, @ Norwood, v West	0-12

Biggest rise: North (+3)
Biggest drop: Norwood (-2)