The biggest challenge for the Norwood Flames will be to temporarily forget how they became the 2008 Central ABL Champions.

Andrew Webber’s buzzer-beater will go down in basketball folklore and will probably never be repeated. The ensuing media interest from TV news and the press was exciting and unprecedented for the league, and if you add this to the standard celebrations for any premiership, the club has no doubt had an entertaining week.

The Sandringham Sabres finished the BigV minor rounds in 3rd place, winning their first 8 games then dropping five of their next 12. They defeated Ringwood and Dandenong to progress to the best of three finals series, where they lost to the Melbourne Tigers in two games – the first by 10 points, and the second, albeit without guard Sedale Threatt, by 20.

Both teams now move on to a bigger stage – the Australian Club Championships.

While not a standout in the NBL, David Cooper’s value at this level cannot be underestimated, and he should have a great matchup against Simon Conn. Conn averaged 24.3 points and 11.5 rebounds per game in the tough BigV and at 6’8”, will be the toughest opponent Cooper has seen since the NBL season. With backup Kye Patrick at about the same size, there will be little respite for the Norwood front court.

The Sabres’ backcourt is also tough. 6’4 New York-native Jermaine Maybank spent two years at Kansas State University, and averaged 17.1 points this year. Sedale Threatt’s BigV season included one 40 and two 30 point games, and with Maybank, both have inches over Todd Matthews and Andrew Webber.

Many in SA are pessimistic about the ACC chances of the CABL teams and are resigned to the fact that they’re unlikely to make it past the first round. There’s no denying that the BigV is a stronger league, but given Norwood’s size and strength, they are perhaps the CABL team most likely to be competitive at this level and will approach this game with every intention of showing this.