I thought it would be interesting to consider a fantasy game between the greats of the SBL (Old School) and the players in recent history that have set the league on fire (New School). Picking the teams was a tough selection process, as there have been some very talented players to grace our shores since the SBL’s inception. Who could forget Paul ‘Snoopy’ Graham from the Giants who popped into the league and dropped a lazy 43.3 PPG over 10 games in 1990, before heading back to the States to pursue a career in the NBA.

Then there was Chris ‘KFC’ Sandle from the 1994 Mustangs, who took the SBL by storm averaging 35.2 PPG over a mammoth 30 games that year, and legend has it he played most of those games intoxicated, now thats impressive! I personally remember a game that season; I was sitting behind the Mustangs bench at the tender age of 14. With 2 minutes left prior to tipoff Sandle was nowhere to be seen, and then he appeared out of thin air walking onto the court with a box of hot and spicy KFC and blood shot eyes. Norm Majors told him he would be starting on the bench, to which Chris replied ‘the hell I am’ and walked on to take the tip with a massive 30 second warm up under his belt. He had a terrible first half notching 2 points and the Mustangs were down big. He sobered up at halftime after a spray from Majors in the change room, and went off for 47 in the second half, getting the Mustangs up in a tight one (this was the single most dominant 24 minutes of basketball I have ever seen live).

Now I have picked players for the ‘Old School’ squad who have dominated over a period of at least a few seasons, and my research only takes me back to 1989, so unlucky to those players who just missed the cut off. For the ‘New School’ I have taken players from the last two seasons in the league. A number of guns have just missed the cut, and it could be strongly debated that they could have made it. I realise this and respond by saying, tough bickies!

The Old School Squad (10 players – Statistics taken from 1989 onwards)
Starters
PG – Brian ‘Mo’ Fundingsland (Buccs/Wolves) 25.6 Pts and 8 Dimes average over 155 games
SG – Jeff ‘Silky Smooth’ Anderson (Tigers) 25.2 Pts and 6.8 Boards average over 174 games
SF – James ‘Funky’ Fitch (Slammers) 27.9 Pts and 10.5 Boards average over 315 games
PF – Vince ‘Pull the Trigger’ Kelley (5 SBL Clubs) 26.9 Pts and 10.4 Boards average over 351 games
C - Alan ‘E-Dogg’ Erikson (Cougars/Buccs) 23 pts and 12.3 Boards average over 385 games
Bench
Troy Clarke – See John Stockton, 1 billion assists a game
Greg Brown – Owner of the most cherries in SBL history
Ken Epperson – Post move Bonanza
Pete Hanson – Mid Range Beast
Dan Hunt – Hunt + Fundingsland = PAIN

The New School Squad (10 Players)
Starters
PG – Joel ‘Wags’ Wagner – Currently leading the league with 10.6 assists per game
SG – Ryan ‘Swish’ Zamroz – 29 PPG and league MVP 2010
SF – Anthony ‘Hit me I’m free’ Lee – 28.8 Pts and 15.4 rebounds a game in 2011
PF – Adrian ‘AM’ Majstrovich – 29.4 Pts and 13.4 rebounds a game in 2011
C – Jarrad ‘Chairman’ Prue – Defensive specialist with a 20.4 RPG average in 2011
Bench
Ben Beran – Purple soldier number 1
Luke Payne – Purple soldier number 2
Cameron Tovey – Point Forward for the championship winning Tigers in 2010
Edward Morris – Highlight reel and box score stuffer.
Greg Hire – 22.1 Pts, 16.8 boards and 4.6 assists per game in 2011

I know it’s sad to see that no Australian born players make the starting 5 for the ‘Old School’ team, but the imports back in the day were literally off the charts as you can see with their healthy stat lines. Not a bad ‘Hall of Fame’ bench either I might add, with some players definitely pushing for a starting spot.

The New school bring to the table a host of talent, along with some serious athleticism and scoring punch. You could definitely make a strong case to start a lot of those bench players, in particularly the Lakeside duo who have been very successful in their SBL careers to date. Tovey is another who had a fantastic year as the core ingredient to last season’s championship winning team.

Let’s take a look at the mouth-watering starting match-ups:

Fundingsland v Wagner (master v apprentice)
The pace and distribution skills of Wags take on the smarts and range of ‘Mo’ Fundy. Now I’m sure most would agree that Fundingsland is arguably the best point guard to ever grace the league, he had a sweet stroke and could execute as good as anyone I’ve seen. I think Wagner would more than have his hands full but his competitive drive and quicks would definitely make it interesting.

Zamroz v Anderson (the shoot off)
Two of the league’s sweetest all time shooters; with the ability to rebound, pass and lock down an opponent defensively. Both players can get to the rim and pull up on a dime making them almost unstoppable.

Fitch v Lee (a feisty matchup)
You would struggle to see the ball swing past the top of the keyway if it got into one of these guys hands. A blockbuster match up that would see both players going at each other all night.

Kelley v AM (zero assists combined)
Two of the league’s most potent scoring weapons going end to end = yes please. The ‘1’ play would be getting called all night, with both guys getting it on the wing and asking for the clear out.

Prue v Erikson (chairman of the boards v the best ever flip phone)
Could Prue put a stop to one of the league’s best post players? A classic case of offense v defence which would turn into an arm wrestle down low on the block. Prue would be battling to counter big Al’s up and under moves; however, I couldn’t see Erikson reaching his 12 career rebounds a game with JP in the house.

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I would love to see these two teams lock horns and battle it out on the hardwood. There is some serious talent on these lists and it would be interesting to see the difference in their style of play, smarts and competitiveness.

As basketball has evolved over time it’s hard to predict the outcome of such a game. I personally think the size, strength and raw talent of the ‘Old School’ squad would prevail in a blockbuster. All that championship experience and ability rolled into one list is almost impossible to counter, even with the likes of our recent studs of the league.

The match-up that intrigues me the most is Vince Kelley v Adrian Majstrovich; these guys can seriously fill it up when they are on song, and it would be interesting to see one of the best imports the league has ever seen take on arguably the best Australian we have in the league today.

From a spectator’s point of view, a triple overtime thriller where all players on both lists saw a decent amount of court time would make the price of admission more than worth it.

I guess that only leaves one question, who do you think would win? Comment on Facebook and tell us who you think should or shouldn't be in the teams. 

Article written by Mark Shipley

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The opinions, views and comments in this article are those of the individual and are not the opinions or views of the State Basketball League or Basketball WA.