Just me or does clicking on every link on nbl1.com.au just take you straight back to the home page?

Only really heard about DV, they've loaded up with tones of high level local talent... no US imports though.

Kingsley Box from Nunawading to Frankston. That is a big pickup given that Lachy Barker has left.

Tom Wilson MVP. Proved some doubters wrong. Well done to him

Tom Wilson MVP. Proved some doubters wrong. Well done to him

Surprised there don't seem to be equalisation rules in NBL1?

Sandringham have current NBL players Ayre, Krslovic, Machar, Koppens, Dash Daniels.. plus retired players Barlow and Pineau. (Daniels will miss the GF tonight, with Asia Cup, but played 8 games)

Krslovic and Ayre both joined mid-season and since then they've barely lost a game.

They lost their first 6 games, but since then are 17-2 (including finals).

Have won 3 finals easily- by 13, 18... and won the prelim by 8 after emptying their bench (had 21 point lead early in Q4).

Seems unusual to me this would be allowed- 5 current NBL players suiting up, plus 2 ex players who had long professional careers.

Sandringham actually had a 17 point lead in the prelim with 59 seconds left before Mt Gambier hit 3 quick threes

In the semi final they had a 27 point 3 qtr time lead before winning by 18

So they're totally dominating

Hopefully Melbourne Tigers make it a good game tonight

Great crowd, sellout of 3000.

Tigers busting the game open in the second quarter.

Tigers up 46-35 at the half. Went on something like a 15-1 run at the start of the second to push the lead to 18 before Sandringham fought back well. Tigers got a bit lucky that the Sabres missed some good looks to get it back closer. Can't count on that happening in the second half.

Go Tiger's.

Sabres finally started hitting those shots and stopped turning the ball over and stormed back into the game. Ayre has been massive and Machar has been great at both ends.

68-65 Sabres with 10 minutes to play.

Tom Wilson has really struggled with the length of Machar and only has 10 points and has four fouls.

Lots of foul trouble both ways. Barlow already fouled out, Pinneau, Wilson and Krlslovic all with 4

Well done to the Sabres. Well deserved. All fell apart for the Tigers. Didn't get enough out of Wilson and Purchase (outside of a brief period early).

Machar looks a good player and his game should translate well to the next level if he can keep that up.

Ben Ayre is a bit annoying hey?

Well done to the Sabres. Well deserved. All fell apart for the Tigers. Didn't get enough out of Wilson and Purchase (outside of a brief period early).

Machar looks a good player and his game should translate well to the next level if he can keep that up.

Ben Ayre is a bit annoying hey?

Ayre and Drmic are gonna form one annoying duo for other teams this season

Ayre is another favourite of mine, also underrated. Plays both ends.

Sabres way too good in the end

Ayre is definitely annoying.

Lots of fouls, most of them were there though.

Bit of a joke when you can suit up in NBL1 GF with 4 proper NBL players, a DP, and a 5 time NBL champion who retired 2.5 years ago

(Including Pineau in that 4 because, although he's not playing this season, he played the last 8 years including last season, which finished 5 months ago)

Let's be honest, if Sandringham didn't win by double figures with that roster it'd be a big fail.

Always great to see juniors coming through and playing for the associations NBL1 team. Fair few important but at least there were some Sabres juniors that were in the team (including Barlow, albeit 25 years ago!). Tigers probably had more ex-juniors.

Kilsyth seem to be focussed on bringing their juniors through to senior teams. Any other associations doing well in that regard?

Are you suggesting NBL1 rules have been broken?

Not at all- I'm not sure what the rules are

I'm saying it would be in the interests of basketball if there were rules in place to prevent a team having a roster like Sandringham had

The counter argument might be it helps the NBL if United are allowed to run their bench together in the off-season.

Except that doesn't apply here, because their MVP was a JackJumper!

Melbourne had 3 x NBL players?
Had arguably the greatest player in Australian basketball history coaching them?

Sandy had 2 x NBL players, one DP, playing/coach Barlow and Pineau.
Pretty good quality game and spectacle.

Sandy had

- 3 fully contracted nbl players for upcoming season- Ayre, Krslovic, Machar

- 1 player who is 31 and played the last 8 seasons but isn't contracted for this year - Pineau

- 1 DP, 22 y/o and entering his 3rd DP season - Koppens

- 5 time nbl champ, former Olympian and world cup representative- Barlow

Clearly, they had a roster far superior to anybody else and that's been reflected in the results. None of the finals were close- even the 8 point win, was 17 points with 59 seconds left

Equalisation rules would be worth consideration if there aren't any already

Plus Dash Daniels played 8 games including one or two of the finals

What did Knox have?

Tom Koppens played all his juniors at Sandy. Also, Campbell Blogg, out injured all year and contracted at United, is a Sandy Junior.
David Barlow played at the club from about the age of 7, aside from a couple of seasons at Waverley. His family have been strong supporters of the club with his mum a life member.
Ben Ayre, although a product of McKinnon, played around 4 seasons of junior basketball at Sandy. Most of the bench were Sandy juniors as were many of the players who filled in early in the season.

And remember that Sandy do not have US imports- they prefer to spend their money locally and find quality people like Dane, Fab, CJ and Machar.

It is odd to complain about stacking- Sandringham had a long history of losing its most elite juniors to other clubs, and is now largely not doing this.
I remember Tom Wilson playing domestically, and at junior rep for Sandy, before moving very early to Melbourne Tigers. Dave Patrick did similar.

But it was great to see Gaze, Bradtke and Purchase playing for Melbourne Tigers, with an older Gaze as the coach. Brought back good memories. And the NBL1 should be proud of putting on its show- SBC rocked for most of the night.

The Gaze family originally being from Adelaide also had Spencer Gaze, Andrew's nephew, playing for Centrals in the NBL1 Central GF on Saturday too.

Could easily argue that Machar has played himself into an NBL contract with United based on what he did with Sandringham and Barlow in NBL1. He didn't start the NBL1 season as a bonafide NBL player. Kudos to the kid and their program/coaches.

Look at Geelong on the women's side. Undefeated all season, WNBL talent and couldn't get it done in the Championship game. Professional talent doesn't automatically = Championship at a lower level.