Been Too Long: Summer Sports Round-Up
I have not been on the blog for a loooooong time. The biggest reason is the fact that there is a new Highly Touted prospect in my farm system. We have begun his development for multiple sports already. While he has shown promising skills in most of the majors sports (hockey, baseball, soccer, etc.), he has demonstrated a prodigious aptitude toward Jai Alai. Not bad for a month old.
While I am doing more work in the areas of player development, I need to get back to the blog. So here’s some of the things going on in the local sports scene: Read More…
Big Month for the Rainmen
UPDATED: ALL-STAR TOP 20 ANNOUNCED. DRAFT MARCH 1
Thursday will see the Rainmen embark on what could be the biggest month in the franshise’s history. With only two gmaes left in the regular season, the Halifax Basketball team has locked up a place in the post season, but is still trying to gain home court advantage for the first round.
The Rainmen can guarantee home court in the first round by winning their final two games and leap frogging the Quebec Kebs (pun totally intended). The Rainmen and Kebs already know they’ll face one another in the playoffs, but securing that home court advantage could tilt the scale for the two evenly matched teams. The first round is a best-of-three series, so any advantage is important in a short series.
With one game left to play the second place Kebs currently hold a 22-13 record, while the Rainmen sit in third at 21-13. In the event of a tie, Halifax holds the first tie breaker of a 5-1 head-to-head record, which should also provide some confidence going into the postseason.
Neither team has any chance of cathcing the first place London Lightning. The Lightning will face either the Saint John Mill Rats or the Oshawa Power. The Mill Rats can punch their ticket into the post season will a win in either of their final two games. However, if they fall to the Power in their matchup Thursday and the final game of the regular season against the Rainmen on Sunday, the Power could tie Saint John and force tie-breakers to be calculated. The two would the have split the season series 3-3. The League’s site says the next tie-breaker is divisional record, but there are no divisions. So they’d go to points scored head-to-head to which Saint John currently holds an 18 point edge.
So after a best-of-three first round the winners will meet in a best of five to determine the first ever NBL Canada championship.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Earlier in the week, Halifax Rainmen forward Tyrone Levett was named NBL Canada Player of the Week.
“Tyrone has been playing tremendous basketball,” said Halifax Rainmen President & CEO, Andre Levingston. “He has positioned himself as a leader both on and off the court and is extremely deserving of his honour.”
NBL Canada has stated that it was Levett’s stellar play and consistent scoring that helped the Rainmen move into second place that earned him the award.
“I’m excited for this honour,” says Levett. “I see it as a team achievement because I couldn’t have reached it without the hard work of my teammates and our fantastic coaching staff.”
Levett is the third Rainmen player to be named NBL Canada Player of the Week this season. Justin Johnson earned the award on December 12 and Joey Haywood earned it on November 13.
All-Star Game a Month Away
The 2012 All-Star Weekend will be held in Halifax March 31 – April 1. Voting is open to determine the public NOW CLOSED and will help determine the 30 players that will take part in the game. The roster for the two sides will be determine through an All-Star Draft from two assigned captains. Halifax Rainman Joey Haywood has been named as one of the two captains and will be joined by Taliek Brown and Tyrone Levett (see above). The Other captain will be Eddie Smith of the London Lightning.
Captains Smith and Haywood will partake in a Fantasy Draft via conference call tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 p.m. AST to choose their teams. Follow their selections live @NBLCanada and Facebook. The two coaches who lead their teams to the finals will coach the two All-Star teams.
Canadian, Nick Lother from the Moncton Miracles was leading the vote getter, but was not selected by the coaching panel, but could still be named as an alternate.
It could be a big month for Halifax basketball. Could we say a League Championship and the All-Star Game within a short time frame.
TOP 20 – By Team
LONDON LIGHTNING
DeAnthony Bowden
Gabe Freeman
Eddie Smith (captain)
HALIFAX RAINMEN
Taliek Brown
Joey Haywood (CAN) (captain)
Tyrone Levett
MONCTON MIRACLES
Trayvon Lathan
Darrell Wonge
OSHAWA POWER
Omari Johnson
Morgan Lewis
Brandon Robinson
Tut Ruach (CAN)
QUEBEC KEBS
Yannick Anzuluni (CAN)
Ralphy Holmes
Ricky Volcy (CAN)
SAINT JOHN MILL RATS
Anthony Anderson
Darren Duncan
Kevin Francis (CAN)
Isaac Kuon (CAN)
SUMMERSIDE STORM
Mike Williams
NBL Season to Open October 29th
The National Basketball League of Canada release its official schedule for the 2011-12 season.
The announcement comes on the heels of a busy week in which the league finalize the operaitng agreements for its four expansion franchises in Oshawa, London, Summerside and Moncton. The schedule was likely prepared, but awaiting confirmation fo these franchises.
“We are excited to kick off our inaugural season with a 36 game schedule,” said National Basketball League of Canada President & CEO, Andre Levingston. “The schedule has been designed with our fans top-of-mind, and has been built to ensure an even spread of games between all seven teams.”
The majority of games will be played between Thrusday and Sunday. Hopefully this will allow for greater fan turn out as people are looking ot get our for fun closer to the weekend. This must have taken some fancy scheduling as five of the seven franchises share facitilies with Major Junior hockey teams that also play a bulk of their games on the weekend.
In the NBL Canada’s inaugural season, the teams will play under one division and will play each other six times, with three home games and three away.
Moncton Rounds Out NBL Roster
Moncton Coliseum, Home of the Moncton NBL Franchise
“Moncton is a city I’ve had my eye on for a long, long time now, and I’m absolutely thrilled that the franchise has finally come to fruition,” said National Basketball League of Canada President & CEO, Andre Levingston. “Everyone knows what a great event city Moncton is, and we are confident that professional basketball will be no exception.”
Levingston’s excitement is understandable. Gaining Moncton as a franchise city is huge after having difficulty with two of the originally proposed franchises in Barrie and Kingston, ON. Adding Moncton will enhance the Maritime rivalries between the exisitng Halifax Rainmen (owned by Levingston) and the Saint John Mill Rats, as well as the new PEI franchise.
Oshawa Officially in the NBL
The Oshawa franchise of the NBL will play out of General Motors Centre
“What a great day for the NBL Canada and for the city of Oshawa,” said National Basketball League of Canada President & CEO, Andre Levingston. “We are thrilled to bring professional basketball to this city. Oshawa’s team will not only provide an extremely high level of basketball and family entertainment, but will also serve as a fantastic vehicle to support the community through both traditional and creative ways of giving back.”
The Oshawa franchise was fully accepted upon finalizing an operating agreement to play their 18 regular season home game schedule at the General Motors Centre, also home to the OHL Oshawa Generals. Levingston says that he and the team’s ownership group are looking forward to continuing to build a working relationship between the NBL and Oshawa’s municipality.
“Oshawa’s city officials have been supportive of the team’s approval process, and are keen to bring exciting entertainment to its region.”
The team is currently holding an online contest to allow the city to name its first-ever professional basketball team. Those interested can submit their suggestions online at www.durhamnblcanada.com.
I was little confused at first about the use of “Durham”, but apparently that refers the region around Oshawa, Pickering, Ajax and more. My first reaction was the team should be called the Bulls, to cross market with the infamous Durham Bulls minor league baseball franchise and the Chicago Bulls of the NBA.
I don’t have any other brilliant ideas for team names yet, but let me know if you’ve got any.
Highly Touted 