Aussies Making News

Remember this name - Anatoly Bose (and I love the jersey number!)

In this edition of news I'm going to have to go against my usual grain and give top billing to a guy that performed unbelievably well although his team lost with a second to go.

Sydneysider Anatoly Bose (a name you may not of heard of but you will) of Nicholls St dropped a career high 46 points and collected 14 rebounds in a double overtime loss to Northwestern St.

Bose is one of these Aussie kids that goes over to the States and goes about his business very quietly but keeps on improving. Some of my sources are saying he will generate some NBA interest and may work himself into the second round of the NBA Draft. There is still plenty of time for the guard/forward to show his abilities as he is only a junior.

AJ Ogilvy helped his Vanderbilt Commodores claim a win over the Auburn Tigers in the tough S. Ogilvy contributed 17pts, 8rebs and 5blks in the 82-74 victory.

The Colorado Buffalo's have two Aussies on their roster, Nate Tomlinson and Shane Harris-Tunks. Tomlinson contributed 6 assists in an otherwise quiet night for the Aussies in a loss to Texas A&M.

Sudanese-Aussie Ater Majok played 31 minutes for UConn as they upset #1 Texas. Majok was solid without being great in helping his team get the win. His 5pts, 6rebs and 4blks helped his team secure the "W".

Victorian sharp shooter Ryan Broekhoff came off the bench to lead all scorers with 20 (6-8 3s) to help Valparaiso get the win.

NSW product Ben Dowdell playing at Santa Clara (and younger brother of Townsville Crocodile Jeff) helped his team avoid a history making 0-5 start in conference play. The hustling forward had 7pts and 6rebs in a one point win over San Francisco.

Pepperdine Wave freshman Tanner Kerry had a career high 11pts to go along with 7rebs his team suffered a loss to the Portland pilots. From Cranbrook to Malibu, quite the scenery change for the better I might add.

Two Queenslanders in Matt Massey and Matt Hodgson had solid games for Southern Utah but it was not enough to get them over the line against Western Illinois.

Now onto some NBL news.

If you were wondering why the Perth Wildcats wore black arm bands against the Melbourne Tigers, they did it in honour of Brad Robbins grandfather who passed away Saturday morning.

New Zealand Breaker CJ Bruton wants "consistency" and it's not from his teammates.

Perth Wildcat captain Shawn Redhage gives us his All Star 5 for the season, with Corey "Homicide" Williams being his MVP.

The Cairns Taipans keep their slim mathematical playoff chances alive with a win over the Townsville Crocodiles.

Former South Dragon Simon Conn has been thrown into a pressure cooker situation as an import in the Asean Basketball League. Former NBL club the Singapore Slingers play in this league.

LeBron/Noah & POW Awards

Wollongong Hawks import Tywain McKee continues to have a huge impact in his rookie NBL season and he has been rewarded with this week's NBL Player of the Week award.

This week it was a two horse race between McKee and Perth Wildcat Luke Schenscher.

McKee once again took over the fourth quarter of a game as he led his team to a come from behind win of the New Zealand Breakers.

While I'm on about Player of the Week honours, Aussie big man AJ Ogilvy has received the award in the USA. Ogilvy plays for the Vanderbilt Commodores (NCAA) in the highly ranked SEC.

Ogilvy averaged 22pts and 6rebs as the Commodores took care of Missouri and DePaul during the week.

After a slow start to the season, Ogilvy seems to have found his groove. Great timing as conference play is just around the corner.

A couple of NBA stories to wrap it up.

Joakim Noah and LeBron James got into a little jaw jacking the other day and LeBron just danced it off in the end.



And check out the intro and Allen Iverson's reaction on his return to the Philadelphia 76ers.

News & Name Sake Means Nothing To Homicide

I need your help Vodafone. Read below to see why.

It's a little late here in Kiwiland so I'm just throwing some random stuff at you tonight.

- Aussie AJ Ogilvy has got his junior season off to a slow start as his fast starting (4-1) Vanderbilt look towards their matchup with Missouri. I hope he gets his season back onto a consistent track soon.

- The Perth Wildcats and the Gold Coast Blaze are $1500 lighter in their pockets due to their dance at the end of their game on Saturday.

- NBA players Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns, Rasheed Wallace of the Boston Celtics and Tyson Chandler of the Charlotte Bobcats have been fined over separate Twitter incidents.

The NBA have rules and regulations regarding times when players can and can't Twitter before, during and after games.

My understanding is that the NBL has no such thing in place. Can I be the first player on the NBL front to make this happen? Vodafone who is a Breakers sponsor I need your help. My current phone model and plan will not allow for this to happen. Can you help me out?

- Teammate Oscar Forman of the New Zealand Breakers has taken out the Player of the Week award for his great shooting display against the Cairns Taipans last week.

- Adelaide 36ers Coach Scott Ninnis will not be focusing purely on former player Julius Hodge. (No the crowd will stitch up Hodge.)

The Melbourne Tigers are the only team to defeat the 36ers at home this year, and that was without Hodge.

Can anyone in Adelaide let me know if Brad Davidson is attending this game?

- Adelaide 36ers centre Matt Burston is still battling injuries.

- "I'm not too worried about it", Cairns Taipan Gary Booknikoff tells the Cairns Post.

- Rome wasn't build in a day, and that's the approach Rolan Roberts and the Townsville Crocodiles are taking.

- Perth Wildcats point guard Brad Robbins is ready for Corey "Homicide" Williams and Peter Crawford.

- Corey Williams has no idea who his name sake Kerry Williams from the Cairns Taipans is?

Ogilvy Off The Bench

Thanks to a concussion, AJ Ogilvy has been coming off the bench.

One of Australia's best in the college system is AJ Ogilvy. Playing for the Vanderbilt Commodores but due to a concussion suffered during the preseason, his role has been limited to coming off the bench.

The Commodores smashed their DII opponent, Alabama-Huntsville, in their exhibition game 91-56.

This is how Yahoo! Sports has reported the Ogilvy bench situation.

"Festus Ezeli started over A.J. Ogilvy due to Ogilvy's missing the majority of preseason practice due to a concussion. Stallings (head coach of Vandy) says that Ogilvy's concussion is fully healed, but said that Ogilvy was nowhere near his full-game readiness due to missed time."

Vandy's season opener is against the high powered Lipscomb Bison on the 16th of November.

Vanderbilt Legit, Crocs Win 1st Game

Will AJ Ogilvy be the next Aussie to taste the NBA lifestyle?


I'm here to tell Dick Vitale, Andy Katz and anyone else who wants to listen, the Vanderbilt Commodores will be a legit team this upcoming NCAA season.

They have a Sweet 16 roster, then luck plays a part the rest of the way.

Here is why the Commodores bandwagon will be full by March. (Although they went down 104-99 to the Townsville Crocodiles, Sunday afternoon.)

Jermaine Beal is a scoring point guard who is going to give teams fits for 40 minutes. He dropped 31 on the Townsville Crocodiles without breaking a sweat. He was 8-16 from the field and 11-13 from the charity stripe.

He waltzed into the keyway with ease and finished well around the basket. It seems his improved jumper is here to stay as he shot with confidence and without hesitation.

Although AJ Ogilvy finished with 21, his game time was disrupted by early foul trouble. Two charge calls early saw the big unit do a lot of watching from the sidelines during the first 20 minutes.

In the second half he came to life. He scored on an array of moves and from different spots on the floor. One minute it was a baby hook, then a wing three followed up with a pull up jumper from 15 feet. The kid has an impressive skills package.

This was first time I saw small forward livewire Jeffrey Taylor live. Vandy must be counting the number of days this sophomore has left on campus.

He already moves and plays like a pro. He was the only player to register a double double in this game with 19 & 10.

He needs to work on his stroke from deep and he is a little lose with the ball at times. He had some soft turnovers much to Coach Kevin Stallings amusement.

Add incoming freshman John Jenkins and the 'Dores will win their share of games in the tough SEC-East.

Vandy have some big bodies on the bench as well as guard Brad Tinsley to keep the defense honest.

The only question I would have is, can Beal keep his teammates happy will servicing his own needs?

Now to the Crocs.

Russell Hinder went for 30 on 11 of 12 shooting. The Crocs will be hoping Hinder can re-produce this type of performance a handful of times during the regular season. In my opinion the Crocs will need Hinder to be a consistant offensive threat this year.

Rolan Roberts had one he would rather forget. He fouled out in under 14 minutes and "air balled" a free throw. (Cam Tovey had a rye smile one his face while this took place.) He finished with 7pts and 5 rebs. They need Roberts on the floor so they have some kind of intimidation and athleticism around the basket at the defensive end.

Michael Cedar started at the point guard spot. His 21 points came courtesy of 5 of 9 from long range and 6 of 6 from the free throw line. He also added 4 assists and 4 steals to his stat line.

Corey Williams (12pts, 4 assists) played limited minutes as it was unsure if he would be cleared to play. His paperwork arrived in time for tip off but Williams' demeanour seemed like he was happy to set up camp on the bench for all 40 minutes.

He did come off the bench to help the Crocs hit the lead late in the fourth quarter. Doing his best John Bagley impersonation in using his body strength in getting to the hoop, Beal had no answer for Williams' penetration.

Newcomers Steve Hoare and Jeff Dowdell should only get better as they get a better understanding of the Crocs style of basketball.

Hoare did give us his best Steve Nash impersonation by parking himself face down on the floor at the end of the bench when he was not in the game.

If the Crocodiles are to make a push for a playoff spot this season, they will need Hinder to produce offense like tonight on the regular, get more minutes out of Roberts and get Peter Crawford up to speed quickly once his Australian commitments are over.

Daily Dose Of News

Perth's Paul Rogers could be out for the year.

- James Dampney of the AAP reports, "Tigers on prowl for second NBL title".

- "Spirit confident of finals", says Chris Pike of Sportal.

- Perth Wildcats Paul Rogers could be out for the rest of the season, due to a knee injury.

- Crocs nail the Adelaide 36ers, again.

"Rillie's three on the buzzer broke the Sixers' back and the last quarter was just embarrassing as the Crocs pushed their lead out to 30 and cleared their bench", wrote Boti Nagy of the Adelaide Advertiser. Cheers Boti!

- New Zealand Breakers Kirk Penney to be NBL's MVP?

- For all the boxscores from Round 18 of the NBL, click here. Ladder, here.

- Former Adelaide 36ers import Julius Hodge makes refund.

- Brad Newley continues his solid form in Greece. boxscore

- Aron Baynes records a double-double as his WSU Cougars get past the Ducks of Oregon.

- Nate Tomlinson (Colorado) gets a lesson from Kansas.

- Utah's Luke Nevill continues to be rock solid, and he has Andrew Bogut's record in his sights.

- Mills and Co cruise by 50.

- AJ Ogilvy and Vandy struggle on the road.

Tassie Devils at their best.