The New Zealand Breakers Basketball Academy is a series of development programmes design to provide youth with the best opportunity to achieve their long-term basketball and education goals.
The Academy is designed by SKYCITY Breakers Head Coach Kevin Braswell, then executed and overseen by Assistant Coach & Director of Player Development Rashid Al Kaleem.
Like new Breakers owner Matt Walsh Kaleem played college basketball at the University of Florida.
The Schick Championships begin in Palmerston North on Monday with sixty-nine teams vying for four titles.
The Boy’s A champs Stratford High School and AA champs Rosmini College return to defend their titles.
The Girls tournaments will see new champions crowned with neither Opunake High or St Mary’s College, Wellington making it through the qualifying tournaments to defend the A and AA championships respectively.
Despite boasting a 7-1 record in the FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifying campaign, on the back of seven straight wins, the Tall Blacks remain in 38th place on the recently published FIBA World Ranking list. They are ranked sixth in Asia behind Australia (10th), Iran (25th), China (29th), Philippines (30th) and Korea (33rd).
With games against Jordan (46th) and Syria (87th) in the next Qualifying window at the end of November it appears there is little chance of New Zealand’s ranking climbing in the near future.
The FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, was updated following the fourth window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers and several teams near the top will consider themselves lucky not to have fallen down the order.
Click here to view the full FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike.
The USA (767.1 points) and Spain (704.1) remain first and second, while France (647.2) held on to third place as their closest rivals, Serbia (644.2), matched them by splitting their games (1 win and 1 loss) to start the Second Round of the European Qualifiers.
There is an intriguing battle for fifth place between the current holders Argentina (625.0) who have Lithuania (620.2) hot on their tail.
Meanwhile, 10th-place Australia (483.7) are feeling the pressure from Brazil (482.9).
With all of these small gaps, the top 10 could look a lot different following the fifth window in late November-early December.
Further on down, Hungary moved up two spots to 40th following a convincing win over Netherlands and a close loss to 15th place Italy.
Bulgaria also jumped up a couple of places, from 50th to 48th on the back of handing France – a team ranked 47 places higher than them at the time of the game – their first defeat of the Qualifiers. They are hot on the heels of the teams right above them – Estonia, Jordan and Iceland – so more good results in the next window will see them move up even further.
There were notable gains in Europe and Asia after the latest action in the Pre-Qualifiers for the Continental Cup 2021.
Denmark moved up two spots to 70th after defeating a pair of teams that played in the First Round of the World Cup Qualifiers. They claimed a 98-94 away win to Belarus and followed that up with a 76-72 defeat of Sweden.
Saudi Arabia climbed a massive 12 places to 112th after going undefeated (4-0) to win the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Pre-Qualifiers – Western Region tournament. That perfect record included wins over Palestine (91st) and tournament hosts Bahrain (107th).
The FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, is updated following every window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers. It takes into consideration rating points of games played in top official FIBA competitions and their Qualifiers during an 8-year period.
Last year it was Canterbury University Men and Lincoln University Women that won the New Zealand Varsity Championships.
This year Lincoln Women, with Canterbury Wildcat Connie Poletti in outstanding form, retained their title whilst Otago University, led by former Junior Tall Black Josh Aitcheson, edged Lincoln to win the Men’s Championship.
The 2018 New Zealand Tertiary Championships are being held at AUT Sports Centre on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Canterbury will be looking to defend the Men’s title with Lincoln are doing the same in the Women’s tournament.
It’s a feast of basketball with games beginning at 8.00am each day.
Tall Ferns Deena Franklin and Georgia Agnew will be lining up for Massey University and AUT respectively.
Heading back to Auckland but now residing outside the City of Sails are the likes of Josia and Ben Williams (Lincoln University) and Samson Aruwa (Otago).
Can any teams prevent the trophies heading back to Canterbury? We only have to wait a few days to find out.
The FIBA Executive Committee yesterday confirmed the host country for the FIBA Men’s U19 Basketball World Cup in 2019 will be Greece.
The New Zealand Men booked their ticket for the prestigious event last month when they finished runners-up to Australia at the Asian Championship in Thailand.
New Zealand’s success was built around the core of Max Darling, James Moors, Kruz Perrott-Hunt, Oscar Oswald and Flynn Cameron and no doubt the availability of that quintet and others like Max de Geest, Sam Mannenga and Tom Higgins will be key to a successful campaign next year.
The World Cup will take place in Heraklion, on the Greek island of Crete, from June 29-July 7 of next year – I can think of worse places to visit!
The FIBA Women’s World Cup will be held from 20-28 July, in the Thai capital of Bangkok.
The New Zealand team, announced this week, needs to finish in the top four at the Asian Championship being played in India next month
Basketball New Zealand had a record number of entries for the ‘A’ and ‘AA’ Schick Secondary Schools Qualifying Tournaments that took place last week.
Competition was fierce for the 72 spots available in Palmerston North next month. Here is a wrap on all the qualifiers.
The final three Schick National Championships qualifying spots in the Boys Tournament along with the Zone 1 championship titles were decided on Saturday at the Schick Premierships Zone 1 Qualifiers.
The Championship games were won by Rosmini College and Mt Albert Grammar Girls, both teams adding the Zone 1 Premierships title to the Auckland Premier Grade trophies they had claimed a couple of weeks ago.
In addition to those championship games there was also great interest in the trio of qualifying games.
Macleans College and Westlake were the first to secure trips to Palmerston North with wins against Selwyn College and Mt Albert respectively. Westlake were taken to the last possession of the game by MAGS before winning 85-83 but Macleans enjoyed a far more comfortable passage winning 103-56.
That left Selwyn and Westlake to contest the winner takes all 7th/8th play-off game.
Selwyn played their regular season games two tiers below Mt Albert and the difference in level of competition showed as MAGS claimed an easy 94-52 victory to claim the seventh and final qualifying place.
Rosmini were led by Mitch Dance (23 points), Kruz Perrott-Hunt and Marvin Williams-Dunn (16 points) as they beat St Kentigern 113-77 in the final. Shalom Broughton (17 points) and the tireless Alex McNaught (13 points) were outstanding in defeat.
Boys Results:
FINAL
Rosmini 113 – M Dance 23, K Perrott-Hunt 19, M Williams-Dunn 16, S Murphy 10
St Kentigern 77 – S Broughton 17, A McNaught 13, L Kerr 10, E Watson 9, M Shorter 9
3rd/4th
Rangitoto 104 – H Payne 46, L McIntosh 22, E Skelton 13, T Te Puni 8, O Paea 8
AGS 91 – A Rissetto 27, C Ngan 14, T Caldwell 14, I Tela 10, O Shosanya 10
5th/6th
Westlake 101 – J Kooiman 18, J Wuthrich 18, S Mennenga 14, D Clayton 13, C Atkinson 13, D Wilkie 13
Macleans 70 – M Barbaran 14, H Smith 13, P Cheuk 12, R Jiang 10
7th/8th
Mt Albert 94 – M Dorcill 22, T Hurdley 18, R Royce 15, N Wilson 11
Selwyn 52 – L Basobas 12, N Hughes 9, L Cheang 6, P Sawyer 6
For the second time in a fortnight Mt Albert Grammar got the better of Auckland Girls Grammar although it was mighty tight with only two points separating the two teams.
Down two of there starters due to injury AGGS hung around gamely with Mele Latu (15 points) leading from the front. However a game high 21 points from Sharne Pupuke-Robati and 13 points from Jada Manase were the major contributors to MAGS championship success.
Girls Results:
FINAL
MAGS 55 – S Pupuke-Robati 21, J Manase 13, R Fiatau 8, M Va’ai 7
AGGS 53 – M Latu 15, I Noble 10, L Tuaiti 10, H Blakey 9, Z Hettig 8
3rd/4th
Westlake 89 – E Shearer 20, P Manolas 15, J Moors 13, M Davidson 13
Rangitoto 63 – H Wentworth 13, A Rogers 11, R Blackstock 8, I Elgar 8, G Hasler-Ewins 8
5th/6th
St Mary’s 86 – J Kailahi-Fulu 25, Z Kailahi-Fulu 21, S Te Nana-Williams 14, T Malolo 7
Massey 61 – S Povey 13, L Jost 12, R Fuiavaa 11, K Leslie 11
7th/8th
Carmel 88 – T Dalton 40, E Broomfield 12, E Davidson 11, Q Stephano 10
Epsom 68 – S Aruwa 16, F Dallow 15, A Todd-Pemerika 15, S Scoular 13
In summary the qualifiers for the Shick Secondary Schools National Championships from the Girls Tournament are AGGS, MAGS, Westlake, Rangitoto, Massey and St Mary’s.
Progressing from the Boys Tournament are Rosmini, St Kentigern, Rangitoto, AGS, Westlake, Macleans and MAGS.
Just three Schick National Championships qualifying spots remain to be decided after Day 3 action at the Schick Premierships Zone 1 Qualifiers at NSEC on Friday.
The six girls places have been finalised but three boys places are still to be settled on Saturday.
The Girls Tournament ended up going to form with the top six ranked teams from the Auckland Premier Grade securing places at the Schick National Championships in Palmerston North early next month.
With the semi-finalists having already booked their places most interest centered around the two play-off places for the remaining two places.
Massey High proved too good for Epsom Girls winning 80-52 and in a tighter encounter St Mary’s outlasted Carmel College to win 75-58.
St Mary’s 75 – J Kailahi-Fulu 25, Z Kailahi-Fulu 25, S Te Nana-Williams 9, A Moore 8
Carmel 58 – T Dalton 26, I Cattermole 11, I MacGregor 7, E Broomfield 6
Massey 80 – S Povey 25, R Fuiavaa 17, T Aratangi 9, A Schuster 7
Epsom 52 – F Dallow 15, S Aruwa 13, A Todd-Pemerika 6
In the semi-finals there were wins for Mt Albert and Auckland Girls Grammar. Mt Albert lost to Westlake at the same stage of proceedings last year but on this occasion prevailed 68-55.
Rangitoto pushed Auckland Grammar all the way for the second time in two weeks but again came up just short going down 61-57.
Girls Semi-Final Results:
AGGS 61 – H Blakey 19, M Latu 14, Z Hettig 12, L Tuaiti 10
Rangitoto 57 – H Wentworth 15, G Hasler-Ewins 13, I Elgar 10, A Rogers 9
MAGS 68 – S Pupuke-Robati 20, R Fiatau 12, J Manase 11, T Talo-Tomokino 10
Westlake 55 – J Moors 11, E Shearer 9, M Davidson 6, E Pugh 6
Meanwhile in the Boys Tournament the four quarter-final winners (see results below) can relax with their places in Palmerston North now secure.
St Kentigern lost to Mt Albert in the semi-finals of the Auckland Premier competition last month but turned the tables on this occasion to win 74-66.
Rosmini didn’t need to get out of first gear to see off surprise package Selwyn College and although Macleans College put up more resistance against Auckland Grammar they were still comfortably beaten 80-57.
The tightest game was between Westlake and Rangitoto. Westlake fought back from a double figure deficit but couldn’t overcome a determined Rangi effort.
Rangitoto will play St Kentigern in one semi-final with AGS and Rosmini set to meet in the other.
Boys Quarter-Final Results:
Rosmini 117 – J Boucher 14, T Murray 13, T Morgan 13, S Murphy 12
Selwyn 30 – Z Pene 8, R Woodbridge 7, R Noguera-Perez 6
St Kentigern 74 – S Broughton 21, M Shorter 14, L Kerr 14
Mt Albert 66 – S Tawera 21, N Wilson 16, M Dorcill 15, C Pinono 11
Westlake 80 – T Cowie 30, S Mennenga 25, J Wuthrich 6
Rangitoto 83 – E Skelton 20, H Payne 19, L McIntosh 14, T Te Puni 9
AGS 80 – A Rissetto 26, T McCarthy 12, C Ngan 11, T Caldwell 8
Macleans 57 – T Kempton 15, M Babaran 12, T Hughson 10, H Smith 8, S Kuvelkar 8
The four losing teams will scrap for the remaining qualifying places on Saturday with at least one non Auckland Premier team (Macleans College or Selwyn College) guaranteed a trip to Palmerston North.
The Boys teams are fighting over seven qualifying spots for Nationals whilst the Girls teams contested six places.
Boys Pools Final Standings – Top two teams advanced to quarter-finals
Pool A
5-0 Rosmini
4-1 St Kentigern
3-2 Liston
2-3 Northcote
1-4 Long Bay
0-5 Manurewa
Pool B
3-2 Macleans
3-2 Mt Roskill
3-2 St Peter’s
1-4 Birkenhead
0-5 Waiuku
Pool C
5-0 Mt Albert
4-1 Selwyn
3-2 Whangarei
2-3 Massey
1-4 Kelston
0-5 Onehunga
Pool D
5-0 Auckland Grammar
4-1 Westlake
3-2 Avondale
2-3 Orewa
1-4 Pakuranga
0-5 Kristin
Four qualifiers for the Schick Secondary Schools Nationals have been found after Day 2 action at the AA Premierships Zone 1 Qualifiers at NSEC on Thursday.
All four are in the Girls Tournament which is at a more advanced stage than their male counterparts with quarter-finals completed on Thursday.
All four winners below now advance to the National Championships in Palmerston North early next month.
Quarter-Finals Results:
Auckland Grammar 73 St Mary’s 55
Westlake 85 Massey 60
Mt Albert 66 Epsom 44
Rangitoto 79 Carmel 63
The four losing teams are left to sweat over the remaining two places on offer for Nationals with two winner-takes-all battles scheduled for early Friday afternoon – Carmel will face St Mary’s and Massey will lineup against Epsom.
Meanwhile in the Boys Tournament six teams remain unbeaten.
In Pool A Rosmini and St Kentigern are both 4-0 and will put their unbeaten records on the line on Friday morning when they face each other.
In Pool B Rangitoto have a perfect record although three other teams are also in contention for a quarter-final place. The Rangitoto versus St Peter’s and Mt Roskill against Macleans ties on Friday morning will decide the top four placings.
Mt Albert have recorded four straight wins in Pool C and the winner of the Selwyn College versus Whangarei game early on Friday will join them in the quarters – both have an identical 3-1 record.
In Pool D Auckland Grammar and Westlake (both 4-0) have secured play-off berths – the two will do battle to decide top place at 12.30pm on Friday.
The Boys teams are fighting over seven qualifying spots for Nationals with the Girls teams competing for six places.
Boys Standings after Day 2
Pool A
4-0 Rosmini, St Kentigern
2-2 Liston
1-3 Northcote, Long Bay
0-4 Manurewa
Pool B
4-0 Rangitoto
3-1 Mt Roskill, St Peter’s
2-2 Macleans
0-4 Birkenhead, Waiuku
Pool C
4-0 Mt Albert
3-1 Whangarei, Selwyn
1-3 Kelston, Massey
0-4 Onehunga
Pool D
4-0 Auckland Grammar, Westlake
2-2 Avondale
1-3 Pakuranga, Orewa
0-4 Kristin
LACEY LOWDOWN 