Low basketball rank

Press, 7 August 1976, Page 52

Low basketball rank

By

ROD DEW

The Canterbury champion A grade men’s basketball team, High School Old Boys, has been ranked only fifth by the national administration director (Mr Joe

McLeod, of Christchurch) for the New Zealand club championship, which begins with qualifying rounds on August 13.

However, this comes as no great surprise in view of Old Boys’ failure to win a place in the final last season — a season in which they also won the provincial title. Last season, Christchurch Y.M.C.A. was the only team to qualify from Canterbury but there seems little chance of it being the sole local representative in the Old Crow men’s final in Hutt Valley on September 20-24. A former winner of the national club crown, Y.M.C.A. is not even ranked among the top 10 for the 1976 championship. Checkers, which is currently second in the unfinished Canterbury championship (Old Boys are in an unbeatable position), is not ranked, either, although Mr McLeod mentions the team in his supplementary notes as one which could surprise. After all, Checkers has the services of two of the finest individual players in the country, John Fairweather and Robert Cooke.

But it is Old Boys who must be expected to do the best of the Canterbury teams. It has three members of the Canterbury side which recently won the national tournament — Ed Manco, Tim Guthrie and Simon Guthrie — and the very promising Australian guard, Allan Smith, as well as some young players of tremendous potential. Ranked first for this year’s championship is the defending title-holder, Mount Wellington. Since its loss to Victoria University at an

Easter tournament, it has gained the services of two new players of ability, Dennis Brown, from Waikato, and Carl Stent, formerly of Mairehau and Christchurch. The team also has the New Zealand centre, Stan Hill, and another national player in Neville Corlett, as well as the national coach, Steve McKean, an American.

The second ranking has been given to Mazda, of Auckland, which will have two talented Americans, Rick Kuluz and Dave Leslie, on its bench, the New Zealand representative, Rob Arblaster, and the veteran, lan Hastings, a brother of the cricketing international, Brian Hastings, Wellington Marist, the winner of the inaugural club championship, has been in good form in central league comoetition (“Big eight”) and, although now without James Logan, are benefiting from the greatly improved form of John Hall. It is ranked third.

Hadletgh Homes, from Napier, join the rankings for the first, and probably last, time at No. 4. Ed Donohue (6ft sin) and John Conrad (6ft Ilin), two experienced Americans, are decisive factors in the team’s high ranking. Conrad was named the outstanding forward of the recent national inter-provin-cial tournament.

Behind Old Boys in sixth place is the second South Island team to be ranked, Nelson Old Boys. It is being led by the New Zealand captain last year, Dave Taylor.

Next in line are Victoria University, Coca Cola (Auckland), Stats (Tauranga), and Otago University.