The Good, The Bad and The Scheibs... ep.14
Week 14 and it got serious this week. Brisbane showed the South and the entire state that they are right on track to get into their third GF in 4 years. Defending Champs Macktown said hey hold on, who’s counting us out? That would be me! I should know better, but I also picked a Rocky V BBI GF. Well how wrong we all were regarding Rocky in season 2016.
Game of the round was the battle at Cornubia between the Thunder and BBI. Logan coming off their pounding of Brisbane a few weeks ago at Auchenflower would have been full of confidence. The Thunder had to work extra hard the night before up on the mountain to squeeze out a close win against the Mountaineers. Surely it was just a warmup and they did just enough to get the win with plenty of fuel left in the tank.
Well it seemed that way early as Brisbane took a 5 point lead into the main break and it looked like it would be a fitting battle to determine who would finish on top of the Central pool. However it was all BBI after the long break. They dropped 61pts on Logan in the second half while holding the home side to only 41 and the ass whopping was complete. Brisbane had 6 players in double figures and shot the ball at 50%. Thunder on the other hand only had 3 players in double figures and shot the ball at only 42%. Toss in 19 turnovers and you have a recipe for a 25 point hiding. The fact that Logan could only get to the free-throw line 11 times is a telling factor and probably a direct result of jacking up 44 threes. Full credit to the Capitals as they reversed the result from only a few weeks ago and now are once again the number one seed from the south.
Mackay travelled to a fading Rockhampton, the winner was still alive and the loser would be finished for the season. It was anyone’s game heading into the final term with McKay leading by a solitary point. Then the Rockets did what they have done a lot in season 2016, they were trounced in the fourth quarter. Held to a measly 17 points, while conceding 29 to the defending champs. As quick as you can say what happened to the Rockets, their season was over and the Meteors live to defend their title. For Macktown Toff and Bullets guard Bruce were their best, and showed why they have no peers as an all Aussie backcourt in this league. They will be a handful for Cairns in round one, they are still the champs till someone knocks em off. Rocky well their backcourt was always going be under the hammer defensively, with both local lad Philp and newly acquired Shaun Gleeson not known as defensive stoppers. Their bench was non-existent and why no one had a quite chat to Brad Williamson puzzles me? Rocky are the major disappointment to me for season 2016.
Townsville now find themselves in the driver’s seat to be the overall number one seed and will ensure the Norths dominance continues for another season. They have been the seasons surprise packet and have done it on teamwork, defence and a very balanced attack. They will miss the brilliance of former Croc Mirko Djeric as he will miss the finals as he embarks on a European career. With a likely semi-final against Logan or SWM in Townsville, the Heat will be primed to avenge their earlier losses in Brisbane to these two sides. You would be a brave man tipping against the Heat making an historic GF appearance at this stage. I have to comment on the naming of the 17 nominated finalists for QBL MVP. Now I am not one to say that the best player in the league has to play for the best team. However I will say that to be an MVP you need to lead your team to success. I notice the worst team in the QBL Bundaberg got both their imports in the top 17. How you may ask, well I will fill you in on how it is possible that a team that will finish 2-15 can get two players nominated into the MVP race.
Now if you regularly follow my ramblings on BE you will know that I like BQ about has much as Hillary Clinton likes Donald Trump. However in this instance this one has very little to do with the governing body. At the conclusion of every game each coach votes on a 3, 2, 1 basis. Now it’s inevitable that Bundy coach Larry Daniels will soon be history, but it didn’t stop him from ensuring that his very ordinary imports were prominent in the MVP balloting. Larry your team won 2 games, your imports were the worst pairing in the league, if they are indeed MVP worthy, it says a lot about your coaching or lack thereof. A system where the majority of your MVP candidates come from teams with losing record means the system is flawed. For the record my top five MVP candidates would be Mitchell Young Logan, Tanner McGrew SWM, Chris Cedar Macktown, Aaron Anderson BBI and Peter Crawford Townsville. Disclaimer: This article was prepared or accomplished by Rob Scheibner in his personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the views of the Basketball Expressions.
