Our WSBL writer, nicknamed "Konstantin Zoric" is back and wraps up the Pre-Season Blitz and looks at week one and starts to get a little controversial!

Check it out and email sbl@basketballwa.asn.au if you have any questions for KZ and we'll pass them on!

Hi All,

It’s an exciting time of year with the real season to get underway. As I was revising my team rankings after the Blitz it got me thinking about the variety of temperaments we have in the league, specifically the following types – Ironwoman & floppers. I want to start a bit of a mailbag where people can write in and ask questions on anything WSBL that comes to mind and might not normally be up for discussion. So I thought I would start by ranking my personal number ones:

• Top Ironwoman – Sue Williams – Played forever, rarely injured, still one of the fittest players in the league, doesn’t look like slowing down at all and good on her as she obviously loves to play. Could perhaps be the most durable player in the history of WSBL and hopefully we’ll see her playing for a few more years yet.
• Top Flopper – Nicole Jorre St Jorre – A fantastic defender and smart player. But some of the flopping performances are semi-embarrassing. Goes flying three feet backwards every time someone sets an on-ball screen on her whether she hits it or not.

Anyway, they are the first names that come to my mind, email me at sbl@basketballwa.asn.au to add your thoughts on this or any other WSBL topic and the crew at the SBL will pass it on to me. But I have digressed, so revised rankings after the Blitz below -

1. Rockingham Flames – Up and down form at the Blitz with no Cannon & Tucker only playing one game, however, Courtney Hargreaves is an excellent in for them. Smashed Suns on the Saturday night and showed some different offensive structures which will help until Cannon is here. Like South West, lots and lots of roster movements but are looking like one of the marque teams for 2013.
2. South West Slammers – Kara Hargreaves breaks a finger against Cougars pre-season game, Zoe Harper in the US for several weeks, and an injury cloud over Val Ogoke. Lauren Jeffers in to help a little and they were impressive winning games at the Blitz (with Szittman dominating). Hard to see them finishing the regular season top with all these roster issues, but will be a tough out in the finals.
3. Willetton Tigers – Marsh, Edmonson, Wallbutton and Kelley didn’t play at the Blitz and they still looked pretty good. In some ways this makes the off-season recruiting extravaganza even more puzzling. Who knows what line-up they will have available each weekend but will be near on unbeatable in this league with everybody.
4. Wanneroo Wolves – Some up and down form at the Blitz with narrow wins against weaker squads and then easily handling some teams. They can be partly excused for this with lots of line-up changes that accompany a deep squad in the pre-season. But a lot of players doesn’t always equal a strong rotation of 8, and for this reason I’m a little hesitant to put them up in the top two or three. For example, in my mind Flames have 5 players that would all start ahead of current Wolves players – Tucker, Garbin, Cannon, C Hargreaves and J Bourne.
5. Lakeside Lightning – Impressively went undefeated at the Blitz, and I expect them to be solid. From all reports the second import isn’t top notch and this will see them a little short on talent when compared to others. Will always be good early in the season with a steady program, strong home court performances and stability in their squad. The challenge for them will be maintaining form all year as other teams get it together (Side thought - strangely enough the same thing often happens in their men’s program).
6. Cockburn Cougars – Went 4 and 0 at the Blitz and jumped around and high fived each other after each win, given it is more wins than they chalked up in all of 2012 it is excusable. As predicted are much improved this year and Fleur Mac has had an immediate impact on their team culture and ball movement. Stephanie Jones is back and training now so it will be interesting to see what the full picture looks like.
7. Kalamunda Eastern Suns – The import was at the Blitz as a spectator, Moyle and Knox appeared in the line-up and everyone looks to be returning. Despite this they would have been disappointed with loss to Cougars and were well beaten by Flames. Buckley and Mueggenborg were spectators as well and there isn’t any news on whether they are injured. If the import is quality and they maintain the same chemistry as last year they will be in the mix. Same question mark lingers over them as the Wolves – there is no doubt they have a lot of players – But will this result in a top notch rotation of 8?
8. Perth Redbacks – Better than expected at the Blitz, a great win over Flames, and then very tight contests with Slammers, Senators and Cougars. Payne is in the line-up, Lisch looks good for early in the year, Fletcher is a handy player (but is travelling for part of the season) and some of the usual suspects are playing well in their roles. Hiddlestone is still a possibility of playing once her allergy to the pre-season passes.
9. Perry Lakes Hawks – Mediocre form at the Blitz. Had several players missing and rotated others out of games. Will take a bit of time for CJ to get his offense in, but for the moment that looks like it is going to be a lot of high on-ball screens between Clayton and Natalie Burton. Will be competitive every single night but probably don’t have quite enough fire power to win more often than they lose.
10. Stirling Senators – I have to admit to seeing very little of them over the Blitz weekend. But from all reports both their imports are decent so this should help them be competitive, but I wouldn’t be betting on them to be near finals contention. My lack of interest in them is probably reflected in where they sit in these standings.
11. Mandurah Magic – Up and down form at the Blitz, admirable performance against Slammers, close win against Hawks, smashed by Lightning and WA Metro. A massive amount of responsibility is going to fall on Casey Milo this year for them to even be competitive. Two more questions – 1. Was that an import spotted with them over the weekend? 2. Howcome they can only find junior players out of two families when the Peel region has a population of approximately 88,000 people and according to Wiki two thirds of them live in Mandurah?
12. East Perth Eagles – Everyone breathe a sympathetic sigh for poor Aaron Berryman. Not enough senior players to be competitive and it’s going to be several years before he reaps the rewards of the excellent work he is doing with their club and junior programs. It is great to see Liz Cooke back playing and young D’Souza from Cougars is a handy shooter. Hopefully they can add an import to the mix otherwise too much will fall on Cooke and Jorre St Jorre every game.

Enjoy round one, can’t wait to see what it reveals and to hear what people have to say and answer any questions.

KZ

Photo by Wayne Wright (Wayne Wright Photography)