THE 2014 SBL season gets underway this weekend with the men's competition consisting of three matches on Friday night, four on Saturday night and three more on Sunday afternoon.

There is great excitement coming into the 2014 season with the men's competition predicted to be one of the most even and hardest to predict who could be genuine championship contenders in some time.

The action begins on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks hosting the Rockingham Flames, the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles facing the Lakeside Lightning and the Cockburn Cougars battling the Kalamunda Eastern Suns. All games tip-off at 8.30pm.

Then on Saturday night, the 7.30pm fixtures see the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers play the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants, and the Rockingham Flames host the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers.

Then at 8pm on Saturday night, the Stirling Senators take on the Perth Redbacks at home and the Willetton Tigers host the Wanneroo Wolves.

And finally on Sunday afternoon at midday, the Eagles host the Giants and the Suns battle the Buccaneers before at 2pm, the Perry Lakes Hawks face the Mandurah Magic.

The season tips off on Friday night with three enthralling fixtures.

The Redbacks host the Flames at Belmont Oasis with Perth having made plenty of changes with new import Stan Okoye set to be an excitement machine.

However, Friday's opponent Rockingham will be looking for a huge improvement in 2013 and will be hoping the arrival of Taylor Land, Andrew Bowman, Frank Fimmano and Tom Remmerswaal make a huge impact.

The Eagles will be without Perth Wildcats NBL centre Tom Jervis against the defending championship Lakeside at Morley Sport and Recreation, but it shapes as a fascinating battle.

Kyle Armour is on board with the Eagles for this season while it is a new-look Lakeside team with David Olley replacing Andy Stewart as coach, and Justin Cecil and Ben Beran not returning. Bradley Tinsley and Caleb Palkert are the Lightning's new imports.

The Cougars then host the Suns at Wally Hagan Stadium with both teams coming off missing the 2013 playoffs, and looking to improve on that in 2014.

The regional powers then get in on the action for the first time in 2014 on Saturday night starting with the Slammers hosting the Giants at Eaton Recreation Centre.

The Slammers have added Johnathon Hendley as their second import to playing-coach Ty Harrelson while the Giants have a new coach Marcus Taylor, and new imports Tommy Hannon and Duran Blue as they look to forget a horror 2013 campaign.

The Flames then back up playing the Redbacks on Friday by heading home to host the Buccaneers at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on Saturday.

The Buccaneers did well to finish the 2013 regular season in third position in the standings but they lost in the quarter finals to the Wanneroo Wolves.

That didn’t sit well with Geraldton now having Mark Heron take over as coach, and Bennie Lewis arriving along with Allan Ehte to team up with Carter Cook.

The Senators then make their first appearance of 2014 hosting a Redbacks team at Warwick Leisure Centre that has already played on Friday against Rockingham.

Stirling will be looking for a vast improvement on its nine-win season of 2013.

Willetton then hosts Wanneroo also on Saturday night at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the Tigers looking to return to playoff action in 2014, and the Wolves looking to go one step better than runner's-up from 2013.

Then on Sunday, the Eagles host the Giants at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre, the Suns take on the Buccaneers at Ray Owen Sports Centre and the Perry Lakes Hawks and Mandurah Magic do battle at the WA Basketball Centre.

The Hawks have just announced the signing of 2013 grand final MVP from Lakeside Justin Cecil to replace Adrian Majstrovich.

Meanwhile, the Magic have lost four key players to Rockingham with Ben Caporn retiring, but Daniel Thomas is on board from Geraldton with Paul Hafford the second import to join up with Taylor Mullenax.

WEEK 1 MEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Perth Redbacks v Rockingham Flames, Belmont Oasis 8.30pm
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles v Lakeside Lightning, Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 8.30pm
Cockburn Cougars v Kalamunda Eastern Suns, Wally Hagan Stadium 8.30pm

SATURDAY
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers v Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants, Eaton Recreation Centre 7.30pm
Rockingham Flames v Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers, Mike Barnett Sports Complex 7.30pm
Stirling Senators v Perth Redbacks, Warwick Leisure Centre 8.00pm
Willetton Tigers v Wanneroo Wolves, Willetton Basketball Stadium 8.00pm

SUNDAY
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles v Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants, Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 12.00pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers, Ray Owen Sports Centre 12.00pm
Perry Lakes Hawks v Mandurah Magic, WA Basketball Centre 2.00pm

Article by Chris Pike