By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG hoops fans, your off-season is over.
Less than a month after cheering their Rangers to an impressive return to the Women’s National Basketball League playoffs, the Dandenong faithful will be back at Stud Road this weekend as the Big V League tips off with a home double against the Melbourne Tigers.
The Rangers will again have representation in the Big V’s elite men’s and women’s competitions, with teams in the prestigious Championship and Youth League divisions.
The headline act will again be Dandenong’s all-conquering Championship Men’s team, which will be defending back-to-back Big V titles.
@BT Sub Sport News:CHAMPIONSHIP MEN
As head coach Warren Dawson explained this week, his charges were hungry for a historic Big V three-peat.
“No one in the history of the league has won three in a row, so that’s a massive challenge for us,” he said.
But on the eve of the season-opener this week, Dandenong has made no secret of the fact that it is looking beyond the Victorian borders this winter.
Having been the bridesmaid in the Australian Basketball Association’s national championships in each of the past two seasons, the Rangers are gunning for that title.
While the core group from last season has been retained, Dandenong will welcome the return of former-NBL player Andrew Murdock and the likely mid-season arrivals of American college graduates Oresti Nitsios and Ric Marczenko.
Dawson said Murdock, a left-handed power forward and gifted scorer, would add another dimension to the Rangers’ line-up if he could recapture his best form after two years out with a serious knee injury.
Nitsios and Marczenko – both tall guards – had indicated that they would join the Rangers after finishing their studies in May.
Nonetheless, it is likely to be the established star trio of Ash Cannan, Brent Hobba and Vince Inglima that will carry the Rangers deep into the post-season.
Cannan, who toured China in September as part of the Andrew Gaze-coached ABA all-star side, will again be the fire in Dandenong’s belly, while Hobba returns after his third season with the NBL’s South Dragons.
American import Inglima is back for his second season at Stud Road, having starred at both ends of the floor during Dandenong’s championship campaign last winter.
Another bonus for the Rangers will be the fitness of veteran skipper and point guard Mick Wheeler, who has now fully recovered from a knee reconstruction and will again be the on-court general for Dawson’s side.
But despite the supremacy of the Rangers in recent years, Dawson said they still had a lot to prove.
“I still get the sense that there’s a bit of hunger there (in the playing group) and a bit of unfinished business,” he said, sounding an ominous warning to other divisional contenders.
The Rangers will get an early indication of where they’re at this weekend, when they host a Melbourne side coached by NBL championship mentor Al Westover and loaded with national league talent.
Tip-off will be at 8pm on Saturday night.
@BT Sub Sport News:CHAMPIONSHIP WOMEN
After finishing sixth last season, Dandenong’s Big V ladies will be hoping to emulate their WNBL colleagues in making a return to the play-offs.
Head coach Michael Davies has effected a major off-season coup in securing the services of Australian Opal and nine-time WNBL Defensive Player of the Year Emily McInerny.
McInerny will use the Big V competition as a tune-up for her impending Beijing Olympics campaign in August.
While Davies said he was unsure how many games ‘Macca’ would be able to play in between Opals commitments, he noted that her presence alone would be a steadying influence on the squad.
“We just didn’t have the nous and experience to get over the line in some of those close games last season,” he said.
But Davies expects the return of two-time WNBL championship player Demelza Waixel – from a 12-month hiatus – to shore-up Dandenong’s inexperienced frontcourt.
Meanwhile, emerging talent Faith Probst will suit up for the Big V team after playing college hoops in America and making an impact off the bench in the WNBL over the summer.
She will be joined by WNBL development squad members Amelia Toddhunter, Kellie Palazzolo and Claire Fitzgerald, who will all be expected to take on greater responsibility this winter.
While the Rangers will be hard-pressed to displace the dominant Hume City Broncos at the top of the Big-V ladder, Davies believes his charges will make significant improvements.
“I think the first step is getting back to the playoffs,” he said.
“Hume City’s looking very strong again and Sandringham have recruited well, but I definitely think we’ve got the right pieces of the jigsaw to be up there with them.”
The Rangers will begin their campaign against the Tigers from 2pm this Sunday at Dandenong Basketball Stadium.
