Shout Out To The NBL’s Post-College Breakout Boom
You ever seen that movie The Graduate? Where old mate Dustin Hoffman gets back from university and pretty much has a bit of an existential crisis about what to do with his life? Or that movie Kicking and Screaming. Or Reality Bites. Or any number of those quarter-life crisis graduation films... it’s a whole bloody genre. You’ve been through this whole educational system and suddenly it spits you out with a massive student loan and leaves you to fight for yourself in the societal wilderness. What are you supposed to do? Well, if you’re a kiwi baller coming off an athletic scholarship in the United States then apparently you pop back down to Aotearoa and partake in some NBL goodness.
The revelation of this NBL Showdown thing has been the spotlight it’s given to that second and third tier of kiwi basketballers. Fellas who aren’t quite on that Aussie NBL level or who are perhaps are trying to make a claim to get to that level. Folks who in an ordinary season would still be hanging out in starting lineups but they would be there as alternate options behind the top Tall Blacks dudes and especially the imports. You still wanna see those high end talents in the league during regular transmission, raising the standard and all that, but it’s also been pretty awesome seeing these other local chaps absolutely dominating proceedings given an opportunity that they wouldn’t otherwise have gotten.
Basketball is one of the fastest growing sports in the country, a fact it doesn’t always get credit for from the gatekeeping old guard of kiwi sporting thought (absolutely stunned that there hasn’t been more telly news coverage of it and the Herald are mostly serving up radio silence too). Watching a whole wave of kiwi ballers emerge like this is only more proof that the talent we’ve got in Aotearoa is growing exponentially. Just have a peek at the top blokes on the MVP rankings (as of Tuesday morning):
Derone Raukawa (Airs) – 25 years old
Taylor Britt (Rams) – 23 years old
Isaac Davidson (Bulls) – 23 years old
Jordan Ngatai (Nuggets) – 27 years old
Jayden Bezzant (Jets) – 23 years old
Marcel Jones (Airs) – 34 years old
Tom Vodanovich (Jets) – 25 years old
Izayah Mariahooho-Le'afa (Huskies) – 23 years old
Dom Kelman-Poto (Bulls) – 25 years old
Apart from the domestically-based import Marcel Jones, there’s a bit of a pattern there. There’s a particular age-bracket that’s running this show... and it’s not a coincidence either.
Quick word first for Taine Murray, who is the best example of someone under that dominant age bracket. At 18 years old he’s already had some Tall Blacks experience and should be a much-admired college recruit – he’s waiving his paycheque from this NBL season to stay amateur and NCAA eligible, as you do. Murray’s been bringing the goods for the Huskies as they’ve overcome some early offensive woes and look to be heading towards a peak at the right end of the season and Murray himself has had a similar trajectory, a bit slow out of the blocks but his breakout 35-point game against Manawatu didn’t come from nowhere. His last five games (the Jets one being the fifth) have seen him averaging...
20.1 PTS | 4.0 REB | 2.2 AST | 1.0 STL | 56.7% FG | 56.7% 3PT | 80.0% FT
As an EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD. Damn, son.
But it’s been that 23-25 year old range that’s been leading the way across the league. Guys who are on the other side of their college experiences, guys who’ve been there and done that and now come back to stake their claims and careers. Guys who are ready for that next step and who, by a twist of fate, have been given the chance to express exactly that in this NBL Showdown. Guys like these fellas...
Izayah Mariahooho-Le’afa (Auckland Huskies)
Izayah Mariahooho-Le’afa had a great career at Sacramento State in Division 1. He was a starter all four years, improving on his scoring averages each time, and it was just a bummer that his senior year tournament never went ahead because of the coronavirus. He returned to massive raps and a first round selection by the Huskies and although missed the first two games (still in quarantine) and then showed all sorts of rustiness in shooting 1/15 in the Huskies’ third game... since then he’s been immense. Four games out of five with at least 20 points, including a 32-pointer against Nelson in which he made eight triples. He also had a 9-steal game against the Cantabs and has is top five in assists per game so that shows you he’s plenty more than just a shooter. Possibly a little undersized for a guard at 6’2 but he makes up for that with athleticism and energy. IML passes the eye-test with flying colours. Just a matter of which Aussie NBL team he ends up with... if the Breakers want that Shea Ili style bench option back then they could do a whole lot worse.
Isaac Davidson (Franklin Bulls)
Four years at Sonoma State University in California playing Division 2 basketball has done wonders for Davidson’s game. Not a top of the top tier school, sure, but it means getting to have a more prominent role and all that – Tai Wynyard could tell a few stories about the grind of being on a team full of five-star recruits and being marginalised because of it. Davidson started the majority of his college games after playing from the bench as a freshman and by his senior year he was averaging 15.3 points per game. Davidson was a gun from deep throughout his college career averaging 40.9% all up across his four years. That sweet shooting has continued into the NBL where he’s knocking them down at a sizzling 47.5% although Davidson offers plenty more than just spot shooting. He knows how to get to his shot, regardless. Off the dribble. In the mid-range. At the rim. Doesn’t matter. Casey Frank made the point on commentary about how much confidence he seems to have now and that ain’t a lie.
Jayden Bezzant (Manawatu Jets)
Another one out of a Div 2 school, Bezzant did four years at Northwest Nazarene where he was a consistent scorer and playmaker throughout. His college stats suggest he was maybe a little inconsistent from range but that hasn’t been the case for the Jets as he’s draining them at 39.7% from beyond the three-point line and 50% from the field all up. 21.2 points per game, never scoring less than 14 points in any one of them, and at one point scoring 20+ in four straight. Bezzant’s got also that silky touch sitting fourth in total assists plus he’s got at least one steal in every game so far. Just a quality point guard and combined with the big fella Tom Vodanovich they’ve made the Jets, at their best, a joy to watch. Gotta love the headband look too. Jimmy Butler would be proud.
Sam Timmins (Franklin Bulls)
It sucks that Jack Salt got injured. A first round pick for the Canterbury Rams and one of the star players eligible for this NBL Showdown... and while we’re talking college basketballers let’s not forget he’s a NCAA champion too. But while Salt’s had to sit this one out, Sam Timmins has stepped up in that same sort of mould for the Bulls. Timmins’ college career at the University of Washington (Div I) was a lot like Salt’s with Virginia. A dominant leader and culture setter in the locker room whose minutes varied from game to game depending on what the coach needed him to do – his senior year saw him average the fewest minutes per game of his stint there. Yet even with a lessened role he still put up his best shooting averages across the board and he’s come to the NBL looking to show off all the skills he’s acquired. 12.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in just 24 minutes and he also leads the league in blocks per game. There aren’t a lot of proper centres in this league but Timmins is one of them and he’s having a sneaky great campaign.
Jordan Hunt (Otago Nuggets)
The Nuggets getting Jordan Ngatai with the first overall pick and then an absolute steal in Jarrod Kenny with their second rounder was deservedly the focus of their draft but Jordan Hunt coming in via a third rounder has been a beauty of a find too. Fella had just got back from four years at Southern Oregon playing NAIA stuff (probably comparable to lower NCAA DII) where he proved himself a solid defensive presence as well as a decent scorer when the Nuggets snapped him up in a happy surprise. Apparently he’s never even been to Dunedin (and still hasn’t since the league’s taking place entirely in Auckland). But the 22 year old has been a more than useful presence as the big bloke for Otago, scoring 16.8ppg and shooting at better than 50% from the field while also sitting top ten in rebounds. As with all five of this quintet: if you don’t know, now you know.
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