It was announced today that a new form of basketball will be hitting the shores of Australia. A five day tournament called the Foot Locker Elite Classic will be held from 6-11 April, 2010 at the Adelaide Dome (aka Brett Maher Court). The big draw? A prize pool of $250,000. The tournament will consist of eight teams, with ten players on each.

Who is behind this operation? Elite Classic Basketball (ECB) is the company which has decided to provide an alternate form of basketball entertainment to the Aussie masses, outside of the realms of the established NBL. A well known man in basketball circles is Managing director Jeff Van Groningen, former chief executive of the Brisbane Bullets and Melbourne Tigers.

One of the most exciting things to come out of this announcement is the fact that the entire five-day tournament will be broadcast on free-to-air television through ONE HD -- something that many casual Aussie basketball fans have stated as a requirement for their renewed interest in the sport. ONE will be showing eight hours of live action every day, including three live matches per day.

Attracting big-name players is the next step. But a combination of Van Gronginen's connections, having Cal Bruton on board, prize money for such a short tournament and the big names in the ownership stakes already will certainly make that easier. Four of the eight teams already have been claimed, with some notable names involved:

• Brett Maher -- former Adelaide Sixer and Australian Olympian;
• Julie Corletto -- Aussie netballer and wife of Melbourne Tiger Darryl Corletto;
• Sedale Threatt -- former Los Angeles Laker (career high 42 points);
• Lanard Copeland -- long-time NBL star with the Melbourne Tigers, amongst other stops; and
• Lance "Buddy" Franklin -- AFL player with Hawthorn.

Four teams are still up for grabs, so time to pull out your paypal account and secure one! Six of the eight teams will recoup their entry fee just by not falling into the bottom two, whilst the top two teams will battle for 75% of the prize money in the grand final.

It is early days yet, with the tournament only just having been announced, but there is potential for this to be very big for Aussie basketball. The names that will attract will surely be spurred on by the national television exposure, the short nature of the tournament for a decent financial return and the already established named involved (if not for the novelty nature).

The tournament has a set of rules which differ from NBL basketball, with a return to 48 minute games, a "Game Breaker" in place whereby a coach can elect a three minute period in each half where three-point shots count for four points, jump balls rather than a possession arrow and only one full and 20-second timeout per half. In addition, "there's a 'Game within the Game'. Each individual quarter will be scored separately from the actual game score. The team that wins each quarter will receive bonus 'elite points' that will be accumulated during each and every quarter of each and every game, and will have a direct impact on the prize money distribution for those teams that do not reach The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops Final Four."

More details:

• The Basketball Professor
• Official site: High Stakes Hoops
• Boti Nagy

Will we see the likes of John Rillie making an appearance in the tournament? We'll have to wait and see what he has to say on his site, but the style of play would certainly suit him, knocking down four-point shots. NBL players will almost certainly be out of the mix, given the fact the season will be in play at that point, with respective clubs unlikely to give permission to their players to jump over to what is effectively a rebel league. However there are quite a few former NBL players still in their primes who have been pushed out of the league by the points cap and reduction in teams, who may be drawn to the quick bucks involved. Not to mention of course, the likes of Darryl McDonald still kicking around who might be up for a five-day gig -- that would be great to see.

Predictably, the NBL and Basketball Australia have not made mention of the tournament yet and are unlikely to do so, given the competition it provides to the NBL. However, is this such a smart idea? In many ways, this tournament provides a boost to basketball in Australia which in effect is an indirect boost to the NBL and BA. Should the BA/NBL provide some promotion to the tournament? That is something that I will certainly consider in the coming days/weeks and provide my opinion on. I'm sure BA will be having their talks on this very matter, but given their rigid nature in the past, any innovative approach is unlikely.

There will be more to come on this tournament, as more names and details are announced. Here is video of the launch, via Sports Tonight and the ever-awesome ryaninoz on youtube:

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