'Bottom Gun': Canberra defend title from sixth

• Six clubs play seven men's games across three days in Adelaide
• Canberra defend the title as the sixth seed after missing an East final
• The top two after two rounds meet in Sunday's championship game

‍Canberra Gunners open their defence of the NBL1 men's national title against Rockingham Flames at 8pm ACST on Friday (tonight), seeded sixth and last of the six clubs in Adelaide.

They are the only club in the field that did not win anything to get here.

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basketball.com.au's Bec Cole (It's a Cole World) and podcast partners Jacinta Govind, Jake Burfitt and Christopher Caldicott are part of the commentary teams.

Every other club is here because it won something. Norths Bears took out the East and are seeded first, Forestville Eagles won Central, Rockingham won the West, Gold Coast Rollers won the North and Frankston Blues won the South. Canberra are here by right, as reigning national champions, after an early exit from the NBL1 East finals.

The numbers say the same thing the seeding does. Across the six clubs Canberra scored the fewest points a game at 83.33 and Gold Coast the most at 113.79, a gap of more than 30 points, and Canberra are last in the field for assists and field-goal percentage as well. Those are season averages across six different conferences, so they measure different competitions rather than a level playing field, but the spread is real.

Norths Bears open the whole tournament against Frankston at 4pm ACST, and Forestville play Gold Coast at 8:30pm.

Every club plays once on Friday and once on Saturday. The top two after those two rounds meet in the championship game at 1:30pm ACST on Sunday. There are no semi-finals.

Twelve teams, more than 120 players and coaches, and the first time the NBL1 National Finals have been held in Adelaide. Canberra, the Sunshine Coast, Joondalup and Melbourne have all hosted before.

Fixture

Season

Road to the Nationals