NEW COMP: DEVILS ARE BACK

THE Hobart Devils are back on the national basketball scene in a new competition that could lead to locals competing internationally.

The Champions League Basketball 3x3 has been launched, with Hobart one of two foundation clubs alongside the Townsville Suns.

Three-on-three basketball — which has been added to the Olympic program in 2020 — is growing in popularity with a host of countries running fully professional leagues.

Australia has joined the boom and the Devils will be the first to be involved at an elite level.

Mark Nash is heading up the CLB3X3 Hobart branch, with a male and female side headed to Melbourne in two weeks for the inaugural tournament, which will work around the WNBL cluster round and see SEABL and Big V teams involved.

Ellie Collins and Sharna Thompson will spearhead the women’s Devils side, while last year’s Chargers captain BJ Radcliffe headlines the men’s outfit alongside emerging talents Matthew Young and Elijah Pawson.

Townsville has rolled out a star-studded line-up that includes 2010 NBL Championship winner and former NBA player Luke Schenscher and NBL veteran Peter Crawford.

“Champions League Basketball has been around for the past three years and they have been looking at different models in the professional basketball space,” Nash said.

“This first tournament, which is on November 25, is essentially our launch pad into the national scene of three on three within that Champions League Basketball competition.

“The model for three on three is quite different to other formats of basketball. Essentially the way it works is every game you play in a FIBA-endorsed competition, players earn individual ranking points.

“They will earn ranking points within Australia, but they also earn ranking points on an international scale.

“The more games our Hobart-based team can play, the more we can also increase our ranking as a team, which po- tentially opens up opportunities to play overseas in other tournaments.

“That is exciting, but also quite different to other sports, which are locked into leagues wherever they might be around the world.”

More CLB3x3 clubs will be announced in the coming months, with a total of 24 teams from every state and territory to eventually be included.

Hobart won’t host a round in the 2017-18 season but Nash is hopeful of giving fans a taste of the action next summer.