NBL1 Wildcard Explainer

The NBL1 Wildcard Series made its debut this season, featuring each of the five conferences in the  NBL1 North, NBL1 East, NBL1 South, NBL1 Central and NBL1 West. 

The top teams from all five NBL1 State Conferences of the prior year were given the opportunity to play against the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence in a one-off game across the season, with 20 men’s and 16 women’s games played in 2022.

The teams who finished on top of the NBL1 Wildcard ladder, based on points percentage, won the Wildcard Series, granting them entry into the Coles Express NBL1 National Final as the Wildcard seed.

Qualification into the NBL1 National Finals required the winner to also qualify for their conference finals.

The NBL1 National Final Draw saw the men's Wildcard seed placed against the NBL1 East champions. The women’s Wildcard seed was placed against the champions of the NBL1 North. 

The two Wildcard teams this season were the NBL1 South men’s Frankston Blues and the NBL1 North women’s Southern District Spartans. The Frankston Blues beat the CoE by 135.5 percent and will take on the NBL1 East men’s champions the Canberra Gunners at the NBL1 National Finals. The Spartans beat the Coe by 164.4 percent and will take on the NBL1 North women’s champions the Townsville Flames - who they faced in the NBL1 North Semi-Finals.

Feature image via: Ian Knight Photography