Ballarat basketball legend Ray Borner is certain the Ballarat Miners would have won a national championship in 2001 if not for the collapse of Ansett Australia. In this week's Off the Record podcast, Borner told The Courier the Miners were favored heading into the series and was the team everyone wanted to beat. "I know that we would have been national champions," he said. "In my mind I know that we would have won and I think every player in our group knew that as well." The Miners earned the right to compete in the 2001 Australian Basketball Association championship series after securing a SEABL title weeks earlier. However the ABA called off the series in the wake of the airline's shutdown, less than a day before the event was set to begin. Borner, who served as player-coach for the Miners at the time, spoke in depth of the disappointment it caused. "Teams had already made the commitment and all of a sudden we couldn't play because Ansett had collapsed," he said. "As players and as a team we wanted to participate and to have that taken away was terrible." The episode will be available to listen to on Friday at The Courier website
Ballarat basketball legend Ray Borner is certain the Ballarat Miners would have won a national championship in 2001 if not for the collapse of Ansett Australia.
In this week's Off the Record podcast, Borner told The Courier the Miners were favored heading into the series and was the team everyone wanted to beat.
"I know that we would have been national champions," he said.
"In my mind I know that we would have won and I think every player in our group knew that as well."
The Miners earned the right to compete in the 2001 Australian Basketball Association championship series after securing a SEABL title weeks earlier.
However the ABA called off the series in the wake of the airline's shutdown, less than a day before the event was set to begin.
Borner, who served as player-coach for the Miners at the time, spoke in depth of the disappointment it caused.
"Teams had already made the commitment and all of a sudden we couldn't play because Ansett had collapsed," he said.
"As players and as a team we wanted to participate and to have that taken away was terrible."
The episode will be available to listen to on Friday at The Courier website
