PREVIEWS - SEPTEMBER 2008
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PREVIEWS - SEPTEMBER 2008 |
An occasional (but weekly if I get the time) look at the forthcoming weekend's matches in the EBL.
Preview information from clubs, and from EB, will be included, where available.
w/e 28th September 2008
The season finally gets under way in earnest this week, with a full programme of matches in the National Trophy and Patron's Cup Pools, in EBL Divisions Three and Four, and in the first round of the National Cup, together with a handful of games in two of the three regions of Women's Division 2.
There are excellent previews by Dave Ryan, on the EB website, of the Trophy (match by match, at Bristol, Coventry, Leopards and Manchester), the Patron's Cup and the National Cup, but it's always worth having a look at what some of the clubs themselves have to say. At this stage of the season, many clubs have previewed their first match in the same article which records their squad for the campaign, so I won't repeat them here, as they will be found in the individual clubs' "Player News" pages.
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The Kent Crusaders men’s team starts off their season in the Division 2 league cup, the Patrons Cup. Before the first Division 2 game the team plays a six team Patrons Cup group play with everyone playing each other once, either home or away. The Crusaders have three away games and two home games in the pool, starting on Saturday 27th September away at Plymouth Marjon Cannons.
The Crusaders have played the Cannons eight times before, with the Cannons running away with seven victories, but the Crusaders have a strengthened squad this year and have looked good in the preseason.
“We have picked up three quality players in Mitchell, Sorensen and Sojczynski, and the returning players have looked really confident in the three preseason games we’ve played so we’re confident we can reverse the trend against the Cannons this season”, said Crusaders head coach Mads Olesen of the upcoming meet.
The Cannons are sharing a city with British Basketball League giant Plymouth Raiders, but have had a lot of success despite being the little brother. This year however the Raiders have managed to snap up long-time Cannons ace Saul Rodgers, which may weaken Cannons a little.
“I saw the Cannons play last week”, said Olesen, “and despite the loss of Rodgers they’re just a very strong and experienced team. They have size with NBA player Loul Deng’s brother Deng Deng taking up the middle, and most of their guards are big and strong too. They play very well together, and they’re physical so we have to be on our game to beat them at their place, where we’ve never won”.
The Crusaders are still plagued by injuries, as neither Robbie Parker, Simon Mitchell, Sam Betts nor Rikki Broadmore were able to play in the final preseason tune-up, a tight loss against London Leopards, last year’s number five in Division 1.
“We’re hoping to have one or two of them ready for the weekend,” said Olesen of the injury situation, “but we’re not holding our horses. Broadmore had an MRI on Friday, and it looks like he might need surgery, but hopefully the others will be back soon. They’re all good players but we looked pretty good against Leopards without them, so if they’re there it’s a bonus, if not we’ll be do okay without them. Players like James Harris and Damian Lyons have really improved from last year, and import Soren Sorensen has played really well too, so we have to be optimistic.”
w/e 21st September 2008
There's only one League game this week, but it's a very interesting one, as two ambitious teams meet, with the visit of Oxford Brookes University to CC Westfield Watford Storm in Division 3 South.
The hosts may sound like newcomers to the league, but in fact they are the new incarnation of West Herts Warriors, following the failure of the first team to gain re-admission to Division One. The Warriors' second team had continued in Division 3, and they have now moved their base to Watford.
In Division 3 South last season, Oxford Brooked finished fifth, just missing out on the play-offs ... and just one place behind West Herts II. Both teams are ambitious, and, with rumours abounding that the re-branded Watford have strengthened with the inclusion of some ex-West Herts I players, and that Neil McElduff has rejoined the coaching team, this will be a crucial season's opener for both teams.
The main competitive action this weekend, though, is the first round of the EBL Shield, involving the Division 4 entrants and the lower-placed EBL3 teams.
This early taste of knock-out action is of particular interest as it could give some indication of whether any of the EBL4 teams are good enough to emulate their predecessors of the past two seasons by beating their (slightly) more illustrious opponents to go on to win the trophy!
While there is as yet no "form" to give us an indication of how the competition will pan out, there are still a number of fascinating match-ups to watch out for.
Only two games are guaranteed to produce a Third Division winner, with two newly promoted teams playing host to strugglers from last season. Of the newcomers, Wellingborough would seem to have the better chance of progressing, at home to Westside, as the Northamptonshire team's division 3 debut victory over Westminster, last week, showed their competitiveness. Guildford II have yet to play this season (their game against Westside being postponed last week), and they will find their visitors a tough proposition; having been reprieved from relegation, Brixton look a very strong outfit this time, with recruitment including the return of veteran Paul Mundy-Castle, and Andy Powlesland promoted to player/coach.
Among the division 3 teams facing EBL4 opposition, BCU Wolverhampton look to have one of the most difficult ties, when they visit Loughborough. The West Midlands team may have only just been relegated from division 2, while their East Midlands hosts were languishing in the lower half of Division 4 Midlands/South, but the Cardinals are buoyed by the return of Martin Ford as coach and of Rodney Bryn-Hussey to their squad; with several other players either joining the team, or returning from a year's placement, I expect Loughborough to be among the promotion front-runners this season, and they could lead the chase to make it a hat-trick of Division 4 successes in the Shield.
Elsewhere, it would be more of a surprise if Division 3 teams were to fall to lower-division opponents, with Bradford Maroons visiting Wirral, Huddersfield travelling to Bury, Sheffield Saints playing host to Carnegie II, Sefton at home to Stockport, Portsmouth welcoming Lambeth, and Westminster travelling to London Omega, now renamed London Greenhouse Giants (but wouldn't a better nickname would be Gasses?).
There are also ten games in which division 4 teams match up against each other, but with many being new (and unknown), and a large number of second-teams (or in the case of Plymouth, a third team!) involved, I'm not going to be foolish enough to make any comments - let alone predictions ... except to guess that there will be at least one default score among the nineteen Shield fixtures this weekend.
w/e 14th September 2008
EBL DIVISION 3
Division 3 South tips off a fortnight before the rest of the League for one simple reason - there are thirteen teams in the division, and the early start is needed to be able to fit in the extra games.
There's an equally simple reason why the division has more than the standard (12) number of teams. Brixton Topcats, who had finished 11th of 12 last season had been relegated to Division 4, but appealed against that decision. One of the key elements of that appeal was over "the lack of transparency and clarity on the promotion/relegation both at the start of the season and at the close", which I take to be a reference to the wording of the Regulations on promotion and relegation.
I can certainly see Brixton's point, as "Pawprint" has been pointing out the inadequacy of the Regulations for several years. In fact, as recently as mid-March this year, in our Promotion/relegation Preview, we wrote:
"Regulation 22.6 is equally ambiguous about relegation, as it states "... clubs that finish in the bottom two places in of EBL Division Three Men may be relegated to EBL Division Four Men" leaving the question of whether that's the bottom team team in each Region, or the two teams with the poorest record, or even the bottom two in each region."
It seems that Brixton successfully argued their case, including the fact that no less than four (not two) clubs had been promoted into Division 3 South, including three from one region of Division Four, and their appeal was upheld, resulting in their re-instatement in the division.
All four of the promoted teams are in action this weekend, with two of them meeting each other as Westminster Warriors visit Portsmouth City Smugglers on Saturday; Guildford Heat II play host to London Westside, while Wellingborough Phoenix have probably the most difficult task as they prepare for the visit of the team that has just missed out on promotion by one place for the last three seasons, London Towers.
"Wellingborough Phoenix begin their first season in Division 3 on Sunday at Weavers Leisure Centre, when they welcome one of the most famous names in British basketball, London Towers to Wellingborough. While they may not be the powerhouse of previous years when they won many national championships, it is still a name that evokes many memories for those in basketball.
"Phoenix completed a mixed preseason in their preparation for their promotion, but overall came away happy having won more games than they have lost, most impressively beating fellow Division 3 side Oxford Brookes 70-65 last weekend in Oxford, a side the Wellingborough squad have lost three times to over the last two years by an average of 25 points. The result shows the improvement in the team and has given them a confidence that they can compete at this level.
"Wellingborough Phoenix will again be hoping to fill out Weavers in support of the team and provide another intimidating atmosphere for the visitors."
Two teams who finished in mid-table last season meet, with the visit of Glamorgan Gladiators to Eastside Eagles on Saturday, while two of this season's likely promotion contenders, Hackney White Heat and Southampton Trailblazers meet at the SPACe Centre on Sunday.