Friday 25 September 2009. This weekend, British Basketball fans will have their thirst for BBL action quenched as all bar two of the BBL's thirteen clubs take to the floor. It all begins Friday 25th September, as the Newcastle Eagles host Cheshire Jets, and the Milton Keynes Lions welcome Worcester Wolves to Bletchley Leisure Centre.
The Eagles and the Jets meet in a repeat of last season's playoff quarter final, with both sides having retained a core group of players, as well as having made some exciting additions for this campaign. Jets Head Coach Paul Smith is under no illusions that the tie is a challenging first outing for the Jets: 'It's a very tough start for us. They are the champions and they have kept the majority of the squad that won three trophies last season, but we have recruited well and the guys have gelled together well, so we are confident.'
Eagles' player coach Fabulous Flournoy is expecting Cheshire to create 'different' problems for his team this season. He commented: 'The Cheshire match up will be interesting as they have made changes during the summer but, like us, they still have the core of their team. It will be interesting to see what difference Chez (Marks) will bring to the team, but (Paul) Peterson and (Colin) O'Reilly give them something different. A 6'7'' three point shooter will give us different match us issues to last season.'
The last time the Wolves and the Lions faced each other back in March 2009, the Wolves ran out 90-83 winners. Although new Wolves head coach Chuck Evans has made some worthy additions to his roster, Lions Head Coach Vince Macaulay still sees some of Worcester's strengths as similar to previous years, and has identified key areas in which to exploit his opponents: 'I believe they will be athletic as they have always been, but what they are missing at the moment is a dominant inside player, which means Skouson (Harker) will have to work closer to the basket. This will hopefully be good for us as he likes to 'leak out'. However, like most teams in the first two weeks, surprise is key.'
In the Lions, Coach Evans sees a team that will push his players for the full forty minutes, and he has been impressed with Macaulay's recruitment choices this summer. He said: 'I think the match up against Milton Keynes will make the guys work hard for every point over forty minutes. The strength of the Lions this season will be their experience and their know-how, in terms of winning games in the BBL. With EJ (Harrison), Mike (New), Robert (Youngblood), Yorick (Williams) and Dru (Spinks), they have a wealth of experience, but to Vince's credit, he has added some athleticism to compliment the experienced players.'
Source: www.bbl.org.uk
