PREVIEWS - MARCH 2008
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PREVIEWS - MARCH 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 30th March 2008
EBL DIVISION 1
Final Home League Action for Derby Trailblazers
Derby Trailblazers complete their first ever Division One league season with a home game against Taunton Tigers on Saturday. Taunton were one of three sides promoted with Derby from Division Two, the other being Bristol Academy Flyers.
Of the newly promoted sides, Bristol have had the most success in Division One, beating both Derby and Taunton twice. And whilst Derby sit one place higher than Taunton in the league table, the Tigers recorded a 90-73 home win over the Trailblazers back in January.
Both sides go into the final league match off the back of wins last weekend, but whilst Taunton cannot finish higher than eighth place, Derby could still secure a sixth spot, if they can beat the Tigers on Saturday.
However, beating Taunton is never an easy prospect, as assistant coach Charlie Wright understands only too well.
“The last two times we’ve played them, it’s been away from home and they’ve shot the ball exceptionally well,” he said. “Sometimes we’ve had hands up in their faces or had them double teamed and they’ve still managed to score more or less at will, so all credit to them for doing that.
“I don’t feel we managed to take any of their strengths away from them in either of those games and that’s what we must do if we’re to get a win,” he said. “That’s what we did against Manchester and Reading and again last weekend against Leopards, so we need to work on doing that against Taunton as well as making sure our own offence continues to produce points.”
Saturday’s victory over Leopards came despite Derby being forced to field what on paper was probably their weakest team of the season. But Wright believes the Blazers are now playing some of their best basketball of the season, despite the many problems they’ve faced in recent weeks.
“We feel we’ve moved on considerably as a team over the last month,” he said. “We know we can win games if we work out a game plan and then stick to it. So we’ll be looking to do that against Taunton and if we execute the plan well, it will hopefully produce a victory.
“If not, hopefully we’ll still be able to see that elements of the plan worked well and that’s good for next season, because we know a lot of the players we’ve got with us now will also be here next year.
“The most important thing is to find a way of taking the performance against Leopards into the next game against Taunton. It’s no good playing really well one week if you can’t develop ahead of the next match.
“That’s what happened a couple of weeks ago when we played really well against Manchester but then underachieved at Sheffield. We can’t afford to let that happen again,” he said.
Big challenge for Leopards
Jon Burnell admits that Leopards’ home encounter with Worthing Thunder on Saturday is his side’s biggest challenge of the season.
The Big Cats need to defeat the Thunder if they are to clinch fourth spot in the EBL Division One table, and a home play-off quarter-final against Bristol Academy Flyers.
Defeat against the south coast side would leave Burnell’s team needing to
travel to
“It’s
the biggest game of the season for us” said Burnell. “We simply have to
play better than we did against
“It would be a real disappointment if we don’t get home court advantage after everything we’ve done.
“I doubt anyone thought we were capable of finishing in the top four after we announced we were going without Americans and we weren’t paying players, but having been in the top four all season it would be a shame if we couldn’t finish the job.”
Thunder have won the last two Division One titles, but will have to settle for third place this season.
The sides have met three times this season, and although the south coast side have won all three games, the last two have gone down to the wire.
Leopards will welcome back Matt Eames after he missed the loss at Derby Trailblazers, but Leigh Greenan is unlikely to play due to an ankle injury.
Saturday’s game at
EBL DIVISION 2
Kent Crusaders v Black Country University of Wolverhampton; Saturday 29 March at 7.30 pm; Body & Mind Leisure Centre, Canterbury High School
The Kent Crusaders hope to end their season with a win, as already relegated Black Country University of Wolverhampton visit for the last game of the season.
“We haven’t really showed our home crowd what we can do, with four of our six wins coming on the road, so we’re hoping to be able to prove that we can play better than what we’ve shown”, says Crusaders head coach Mads Olesen of the game.
The two teams last met in January, as Crusaders ended the game with a 20-4 run to take a close fought 63-58 away win.
“I’m relieved that the game is not going to decide anything, as Black Country are a well run team that has been competitive all season, but have lost late in games. As late as last weekend they beat Plymouth Raiders, and there’s no doubt they’re looking to finish their season well”.