In my last blog, which now seems ages ago, I suggested that a good performance by the Great Britain team in Poland, could start a very big ball rolling for British Basketball.
Well in my opinion we did get a fantastic performance from the team in Poland. One only has to look at the 4 teams who made it to the semi-finals and the team that won the whole thing.
Three of those teams came from Great Britain’s group and the eventual winner was Spain who Great Britain was leading with 4 minutes to go in their group game.
That’s how close we came.
So the summer is over, the clocks change again soon and the new BBL season is on the way. I will say this; it does look as if the recruitment has gone to another level this season. Only time will tell but the rumours are that some of the signings are very impressive indeed.
I won’t go through any names of people who I have not yet seen, but some of the guys have already started putting up impressive numbers.
So far I have only seen the Sharks and the Jets in pre season and Mike Cook certainly looks like the real deal. He is super smooth and able to accumulate points very quickly indeed. He will be one to watch this season.
We must welcome back all the returning Sharks players and also the new additions.
On mikeshaft.com, I have been wondering if the signing of Tafari ‘TAP’ Toney was the biggest of the close season.
Personally I believe it was. TAP is a guy who likes to play his ball above the rim and some of his dunks last season when he was playing for the Eagles were a joy to behold...but so were his block shots as well.
I was not able to get to the Leicester game but I was very surprised by the result. I know the Sharks had two players out with injury, but to go down by 20 was not what I had in mind as I looked at the fixtures.
I am really looking forward to tonight’s game against Worthing Thunder. Worthing as a town has a great basketball history and one can remember the days of Alan Cunningham, Colin Irish, Steve Nelson, Gary Smith and the rest.
The Bears as they were known then, won the Championship three years in a row in ’93, ’94 and ’95. Those were some great years for the town and I am delighted that the present owners were able to revive this fantastic franchise.
I also want to welcome the new Head Coach Dave Titmuss (Pictured above). Dave is one of the true legends of the British game at all levels and his success last season with the Reading Rockets is there for all to see. They went unbeaten in EBL Div 1 all last season.
As someone who sees a few games in the EBL, I have to tell you that, that was quite an achievement.
The Worthing Thunder started off this season with a fantastic victory over the Plymouth Raiders at home and it will be interesting to see how well the team does over the coming season.
So we are on the way with the 9/10 BBL season. I hope it is a successful one not only for the Sharks but for British Basketball as a whole.
Why?
Because I think the Fans, the Teams, the Owners, the Sponsors and the Sport deserve it.
Later
Mike S
SHARKS PROGRAMME BLOG 2
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