Winter club basketball preview by Bruce Martin

Photo courtesy Arjan van Hasselt

 

The Women’s Premier grade starts this Saturday and the Men’s Premier the following week. Women’s Prems is wide open again and has gained an additional team with Wolverines entering a side building for the future, making it eight teams in the competition.

 

Weeks and weeks of pre-season training for many basketball teams will be put to the test this Saturday when another season of club basketball gets underway in Cowles Stadium, Middleton Grange School, and Bishopdale YMCA, limiting the amount of travel some teams have done in the past.

Entries continue to rise post-quakes to record numbers with 137 teams entered in 2016, up 18 teams on 2015’s record numbers, a reflection on the popularity of the sport and a drive by the administrators to limit the numbers of high school dropouts and the boosting of female entries in the sport.

 

Last year’s new entrant in Women’s Premier North Canterbury has the majority of its team back determined to go one stage better after falling to the highly experience University in the Grand Final. Two players with Wildcat experience, Nikki Kettle and Terina Wanoa, a National Junior rep, are useful additions. Two Rangiora high students, Renee Tuhikarama  and Kate Collings are also new to the team while Hayley Gray, a Canterbury Wildcat, takes over a player/coach role as original coach Clinton Olson is heading two Germany for a couple of years.

 

Wolverines Coach Ray Hastie has put together a team of players he has been developing over the last couple of years. The team has a mix of experienced veterans and up and coming young talent and will be sure to create some upsets along the way. The original Wolverines team made four finals with one championship win and became the bases of the present Lincoln University side, Shea Crotty being one of the originals.

 

Other regular teams such as Halswell, Minties and Gators will have a mixture of new and old faces while the 2014 champion Lincoln University will be among the front runners again, looking to regain its title. University always fronts with a strong lineup and looking to increase its formidable record of winning eight championships in 10 successive finals.

 

All seven Men’s Premier teams from 2015 are fronting up with numerous new faces and a number of changes within teams. The Men’s Premier games will start on April 16^th.

Defending Men’s club champion Wolverines has several changes in its lineup, most notably being teenager Taylor Britt back after spending his first season at an American college and hungry for action.

2016 Season and Finals MVP Lionel Hopgood has stepped down leaving Mike Kinley, Britt, Dean Le Warne and Shou Nisbet (Rams) the main players while Jahnim Campbell (ex Pioneer) and Jeremy Hancock (ex University) are quality gains.

 

Atami, perennial champion over much of this century, has managed to make 14 appearances in 15 Grand Finals since 2001, winning six of them. Atami lost another intense Grand final to Wolverines in 2015. Under the leadership of the Howell brothers, Scott and Ritchie, the club has also been a formidable force in many grades. The Howell brothers both of whom have been in the Premier grade around two decades, were contemplating the step down to Division One but they have been coaxed back for yet another season in Prems. Two other retirees, Nathan Hyde and Ash Rees have also been seen at training while notable gains are Aled Jones (from LU) and Derek Albertsen who played for Taranaki NBL team the last two seasons. Josh Petermann (Ram) has changed clubs and Rusty Thomson is away to the UK on his big OE.

 

Checkers, champion in 2011, 2012 and 2014, have a full roster with Ram squad member Bede Marsters re-joining his brother Ethan Rusbatch, and the agile Nat Connell leading the team’s efforts. Conor McCrossin is a strong gain from North Canterbury.

 

2016 marks the retirement of Dave Langrell, so Pioneer have a new coach and new faces in the team. Key returns are former Ram Marty Davison, veteran Cameron Costley, and sharp shooter Harley Campbell. New to the club are former Philipino professional player Ariel Mepana, Canterbury NPC rugby player JJ Manning and former national U23 MVP Sam Evans. Pioneer have also secured the services of ex UC players Finbar Argus and Daniel Mulder. Key losses are Dave Langrell, John McDonald, and Hitesh Pratap.

Gators will look a little different this year, as big Timmins is studying at the University of Washington ahead of his Freshman season.  Marques Whippy will be back playing and there is speculation that Jeremy Kench may be coaxed out of retirement lining up with him to play.  Inga Solufuti (Ram) will be suiting up for the Gators. The other rumour that is not confirmed is that Marcel Jones (Rams) may play some games for the Gators when he is available. The main pickup is Stephen Nosworthy for them, a nice 6’7 American who has plied his trade professionally in the past.

 

Lincoln University will be one team to certainly watch. They were close to bottom in the Hoben trophy in 2015 but bounced back to make the Championship Quarters and were only put out in the semi’s losing to Atami in an overtime thriller. Four of the five core players from 2015 went to Argentina (Patagonia Cup Tour) and three, Nick Erwood, James Cawthorn and James Levings were a part of the national champion Under 23 squad. Xavier Shaw, outstanding in Argentina, is seeing some playing time at NBL level with the Rams. Sam Crozier is a major acquisition who also toured Argentina, and along with Hayden Murphy (ex Burnside HS) and Sam Riley (Canterbury U19 and Cashmere) should all make valuable impact to the team.