New players, a new system and a new division

After a four year stint in the highest regional division, during which they got to within a game of reaching the lofty heights of the Premier South division, the Men’s first team now find themselves having to adjust to life in the Midlands 2A division in more ways than one.

Not only must the team attempt to meet expectations and achieve instant promotion back to the Midlands 1A division, but they must also deal with the inherently unstable nature of university basketball.

Unable to attract recruits through sport scholarships, like some of the more high-powered programmes, the team must instead rely on the new crop of undergraduates – whose experience can vary and whose style of play may not necessarily suit the team’s established system.

It is this latter issue which has forced the team to adjust their style of play completely. After pre-season trials in which the two most talented freshers happened to be back-court players, players and coaches admit to having been forced to mould their system around their rookies – rather than the other way around.

Coach Gerald Chifamba said: “Every year guys graduate and we have to start over. Now, the two best players on our team are guards (backcourt players) and we have had to adjust.”

This has led to what can only be described as a total refurbishment of the team’s style of play. Whereas in previous years the team relied on big lineups, who did the bulk of their scoring down low in the post, this year’s team has become far more speed-orientated with a greater emphasis on pushing the ball and scoring on the fastbreak.

Second year guard and team captain Phil Reeder, who played for the prestigious Gran Canaria academy and studies English Literature and Creative Writing at Warwick University, can see a clear distinction between this year’s style of play and that of the previous season.

He said: “We had more ‘bigs’ last year, but this year we have become a guard orientated offense – and a lot faster. We gamble on everything, and we look to push the ball and score on the fastbreak.”

When you look back even further, however, you begin to realise that this run-and-gun offense is not only a break from last year’s style, but also from that of many seasons before. Former captain Tom Care, who graduated from the university last year after four years with the Men’s basketball team, remembers how the team used size rather than speed to dominate in the Midlands 1A division back in the 2008/2009 season.

He said: “We were fairly big for the league – the team picked up players such as me (6ft) at 2 guard and Joe Francombe (6’1) at point guard. Tadas Jonusauskus (6’5) played forward and we had Harold Bjorn (6’9) at centre.”

This size dominance continued up until last season, when the team were relegated to the Midlands 2A division. According to coach Chifamba, their demise was largely down to the fact that they had become a smaller team, no longer available to overpower the opposition with their size.

He said: “Up until last season, we had two 6ft 7 Lithuanian guys – and we were a very big team. Last season, however, we only won one game all season and that was mainly because of the height.

“Our tallest guy now is 6ft 6, which is really small for basketball. Whenever we play big teams like Staffordshire, they have big players who post upon us, and there isn’t much we can do about it.”

For this season at least, promotion back to Midlands 1A division seems unlikely. In order for the men’s team to get promoted, they need to win all of their last four games and hope for losses from the teams above them.

Despite this, coach Chifamba remains optimistic that the team is just one good player away from getting promoted, and perhaps from being a real force in the region.

This final piece of the jigsaw may not have to come from outside of the team, however. With raw talent down low in the form of players like Ventislav Georgieve and Paulius Rimavicius, it may only be a matter of time before the men’s team find that crucial vein of form and fight their way to the top.