Stiff start in stepped-up division for Trailblazers
DERBY Trailblazers’ NBL Division One season starts tonight with a tricky-looking trip to play Thames Valley Cavaliers.
Cavaliers, two-time runners-up in the division, are among several sides who have strengthened and the division, on paper, looks stronger than for some years.
Reigning champions Team Solent Kestrels, Hemel Storm, Nottingham Hoods, Reading Rockets and Worthing Thunder are among the teams who appear stronger – but so do the Blazers themselves, who will follow up their opener with a home game against Team Solent next week.
Thames Valley made a mixed start in the L Lynch Trophy matches, beating Hemel and Oaklands Wolves before slipping to a 93-87 defeat against Reading last Sunday.
Derby recorded a pair of wins, over Bradford Dragons and Myerscough Academy, with their third game away to Team Newcastle University called off owing to Covid-19.
Long-standing forward Hakeem Sylla is back with the Cavaliers and led the scoring with 22 in the win against Hemel and 23 in the defeat against Reading, while new American import Jakobi Bonner impressed with 21 and 20 respectively.
Three-point specialist Blayne Freckleton is also back for a third season with the Cavaliers but backcourt partner Taylor Johnson has moved to join Hemel.
Four of the five previous league meetings between the two sides have been decided by 12 points or fewer, but Derby have only one victory to show after they used overtime to beat Thames Valley 133-122 in February 2020.
Small wonder, then, that Trailblazers head coach Matt Shaw says Uxbridge College is a difficult place to grind out a win.
“It’s always really tough against Thames Valley and we’ve had some great games against them in recent seasons,” he said.
“I’ve no reason to expect anything different this weekend.
“It’s very much a case of two new teams. They’ve got a few familiar faces, like we have, but both clubs have brought in some new faces too, so it will be good to see where we are.
“We’ve seen a little bit of their new guys and, to be honest, it looks like they’ve made some really good signings.
“We’ll do our best to limit the likes of Jakobi Bonner, who looks a good find. They’ve got Aiden Saunders back, who really impressed a couple of seasons ago, and they’ve signed AJ Roberts, who’s a proven player at this level over several seasons.
“It will definitely be a tough ask to stop some of the players they’ve got, but the great thing about this league is that each team provides different challenges, so whoever plays well on the day will have a good chance of getting the win.”
Derby hope to have Charlie Brown available, after a hamstring injury kept him out of last weekend’s Trophy match against Myerscough.
The game starts at 6.30 and while there will not be a webcast available for this one, it is hoped supporters will be able to follow the action via a LiveStats feed: https://bit.ly/3md QE3R.