The Heat is on for Guildford
Julius Joseph is hoping Guildford Heat can end their worrying start to the season as they begin to ring the changes.
The veteran has been one of the few players to have performed during what has been a disastrous start to the new campaign with coach Creon Raftopoulos acting this week to address the slump.
With an 0-3 record in the BBL Championship, the play-caller has drafted in former Rocks forward Mike Copeland and heads into the weekend looking for that elusive first league success of the season.
Joseph has pinpointed a tough start to the season in terms of opponents and the fixture list as being one of the big factors in their failure to ignite so far,
“The schedule’s not been very kind to us,” explains Joseph.
“We’ve had possibly the worst start to the season with a lot of back-to-back games.
“We’ve definitely had a lot of travelling to do and consequently it’s been difficult to jump into it.”
Well, there won’t be too much distance for Heat to cover in the next couple of days. They’ll face Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders tomorrow night on their home court before making the relatively short journey to Prestige Homes MK Lions on Sunday.
Certainly the Lions are also struggling and Heat will fancy their chances against Mike New and his team who must firstly make the unenviable trip to Sport Central tonight to face BBL Championship leaders Newcastle Eagles. It’s a tough assignment for Lions who will have to tighten up their defence in a big way after recent heavy defeats on the road at Glasgow and Leicester.
Meanwhile there will be a touch of history in the BBL this weekend when Durham Wildcats play their first ever BBL Championship fixture. Cheshire Jets are the visitors to Newton Aycliffe and they won’t want to add to the history books by becoming the first top flight victims of the Wildcats who despite some encouraging performances in the BBL Trophy, are yet to finish with a win this season.
After their trip to the North-East, Jets will wrap up the league action this weekend with a tough match-up against an in-form Glasgow Rocks at Northgate Arena. The Scottish club won 6 of its 7 games during October and is on a real roll.
Finally, it isn’t only the BBL Championship which will see action. One Health Sharks Sheffield will start their defence of the BBL Cup this evening when they welcome UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders in the first quarter-final of the competition.
It looks like a mouth watering tie with Sharks looking to bounce back from the disappointment of back to back losses against Newcastle Eagles while Raiders are looking like genuine contenders for winning silverware this season and especially after their acquisition of last year’s BBL MVP Jeremy Bell.
