PREVIEW: New Season Begins On Friday

BBL Championship

The B. Braun Sheffield Sharks are back! The 2022-23 BBL Championship season gets underway with a massive double-header weekend. First up, the London Lions are the visitors to Ponds Forge for a sell-out clash in front of the Sky Sports cameras at Ponds Forge. And on Sunday, we travel to old rivals the Manchester Giants, now marshalled by the larger-than-life Vince Macaulay.

Friday – Sharks v Lions – Ponds Forge – 7.30pm

Tickets – SOLD OUT!

Watch – Sky Sports

Ones To Watch

Kosta Koufos – 7’ 0” American / Greek dual national who had an 11 year NBA career with 5 different franchises and achieved a Eurobasket bronze medal with Greece in 2009. Also played in Euroleague with CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos as well as in the NBA G League.

Sam Dekker – Drafted by the Houston Rockets before moving on to the LA Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards. As well as his considerable NBA experience, Dekker is also able to boast considerable top-flight European experience.

Ovie Soko – 6’ 8” Power Forward who is returning for a second spell in London after a couple of years in Japan. Great Britain international, who has also played at Le Mans in France and Murcia in Spain and is widely known for his appearance in reality TV show ‘Love Island.’

Devon Van Oostrum – Dutch born but raised in Sheffield, the 6’ 3” point guard returns to the UK after spells at fourteen different clubs on the continent. A former Junior Shark and now very much considered to be part of the Great Britain set-up.

Last Meeting

April 15^th 2022 – B. Braun Sheffield Sharks (Ratinho 15 Delpeche 13 Glasgow Jr / Mvuezolo 12) 78 London Lions (Reese 22 Kaboza 12 Williams 11) 71

Sunday – Giants v Sharks – National Basketball Performance Centre – 5.00pm

Watch – www.bblplayer.co.uk

Ones To Watch

Nicholas Lewis – Needs no introduction to Sharks fans after spending the best part of five seasons with the club. Was part of the BBL Trophy winning team in 2013 and is an intelligent guard with an electric three point shot.

William Lee – Former title winner with Leicester Riders, who made Defensive Team of the Year in 2020-21. Very comfortable playing above the rim having averaged 1.3 blocks per game and 6.4 defensive rebounds during his last spell in the BBL.

Corey Johnson – Another former Leicester Rider who more recently starred for Newcastle Eagles. Schooled at Harvard and comes with a reputation of being a deadly shooter, particularly from beyond the arc.

Dirk Williams – Another former Shark who is still fondly remembered for his two year spell in South Yorkshire (and that viral dunk against Surrey!). Averaged 16.5 points per game last season in the colours of London Lions.

Last Meeting

April 22nd 2022 – B. Braun Sheffield Sharks (Ratinho 25 Glasgow Jr 16 Koch 15) 91 Manchester Giants (Armstrong 21 Clark 17 Anderson 11) 86

Shark Bites

Rodney Glasgow becomes the Sharks 13^th regular captain, taking over from Mike Tuck, who held the position for 10 years.

Atiba Lyons has 5 wins and 9 losses as Coach on opening day. The Sharks are 10-7 at home and 7-4 away in the first game of the season.

Friday is the 15^th time in the last 17 seasons that the Sharks first official game of the season has been at home.

Bennett Koch returns for a 4^th campaign with the Sharks and is due to make his 100^th Sharks career appearance at Manchester on Sunday.

SharkNation

Know Our Name! The BBL is back this Friday night when a sell-out Ponds Forge will see the Sharks take on the Lions in front of the Sky Sports cameras. Your Sharks welcome back Kipper Nichols, Nate Montgomery, Bennett Koch, Jordan Ratinho, Marcus Delpeche and of course, our new skipper Rodney Glasgow Jr from the terrific side that finished runners-up last season. Joining that solid core will be Sa’eed Nelson, Channel Banks, Javion Ogunyemi and Hensy Sako to form a team that we are very excited about! If you haven’t got a ticket for Friday, catch the game on Sky Sports and don’t forget you can follow every game on the BBL Player and the BBL YouTube site as well. September to May will be filled with thrills and spills and plenty of excitement along the way. We are the B. Braun Sheffield Sharks – know our name! #FearTheFin

Image

Adam Bates