URN

Overview.

With the Women’s basketball team narrowly losing to Trent in the first of three Varsity games on Friday 11th March and Uni’s Netball team winning a thrilling game 41-40 in the dying seconds; the pressure was on the Men’s basketball team to make it a successful day for Uni. Having spoken to Gareth Lewis and Patrick Daley in the build up to this game Uni were very confident about getting a result and as I settled into my meal deal courtside I was rather excited about this game. I had the pleasure of being joined by Bruce Lauder from the Nottingham Hood’s to give some excellent in game analysis. Despite going behind early on Uni rallied to win by 10 points 73-63. That victory coupled with the win in Netball has brought Uni back into the Varsity series with the score now 4-3 Trent.

Overview.
Uni’s women’s basketball team narrowly lost out 49-54 to Trent in yesterday’s varsity game in front of a packed University Park Sport Centre. In truth the final score does not reflect the game as whole as Trent dominated for three of the four quarters. However a spirited come back from Uni in the final quarter brought a tense finish to a game that seemed destined at one stage to be a walkover for Trent. However despite Uni’s rally in the fourth Trent still held on to their advantage to win by six and make it 4-1 in the series before the Netball and Men’s basketball games.

With Men's Basketball coming after Women's Basketball and Netball in a Varsity triple header on Friday 11th March a big turnout is expected for what could potentially be a vital game in the 2011 Varsity series. I'm sure you'll all be heading down to University Park sports centre to cheer our teams on from 3:30. The Men's game tips off at 6:30 and in preparation for the match we've got our grubby little hands on some player profiles from Basketball President Gareth Lewis so you can get to know your University of Nottingham Basketball team a little bit better:

Martin Richardson – Head Coach
Coach Richardson is extremely determined to get the right result at Varsity, purely because if he doesn’t, his wife will find him unbearable and make him sleep on the sofa! Likely to be found chatting with the referees all game long and giving his players motivational speeches, Coach enjoys the big matches and is hoping to steer his team to that all important win. Owes the team a crate of beer.

Patrick Daley – Guard
Team Captain and rightly so, Pat offers high levels of intensity and leads from the front. Don’t let his boyish looks fool you though; Pat has a very sensible head on those shoulders. Should have been given the lead in “About a Boy” during his younger years.

Timo Mo – Point Guard

With Uni 3-1 down in the Varsity series, the Men’s Basketball game could not be more important. If Uni can avenge their 75-58 defeat from last year we could potentially go ahead in the series if the Uni’s Netball and Women’s basketball teams can gain much needed victories. Earlier in the week I spoke to Gareth and Patrick from the University first team to get their thoughts before the game:

Basketball is a growing sport in the U.K. However for many of you out there phrases like “nothing but net” or “making it rain” will mean nothing more than owning nothing but a net or trying to induce stormy weather. So we at URN hope that this brief overview of one of the world’s most exciting sports will whet your appetite and encourage you to come down to University Park sports centre and cheer on your University of Nottingham basketball men and women on Friday 11th March!