Colin O’Reilly – the Ironman
SKY Sports commentator Daniel Routledge revealed an extraordinary statistic in his blog last week – that Cheshire Jets’ Colin O’Reilly is currently averaging 40.3 minutes per game this season. It’s a statistic that makes you tired just reading it. With short benches effecting a few clubs this season, players like O’Reilly are becoming more and more vital in the modern day BBL. By the way, if you haven’t seen Dan’s blog, check it out over on the SKY Sports website.
Paternostro gets his kit on
BBL Shorts regulars will remember the stick afforded to Leicester coach Rob Paternostro for his dress sense by a Plymouth journalist, following the Riders loss at the Raiders. This week, Paternostro showed everyone who’s boss, by donning his playing kit to help get his side in the right frame of mind in their pre-match drills. It certainly worked. Leicester thumped Durham 97-64 to sign off for Christmas with a flourish.
Coaches stick together
There must be a coaches union forming in the BBL, if Tony Garbelotto’s comments about John Lavery are anything to go by, following the recent derby clash between Mersey and Cheshire. If you recall, the Tigers fought back from 18 points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime, before going on to win 102-97. Garbelotto said: “Everyone of their players was fantastic… The real star though was their coach – John Lavery. He coached an almost perfect game, with the right tactics and substitution patterns.” Not sure chucking away two championship points from an extremely winnable position warrants such praise, but a nice quote nonetheless.
Guildford are just like Glasgow
Maybe some of the BBL coaches got a bang on the head last weekend, because Guildford’s Creon Raftopoulos was at it as well in his preview of their game against Glasgow. The pick of his quotes was this one: “The little I have seen of them reminds me about our team: they’re fast, athletic and have good shooters in their line-up.” Slightly bizarre, when you consider that Guildford have played 11 lost 11 this term, while the Rocks are sitting relatively pretty in third in the table!
Killer winner gets a free meal
We’re always keen to hear about what clubs are doing to keep fans entertained during the half-time break, and MK Lions had a cracker at Friday’s game against Durham. Spectators were invited to take part in the club’s biggest ever game of “killer” – an elimination competition for the person to shoot the most hoops. And the prize? A Red Hot Christmas experience at the Red Hot World Buffet and Bar. MK director Vince Macaulay said before the event: “This is an amazing prize to win. Anyone can enter and have a go – what have you got to lose? Red Hot Buffet has food for every taste which makes this competition even more appealing; I’m even tempted to have a go myself.” Sounds good to me.
Worcester doing their bit
In all sports out of football, clubs must take responsibility for generating their own press and media coverage, and it seems that Worcester’s Colin Taylor is on a one-man mission to ensure that is the case for the Wolves. Generally, across the BBL, club output is disappointing, but not so at Worcester, who supplied all members of the press with daily content in the build-up to their BBL Cup semi-final against Plymouth at the weekend. It gets the Wolves out there and gets them coverage that they may not necessarily get. Keeping an up to date website, managing appropriate social media channels and distributing ready-to-use content to stretched media outlets are all key to a modern day club – and they all have a significant return of investment if done properly. What makes Worcester’s output all the more remarkable, is that Colin supplies it all alongside his regular day job. Keep up the good work.
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