The Worcester Wolves are a basketball club in Worcester, England. The team plays in the NBL Division 2, the third tier of British basketball. The club was formed in 2000, and from 2006 until 2021 competed in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British basketball. Since 2013, the Wolves have played their home games at the 2,000-capacity Worcester Arena.
St. John's Sports Centre at the University of Worcester, home of Worcester Wolves until 2013.
The historic city of Worcester has, until recent years, not had much of a basketball history. Worcester City Chiefs were an active lower league club during the mid-1990s before moving to Solihull in 1996, leaving the city without a major basketball club. This changed in May 2000 when Roger Clarke and Mick Donovan announced the formation of the Wolves franchise to play at the University of Worcester's new sports hall.
Starting low, aiming high
In their first season of action (2000–01) in National Basketball League Division 3 the Wolves finished second in the 12 team league with an 18–3 record. Local rivals Bristol Bombers pipped them to the title, however luck would soon swing their way the following season.
Initially placed in the regionalised NBL Division 2 in the "clean sheet reorganisation" of 2001, the Wolves played only the first game of the season in that division before being elevated (ahead of Bristol) into NBL Division 1 when Doncaster withdrew at the start of the season.
University College Worcester Basketball Scholarships became available in September 2002 for talented players to study and play at the same time, and the club attracted a wealth of new talent including Ty Shaw (Idaho), Keith Jarrett and Rikki Prince (Both from Birmingham Bullets) that became the foundations of a strong first team.[citation needed]
Rapid rise
The excellent facilities and organisation which earned them the promotion continued to stand them in good stead, and over the years they became firmly established in what has now been renamed EBL Division 2, and won promotion to EBL Division 1 following an excellent campaign in 2003–04. Despite finishing in second place, behind London Capital, they managed to straighten the record by beating them in the Playoff final at the National Indoor Arena, winning 95–87. The victory capped off an excellent season that saw the Wolves also lift the Patron's Cup, following a 111–100 win against Hackney White Heat in the final, which was played in front of a raucous and passionate home crowd at the University of Worcester.
Worcester had a reasonably successful debut season (2004–05) in EBL Division 1, finishing above fellow promotion winners London in 4th place with 13–9 record, which earned them a place in the post season playoffs. They built on their successes for the second season and finished 2005–06 in 4th place with a 17–9 record in the expanded Division 1. That season also saw the Wolves claim their biggest success to date, winning the National Trophy at the SkyDome Arena in Coventry, beating holders Sheffield Arrows 97–82 in the final.[citation needed]
Mixing with the elite
At the end of the 2005–06 season, the British Basketball League, the country's elite league was, not for the first time, suffering a membership crisis with three franchises, Birmingham Bullets, Brighton Bears and London Towers withdrawing from the league set-up. Although the Wolves management have claimed it was always their intention to move into the BBL, the possibility of it happening so quickly seemed near impossible. However, with the lack of a West Midlands-based franchise in the league, the BBL approached the Wolves and elected them into the league,[1] along with London United.
2006–07 season With an influx of new players, including former Plymouth Raider Solomon Sheard, Caja Rioja's Sergio Rodriguez and James Noel of the Masters College all signing up for the new-look team, expectations of upsetting the big boys was high, but the fairy tale beginning never materialized. The Wolves opened the season with a 77–82 loss at home to Plymouth on 30 September 2006, and followed that with 21-point loss away to Milton Keynes Lions (74–96). It was a case of third time lucky as, on 7 October, in front of a packed crowd at the "Wolves' Lair", Worcester edged past the Chester Jets with an 82–79 victory and Andy Harper posting 28 points for the home side.
However the Wolves struggled and soon fell behind the pack, spending most of the season at the foot of the table. The highlight of the season for the Midlands club came on 20 January 2007, when second-place Sheffield Sharks were the visitors to the Wolves' Lair. The home side caused, without doubt, the biggest shock of the season by defeating the title-challengers 70–65, a result that would ultimately hand the Championship to Guildford. Despite this moral boosting win, Worcester continued to flounder and ended the season in tenth and last place with just four league wins to their name, eventually forcing head coach Josh Cooprider to resign after a 4–36 Champaign (4–41 overall).[citation needed]
2007–08 season On 15 July, Wolves announced that former Birmingham Bullets head coach Skouson Harker would lead the team into the 2007–08 season. Worcester had a record of 14–19, and 20–20 overall qualifying for the playoffs. They lost to Newcastle Eagles in the first round. Players James Life and Anthony Paez were the BBL's two leading scorers, Paez leading the league with 24.5 points per game. Centre Shaun Durant led the league in rebounds with 11.2 per game. Wolves also reached the semi-finals of the BBL Trophy in Sheffield. Anthony Paez finished second in MVP voting in the BBL. Point Guard Chuck Evans recorded back to back triple doubles earlier in the season.
2008–09 season The 2008–09 season wouldn’t be quite as successful as the previous, and started off with a dismal run of defeats including a 135–103 blowout away to Cheshire Jets on the opening weekend of the campaign, as Wolves waited for their point guard, Will Funn and other import to be cleared to play. In fact, it wasn’t until Wolves’ fifth game of the season, at Everton Tigers, that the first victory came, the result was an impressive 101–106 win against a team who had previously gone undefeated. Anthony Paez posted an incredible 31 points for Wolves in that game.
The team saw first round exits in both the Trophy and the BBL Cup and also missed out on the post-season Play-offs, finishing in 10th place with a 14–24 overall record, (11–22 BBL Championship) down slightly from the previous season. At one point the club was 9–12 after a three-game winning streak only to lose starting import point guard for the season.[2] Following the end of the campaign the club announced on 19 May 2009, that player/coach Harker would be replaced by former Wolves star Chuck Evans as the team’s coach for the upcoming season, with Harker continuing as a player only.[3][4]
2009–10 season After failing to agree to his higher wage demands, franchise star Paez left the Wolves for pastures new during the close season.[5] Days later, Wolves announced their first signing of the season, with US guard Chey Christie joining the roster after a spell in Sweden.[6] He was later joined by British Virgin Islands international Randy George,[7] BBL veteran Anthony Martin,[8] and the return of Harry Disy, after his move to France broke down.[9]
Their season didn't start off well, with an opening-day 94–81 defeat away to Milton Keynes. Following a 96–83 loss at Cheshire Jets, the team’s third defeat in three games, changes were made including the departure of new recruit Anthony Martin.[10] Wolves’ first league win came two weeks later in a 98–80 demolition of London Capital at home, and with the signing of Martin’s replacement Nerijus Karlikanovas coming in,[11] things were starting to look up with wins over Leicester and Milton Keynes.
However, the franchise was thrown into turmoil when, on 27 November, it was announced that six players were having their contracts terminated by the club following an unauthorised strike over racially orientated comments made by Head Coach Chuck Evans during a video analysis session. This sent the basketball community of Worcester into an uproar; the story receiving more comments than any other Worcester News story in 2009.[12][13] Coach Evans ultimately handed in his resignation.[14] Although their names were first kept confidential, the players were later identified as Randy George, Chey Christie, and Lithuanians Evaldas Zabas, Vidmantas Uzkuraitis and Nerijus Karlikanovas, with former player/coach Skouson Harker facing disciplinary action that ultimately led to his departure from the club.[15] Harker's father wrote this letter of support for his son to the Worcester News.[16] Due to the depletion of the roster, a weakened team including several second-team promotees lost heavily 111–59 away to Glasgow Rocks two days later.[17] On 1 December, the BBL announced in a statement on its website that it had agreed to the postponement of Wolves’ next five games until later dates, plus in accordance with the league’s rules, the franchise had been fined an undisclosed amount.[18] The following week the club announced the appointment of former Guildford, Thames Valley Tigers and England national team coach Paul James as Chuck Evans' successor.[19]
Exiting the BBL
In June 2021, the owners withdrew the team from the BBL.[20] Since the 2021–22 season, the Wolves play in the NBL Division 3, the British fourth tier league.[21]
The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is presently contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs from Wales. The BBL runs two additional knockout competitions alongside the BBL Championship which are the BBL Trophy and the end-of-season BBL Playoffs. In March 2024, there will be a BBL All-Star game which will replace the BBL Cup knockout competition.
Plymouth Raiders are a basketball team based in Plymouth, England, currently competing in Division 3 of the National Basketball League.
London United is basketball team from London, England, currently competing in English Basketball League Division 2. In 2006 they were elected into the professional British Basketball League to replace the London Towers as the sole representatives for the capital city. However, after achieving a Play-off place in their first season, the franchise fell into a financial crisis and withdrew but continued to field a team in the lower leagues of the English Basketball League.
Worthing Thunder are a British professional basketball team based in Worthing, West Sussex, England, and compete in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team was originally founded in 1999 as the Worthing Rebels. They switched to their current name in 2000. The team has played their home games at the Worthing Leisure Center since their inaugural season.
The National Basketball League, or NBL for short, is a league competition representing semi-professional and amateur basketball clubs from England and Wales. It forms levels 2 to 4 on the British basketball pyramid, in line with the Scottish Basketball Championship, sitting directly below the top tier British Basketball League.
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Skouson Harker is a Canadian former professional basketball player of the FIBA European Leagues. Harker is from Raymond, Alberta, Canada. After five seasons as a Head Coach in the British Basketball League, Harker most recently coached the Edmonton Energy of the International Basketball League.
Anthony Paez is a professional basketball player, currently starring in Hungary for Dombóvár KC of the Hungarian Basketball League.
Charles Lee Evans is a retired American professional basketball player, and former coach of British team Worcester Wolves.
The 2009–10 BBL season of the British Basketball League (BBL) was the 23rd season since the league's establishment in 1987. The regular season commenced on 25 September 2009, when Milton Keynes Lions claimed the first win of the season with a 94–81 victory in the opening game against Worcester Wolves.
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The British Basketball League Championship, often shortened to the BBL Championship, is the top-level men's professional basketball league in the United Kingdom. Established in 1987, the competition is administered by the British Basketball League and comprises 10 teams from both England and Scotland. Each team plays a 36-game regular season, from September until April, with the team that finishes in first place being crowned as League champions.
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