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Newcastle Knights University 2011/2012 Mid-Season Review After the Knight's successful 2010/2011 campaign, winning BUCS Northern Division 1A, making it to the final 16 in the country and almost qualifying for the Northern Premiership Division, the 2011/2012 campaign was always going to struggle to reach the same heights. The team has been under going a big transition losing quality players such as Enric Cots, Diego Arias, Aaron McGowan, Charlie Hand, Tom Oxby, Paul Crawford, Liam Nelligan and Adam Wilson. Coach Hewitt had this to say on the Championship winning team, "Every team I have coached in the past 9 years has been different but this was a team I enjoyed coaching a great deal. There were numerous games, especially the games against Sheffield and Birmingham, that we produced some special moments bringing games back from 15 to 20 points down with 7 minutes left to play and winning them. We played consistent defence throughout the campaign and we had the best defensive record in the league which we were very proud of. I would like to thank the players who have left for their services to the club and bringing the league to Newcastle University". |
After Losing 8 players from the 1st team it was always going to be a difficult season however the Knights managed to retain the services of BBL player Notis Chalkidis, EBL Division 1 player Rafa Vilar Franca and mobile big man Mo Mustafa. Ben Kleim and Ben Peleg were promoted to the 1sts after impressing Coach Hewitt with solid performances for the 2nds team in 2010/11. The Knights then held open trials and recruited Ryan Ndungu, Nick Yii, Alistair Hogg, "John" Giokaris, Aris Kligkopolous, Soren Larsen and Andrew Ply. Coach Hewitt reflects on the future of the club, "I knew going into this season that we were losing at least 8 players with the possibility of losing 10 and it was going to be tough. However, when Notis Chalkidis and Rafa Franca found out they were eligible to play for the University and decided to commit for the year, despite having very busy schedules, I was delighted and it was a huge compliment to our programme and to me personally. The new recruits have also been great and have brought a hard working culture to the club". |
The Knights had a tough start to the season losing their first two games against Sheffield Hallam and University of Central Lancashire. This was expected from Coach Hewitt, "When you put together 12 guys who have never played together before it takes time to gel, also the addition of two strength and conditioning sessions per week, two training sessions per week and no pre-season meant that we were not in game shape for the first 3 weeks either. We also started against the favourite for the league (Sheffield Hallam) and a team that has played together for 2 years now (University of Central Lancashire)". |
Recruitment Scholarships at Newcastle University Newcastle University and Newcastle University Basketball Club have come together to be able to offer improved Scholarships for potential basketball recruits. The Scholarships consist of:
For more information, please contact: Ian Hewitt Director of Basketball, Men's Head Coach ian.hewitt@ncl.ac.uk or Matt Law President of the Basketball Club matthew.law@newcastle.ac.uk
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