After a somewhat disappointing end to
Crusaders 2001/2002 season that had seen one of Crusader's strongest teams fail to
fulfil
their early season promise and potential, Coventry Crusaders found themselves homeless for
the start of the new season.
Crusader Boss, Dip Donaldson described
the club as being at the "Crossroads". Here they were, celebrating
their ten year association with the City of Coventry.
But looking long and hard at a
situation that could see them sever links with the city, with close-by Solihull and even
as far away locations as Cardiff offering to step in and give the team a home.
Despite paying a higher fee for
playing facilities than most clubs in the conference the standards at the Coventry Sports
Centre had continued to fall and the English Basketball Association (EBA) were now
stepping in.
Discussions with Coventry City Council
and Coventry Sports Trust failed to bring a satisfactory result in time for the opening of
the new season and the EBA removed Crusaders from the 2002 National Trophy Competition.
This produced a hefty fine for the
club and removed the chances of a long awaited season opening match up against First
Division Worcester Wolves, for which a number of former Crusaders play.
Speaking after hearing of the EBA
decision, Donaldson said that he was disappointed with the EBA ruling as it was not the
fault of the club that the standard of the Sports Centre had dropped, but he accepted that
these were the league rules.
With no news of when, where, or even
if, play would begin for Crusaders this
season, key team personnel started to look elsewhere to play basketball.
Mid September, saw Drew Barrett move
northwards to Mansfield Express.
Barrett had played just one season for
the Coventry Club after his move from Leicester Riders.
However, he rarely failed to impress,
averaging 14.32 points per game with a season's tally of 458 personal points.
Crusader Coach Donaldson said,
"I
understand a player like Drew who is very competitive wants to play. Because our playing
facilities are such a major issue for the club, he can’t wait around forever. I
understand his position."
Hot on his heals was friend and team
mate Matt Collins. Collins had been given the opportunity to fulfil his long-term
ambition and play in Europe.
The popular 26 year old point guard,
despite a couple of long spells out with injury had been one of the clubs leading scorers
during his two year stay in Coventry.
Also heading for Europe was 17year old
Adam Smith. Smith too had been with the club for just one season, but had also been part
of the most successful England Junior Squad and having picked up over a dozen Junior
international caps was no stranger to playing in foreign parts.
It was with regret that Donaldson had
to let these players go but he would not wish to stand in the way of their careers and
wished them all well in the future.
With other players having left the
club at the end of last season, Donaldson was left with just a hand full of names on the
team sheet, and other than himself and Team Captain Derrick Pope, not a great deal of
experience among them.
By mid-October, Coventry City Council
had made promising proposals of commitment to the club that saw Crusaders happy to commit
themselves to the City of Coventry and ensure that their faithful fans would be able to
continue to follow basketball here in Coventry.
A relieved Dip Donaldson began to
build his team for the start of the new league campaign, a team that would on more than
one occasion be referred to as "Donaldson's Dream Team".
The change in fortunes for Crusaders
had opened up opportunities for a bunch of young development players, who having started
their basketball careers with the Crusaders through the clubs highly successful schools
development programme were now having the chance to fulfil their own dreams and play top
flight basketball alongside their mentors.
The season eventually got under way
for Crusaders on 9th November, with a six point victory in the opening game at the
Coventry Sports Centre, as Crusaders entertained a touring American air base team
Spartans, in their final but limited pre-league season preparation.
There were just two new signings to
the squad in addition to the up and coming development players.
Coventry University student Gaetan
Renekouzou signed on his arrival from France and 24 year old Matt Fisher moved up to the
Conference from First Division outfit Mansfield Express.
Since his Crusader debut in September
1999, Nicholas Pope has studied the game hard and gained the experience that saw him take
up what was to be his regular spot in the starting five as the team's number one point
guard this season - and still at the age of 17.
With half the squad still at school or
college, this season was going to see new problems for the team as the players managed to
effectively juggle their training schedules and match nights around their home work and
studies.
However, their determination and
commitment to the team could never be questioned, as four games into the new league
season, Crusaders secured their first league victory over Conference new comers Ware
Rebels.
Victory was never the less
short-lived, and Crusaders would take to the court eleven times before they would see
their next win.
Regardless of the results, the
Crusader youngsters remained undeterred and gained much admiration among other team's
players and supporters for their "gutsy" performances and their willingness to
learn from every opportunity.
The Christmas holiday was tough for
Crusaders, as with the future of the team being so undetermined at the beginning of the
season, Coach Donaldson had consented for his Captain Derrick Pope to book flights to
spend Christmas with family in the USA.
This resulted in the absence of both
Derrick and Nick Pope for the long haul journeys down to Plymouth 21st December and up to
Teesside 5th January.
Crusader critics would fail to look
beyond the score line for these two games.
Both of which displayed heavy losses
for the Coventry side.
Meanwhile the club received emails of
encouragement, praising the youngsters for their refusal to quit, from Plymouth
supporters.
Donaldson could have taken the easy
option and forfeited both games which would have given the team a much healthier points
difference at the close of the season, but that is not the Crusader style.
A depleted seven man squad travelled
to Plymouth and an even more reduced side that saw two youngsters 15 year old Hardeep Khosla and 17 year old Lee Muir making the
trip up to Teesside to make their court debuts for Crusaders and to face almost inevitable
defeat at the hands of the current champions who towered by at least a foot over the young
Coventry debutantes, each out weighing them by between two and six stone.
After the Teesside game Dip Donaldson
said,
"The
score line doesn’t worry me because you get two points for a win and no points for a
loss, whether you lose by one point or 60 points; a loss is a loss.
With
our full team returning, we should pick up some points soon. We are moving in the right
direction."
The return of key players from
holiday, injury and illness, was in evidence the very next week as a stunning all-round
performance in a game that went all the way to the buzzer and saw the Crusaders very
unlucky to lose out in overtime to third placed Kingston Wildcats.
As the end of January approached and
with just one win in eleven games The Crusader management decided their youngsters needed
some support and a boost of experience to lift them off the foot of the table.
Just ahead of the 31st January EBA
deadline for registering new players, a young American player became available at Division
1 leader's Derbyshire Arrows.
Morris Young would inject some
experience into the squad and hopefully assist them to some much-needed victories.
His first challenge in a Crusader vest
would be against Plymouth Raiders 8th February.
However, last minute, bitter
disappointment saw Young without a license to play after some confusion with red
tape.
The existing Crusaders were therefore
left to face second placed Raiders without him and knowing that with the addition of Young
the result may well have been very different.
Crusaders matched the Raiders for much
of the game trailing by just 3 points at half time and just 7 points going into the
closing five minutes of the game.
The youth of Coventry demonstrated to
the West Country team how they had progressed since their last meeting.
Despite the results the crowds at the
Coventry Sports Centre had continued to grow throughout the season and in appreciation of
the team performances, the noise level from the supporters grew with it.
The efforts against Plymouth took
their toll the following day as a weary looking Crusaders travelled down to Reading to
take on the eventual playoff finalists for the first time this season.
Again Crusaders came off second best,
but change was just around the corner, as the following week they were back on the road,
this time travelling northwards to take on Manchester Magic.
This time "Mo" Young was
amongst their number, and those Crusader supporters that made the journey were treated to
the team’s second league win.
"After
such a drought it felt like winning the championship."
News of the win filtered back to
Coventry and for the next home game there was not a spare seat to be found at the Coventry
Sports Centre.
Crusaders looked to turn around their
37 point defeat from Reading two weeks before.
It was an excellent start and a
staggering finish for Crusaders, but alas it was a nightmare of a third quarter that cost
them dear and they lost out 79-89 to third placed Rockets.
However, Crusaders secret weapon was
revealed during the final stages of the third quarter as Dip Donaldson took to the court
for the first time in the game.
When asked later why he came in at
that point Donaldson admitted,
"Because my seven year old
son RJ came up to me and said, " Dad, Mum say's "Get in the game". My wife knows more about basketball than many
coaches have forgotten. Having been married for 20 years she has seen me play in hundreds
of games and she knows every situation. To be honest if she was not a full time mum I
would ask her to sit on the bench with Marcus and myself as a coach."
Down by 33 points as the final quarter
approached. Donaldson's instructions going into the final period were,
"We have just had the worst
third quarter of the season, so lets now let's have the best fourth quarter of the season
in the same game."
After the game Donaldson said,
"I hate the moral victory
but this season I have to look for them. To come back from a 101-64 loss at their place to
just loose by 10 here shows the improvement we have made in two weeks. Patience, hard work
and the inclusion of Morris have brought about the improvement of the last two
weeks."
And the improvement continued at
Hackney the following Saturday. Coach
Donaldson was not around to see it, however, although the 102-84 victory in London did
give him the perfect end to a perfect day as he and Beth celebrated the birth of their
first daughter Tirzah Marie early that afternoon.
A personal best performance from
Morris Young saw him produce 43 points as Crusaders took victory for the second time in
three weeks and top 100 points for the first time this season.
The impressive win lifted the Coventry
side off the bottom of the table for the first time since mid-January.
Nonetheless, a poor performance the
following week at Ware saw Crusaders sink back below their foot of the table rivals.
Despite knowing the playoffs were now
beyond reach for their side, it was again a sell-out crowd that turned up for the final
home game of the season.
It was a crowd that could not fail to
be pleased with the brave and solid performance from the local lads.
Crusaders produced an exciting finish
to their home season at the Coventry Sports Centre.
They had the very noisy crowd on their
feet and cheering despite the score line that was far from a reflection of the Crusader's
performance against Sutton Pumas.
The 2002/03 season closed on the road
for Crusaders firstly with a disappointing and tired performance down at Solent, showing
that Crusaders really do have to work on these double header weekends.
The final game of the 2002/03 season down at
Oxford a week later just about summed up their season.
A poor start with a blistering
finish coming a little too late to realise the team’s potential.
Crusader's now have the summer to work
towards next season and to build on what they have created this year.
However, with little improvement made
at the Coventry Sports Centre, it remains to be seen whether or not next season sees them
fulfil the criteria for a place in the National Conference.
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