UWI Runnin’ Rebels in rebuilding mode
Published:Thursday | May 11, 2023 | 1:10 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
AS THE 2023 National Basketball League (NBL) draws closer to its restart in the final week of May, the tournament’s first staging since the COVID-19 pandemic, the UWI Runnin’ Rebels have been forced to bank on youth.
According to Pete Matthews, head coach of the team, an experienced crop of players that would have participated in the last edition of the NBL has been depleted drastically, leaving him to search for younger players.
“Preparation has been a bit slow, as one of the things that we have to recognise is that, because of COVID, basketball has been slow in coming back over the past four years and the crop of players that we had for the last NBL has depleted drastically. So, we’re entering the NBL with young players, and finding young players is proving to be a challenge right now,” said Matthews.
Matthews added that leading up to the tournament’s restart, the coaching staff has been tasked with the challenge of grooming players who would have participated in the recently concluded school’s league.
The youth of Matthews line-up makes it hard to grade his chances but that the recruitment process is still in progress with the ongoing Division One League.
“What we have to be doing is grooming the young ones, who would have had the chance of coming through the school’s league, it’s a bit difficult and slow just because we had to change out so many players. It’s extremely hard to even rate it right now, because we have to be looking at what’s in the Division One League that is currently being played and see if we can recruit players from that,” said Matthews.
Powell said that his mindset entering the 2023 league isn’t entirely about winning but rather to rebuild the Runnin’ Rebels’ basketball programme.
“I’m not even looking in win direction but looking in the direction of revitalising the team. I’m trying to look at bringing back basketball overall in Jamaica. It has been slow, so we have to get to the league and see what we have before we consider or even start talk about winning,” said Matthews.