Plymouth Raiders

2012/13: 6th place

The Plymouth Raiders ( officially: UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders ) are a professional basketball team from Plymouth in England. Under the name of the Raiders team plays since 1983, having previously existed with Panasonic Plymouth and the Plymouth Kanaries teams in Plymouth. After the team's first in the " National Basketball League " ( NBL ) and its successor " English Basketball League " ( EBL) was playing, she joined in 2004 the closed professional league British Basketball League (BBL ) at. There, her biggest success in 2007 was winning the League Cup BBL Trophy. The official name of the Raiders is due to the support of the University College Plymouth St Mark & ​​St John, which is abbreviated as UCP Marjon.

History

Start at the Mayflower Centre ( 1983-1996 )

In the 1979/80 season, a team took under the name Plymouth Panasonic part in the operation of the League NBL. They reached in the second division of the NBL after only three wins this season, the seventh and penultimate place among eight teams. After lift- not enough funds for the further national leagues, then you stepped under the name Plymouth Kanaries again in regional competitions. Three years later, they found enough supporters to now as Plymouth Raiders return to the second division and wore its home games at the Mayflower Centre. There they placed in the following four seasons each in the lower third of the table.

For the season 1987/88 the closed professional league BBL was introduced and the second division of the NBL was promoted to the first division. According to a new sponsorship deal they had sufficient financial resources to put together a strong team, and won two-thirds of the season games so that you had on the fourth final place for the first time a positive record this season. This was enough to qualify for the play- offs of the " Division One ", in which you already retired in the quarterfinals. In the following season they reached sixth place and was eliminated again in the quarterfinals. In subsequent seasons we slipped back on completion placements in the lower third of the table up to the 1991/92 season, in which one in the regular season for the first time pushed forward after the sixth place to the semi-finals of the play-offs. In the season 1993/94 they reached the final of the National Trophy, which was lost with two points difference against the Sheffield Sharks.

NBL in the Pavilions Arena (1996 to 2004)

In 1996 the company moved the Raiders from the Mayflower Centre in the Pavilions arena and now also successes one, especially since you could enjoy a larger audience popularity, in the new home ground. In the championship of the NBL Division One man came second and the final in the National Trophy, which was achieved in the following two seasons. In the play-offs of the 1996/97 season they reached the final, which they won against goods Rebels and reached the first title for the club for the first time. In the following season they lost however as defending the final game against the main round First Richmond Jaguars, against the also the final of the National Trophy was lost. In 1999 they reached the third time in a row the final game and won it against the Teesside Mohawks from Middlesbrough, against which they had narrowly lost the final of the National Trophy with a point.

The following season, 1999/2000, the Raiders were unable to maintain the level and excreted as table fourth in the first round of the play - offs. Subsequently, the NBL was divided into Conferences and the Raiders reached the first place in the Conference South with only two defeats with the best record of all teams in the NBL Division One. In the final of the play-offs to 1997 as suggested in the first play-off final of the Raiders again the goods Rebels, now as Worthing Thunder played in West Sussex. In the following two seasons they had behind the Teesside Mohawks the second-best record this season all the teams in the Division One, but different from each before reaching the play-off final match. With the 2003/ 04 season, the English Basketball League was introduced, which replaced the NBL. The cup competition National Cup has now played out without the participation of BBL clubs and the Raiders won the final game against the Mohawks. Also in the league they finished after the regular season in first place, but in the play-offs, lost to the final against defending champion Mohawks, who won the title for the third time in a row.

Raiders in the BBL (since 2004)

2004 will put the Raiders to join the professional league BBL closed the first team after six years. In their first season they landed on the ninth and third bottom of the table and missed doing a play-off participation. In the following season, you missed the play-offs participation, this time it was just a win from eighth, tenth and last but one. The play-off final round was reached then fifth in the season 2006/07. Initially, it was, however, obtained in the original League Cup BBL Trophy which was pitted with participation of the best EBL teams since the introduction of EBL their first title since inclusion in the BBL than you in the finals of the champions Newcastle Eagles beat, the Trophy previously had won twice. In the play-offs of the BBL but they lost in the first round against the Scottish Rocks.

In the 2007 /08 BBL season was reached after the regular season in third place and was in the play- offs and the semi-finals, which was lost against the Guildford Heat, who also won the title later. In the small final for third place were abolished with a win against defending champions Newcastle Eagles in third place but still a successful season finale. In BBL Cup was achieved in 2008 in this competition for the first time the finals, in which one, however, was " removed " from the Everton Tigers with 49:103. It was fifth in the league, but they won in the first play-off round against defending champions Guildford Heat, but lost in the semifinals against the eventual champions Newcastle Eagles. In the following season 2009/10, however, one had by the failure of sponsors to reduce the budget and ended the season for the first time since 2005 with a negative record this season, which one also failed to qualify for the final round to tenth place in the final table.

In the season 2010/11 the former player Gavin Love took over as coach and was the German - Americans Cody Töpper commit, who had previously played in the German Basketball Bundesliga, but subsequently completed only ten games for the Raiders. We still managed to immediate " turnaround " and in fifth one was represented in the play- offs, but ended early with a first round defeat. In the following season 2011/12 they were in fourth place at the end of the season with nine defeats season only two defeats worse than the first table Newcastle Eagles. This could also decide in each case the final games in the BBL Cup and BBL Trophy in against the Raiders for themselves. The play-offs ended in the first round for the Raiders, however disappointing, as it was eliminated immediately in the return match against the Glasgow Rocks after a defeat with 20 points difference. As a sixth in the 2012/13 season you missed a good starting position for the play- offs, but in the first round could retaliate against the Glasgow Rocks for the bitter disappointment of the previous season and won return match. In the semifinals, but then they lost both games against the eventual winners Leicester Riders.

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