WELL another season concluded at the National Basketball Arena as Ballincollig, under the Emporium Cork Basketball banner, won their first-ever Men’s Super League.

Ballincollig are only competing at this level for the second season and they showed incredible intensity and passion from the quarters to the final in Tallaght.

Turn back 12 months Ballincollig in their first season only lost only one game for the entire season up to the playoffs and then duly lost a home semi-final to Neptune. This scribe believes the play-offs are wrong because champions should be judged over the regular season and if that was the case Ballincollig would have won it last season in their first year in the top tier.

Surprisingly Ballincollig only finished fourth in the Southern Conference and were faced with a tricky trip to face Eanna that they edged after a double period of overtime. It was then on to a Cork derby against UCC Demons and again after a sluggish first half saw off their Cork rivals in style.

Credit to player-coach Ciaran O’Sullivan who replaced his uncle Kieran he showed his ability to confuse teams in all three of the playoff wins. 

Mixing and matching zone defence to man to man with a little bit of pressing thrown in O’Sullivan found the key to Ballincollig’s defence.

American John Dawson who had an inconsistent season on the scoring front showed his true mettle in the final with an MVP display that saw him finish the campaign in style with a 31-point tally.

The mood down in Blackpool with their Cork rivals Neptune will be a little different as they failed to win any silverware despite having a core of professionals and a semi-professional coach. To be fair the Neptune chairman Tom O’Sullivan is a lovely guy and all their games offered an entertainment show for families.

As a chairman all you can do for the top team in any club is provide them with ammunition and if your players then choose to misfire there is little you can do about it. No doubt the incoming Neptune committee will sit down and have a serious think about who is the man to replace Colin O’Reilly who duly resigned after their play-off defeat in Belfast.

UCC Demons went into the league after getting promoted from Division 1 and probably overachieved by finishing second in the Southern Conference that included a 10-game winning streak.

The arrival of American MJ Randolph certainly helped their cause but English-born Bosman Kingsley Nwagboso simply wasn’t up to it despite improving a little as the season matured.

THROWBACK

Next season word is rife we are going back to the 1980s with every team allowed to play two Americans with a stipulation there are two Irish players on the court at all times. It goes without saying recruiting will be crucial to teams competing with the elite as getting quality Americans is not an easy task.

On a final note, let's salute Emporium Cork Basketball (Ballincollig) and The Address UCC Glanmire on ensuring that Cork basketball is alive and well with their Super League double.

Roll on October!