THE biggest weekend of the season, the Sprite Cup playoffs, promises again to be very hard to call and there are enough loose cannons in both the men's and women's events to suggest that there may well be some shocks over the next three days.
Some coaches will privately say that the league means more, but the tortuous five-month campaign, never quite produces the heights of excitement and the depths of despair that feature in virtually every cup weekend.
With comprehensive television coverage on all three nights, it is the showcase event of basketball in Ireland and, in spite of some grating concessions to commercialism over the years, it still thrives on all the hype.
Essential to all cup play-offs is the element of the underdog taking on one of the favourites and both games tonight offer such confrontations.
The weekend opens with a women's semi-final which features the holders Meteors and mid-table Tolka Rovers. Ordinarily, one would predict a comfortable passage for last year's impressive winners but only last Sunday Tolka beat Meteors 89-80 in the league and were well worth their victory.
Central to the success of the young Tolka team was the performance of Irish senior squad member Rachel Kelly who scored a stunning 34 points. If she can repeat that form and the remainder of her young colleagues cope with the occasion, then a close game is in prospect.
Following that contest will be the men's semi-final between St Vincent's and St Paul's, Killarney. The Glasnevin side have a tremendous cup record in the 90s but this season have a relatively young and inexperienced squad which has only begun to take a settled look since the arrival three weeks ago of veteran former NBA player Doug Arnold.
St Vincent's, although third in the table, would appear to be out of the running in the league campaign so the cup is their prime target. St Paul's though offer more than just worthy opposition judging by the scare they gave joint league leaders Star of the Sea in Belfast last Sunday.
While St Paul's have never experienced the unique and intense atmosphere of cup weekend they are fortunate that their coach Jim Nugent has been through it all in a winning capacity both as a player and coach with Neptune.
Both semi-finals tomorrow night are possibly even more intriguing with the Division Two superteam, Blarney, attempting to become only the second side from the lower division to win the women's trophy. With a win over Wildcats in the first round and the experience of former internationals Sandie Fitzgibbon, Rose Breen and Caroline Forde in their squad, it is hard to cast them as true underdogs against a Naomh Mhuire side that lost in the Dublin league to Meteors just three, days ago.
Following that, the second men's semi-final also features a Dublin-Cork confrontation as four-time winners Neptune, currently joint leaders of the league, face up to Delta Notre Dame. This game is too close to call with Neptune's brilliant record of 13 victories from 14 games this season countered by the fact that the tie is effectively a home draw for Delta, who used that advantage so well to win the Roy Curtis tournament last November.
Meanwhile, Neptune's loss of their three and a half month long unbeaten record a fortnight ago against Tralee has, if anything, relieved the burden of keeping the streak going and the Corkmen were right back at their competitive best in pulling off a victory in Killester last Saturday.
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