Nick Westby looks ahead to Finals Day in the Super League basketball Cup as Sheffield Sharks and Sheffield Hatters attempt to lift silverware at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena
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00:00Sharks go in on a nine-game win streak, doing very well in the league. They're in a big
00:16old title fight with London Lions and Leicester Riders. They do go in as favourites. Form
00:22book out the window, as I'm told. The press day earlier this week, and as we know in a
00:28lot of sports, Form does go out of the window on a cup final. It's a one-off occasion. I
00:33do like the Sharks' chances, though, the way they're playing. Prentice Nixon is absolutely
00:38on fire at the minute. Ricky McGill's come in for Rodney Chapman, and has made a massive
00:45instant impact. They've got scoring all over the court, and they've also got two great
00:50players in Jordan Retina and Jamel Anderson behind them, who are very unselfish, very
00:56happy to share the defensive load and get the ball in the hands of the playmakers. McGill,
01:01Nixon and Donovan Clay, who's a big man, big power forward for them, who's really helped
01:09change the way they play in the absence of Bennett Cook. So, I do fancy the Sharks' chances.
01:16Some danger men on the Surrey side. Mervyn James, in particular, is very free-scoring,
01:24and anyone can get hot on any day in the sport of basketball. If you're knocking down
01:29the shots, you can cause a real problem for your opponents. So, they've got to be guarded
01:33against that, Sharks, but they are favourites, and if they were to not win this, they would
01:38be kicking themselves, I should imagine.
01:40Okay, and what can we expect from the Hatters in their game against the Wolves?
01:44Well, they're going as marginal underdogs in this one. I mean, historically, Hatters
01:49are the absolute powerhouse of British women's basketball. I've been since the 60s. They
01:54were the trailblazers. Oakland Wolves, probably a name new to a lot of people in women's basketball,
02:00really, or just coming into it, because they've taken a few players from the London Lions.
02:04London Lions won the Euro Cup last year, which was a historic achievement, but then they were
02:10the first casualty of the summer's financial meltdown at the league, and Oakland's have
02:17benefited from a couple of players from that. They've also recruited very well, and they've
02:21got, I think it's 11-1 record in the league, compared to Sheffield Hatters, who have an
02:2711-2 record. One of those defeats coming to the Oakland Wolves, they weren't very consistent,
02:34says Vanessa Ellis, in that performance that day. The Hatters have got a couple of injuries
02:42as well, concerns going in. So, I think they're going in with an underdog mentality, despite
02:48their history and their status in the game. But I think I will put it past them. I think they've
02:55got a strong five they can put out, and Vanessa Ellis may just put that strong five out and ride
03:00it as long as she can, just with a few changes, and see how that puts her, what kind of position
03:07that puts the Hatters in. But it'll be an interesting day, and hopefully we can get a
03:11Sheffield-Yorkshire trophy double. That would be very nice.