South Africa's basketball community

USSA 2009 day 1

By on April 7, 2009 in League

With the start of the 2009 USSA tournament marred by the news of a road accident suffered by the Rhodes Ladies team on their way to Pretoria, shock and disbelief was the order of the day amongst some of the participants. There were no fatalities to the players but some of them ended up in hospital with serious injuries and bruises. Their subsequent withdrawal from the event left the organisers with plenty of rescheduling to do.

The CUT ladies team also had some tragic news to deal with following the passing of one of their teammates last week but they managed to make the trip and honour her memory.

Despite all the sad news, the event was officially opened by the USSA executive with all the teams and officials gathered at the LC de Villiers indoor in the afternoon of the first day. There was an interesting twist to the days proceedings with the SABC Slam dunk and Supersport refused permission to film the USSA without proper accreditation and procedures followed…

As far as the games go, all the big guns came through the 1st day unscathed with the hosts University of Pretoria (UP) winning their games in the men and ladies section. The University of Johannesburg also had an easy time of it by blowing out their opponents by 60+ points and using their games to prepare for the tougher competition ahead. Vaal University of Technology (VUT) also made easy work of their opponents confirming them as favourites for the tournament in both divisions. University of Western Cape (UWC) men also had a great start to the tournament by winning their games and showing great maturity on the floor by executing superbly, they could be the surprise package of the tournament. Durban University of Technology (DUT) could also cause a few upsets during the tournament but their lack of height might hamper their progress. Teams like North West and Rhodes look a bit out of depth but maybe it’s the lack of proper basketball that is putting them at a disadvantage. University of Limpopo (UL) look like they have a ladies team that could compete with the big guns from Gauteng but their men’s team looks weak and they were easily beaten by UJ. University of Kwazulu Natal (UKZN) have great shooters and a good spirit but they are in a tough pool so they might not come out of there to make the semis. University of Cape Town (UCT) are in their rebuilding process and are not expected to go very far in this year’s event with this being their first experience. University of Witwatersrand (Wits) are a young team and some of their decision making is still raw but their ladies team will be the team to watch out for. Port Elizabeth College (PE college) came to the tournament with a limited number of players so they will struggle to compete with the other teams will deeper benches.

There were dunks galore and great on the court entertainment and the night was capped off with a TUKS player posterizing a UKZN player to bring the day’s proceedings to an end…

More to follow with results…

Article by Victor Shakineza

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There Are 3 Brilliant Comments

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  1. baller says:

    Slam Dunk and Supersport refused entry. wow. i commend USSA for that. issue will be, what kind of accreditation and if they have to pay that should be made public so we know the damage for accountability.

    on a more serious note, i hope that the organisers held a moment of silent.

    where are the pictures for the games, or was mybasketball also refused to take pictures cos of accreditation issues.

  2. Victor says:

    Hey Joe, Sorry for the late reply… I hope that you are ok. Mybasketball had no accreditation issues but the quality of the picture wasn’t up to standard so I didn’t put them up.

    ciao,V

  3. onkgopole says:

    Congradulations Snipers on your wins for the day. U got the energy, you won 2 of your first games. Good work Kenny.

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