Ollie Stevenson
Twelve months ago, on Loughborough’s own court, Nottingham’s Wheelchair Basketball side beat the hosts 59-49 to claim the National Championship.
It was their second championship in five years, after they won the inaugural BUCs wheelchair basketball title back in 2021-22, and it came against the programme that considers itself the home of university sport in this country.
Now they’re back at Loughborough. Same venue, same opponent, same occasion. Only this time as defending champions.
The route both sides took to get here tell you something about the gap between them and the rest of the field. Notts beat East London 70-44 in the semi-final. Loughborough brushed aside Cardiff Met 75-26.
Two very different opponents, but two very similar messages – that these are two sides operating at a level that no one in the BUCS competition can currently match. Whatever happened throughout the year, it was always going to be these two.
What makes this final more than just a repeat of last year is the context wheelchair basketball sits in within BUCS. The sport is relatively new to the programme, and the rules reflect that.
Players can compete for universities other than their own, due to the limited number of squads nationally. Last year, Stirling sports scholar Shayne Humphries lined up for Nottingham, one of several players whose university affiliation didn’t match their BUCS team. That kind of arrangement is unique to this sport, and it means squad compositions can shift more significantly between seasons than in any other Big Wednesday final.
Whether Nottingham have retained the same core that ground out a 10-point win last year, or whether Loughborough have strengthened accordingly, matters more here than almost anywhere else on the card today.
What isn’t in doubt is how much last year’s result meant to the Nottingham programme. Captain James Hazell described it afterwards as an “amazing atmosphere around the whole team,” a side that had come into the final having previously lost a league match to Loughborough, finding a way to hold their nerve on hostile ground and come away with gold.
This season’s league is a complete mirror of last year, with Loughborough going undefeated and Notts only losing to the hosts. Defending a title is a different kind of pressure to winning one for the first time.
And Loughborough will know that. They host this event, they will have the crowd, and they’ve had a year to think about a 10-point defeat on their own court. The margin last year was enough; it was comfortable but not a blowout. A Loughborough side with a point to prove, at home, in front of their own supporters is a dangerous proposition.
Nottingham are defending champions, and they’ve beaten this exact opponent on this exact court. That’s the most relevant fact going into Wednesday.
But wheelchair basketball at the BUCS level changes quickly, with squads shifting between seasons, and Loughborough have every reason to come out faster and harder than they did twelve months ago.
Match Details
Where? Dan Maskell Tennis Centre, Loughborough University
When? Wednesday 25th March, 2:30pm
How to watch? Live on BUCS YouTube as part of Big Wednesday coverage
Ollie Stevenson
Featured image courtesy of UoN Sport. No changes were made to this image.
In article Image 1 courtesy of UoN Sport. No changes were made to this image.
In article Image 2 courtesy of UoN Sport. No changes were made to this image.
