It’s official, Westminster will play Cardiff Met in BUCS Premier South Playoff for a spot in the BUCS Premier Division for 2023-24!
Cardiff Metropolitan University finished 1st in the Western Division with a 7-3 record, beating title contenders Bath University to the championship. The BUCS Championship is the first Division 1 title for the Archers since 2009/10 and it will be their first-ever BUCS Premier Playoff debut. Cardiff Met have a history of sporting excellence, including a BUCS Super Rugby League team and a professional WBBL (Women’s British Basketball League) Franchise.
Key Players – The Archers have been led by big guard Daniel Flaherty, an American Masters student who has been making noise in BUCS and National League, including a 49-point performance against NBL D1 team Reading Rockets in the National Cup.
University of Westminster has had a different route to their first ever BUCS Premier Playoff in any sport over the years. Earlier in the month, after only two seasons in BUCS Division 1, won the league title with a 7-3 record. The Dragons narrowly lost out last season to an impressive Hertfordshire team who were fighting for promotion for several seasons.
Head Coach Clive Castillo continues to lead and deliver for the Dragons basketball programme, winning his fifth BUCS Championship since 2015 and will be aiming for his fourth BUCS promotion. This will be Westminster’s debut in the BUCS Premier playoff and a chance for the first-ever Dragons team to reach the premier land of BUCS sports.
Key Players – This season the Dragons had continuity with senior returners Michael Otoo, Lilian Nahum and Kamari Hunter. Sparkplug final year student-athlete Marka Sy was promoted from 2nd Team for a consistent role in the 1st Team. This year was boosted with an amazing rookie season from Rinor Dragusha who is versatile and can play in and out, a London United academy graduate – following on a similar path to previous Westminster Elite-Athlete student Afrasyab Khalil.
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British Universities Colleges & Sport (BUCS) changed the playoff format for this season, previously it would be a three-way playoff with the BUCS Premier (6th Place) , BUCS D1 Western & D1 South-Eastern winners. If certain teams were not applicable for playoffs, it would be a home and away game between two of the team eligible.
The final playoff game will be one game, which will take place at the Archers Arena for Wednesday the 5th April 2023. Tip off time TBC.
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