Ducks ready for post-season tournament
Published on June 23, 2003 under United States Basketball League (USBL)
Brevard Blue Ducks News Release
Melbourne, FL â The Brevard Blue Ducks will have to do it the hard way.
Ending their 2003 regular season with a record 13 losses in a row, including an 0-7 mark under new coach, Ricky Benitez, the Blue Ducks will now have to learn how to win in the most difficult of circumstances â on the road â in the postseason â against the number one seed Dodge City Legend â on the Legend's home court.
Eighth seeded Brevard leaves for Dodge City on Thursday and takes on the top-seeded Legend Friday evening in the first round of the single elimination tournament that produces the USBL champion each year.
Dodge City earned the top seed by finishing with a league-best 25-5 record during the regular season, including a perfect 15-0 at home. Brevard entered the tournament as the top seed last year, thanks to their 21-9 regular season record. They were upset by the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led Oklahoma Storm in the semifinal round, 96-95. The Storm went on to win the USBL championship.
The Blue Ducks enter this year's tourney as the eighth and final seed thanks to their dismal 6-24 mark for the season. That includes a 1-14 record on the road.
To say they have their work cut out for them is an understatement.
"We're facing a team that has a record that is infinitely better than ours this year," said team owner and President, Mike Richman. "They finished the season with a 5-game winning streak and we finished the season with a 13-game losing streak. And we have to play them on their home court, where they're undefeated. This is not the situation we wanted to find ourselves in during the postseason."
"But," added Richman. "There's always hope."
"There's not much difference between teams this time of year. If you take a look at Dodge City's wins, with the exception of games against Texas, they were all pretty close. The same goes for our losses on our last road trip. We lost our last three games by a total of about 12 points."
Indeed, Brevard's last game â and loss â of the season, was a heartbreaking 109-105 loss to John Starks' 19-11 Westchester Wildfire. That was on the heels of a 99-96 defeat at the hands of Adirondack the night before.
"It would have been nice to turn things around at the end of the regular season and have won a few and maybe moved up a slot in the seedings, but that's not what happened," remarked Richman. "As far as we're concerned, we're competitive and Dodge City is ripe for a loss at home. We've just got to go in there believing in ourselves. If we beat Dodge City in the first game, everything gets easier for us. The monkey's off our backs and we've eliminated the top-seeded hometown team. Then we have as good a chance as anyone to take home the championship."
United States Basketball League Stories from June 23, 2003
- USBL Festival Seedings Announced - USBL
- Ducks ready for post-season tournament - Brevard Blue Ducks
- This Week in the USBL - USBL
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