USBL kicks off 19th season this weekend
Published on April 16, 2004 under United States Basketball League (USBL) News Release
MILFORD, CT â The United States Basketball League, Inc. (USBL) opens it's 19th season of play with a full slate of games on this opening weekend. Teams will be looking to get off to a good start and move towards the ultimate goal, to capture the USBL Championship.
Friday night USBL action gets started first in Adirondack, as Ron Ekker returns to the sidelines for the Wildcats, as they face the Brevard Blue Ducks. The Blue Ducks are coached by former NBA veteran Robert Reid and have a large contingent of Florida players led by Brent Nelson. The Cagerz will be traveling to St. Louis to take on the Skyhawks. Johnny Jackson needs only 18 rebounds to move into 2nd place All-Time in Total Rebounds in the USBL and will be looking to make a major dent in that total. Missouri High School coaching legend Floyd Irons will be manning the sidelines again this season with the Skyhawks, as they return from a one-year hiatus. In the final opening night game, the Cedar Rapids River Raiders will be making their debut against the Oklahoma Storm. The Storm will be minus the services of Shawn Kemp, who is arriving in Enid today and will make his USBL debut on Monday, and Brent Price, who is nursing a hamstring injury. The River Raiders will have Dean Oliver, Courtney James, and Tim Kisner on the floor; all familiar faces to head coach Dave Joerger as he has coached all three in prior seasons.
Saturday's games get started again in Adirondack as the Blue Ducks take on the Wildcats for the second time in as many days. In the other game of the night, Darryl Dawkins will be leading his traveling road show, otherwise known as the Pennsylvania Valley Dawgs, into Florence, South Carolina to face the Florence Flyers coached by former Oklahoma Storm head coach Bryan Gates. The Flyers will be well prepared in their first game ever in the USBL with the talents of Carlos Strong, Louis Truscott, and George Reece. Quincy Wadley, and former Phoenix Suns sharpshooter Joe Crispin are the big guns for the ValleyDawgs, as they look to spoil the Flyers home opener.
Sundays tilts include the Kansas Cagerz continuing their weekend road trip with a visit to Cedar Rapids and the return of Tom Nelson to Dodge City. Nelson, the former general manager of the Legend and current general manager of the Oklahoma Storm, makes his return to the Dodge City Civic Center in a rival uniform looking to knock off his former team. The Legend will try to make Nelson's trip an unhappy one. Dale Osbourne has moved up the coaching bench, taking over for former head coach Cliff Levingston this season. Dodge City returns Rob Dye and Immanuel McElroy from last years Championship squad.
United States Basketball League Stories from April 16, 2004
- Blue Ducks pounded by Adirondack in opener - Brevard Blue Ducks
- USBL kicks off 19th season this weekend - USBL
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