By Jamie Thomas
It seemed impossible at the start of the season, with the star-studded roster that they had assembled, to consider the possibility that the London Lions could exceed the enormous expectations placed on them this year.
Whilst there is still plenty of basketball to be played in the WBBL, however, there is a seriously strong case to be made that the Lions probably have done even better than everybody expected them to do both domestically and abroad so far, and their star forward Stephanie Umeh agrees, as we caught up with her recently to discuss the team’s season so far.
“I do think we’ve exceeded expectations, to be honest, especially in Europe.” Umeh said.
“Our only goal initially was to do our best in the EuroCup qualifiers and see where it took us, and then we won those games. After that, it was the same focus – do your best in your pool – then we reached the Playoffs, where we just wanted to play hard and do our best, and we got a win against Tango Bourges, which is a huge achievement.
“We’ve exceeded every single one of our expectations set for this year so far. We’ve succeeded in putting together a really talented team that works so well together, and that’s why we’ve won. We’ve been able to do great in the WBBL as well, consistently putting good performances on the board every night.
“It really is a shared team effort, you can see it every night that there are always different players scoring the most points or having the most rebounds or things like that, and it has been incredible how well we’ve gelled together and performed so consistently well throughout the year.”
“We’ve come together beautifully because we’re all selfless.”
If there were any concerns regarding how well London could perform this year expressed by the media and fans alike, they were mainly focussed on chemistry – how could this group of very talented players come together and get the best out of everybody on any given night against some of the best teams in Britain, and indeed Europe?
For Umeh, that’s one of the things she confesses she’s enjoyed most this season, seeing that chemistry develop seamlessly between a group that was very successful last year in the WBBL and their newest acquisitions who have slotted in with ease to make Mark Clark’s side even better.
“Everybody knows their role and sticks to it. We all have things we do well and bring to the table, and our coaches really work to ensure we can all bring our best attributes to every practice or game, so we’re all really comfortable with that responsibility, which has made us so united, because we all know individually when we show up what is being asked of us.
“What I’ve enjoyed the most this season is watching us all come together. We didn’t really have a pre-season to get to know each other well – Cassie (Breen) and I literally arrived a day before our first EuroCup Qualifier – but I’ve loved seeing how well we’ve recouped that time to bond and grow together throughout the year.
“We all have different personalities, but we’ve come together beautifully because we’re all selfless – we just want to win as a group, and we’re playing for each other every day. I feel like we’re playing at our best level now and I hope we can keep this going for the rest of the season.”
“The goal is to win everything.”
They’re still yet to taste defeat domestically this season, but there is a lot of basketball left to be played for London and stern challenges in their near future with fixtures against the Sevenoaks Suns laying ahead – who are also undefeated in WBBL Championship action so far this term.
Going undefeated until the end of the year is the goal – and quite an ambitious one – for the Lions, but Umeh details how the experience the team had against Tango Bourges in the EuroCup Playoffs is influencing the side’s push for glory for the rest of the season.
“Our biggest room for improvement, and what we’re focussing on right now, is treating every game like we’re playing a side the quality of Tango Bourges – whether they’re at that level or not – and staying at that level of performance in every game.
“Whether we can attain that level every game on both ends of the floor, or exceed it, having that aim is only going to help us because when we play in Europe again or play the top teams in the WBBL, we’ll be ready mentally to perform at a level that is going to be challenging for any other teams to match, and do it consistently without having any drop-offs in a game.
“The goal is to win everything. After we lost to Tango Bourges, our goal was to go undefeated from there. We’ve done that so far, but there is a long way to go, so we’re working hard every day and looking to achieve that aim.”