Will 2024 be Surrey's year? It should be
Christmas has been and gone which means everyone's attention turns to 2024 and for some, this includes New Year’s resolutions. For the Scorchers, their New Year’s resolution should firmly be finishing in a playoff spot, ending the drought since their last playoff appearance more than five years ago.
Impressive considering pre-season this Surrey team was tipped to be looking on from a far at the playoff picture. At the time of writing, they find themselves sitting in eighth and importantly that final playoff spot after defying those who wrote them off before a game had been played in anger this season.
Even at the half way point, this has statistically been the best season for the Scorchers since the 20/21 campaign, when they notched up 10 wins. So far this season, Surrey have more wins than the last 2 seasons combined.
The last playoff appearance came for the Guilford based club came in the 2018, finishing a respactable fifth in the table with a 20-13 record. To put into context how far the league has come since then, the BBL was a 12 team league, with Leeds Force finishing bottom, the Worcester Wolves finishing seventh and Plymouth still playing under the guise of the Raiders, ending the campaign in tenth place. That season, the Scorchers were knocked out at the first round stage by the then Glasgow Rocks by points scored over the two games, along with Tony Hixs being named back to back league player of the month for February and March. The American averaged just under 20 points per game that season and was one of the biggest reasons Surrey claimed that seventh spot in what was a hugly sucessful campgain for the club.
Lloyd Gardner has once again built a roster filled with experience complimented by a smattering of young talent. Unlike previous years, this roster has stayed largely injury free, which has been a major factor in the number of wins the team has amassed so far and why Surrey were looking up at the playoffs this time last season from the foot of the table.
The longest serving member of the roster is Tayo Ogedengbe, who joined the Scorchers back in 2015, the first season of the club’s rebrand from Surrey United to the current Scorchers nickname. The vet is currently averaging 4 poibts per game in 13 minutes of play; in fact Tayo is one of only two players who played for Surrey in their last playoff series, the other being Josh Steel, who is on his second stint at the club and has played an integeral role again averging just under 10 points per game while shouting 40% from 3 point range.
MVP that season was this summer signing Justin Robinson which at the time sent out a statment of intent from the Scorchers, of course back in 2018 Robinson was suiting up for Surrey's local rivals the Lions.
Surrey’s style of play has stayed pretty much the same from the last campaign, with a quick brand of offence catching teams off guard with lightening transition play. This time however, they have enough shooters on the team who can keep the scoreboard ticking over either chipping away at the oppositions lead or increasing their own.
Justin Robinson is currently shooting at just under 40% from 3 point range, unsurprisingly earning the vet an average of 12.9 points per game, admittedly this isnt the highest points per average in the League, nor does it crack the top in the league’s scorers, but this team created by Lloyd Gardner is greater than the sum of its parts.
Cam Gooden, Andrew Lawrence and Padiet Wang are all averaging double figures in points per game and there are a clutch of others who could easily join that list in the coming weeks during the trophy games.
Defensively Surrey have one of the biggest break out names in the league this season in Saiquan Jamison. Jamison was on this Surrey team last season but missed the season with injury, but he has put those demons to rest this season so far. The American is averaging 9.2 rebounds a game, second highest in the league behind the Patriots’ Spencer Levi, who is only bettering Jamison by 0.1%. 5.8 of those rebounds are on the defensive end of the floor for the Scorchers.
This mix of lightening offence, rebounding the ball on both ends of the floor and players who have the ability to snipe from all corners of the 3 point line will put even the best teams in the league under pressure, as was shown by the road wins over Newcastle and the Flyers this season.
Of course there is long way to go in the 2023/24 campaign, and at the time of writing Surrey still have a league game against Riders to come who they can go within two points of with a win, a home game against the Patriots, plus two games against the Giants later in the season, who will undoubtedly chase the Scorchers all the way for that prized last playoff spot.
This is the best chance that Surrey have had in years to claim a spot in the post season. Of course this could mean facing the Lions, or even the second placed finisher, and the odds are heavily stacked against them to progress past the first round stage in either of those play off series, but 12 months ago the Scorchers were sat bottom of the league and a foot note in most people’s thoughts on a game weekend.
Cheered on by their loyal fans at an often sold out Surrey Sports Park, this team can beat anyone on their day. Doubled up with a young crop of players coming through and gaining minutes in the League as well as part of the Surrey team playing in D3, the future looks brighter for a club that has often felt like making up the numbers in a league that has taken bigger and grander steps in the last few years.
Looking to the future, this is a club moving in the right direction on and off the court. Gone are the days when fans could look at the fixture list and pencil in four wins over Surrey. The Scorchers are back and ready to fight for every win, ball and second during a game: write them off at your peril.