Raiders seven strong enough for season

With the news that Michael Ojo has re-signed with the UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders for the 2012/13 season, the number of players on Coach Gavin Love’s roster now stands at six.

Earlier on in the summer, Love said he would like to run with a shorter rotation, a move away from the 8-9 man team he played during last season. And with Ojo being the sixth signing, all indications are that there may only be one other addition.

Newcastle Eagles Head Coach, Fab Flournoy, previously told UKASF that in order for a small squad to be successful, an element of good fortune and an ability to avoid injuries was needed:

“That was one of the problems we had this season and last season. We paid the price for it last season (2010/11) when I went down with pneumonia, Joe Chapman tore his Achilles and Trey Moore broke his foot.”

If injuries are the biggest threat to Plymouth’s silverware challenge, then the Raiders can rest easy at night knowing Coach Gavin Love has signed well this off-season.

Between them, the Raiders roster played an average of 32.6 minutes per game last season while competing in 33.5 games a season.

Breaking down those averages per player:

Matt Schneck – 34.82 mpg/32 games
Colin O’Reilly – 39.66 mpg/32 games
Drew Lasker – 31.91mpg/21 games (signed in November)
Michael Ojo – 24.90mpg/37 games
Jeremy Bell – 36.18mpg/39 games
Anthony Rowe – 28.62mpg/40 games

So, not only can those guys play lots of games, they can play a lot of minutes in those ‘lots of’ games.

Good luck with that BBL.

(I accept any and all responsibility for potentially cursing the Plymouth Raiders following my comments that they seem invincible. Whoops, did I just call them invincible? Definitely cursed them now.)

All numbers used in this article were courtesy of the numerically-wonderful Brithoops.com