It's D-Day for Barracudas

JUDGMENT Day is at hand for the Brunei Barracudas.

Facing the Asean Basketball League (ABL) leaders, the Philippine Patriots, at the Ynares Sports Arena in Manila at 4pm today, only a win will secure their berth in the play-offs.

A lot will lie on the shoulders of new Australian import Simon Conn, the 6-foot-9 Melbourne-native replacing centre Mike Pilgrim, who was sensationally released because of disciplinary issues earlier this week.

With the KL Dragons beating Satria Muda BritAma at the BritAma Arena in Jakarta yesterday, a loss for the Barracudas will spell the end of their campaign in the inaugural ABL season.

The KL Dragons beat Satria Muda 70-67, and had the Malaysians lost, the Barracudas would have automatically moved into the playoffs thanks to a better head-to-head record (2-1).

The Malaysians were previously tied at 20 points with the Barracudas, with identical 8-6 win-loss records.

The Patriots might be the table-toppers, but the Barracudas are not going to get any favours from the Filipinos who need the win to remain at the ABL summit.

If the Singapore Slingers beat bottom-of-the-table Thailand Tigers in Bangkok today and the Patriots lose, the Slingers will go on top.

The best team in the regular season will enjoy home-court advantage in the playoffs.

Though the odds might be stacked against them, the Barracudas can take some heart in the fact that they have already got one over the Patriots.

Brunei's first professional basketball side caused a huge upset when they beat the Patriots 95-70 at the Indoor Stadium of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas on Dec 13, and they must head into today's match with the belief that they can pull off another "mother of all victories".

However, they will be playing in Manila without Pilgrim, who scored a game-high 20 points in that match.

The first match between the two teams saw the Patriots beat the Barracudas 70-56 at the Fil Oil Flying V Arena in Manila.

Naturally, all eyes will be on Conn to deliver today but the Barracudas feel that he should not be seen as a replacement for Pilgrim.

"We do not expect Conn to be a superstar (on the court) We cannot compare him to Pilgrim," the Barracudas' manager Benny Ang told The Brunei Times on Friday.

He also explained to the Indonesian Press why Pilgrim had been axed.

"This was a decision taken with careful consideration. Mike had been given chance after chance to improve his attitude but has failed to heed all warnings fired in his direction," Ang was quoted as saying in the Jakarta Globe on Friday.

"Conn is not as explosive as Pilgrim, but we need him to shore up the interior with some tough defence. He is a workhorse and that is something we have been missing," he added.

Conn played for the Sandringham Sabres last year in the Australian Basketball Association (ABA) and the Hanzevast Capitals Groningen in the Netherlands in 2008.

His claim to fame includes capturing the Atlantic Sun (A-Sun) Conference regular season title in 2005 and making the All-A-Sun 1st Team in 2006.

However, Conn's new team must be hoping that they are not going from out of the frying pan and into the fire.

A report on FoxSports dated Nov 7, 2007, stated that Conn's old club, the South Dragons of Australian National Basketball League (NBL), cut Conn from their squad for "disciplinary reasons".

He played just one pre-season game with the NBL club, scoring two points in three minutes of game time against Gold Coast before being fired.

"Nothing that we want to go into," said player-coach Shane Heal when asked if there was a specific incident that led to Conn's sacking.

"We don't want to go into any specifics as to why the contract was terminated. He probably didn't fit into the culture we were trying to breed at the Dragons," he added.

If Conn performs today and the Barracudas win, the decision to release Pilgrim will be lauded and their fans can put "the Pilgrim issue" behind them and prepare for the play-offs.

But if he doesn't and they lose, many fans will look at it as a move which has come back to bite the Barracudas.

The Brunei Times