Latest News
Hoop Factory enter JBS cautiously
July 20, 2023
Coach of Hoop Factory Blues Lennox Lindo expects academy teams Phase I Academy and Caribbean Basketball Academy (CB) to be the teams to beat in this year's Jamaica Basketball Showcase (JBS), which takes place from Monday-Thursday at the University of Technology.
The tournament was launched on Tuesday at Express Fitness, and Lindo believes defending champions Phase I Academy will boast both overseas and local talent. He expects last season's beaten finalist CBA to possess some of the top local high school talents. He thinks they will be the teams to beat in this year's competition.
"The academies, CBA and Phase 1, are the ones who have a mixture of schoolboys, so we really have to watch those teams, but I think we can compete with them," he said.
Lindo, who coaches St Catherine High, the All Island schoolboy basketball champions, said Hoop Factory Blues are a mixture of St Catherine High and Jamaica College players. He said they will first analyse the competition before assessing their chances of victory.
"We have tried to put together a good unit to be a force in the competition. We want to be a good representative. We want to see what the competition is like and adjust as we go along. We have a good unit, and we are good entering the tournament," he said.
"We have eight or nine players returning, and they should be a bit more mature. We (St Catherine High) lost the (urban area) conference final and won the All Island, so we are pretty confident, but we are still watchful even though we have gotten stronger and are more confident, so let's see," he said.
The participating teams are Phase 1 Academy, Purple Power, Camperdown Giants, CBA, Blue Mahoe and Hoop Factory Blues.
In the opening games, Phase 1 Academy play Purple Power, the Camperdown Giants take on CBA, and Blue Mahoe go up against Hoop Factory Blues.
