LEOPARDS have accepted an invitation to compete in the British Basketball League Trophy during the 2009/10 season.
The competition is the league cup of the BBL – the country’s full-time professional league – which the Big Cats are aiming to join in the future.
It will be the third time that Leopards have competed in the competition, but there is a change in format this year, with it changing from a mini-league basis to straight knockout basis.
The Big Cats have been drawn at home in the first round of the competition, and will face BiG Storage Cheshire Jets at the Brentwood Centre on Friday, 15 January – and will be the only home game not scheduled for a Sunday during the season.
“We’re looking forward to facing a BBL team again this season” said general manager Dave Ryan.
“We normally play one or two pre-season, but it will be good to face one in a competitive game.
“The new format suits us more as the group stages did lead to fixture congestion as we had to fit the games into a short space of time.
“The old Leopards had some really good battles with Jets, and it’s exciting that they’re coming down to Brentwood to play us again.”
Jon Burnell’s team are currently finalising their pre-season schedule, and they seem likely to play five or six games against teams of EBL Division One standard or higher.
The first chance fans will have to see them at Brentwood comes on Sunday, 20 September when they stage a three-team pre-season, while the following Sunday they make their debut at Barking Academy when Milton Keynes Lions are the visitors in the National Cup first round.