Tag: Jo Vourliotis

Manchester Magic and Mystics EABL and WEABL Awards 2023

EABL and WEABL Regular Season Award Winners Announced

The 2022/23 EABL regular season provided some stunning performances and campaigns worthy of recognition.

With MVP, All-Conference 1st and 2nd teams, Most Improved Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, U17 Player of the Year and Coach of the Year honours available across both the North and South Conferences, the end-of-season awards are a great chance to single out some of those great contributions to the 2022/23 season.

All Conference 1st Team

Manchester duo Joe Buchanan (19.9PPG) and Ben Brown (17.9PPG) both make the cut after helping Magic to a 9-5 season.

All Conference 2nd Team

Matt Goodwin (20.1PPG, 3.1SPG) finished fourth in the EABL scoring charts and second in the steals list, making him a logical choice.

U17 Player of the Year

Awarded to the best Year 12 players from across the league, Manchester’s Matt Goodwin has been recognised.

Sealing conference 2nd team honours, despite his young age, it’s no surprise to see Goodwin singled out here as one of the best U17s in the EABL this season.

Words and Image Credits: EABL

After a high-quality regular season, the WEABL awards have now been announced.

With MVP, All-Conference 1st and 2nd teams, Most Improved Player, Defensive POTY, U17 POTY and Coach of the Year awards up for grabs across both the North and South conferences, the honours represented an excellent opportunity to recognise some great performances from the 2022/23 campaign.

MVP

After helping Manchester to a 6-3 record and second spot in the North, Mystics’ standout Isobel Robinson has earned MVP honours.

Collecting the league’s second-highest efficiency at 23.6, plus a WEABL third-highest 25.2PPG to go with 8.3RPG, 2006-born Robinson was a constant highlight for the North West side.

The 5’11” wing picked up more than one Player of the Week nod throughout the campaign and was a strong choice by North conference coaches for this award as well.

Coach of the Year

Mystics’ play caller Rob Fairley joins Robinson in collecting honours for 2022/23 as he’s named North Conference Coach of the Year.

Fairley got the best out of a young squad in the North West, with contributors Robinson, Alejanda Escriva-Gay, Daisy Bryan and more all making strides in their development this year.

Second place in the North and a 6-3 record was also an improvement for a Mystics programme that haven’t made the playoffs since 2019/20.

All Conference 1st Team

MVP Robinson is joined by Manchester team-mate Alejandra Escriva-Gay, who averaged an impressive 4.4APG as part of the Mystics’ solid season.

All Conference 2nd Team

Mystics Jo Vourliotis (8.1PPG, 7.0RPG).

Defensive Player of the Year

So much defensive work goes unnoticed on the stat sheet but the output of these two players certainly didn’t escape the attention of coaches across the league.

Manchester’s Daisy Bryan was a pain for opponents across 2022/23, with a league-third best 7.9 defensive rebounds per game. Adding in 1.0SPG and 1.1BPG, it’s clear to see why the 5’10” guard was singled out.

U17 Player of the Year

Awarded to the best Year 12 players from across the league, Manchester’s Isobel Robinson. Robinson’s selection was no surprise given her MVP award.

Words and Image Credits: WEABL

Basketball England

Magic and Mystics U15s take centre stage

North West will feature a hefty number of Manchester Magic and Manchester Mystics players when the inaugural U15 Aspire Tournament takes place at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Belle Vue this weekend.

Toby Akinlade, Ben Brown, Thomas Kelly, Sam Lolenga, Bradley May, Thomas Mayor, Emanuel Oyebadejo and Lucas Ricketts are joined in the boys’ squad by recent Magic recruits Ben Prince, Joe Buchanan and Josh Kubacki.

The Mystics make up 10 of the 12 players on duty in the girls’ event. They are Daisy Bryan, Caitlin Doohan, Saffron Erving-Murphy, Olivia Forster, Esha Nayar, Kizzy Spence, Emily Taylor, Eleni Vourliotis, Jo Vourliotis and Charli Wroe.

The boys have been drawn in Pool A with London, East, Yorkshire and South West.

The girls are in Pool Y with East, South West, South East and West Midlands.

The pool games run on Saturday from 9am, with the classification games on Sunday.

The Aspire Tournaments will bring together 480 players, 120 coaches and 90 officials from across the country.

U15 Aspire Tournament Schedule/Results:

Saturday

9:00am North West Boys 46-38 Yorkshire

10:00am North West Girls 37-18 South West

1:00pm South West 27-35 North West Boys

2:00pm West Midlands 17-42 North West Girls

3:00pm London 34-46 North West Boys

4:00pm South East 25-23 North West Girls

5:00pm East 41-36 North West Boys

6:00pm East 20-33 North West Girls

Sunday

10:00am South 47-60 North West Boys

11:30am North West Girls 48-42 South

1:00-1:30pm Shooting Test Finals (Boys and Girls)

1:30pm Boys Final East 50-72 North West 

3:00pm Girls Final London 32-55 North West

North West Boys and Girls Crowned Aspire U15 Champions 2019

North West U15 2019