Sheffield captain Mike Tuck confident Sharks will survive shutdown

The British Basketball League was one of the last sports to postpone its season amid a flurry of major events being cancelled or shelved.

While football, rugby union, Formula 1 and ice hockey shut down two weekends ago, basketball continued last weekend with the BBL Trophy final taking place, before the inevitable postponement came last Tuesday.

Eleven-year Sharks veteran Tuck, who also works in the Sheffield club’s front office and is an NBA pundit for Sky Sports, believes player contracts, club futures and the make-up of the calendar will be up for debate.

This year, the BBL restructed its schedule, playing the group stages of the BBL Cup from September to November, and not starting the regular league season until December. Initially an advocate of the novel concept, having now gone through it, Tuck is unsure whether it is the right structure moving forward.

“I don’t know if I’m completely sold on it. The new format meant the BBL Cup felt more like a pre-season tournament,” said the Canadian forward. “You still get the same amount of games, but you’re not starting the league until early December when usually you’d have an idea of where you are going to be at as a team.

“Because the BBL Cup was split into two regional divisions, we’d only played teams in the northern group and no one from the south. Right now I cannot say whether I like it or I don’t like it.”

Sharks impressed in the group stage before exiting in the quarter-finals and they have been unable to replicate their early-season form in the Championship, winning only seven of 13 games to sit seventh in the standings.

Once the season was halted all of the Sharks’ North American imports flew home. Should the season resume, it may prove difficult getting them back. “A lot of them were unsure whether (President) Trump would close the borders,” said Tuck. “Other clubs are the same: if and when the league resumes they might not be able to fly their guys back across.”

But Tuck allayed any fears about the future of the Sharks beyond the shutdown. “Like a lot of sports clubs we value game-day income, but this club has got some excellent sponsors and we are confident they will help us through these difficult times.”