NBL’s National Cup Draw for 2016-17 Revealed

Mansoor Ahmed/Ahmedphotos

The draw for the 2016-17 National Cup has been made with Hoopsfix able to reveal the full schedule for the NBL’s premier domestic cup competition.

Earlier this month, Basketball England revealed the new line-up for next season with all promotions, relegations and new teams confirmed here.

In a change from last season – which should avoid a number of one-sided results in the early rounds – Division 2 sides will enter at the Second Round of the National Cup, while the 14 sides from Division 1 start in the following round along with the 18 remaining teams at that stage of the competition.

Manchester Magic – winners of the quadruple last season – begin the defence of their title with a road trip to either University of Chester or Myerscough College Spinners in Round 3, while last year’s finalists, Worthing Thunder will host one of Southampton University, Folkestone Saints or Sussex Bears.

11 teams (Greenwich Titans, London United, Myerscough College Spinners, Newcastle-under-Lyme Knights, Northants Thunder, Sefton Stars, Sheffield Hallam Sharks, Southwark Pride, Sussex Bears, University of Chester and Worcester Wolves II) all receive first round byes.

The National Cup Final will take place on 22 January 2017 and will be the first piece of silverware up for grabs in the 2016-17 campaign.

Here is the National Cup draw in full:

First Round
1- Anglia Ruskin University v Cambridge Cats; 2- Barking Abbey v Oaklands Wolves;
3- Burnley College v Manchester Giants; 4- Bristol Academy Flyers II v Cardiff City;
5- Chelmsford Lions v Essex Blades; 6- City of Birmingham v Shropshire Warriors;
7- Leeds Force Academy v Calderdale Explorers; 8- Middlesex Saxons v London Thunder;
9- Northants Taurus v Oxford Stealers; 10- Southampton University v Folkestone Saints;
11- Team Birmingham Elite v Birmingham Mets; 12- Team Wolverhampton v Coventry Tornadoes;
13- Woking Blackhawk Flyers v Swindon Shock

(ties to be played 18 September)

Second Round
14- ARU/Cambridge v Northants Taurus/Oxford Stealers; 15- BA/Oaklands v Kent Crusaders;
16- Burnley/Manchester v Doncaster Danum Eagles; 17- Bristol/Cardiff v Woking/Swindon
18- Derbyshire Arrows v Newcastle-under-Lyme Knights; 19- Greenwich Titans v LG Pioneers;
20- Ipswich v Chelmsford/Essex; 21- Leeds/Calderdale v Team Newcastle University Knights;
22- Liverpool v Sefton Stars; 23- London United v Middlesex/London Thunder Lewisham;
24- London Westside v Southwark Pride; 25- Newham Neptunes v Thames Valley Cavaliers;
26- Nottingham Hoods v Northants Thunder; 27- Southampton/Folkestone v Sussex Bears;
28-T B Elite/Birmingham v Wolverhampton/Coventry; 29- TV Mohawks v Sheffield Hallam;
30- UoChester v Myerscough; 31- Worcester Wolves II v CoB/Shropshire

(ties to be played 02 October) (see First Round for full team names)

Third Round
32- Winner of G15 v London Lituanica; 33- Bradford Dragons v Winner of G21;
34- Winner of G18 v Derby Trailblazers; 35- Essex Leopards v Winner of G20;
36- Hemel Storm v Winner of G14; 37- Lancashire Spinners v Winner of G22;
38- Leicester Warriors v Winner of G16; 39- Winner of G23 v Westminster Warriors;
40- Winner of G24 v Winner of G25; 41- Loughborough Student Riders v Winner of G26;
42- Reading Rockets v Winner of G17; 43- Solent Kestrels v Winner of G19;
44- Winner of G29 v Team Northumbria; 45- Winner of G30 v Manchester Magic;
46- Winner of G31 v Winner of G28; 47- Worthing Thunder v Winner of G27

(ties to be played 16 October)

Fourth Round
48- Winner of G32 v Winner of G35; 49- Winner of G33 v Winner of G37;
50- Winner of G34 v Winner of G41; 51- Winner of G36 v Winner of G42;
52- Winner of G40 v Winner of G39; 53- Winner of G44 v Winner of G38;
54- Winner of G46 v Winner of G45; 55- Winner of G47 v Winner of G43

(ties to be played 30 October)

Quarter-Finals
56- Winner of G48 v Winner of G51; 57- Winner of G49 v Winner of G53;
58- Winner of G50 v Winner of G54; 59- Winner of G55 v Winner of G52

(ties to be played 20 November)

The draw for the Semi-Finals will be made following the quarter-finals and scheduled for mid-December with the final set for 22 January 2017 as previously mentioned.

Check out last year’s final between Manchester and Worthing below:

Meanwhile, the Patrons Cup is operating a reduced schedule this year with the 12 teams from Division 2 split into four groups of three with the pool stage taking place over a three-week period prior to the start of the regular season.

Pool 1: Liverpool, Tees Valley Mohawks, Team Newcastle University
Pool 2: Derbyshire Arrows, Doncaster Danum Eagles, Nottingham Hoods
Pool 3: Kent Crusaders, Ipswich, London Greenhouse Pioneers
Pool 4: London Westside, Newham Neptunes, Thames Valley Cavaliers

The NBL regular season fixtures have also been completed – keep an eye on BE’s NBL homepage for the full 2016-17 schedule.

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