Disappointment For Midnight Madness After Loss at Quai 54 2010

Nhamo Shire tries to rally the troops at Quai 54 2010

John Harris, basketball coach, photographer and writer, had the privilege of attending Quai 54-Europe’s biggest streetball tournament, with an all access pass. He put together this awesome writeup covering how the UK Midnight Madness team got on for Hoopsfix.com. You can find more information about John at John Harris Basketball.

Last weekend saw 16 of the best streetball teams in the world descend on Palais de Tokyo in Paris for the Quai 54 International Streetball Tournament. The tournament was founded 8 years ago by Hammadoun Sidibe and is free to attend, providing you can survive the enormous queues and searing heat.

The UK have been represented for the last 4 years by a Midnight Madness team coached by Nhamo Shire and Junior Williams. Last year MM ran with a veteran team of Yorick Williams, Germayne Forbes et al however this year they decided to re-tool with rising stars Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Justin Robinson and Ogo Adegboye. Shire said afterwards, “I love coming out here, but we need to start thinking about the future … we need to start almost again, we got veterans in Marcus and Perry, but they’re passing over now…Ogo and Justin, those kids are the future.”

MM were drawn against tough French opponents Next Level, whose frontline was stacked against a relatively undersized MM team. Shire acknowledge MM’s lack of power in the front-court, saying that he was “concerned about how [MM’s] front-line would do” at the tournament and that the team are “probably one or two legitimate bigs from trying to contest for the finals here.” Shire’s team asserted themselves early, pushing the tempo with Adegboye and Robinson alternating at the point. Apart from an early breakaway dunk from Bryan-Amaning, their high-speed offense was often let down by poor finishing around thebasket. Defensively however, they could not be faulted. Adegboye was particularly aggressive with his rabid on-ball defense, pouncing on opposing guards as they crossed half-court and goading his opponent to attack the paint. Ali Fullah was ridiculously dominant on the glass, grabbing every board in sight before looking to ignite the MM fast break.

With Next Level looking to close the deficit just before the break, Fullah came up with a huge block as his the offensive player attempted to evade the defensive attention of Bryan-Amaning. MM’s lead was preserved going into halftime but after the break they let their French opponents back into the game by allowing two consecutive bomb from outside. This drew the score to 18-16 in favour of MM but Next Level’s full court press was putting pressure on the UK guards and it wasn’t long before they took the lead. Shire said afterwards that Next Level couldn’t match up skill to skill with Robinson and Ogo and had instead made an effort “to take our guards out of the game” by being physical with them, even causing a double technical call in the second half.



Having watched Spain robbed in the first game by some particularly questionable officiating, it came as no surprise when several calls went against Adegboye, causing him to head to the bench and killing MM’s offensive tempo and defensive confidence. Shire said afterwards that the lack of fresh legs “affected our defensive tenacity and changed the whole game.” The teams found themselves at a stalemate at the end of regulation and headed to overtime. Cue the trading of baskets until the teams forced double OT.



MM trailed by one with 30 seconds remaining but wasted a 20 second possession by missing three close shots around the basket. After Next Level hit a foul shot MM had one final chance for the game, but Robinson lost his footing on the slippery artificial surface and MM’s hopes of progressing went down with him.

Midnight Madness will be back next year

Shire said he was “absolutely disappointed” with the loss but when asked for his thoughts on next year’s team, with some other returning MM players, he said “If we bring them all back next year, I like our chances” and that the team “would be back next year, and better.” Last year’s Midnight Madness team featured a lot of ‘old school’ players, such as Yorick Williams and Germayne Forbes, but Shire was positive about the future of his younger stars, saying that he sees this as “a passing of the baton” to his developing players.

Shire also regretted that the GB u23 camp clashed with Quai 54 saying that “[Midnight Madness] have a good relationship with [Team GB], but it could be better”. He also spoke about the benefits of playing these kind of tournaments for the players who are also involved in the senior GB squad, saying “ultimately all these things are going to benefit the national program … I guess the establishment would say ‘well what’s the point in doing this kind of thing?’ but this is going to build and develop these players and make them better and tougher so that when they go into the big arenas in Europe, in the European Championships, it doesn’t matter, they’re not going to be fazed.” Shire added that he saw Midnight Madness as a “training and development tool” for the national players.

When asked about his thoughts on the national team’s chances this Summer, Shire said, “I’ve said from day one they need to be putting the ball in Justin’s hands, you know…Matthew’s hands, Ogo’s hand, because by having the veterans, the older guys, trying to take you to 2010, by the time you get to 2012, they’re not going to be fresh. If you go to other European countries they’re bleeding through their 17, 18, 19, 20 year olds now. So that when you get to 2012, 2016, these are the guys that are ready to deliver.”

And when quizzed if his younger charges could succeed in pushing GB to the Olympics he was optimistic but reserved in his judgement, saying “If they all come to play and are allowed to play, yeah I think they can win, I wouldn’t be surprised. But do I think they’re ready? Maybe a year or two away.”

Huge thanks to Nhamo and the rest of Midnight Madness for allowing us access to the team during the tournament.

The full Midnight Madness team was: Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Justin Robinson, Ogo Adegboye, Carl Josey, Perry Lawson, David Ajomobi, Ali Fullah, Michael Ocherobia, Marcus Knight and Orlan Jackman.