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Oaklands Wolves will be looking for home comforts as both their senior teams host high-flying opposition this weekend.
After a week off, the Women's British Basketball League team face big spending Caledonia Gladiators on Saturday evening, 6pm, while the following afternoon at 3pm the men host Division Two South leaders Solent Kestrels.
Gladiators sit second in the WBBL table with their only loss in ten games coming against a London Lions team who have won the last ten pieces of domestic silverware. They also saw their WBBL Trophy hopes ended by the Lions, and with all bar one of their victories coming with double-digit margins, they look a good bet to face Lions in the play-off final.
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Wolves were unable to build on a good start when they travelled to Scotland in early February as they went down.86-62.
The men face an even more daunting task the following afternoon as a Solent side who are top of the table with a perfect 17-0 record having won their games by an average of 29 points. Having controversially dropped out of Division One last season, just a year after winning four straight top flight titles, they are in a two-way fight for the single promotion place with National Cup winners Milton Keynes Breakers.
Wolves lost 112-49 when the teams met on the south coast in November.
Both senior second teams are on the road with the Division Two women looking to get their play-off bid back on track with a trip to UEL to face East London Phoenix while the men face an early start in Colchester against Chelmsford Charge.
After being scheduled with home games for all EIGHT junior teams last weekend (sadly only seven got played, there are only so many refs in the world) there are just two games at Oaklands for the young Wolves this weekend.
The U-16 boys will be hoping that London Thunder remember to show up for the correct tip-off time at midday on Sunday. It will be a tough game for George Walker's team as they face a Thunder team who are fighting for the league title with Baltic Stars and Newham Youngbloods with the trio having lost only four games between them.
It's part of a double header for the Walker's team as they travel to Greenhouse Sports on Saturday looking for a win would virtually guarantee them Premier Division basketball next season.
Wolves are ninth in the table with a 3-11 record, with the three sides below them having one win apiece. Victory against a Greenhouse side who lost 63-52 at Oaklands would move them within touching distance of safety. After giving four U-14 players their debut in last week's thrilling win against Barking RDF, Walker is expected to field a similar team this week against another side from the capital.
Sunday's other action at Oaklands sees Wolves U-15s host MK Breakers at 5pm - straight after the men's game with La'Quarne Sayles instantly transforming from player to coach. It's been a tough season for Sayles' team as they've lost several players to the U-16s' bid to stay up and they'll face another difficult task against a Breakers side who are second in the South East Conference with a 9-4 record. Meanwhile Wolves go in search of their fourth win of the season after 13 games.
With so little home action, it's no surprise that several Wolves' teams are on the road over the weekend, although the U-14s can put their feet up as Barking RDF have again conceded a 20-0 win against Ibrahim Gariba's team. So that's 40-0 on aggregate. We should auction off those 40 points.
There's no rest of the mercurial Gariba, though, as the takes the U-14 girls to Crawley to face Sussex Storm where they will look to pick up their second win of the season against a side who are fifth in the table with a 7-6 record.
Finally, the U-12 girls will be looking to repeat their 41-34 home win against Richmond Knights a fortnight ago when they travel to Twickenham on Sunday, and a win would go a long way towards securing a top half finish for the Wolves.