One year on from the BBL Trophy final: where are the Caledonia Gladiators now?
By Sam Scouller
The Caledonia Gladiators are a club on the up (Image: Getty Images)
A year ago, the Caledonia Gladiators sunk a buzzer-beating shot to win their first piece of silverware in over 20 years in one of the most iconic moments in Scottish sports history.
Since that day, the club have continued to expand their fanbase as they gradually build themselves towards becoming one of the nation's biggest sports teams. So, let’s look back at the past year for the Gladiators:
On March 26, 2023, in front of 8,000 fans in Glasgow, David Sloan netted a dramatic, last-second three-point shot to win the Caledonia Gladiators the final of the BBL Trophy.
This was the club's first trophy in two decades and came in their first season under new owners, Steve and Alison Timoney and since being rebranded from the old Glasgow Rocks moniker.
By the end of the season, Caledonia had landed a fourth-place finish in the BBL standings, securing their place in the playoffs.
Their playoff run was short-lived though as they fell to the Cheshire Phoenix in the first round via a 102-86 loss on the road followed by an 80-84 loss at home.
The following season, the Gladiators were setback early on as they lost some key players in the form of David Sloan, Jeremiah Bailey and Patrick Tape.
New signings, Fahro Alihodzic, Quade Green and Ian Dubose brought new energy to the side though, as did the return of some key star power such as Prince Onwas and Fraser Malcolm.
The Gladiators rode into the 2023/24 season with an element of vigour and hope as they looked to build off of their success from the previous year and make up for their shortcomings.
They also rode into the new season in a new home as their new owners lifted the club from the Emirates Arena and into the newly renovated, 1,800-seater Playsport Arena in East Kilbride.
The arena is only planned to be a temporary stay for the Gladiators while a new 6,000-seater, £20m arena is under construction, though.
The developments are the single largest investment ever made in Scottish Basketball and one of the biggest in the history of Scottish sports.
As a result of their BBL Trophy success, the Gladiators had qualified for a chance to play in Europe during the 23/24 campaign.
After crashing out of the Basketball Champions League qualifiers to Swiss club, Fribourg Olympic, Caledonia were sent to play in the FIBA Europe Cup instead.
The Gladiators opened their BBL regular season and Europe Cup campaigns with wins as they dispatched the Manchester Giants before travelling to Romania to batter past BC CSU Sibiu.
Caledonia also took the plaudits when they played Sibiu at home in the competition as well as securing home and away victories over Polish side, Anwil Wloclawek.
It’s not all plain sailing for the Gladiators, though (Image: Getty Images)
However, they suffered losses in both of their meetings with Spaniards, Bilbao Basket which saw their inaugural appearance in the Europe Cup come to an early end.
In the 2024 BBL Cup, the Gladiators reached the semi-finals where they were bested 85-75 by the London Lions who went on to lose the final to Cheshire by 82-98.
As things currently stand, the Gladiators sit third in the league table with just two points separating them and Cheshire in second place but the Phoenix have two games in hand.
The Scots are hoping for a strong finish in their final six regular season games as they look to build motivation going into another playoff challenge.
Gareth Murray’s men will no doubt be hungry for an all-out victory in the playoffs as they look to place themselves back onto the face of silverware a year on from their historic claiming of the BBL Trophy.