This Friday, December 2 begins a busy month of December in National 1. Most teams will play 6 games in just 22 days, the equivalent of a quarter of the season. The opportunity for Rouen, leaders, Caen (3rd) and Le Havre (4th) to consolidate their place in the Top 5.
As they prepare to play the last match of the first leg of the championship, the Normans are in the nails. Rouen, Caen and Le Havre, favorites for the playoffs, are in the Top 5 of Group B of the Nationale 1. A Top 5 synonymous with qualification in the upper group of the second phase of the championship, which will start in February.
Demoted from Pro B at the end of last season, the Rouen Metropolis Basketball it does not intend to cut its teeth in the division below, and is currently building a nearly flawless path to achieve this. With eleven wins, only one loss in twelve games, RMB is marching towards the championship. Above all, he did not lose any games against his direct opponents for the climb.
Le Havre and Caen can attest to this. The STB has undergone the RMB law since day one (82-87). When at the CBC, he lost at Kindarena (76-82), in his third championship game. Despite a complicated start to the season, marked by three setbacks, in the first five matches the Calvados club managed to get back on their feet, chaining six consecutive victories before losing against Feurs, in a promoted team, earlier in the week (68 -71).
The CBC is 3rd in the standings, but has lost against three of the other four components of the Top 5. A bad operation in view of the second phase of the championship, which will bring together the five best teams from the two N1 groups, while maintaining the results obtained during the direct comparisons of the first phase. Simply put, if Caen wants to stay in the running for the only membership available through the league, and not the playoffs, they will have to beat Mulhouse, Le Havre and Rouen by Christmas. Because these three clubs all won against Caennais in the first leg.
The situation is opposite for Le Havre. Sure, the Seino-marins alternate between good and evil. Admittedly, they are in 4th, behind Caen, but they had an almost smooth run against their direct competitors, beating Mulhouse (2nd) and Caen, which gives them, for the time being, a better record for the second stage. Also, unlike the other two Norman teams in the division, Saint-Thomas Basket will only play four games in December, not six. Advantage in shooting or disadvantage in the sequence? Only the future will tell.
The Norman calendar
Rouen : against Hyères-Toulon (14th) on 2/12; in Le Havre (4th) on 6/12; against Pont-de-Chéruy (6th) on 9/12; against Orchies (7th) on 16/12, against Cergy-Pontoise (8th) on 20/12; and in Caen (3rd) on 23/12
Caen: against Boulogne-sur-Mer (12th) on 2/12, against Mulhouse (2nd) on 6/12; in Andrézieux-Bouthéon (5th) on 9/12; against Kaysersberg (14th) on 16/12; in Le Havre (4th) on 20/12 and against Rouen (1st) on 23/12.
Le Havre: in Kaysersberg (14th) on 2/12, against Rouen (1st) on 6/12, in Pont-de-Chéruy on (6th) 16/12 and against Caen (3rd) on 20/12.
