The Milton Keynes Lions College Lions, are a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

academy team from

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, with all players attending

Milton Keynes College Milton Keynes College is a general further education and training college, serving the City of Milton Keynes. It also serves the surrounding areas (northern Aylesbury Vale, south Northamptonshire, north west Bedfordshire and north east Oxford ...

.The academy is coached, funded and run by a partnership between Milton Keynes College, and the ' London Lions' professional basketball team, who play in the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

. The College academy team, is regarded throughout the British college leagues, as one of the best teams in the country, alongside Hackney Community College and Barking Abbey of East London. The team achieved this status, after their 2008/2009 season (their second season), where they went undefeated in all SESSA competitions, winning the cup, knocking out Hackney in the process, and beating them twice in the league to top the table undefeated. They came second in the British Colleges Elite league to Hackney, losing once, and lost to Hackney in the Final of the British Colleges Cup, and reaching the Final Fours in the playoffs.

Team history

Player Development

In 2007/2008 several of the academy's squad began practicing with parent

BBL A barrel is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts; there are dry barrels, fluid barrels (such as the U.K. beer barrel and U.S. beer barrel), oil barrels, and so forth. For historical reasons the volumes of some barrel units ...

club,

Milton Keynes Lions London Lions are a British professional basketball team based in Stratford, East London, England, and compete in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British basketball. The team was originally founded in 1977 as the Hemel Hempstead ...

with prospect Greg Harvey finding himself on the team's roster in the latter months of the season. Harvey rounded off his season with participation in the 2008 BBL Playoff Final vs

Guildford Heat The Surrey Scorchers are an English professional basketball team based in Guildford, Surrey, that compete in the British Basketball League. The team was established in 2005 as the Guildford Heat by fans of former British Basketball League te ...

seeing playing minutes in both the 3rd and 4th quarters, picking up 1 foul and 1 rebound wearing the number 5 jersey.

Possible Closure

In summer 2012 MK Lions announced they would be leaving

due to the closure of

Prestige Homes Arena MK Lions Arena, also known as Prestige Homes Arena due to sponsorship reasons, was a basketball arena in Milton Keynes, England. It was the home venue for the Milton Keynes Lions of the British Basketball League from 2010 to 2012. The venue - ...

and fears were raised this could signal the closure of the basketball academy. On 8 August 2012 it was announced the

side would be moving to London for the 2012/13 season, with

Mike New Mike New (born February 12, 1968) is a former American basketball forward-center for the Milton Keynes Lions of the British Basketball League. Since 2007 New has also held the position of Head Coach of the Milton Keynes College Milton Keyne ...

opting to remain in Milton Keynes as head coach of the academy side, turning down the opportunity to coach the new London Lions.

Home court

Notes: *During the 2006/2007 academic year the Lions provided player Liam Court to coach twice weekly training sessions for students who played basketball with the view to a team playing in leagues and cups, however games were never organized.

Trophies

Cups

* SESSA Cup 2008/2009, 2009/2010 * British Colleges Cup, Runners up 2008/2009

League

* SESSA Division 1 Champions 2008/2009 season (undefeated) * British Colleges Elite League Runners up 2008/2009

Playoffs

* British Colleges Playoffs, Final Fours 2008/2009, 2009/2010

Notes

{{reflist

External links

Milton Keynes Lions websiteMilton Keynes College website
Basketball teams in England Sport in Milton Keynes London Lions (basketball) fr:Milton Keynes Lions