The Kitchener Rangers aren’t the only team that calls the Aud home.
In their first year as a member of the NBL, the KW Titans are finding their way as the region’s professional basketball team.
The National Basketball League of Canada, also known as the NBL, is a Canadian professional basketball league that was founded in 2011. The league currently has 10 teams that compete in two divisions: Atlantic and Central.
Considering this is only the Titan’s first year in the league, they have settled in nicely as they currently hold a record of 12-17, good enough for third place in the Central division.
“If you look at the rest of the conference, it’s really, really tight with the exception of London, which is kind of the class of our conference … [with] the other four teams it’s really, really tight … but I think anybody can beat anybody basically,” Stu Julius, general manager of the team said.
The Titans have close ties to the Laurier community as Julius is a former coach of the women’s basketball team.
“I coached and I was the athletic director at Lakehead for 22 years. Then I came down and I coached at Laurier,” he said.
On top of Julius’ basketball knowledge from coaching at the OUA level, he also has experience within the NBL.
“I was an assistant coach for the Mississauga Power of the NBL with my son, Kyle. Then I was an assistant coach in London with the Lightning where he still is and that’s how I ended up in Kitchener.”
The city’s been really good. The Aud has been fantastic for us, you know it’s a great venue you to play at.
Breaking into a new market is never easy, but Julius and the Titans are encouraged by the support they’ve seen thus far.
“The city’s been really good. The Aud has been fantastic for us, you know it’s a great venue to play at,” Julius said.
“The last six games we’ve averaged over 1500 which is good. We’d certainly like to push that up a little higher but it’s a brand new product, it’s a brand new team and it’s going to take a while to get used to. But the big picture — we certainly want to get it way up there.”