Randy Duck reckons Saturday night's home tussle with Thames Valley Tigers is the biggest game of his basketball career.

At least, it will be until he leads his Brighton Bears side out at Milton Keynes 21 hours later.

The Bears skipper admits he is excited by the prospect of tackling domestic and European competitions with a new-look team.

And, while his description of the weekend's games may have leant slightly towards hyperbole, it is easy to see where he is coming from.

This is a massive campaign both on and off the court for Bears and also for their captain as he goes into the last season of a three-year contract.

Duck led his side to the cup final last season, then had to miss the big game due to injury.

When he returned, he guided Bears into the play-off final, where they were controversially beaten by Scottish Rocks.

Plenty of new faces have come in since then, including Phil Perre, such a key figure for the Rocks that day.

Bears won more games than any other team in the country last winter, yet one trophy and two second places represented under-achievement given the talent at their disposal.

Which is why Duck is so excited about the new challenge ahead.

He said: "Losing the play-off final left a bad taste because we got to think about it all summer.

"I had come back from injury and I don't think I was capable of giving what I expect from myself.

"I've gone back to the drawing board since then and come back with a new product.

"I've a lot of basketball to play this year and I just want to be focussed on that.

"Saturday is the biggest game in my life right now.

"Then Milton Keynes on Sunday will be the biggest game.

"I want to take it slowly and work myself into having a successful year and holding up more trophies.

"That's the only success that counts.

"Winning a lot of games doesn't mean anything to me. Let's win trophies, let's bring the silverware down to where it is supposed to be."

Duck admits his team's pre-season programme has left a little to be desired.

They have only really been tested by the USA Select and in the first half of their win at Worthing.

Last Sunday's non-event at home to Worthing was a rare organisational own goal for the Brighton club, who will hope to come up with a rather better curtain raiser next September.

Plenty of hard work has been put in on the Falmer training court, however, and the team has great depth with possibly ten senior players to call on.

Duck said: "This will be a learning process but it's fun.

"It's a great time, getting to know different people.

"Talking to some of the other guys who have come here from other teams, I think we work harder than anybody in this country.

"When we really start to know one another our defence is going to be unbelievable. These guys are 6ft 7ins or 6ft 8ins. They can cover a lot of space and have got good anticipation.

"When we start clicking as a unit on defence we will be really tough.

"The team we had last season was together for a couple of years. We had chemistry no matter what.

"This time we are new to each other.

"I'm still learning the guys. Where they like to catch the ball, how fast they run and the rest but last year I knew that straight away."

Of the new boys, Jason Siemon faces a strange weekend as he plays against his two most recent BBL employers in Thames Valley and Milton Keynes.

He and Andrew Alleyne make an instant return to the club they left in the summer when Bears go to Bletchley on Sunday.

Not the most glamorous of destinations, but the first trip in what should be a fascinating year for Duck and his new crew.