Phil Waghorn has coached the kids, manned the scorers' table and washed some kit.

Now all that remains to make his basketball week complete is to mastermind the downfall of the British League leaders, hopefully with the help of the nation's top marksman.

These are challenging times for Waghorn, who doubles as Genesis Brighton Bears' assistant coach and Sussex basketball's youth development officer. Waghorn is standing in as head man on the sideline while Nick Nurse completes his recovery from throat surgery.

Which means his tasks range from under-taking the most mundane jobs for a range of junior teams through to coaching the likes of Jerry Williams and Dennis Rodman and, tonight, plotting the downfall of league-leading Scottish Rocks at the Brighton Centre (7pm).

Waghorn, whose Bears seniors have won their last four matches, said: "I've always prided myself on being someone who does things rather than talk about doing them.

"But I've got good people around me with the juniors, like my wife Louise and Steve Robinson.

"I've seen how things work in sport sometimes and I don't want to lose track of what counts, which is doing something rather than debating how to do it.

"This year has been a bit extreme. One minute you've got the longest game in BBL history (at Leicester), next you've got Rodman in your team, then you're coaching a 50-point junior win.

"My philosophy is that you need a consistent atmosphere among the team at all times.

"We've had some ups and down but generally we have had a positive vibe."

With Bears not having a senior game last weekend, Waghorn found himself coaching the under-18s and 16s and working the table for the under-14s and 13s.

He also coaches a women's team.

And then there is the all-important kit-washing role.

He said: "I managed to get out of it one week when we got the new kit for Rodman coming in.

"Maybe that's the answer. Just use disposable kit.

"Rodman was an experience. Like everyone, I didn't know what he would be like. "But the overall perception I had afterwards was of a guy who tried to fit in and make the team better.

"That was very refreshing for me as a coach.

"Everything I said, he said 'okay' and went out and did it.

"That made the experience easier. People asked me what it is like coaching him and I just tell them you can tell why he was in the NBA.

"He takes his profession seriously and does what is needed to win."

Rodman is not around tonight but Bears still have stars, notably in Williams, now the leading per-game scorer in the league if you ignore Birmingham's Rudy Wallace, who has only played one match.

Williams is one of four ex-Rocks in the home team. Terrance McGee, Demaija Stewart and Steve Parillon also played north of the border with varying degrees of success.

Bears will need to play well for four quarters to win but they believe they can do that. Waghorn said: "Winning at Leicester was a turning point for us. I was thinking that even as the game was going on.

"But we haven't done anything exceptional yet. We still have more in the tank.

"We match up quite well with Rocks but we haven't beaten too many of the teams above us.

"I feel if we had got this squad of eight together maybe a month before the start of the season we would have won a few more games."

Rocks could be about to unleash the backlash from a home thrashing.

That is if the disappointment of a 23-point defeat by Newcastle has not worn off yet.

Rocks have not played for nine days and coach Steve Swanson admitted he was unsure what to expect as his team flew south today.

Swanson, formerly assistant coach at Bears, said: "We were really disappointed with our performance versus Newcastle.

"Every coach wonders how players will react to that.

"As an opponent you can wonder if they will be low on confidence or will they be really mad at losing?

"The other factor for us is we haven't played for so long.

"So the disappointment or anger of that game might be a bit less. Everyone is chasing us pretty hard."

Rocks have five scoring options among their starters with big Chris Brown and former Bear Lijah Perkins coming off the bench.