BASKETBALL/Cup semi-finals and finals: Ian O'Riordan profiles the club who are favourites to carry off the Cup for the first time this weekend

This time last week Waterford Crystal coach Michael Evans was trying to keep his players focused on winning the league. This weekend he wants them focused on winning the Cup. If all goes to plan they can soon focus on winning both.

With a four-point lead on the chasing group, Waterford already look destined for national league honours in March.

"Sure, this is our best ever preparation going into the Cup finals," says Evans. "It's our third time now to get this far, after being beaten by St Vincent's two years ago and Ballina last year. We certainly weren't playing as well in January on either of those two years.

"And we haven't lost a game now in over a month. But that means nothing because we still have to play well on the night. The players are confident in that they believe that can do the job but they're certainly not over-confident. They know that if they play badly they'll lose."

Evans doesn't hide the fact that he does benefit from one from the most balanced squads in Irish club basketball, not just in age and experience, but in how they gel as team players.

"Yes, this is best group of team players that I've ever had. None of these guys worry about who's the top-scorer or who does what. They only want to win. And they'll always battle to do just that.

"They are an attractive side as well. And I honestly believe we have one of the nicest Americans in the league in a long time in James Singleton. He can be spectacular but most of all he's an overall player and a super one at that."

The team camaraderie stems from the unique set-up within the Waterford Crystal club. Ask Evans how long he's been there and he'll tell you "forever".

"We do get great support from our work colleagues, who would always be aware of our results. And that's why the TV issue was so disappointing for us because we had been telling everyone here to watch the game."

The regrettable "TV issue" was not just the fact that RTÉ pulled its live coverage of the men's semi-finals for the first time in over a decade, but the way in which the clubs were informed: "The fact that RTÉ pulled out of the semi-finals wasn't the big issue. It was more the fact that the Irish Basketball Association waited 13 days before the event to tell us, even though they had indications from RTÉ well before that about what was happening.

"We had gone out and promoted the fact that it was on TV. It had been that way since 1984 and we had no reason to believe that it would be any other way."