Raiders of the Lost Walrus

History
Raiders of the Lost Walrus is a veteran Court Rivals team that was created in Season 4 of the Court Rivals championship. The team was formed by the highly respected and somewhat charismatic Australian user Camel. From the beginning to midway through season 9, Camel was the captain of the team. Since then, SuperSlicer has run the team with Camel acting as co-captain.

Prior to the inauguration of separate leagues, the Raiders had experienced mild success in the low Pro ranks, often suffering first round playoff defeats. The Raiders peaked when they were ranked 26th in all of Court Rivals and were competing with the best Pro division B had to offer.

During this period, (seasons 5 through 7) a number of RotLW players received accolades for their exploits during the regular season. Among those were users acanefan and Leeroy455, whose respective scoring guards Jay Splash and I HasABucket enjoyed large amounts of success as prolific point scorers.

Historically, RotLW is a team that has been renowned for its extreme defensive capabilities. Many teams were known to concede in excess of 20 steals in a game; a phenominal number. Unlike most teams, RotLW was usually without a designated point guard. Yet, despite this, the team managed to win a number of encounters against teams with superstar point guards, such as the Wagga Wagga Wombat Collective, who will be discussed later in the article.

When leagues rolled into town, RotLW was keen to seek some playoff victories and decided that the newly created Bird league would be the most appropriate place to do so. Season 8 was the year of the Walrus, so to speak. (The editor of this page is fully aware that one season is not a year, and therefore the preceding statement may seem stupid. In saying that, the editor also realises that this is a somewhat pointless note to be making, since most of the readers of this page will know that anyway and would disregard the "error")

Season 8, for the regular season, had its ups and downs. The vibe in the Walrus locker-rooms was uncertain; apprehensive, almost, of what was to come. For, what they witnessed for the 42 days prior to the playoffs was the absolute domination of Bird by three teams - ADAA, Detroit Pistons and Wagga Wagga Wombat Collective. The Raiders had failed in most attempts to bring down these giants, and it was not known if they could be toppled in the playoffs.

The general consensus, though, was that if there was anyone likely to take down the big seeds, it was going to be RotLW. The playoffs arrived, and with it the final seedings. The first round drew RotLW up against the Honka Playaboys, a relatively unknown team that had snuck into the playoffs. What ensued was pure carnage as the Raiders demolished the Playaboys by a hefty 45 points. Next, RotLW were tasked with defeating They.Hatin.On.Us, and proved the winners in another blowout - this time by 22. Into the sweet sixteen, the Raiders had already experienced by far the most post-season success in their history, but they were far from finished. To move into the elite eight, RotLW swept aside Pro D team Santugon by an incredible 48 points in what proved their biggest victory of the playoff tournament. With that, RotLW met its first serious competitor - the Detroit Pistons.

This game was a crucial matchup, not only for the teams playing but for those awaiting the winner in the next round. Most teams would have preferred to see the Raiders go through, as they appeared the easier of the remaining two Western-conference teams to beat. Those teams got their wish as RotLW prevailed by 4 points in a nailbiting game of epic proportions. (Is that a cliché?) Crucially, the Eastern-conference also provided an upset with Full Eclipse defeating Team Shaq, arguably making the road to the finals easier for RotLW.

The final four loomed, with Full Eclipse, ADAA, Wagga Wagga Wombat Collective and RotLW having qualified. "Who can make the finals?" was a question on everyone's lips as the games got underway.