Standing: Harry Smith, Ken Wilde, Tony Watson, Unknown, Mark Saiers, TJ Robinson, Jeremy Broadgate, Paul Over, Mick Byrne, Steve Fitzsimons
Sitting: Dave Wilson, Paul Philp, Ken Walton, Roy Lewis, Karl Tatham, Paul Cummings
With the departure of Tom Wisman to coach in Hong Kong, Steve Fitzsimons who had served for the previous two seasons as Assistant Coach took up the coaching mantle.
Solent began the season with six pre-season games, the most noticeable of which was an 84 - 83 victory over Sunderland at the end of August in the Guildford Tournament. In this game Tony Watson made his first mark with 25 points.
The league season began with a 113 - 76 win over Manchester at Fleming Park. This was the debut game for Roy Lewis, but was marked by the request of TJ Robinson to be released from his contract. He claimed he was missing his family. Owner Harry Smith immediately flew in Bonnie Poynton, who had recently played for Washington State. Extra practice sessions were arranged to help Poynton acclimatise to Solent's play.
Solent went to Leicester for the second game of the league season and won 79 - 74. A deciding action was in the last minute when Roy Lewis stole the ball and drove the length of the court to score and put the game out of Leicester's reach. TJ Robinson, having overcome his differences with the club, scored 23 points.
Solent's early league success was brought to a grinding halt when they went to Birchwood and lost 71 - 74. Eleven points down at halftime, Solent had rallied but were unable to overhaul the locals. Paul Philp had a fine game whilst Tony Watson was top scorer with 24 points. Although this may have not seemed the best preparation, Solent then flew to Egypt to play Zamaiek, Cairo in the Cup Winners Cup. The result was a resounding success for the fortunes of the Solent Stars Basketball club by winning 80 - 60.
John Johnson with members of the Solent Starlets cheerleading team
The return to league action on the following Saturday at Fleming Park saw Solent lose to Hemel Hempstead (89 - 93) - a legacy of tiredness perhaps after their European Cup exploits.
The return European Cup Winners Cup game against Zamaiek, Cairo on October 12th 1982 was another sell out at Fleming Park. Solent Stars rose to the occasion and, despite the Egyptians scoring first, saw off the opposition with a brilliant 123 - 70 win. TJ Robinson top-scored with 28 points.
On October 23rd Solent saw off Halifax in the ASDA National Cup with an easy home win (130 - 66) and then travelled to Hemel Hempstead to play in a pilot match for Channel 4 TV and beat Murray International 98 - 75.
The Dutch team Den Bosch abruptly ended Solent's interest in the European Cup Winners Cup competition. They came to Fleming Park and mesmerised the crowd and the Solent team with a brilliant display to run out winners of the first leg 70 -101 (Tony Watson 27 points). The return leg saw Solent lose again, 70 - 90.
After the exit from the European competition, Solent got back to league action with a home 127 - 75 win over Liverpool. This was followed by an easy ASDA Cup win over second division Camden, 119 - 58.
Another epic Crystal Palace encounter took place at Fleming Park on November 29th when Solent won the match in the last minute (83 - 81) despite losing Karl Tatham six minutes from the end through foul trouble. With two seconds remaining, Mark Saiers calmly sank two free throws in front of the 1,000 spectators. A win on the following Monday in front of the Channel 4 TV cameras over Sunderland (88 - 82) was balanced by a defeat at Birmingham (87 - 93) at the end of the same week.
Only two days later, Solent were at the Crystal Palace Sports Centre to play the hosts in the first leg semi-final of the ASDA Cup. Once again the game was televised and, as expected, was a close encounter. This time Crystal Palace were able to hold on to an early lead to take a slender eight-point lead to the second leg (84 - 92).
Tony Watson
Before the home second leg, a week later, Solent had to overcome Doncaster (98 - 90) at Fleming Park on the Saturday. For their fourth game in nine days and once again in front of TV cameras, Solent turned on the style over a lacklustre Crystal Palace and went into an early lead. Tony Watson fouled out with 17 minutes remaining, but it was Mark Saiers who saw Solent through by scoring 28 points and taking 18 rebounds. Solent moved through to the final with this convincing win (83 - 65). The victory was marred by coach Steve Fitzsimons offering his resignation because of 'interference in team matters' by owner Harry Smith.
Fitzsimons was still at the helm in the next match when Solent finished their first half of the season at Bracknell with a 98 - 67 win.
The club then moved to Crystal Palace Sports Centre for four days over the New Year to take part in the Philips World Club Championship. Seeded ninth in the Tournament, Solent eventually lost to Maccabi 68 - 92 in the quarter-final.
Back in league action at the beginning of 1983, Solent travelled to Manchester to win 121 - 87 before playing in another home Channel Four TV game and beating Hemel Hempstead 98 - 93. Two days before the ASDA Cup Final, Solent entertained Leicester Riders at Fleming Park and won by just seven points (99 - 92). Over 200 people were locked out of this match which Solent were losing 44 - 54 at halftime. Tony Watson hit 31 points.
Just 48 hours later Solent saw Leicester again, but this time it was the City's Granby Halls as they rode in to defend their status as ASDA National Cup holders. This time the opponents were Birmingham Bullets who had beaten them a month earlier at Aston Villa. Solent had to cling on in the first stages of the match as Russ Saunders began hitting his shots that eventually gave him 43 points in the game. It was just 3 minutes and 25 seconds from the end of the game that Solent took the lead for the first time with a Mark Saiers basket. He also scored the final basket for Solent five seconds from the end which allowed a cushion of three points, then Birmingham closed to one to give Solent a 98 - 97 win. TJ Robinson was voted man of the match for his 33 points and 13 rebounds.
| | | | |||||||||||||
| Name | Mins | Fouls | OR | DR | TR | FGM | FGA | FG% | FTM | FTA | FT% | ST | ASS | TO | PTS |
| Philp | 25.5 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 33.3% | 0 | 0 | - | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Walton | 13.5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 40.0% | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Robinson | 40 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 14 | 21 | 66.7% | 5 | 8 | 62.5% | 5 | 1 | 7 | 33 |
| Lewis | 12 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 100.0% | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Saiers | 40 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 80.0% | 4 | 5 | 80.0% | 1 | 12 | 3 | 12 |
| Tatham | 37 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 36.4% | 4 | 5 | 80.0% | 1 | 12 | 2 | 12 |
| Watson | 32 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 25 | 56.0% | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | 1 | 0 | 4 | 29 |
| Broadgate | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wilson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Over | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | 200 | 25 | 11 | 27 | 38 | 42 | 75 | 56.0% | 14 | 20 | 70.0% | 12 | 28 | 21 | 98 |
Following the cup success, Solent had to acknowledge shortly after that their chances of reaching the Wembley Championship Play-Offs were severely dented in the two away games the following weekend. A defeat at Doncaster (93 - 99) followed by another at Sunderland (86 - 98) was caused in part by Solent players running into foul trouble on both occasions. At Doncaster, Tony Watson again fouled out with 10 minutes remaining having already scored 37 points!
Solent however bounced back with a home win over Kingston (108 - 90), without injured Tony Watson, whose scoring mantle was taken on by TJ Robinson (34 points).
Karl Tatham
Bottom of the league Liverpool fell next victims to Solent (108 - 80) and then Solent returned to Fleming Park to steamroller Bracknell (112 - 95). This time Karl Tatham led the scoring with 32 points with TJ Robinson having picked up three fouls in the first five minutes.
Solent were kept on the Wembley trail when they gained sweet revenge for an early season defeat by Brighton, coached by Jimmie Guymon. Robinson reached his 500th point for the season in this game which saw five players foul out before Solent won through (125 - 101).
A final TV game for Solent, at Crystal Palace, saw them lose 74 - 84 having had TJ Robinson disqualified in the game and set up the most exciting of final home matches against Birmingham Bullets. Having lost to Birmingham by six points in the league, Solent needed to beat them by seven points or more to claim the fourth play-off place over Birmingham for the Championship Play-Offs. Solent were without TJ Robinson (banned) and carrying several injuries. Nonetheless with three minutes left a Roy Lewis basket put Solent nine points in the clear. Right on the buzzer, with Solent only leading by two points, Birmingham's Steve Assinder had a rush of blood and drove through to tie up the game. This gave Solent a second chance to reach the magical seven-point gap in overtime. But the bubble had burst and eventually Birmingham took the game 111 - 112.
Karl Tatham was named England's Basketball Player of the Year. He also picked up the Solent Player of the Year Award.
Solent then went on to win the Cork Invitation Tournament in Ireland. They beat the Irish hosts 97 - 88, Doncaster 91 - 77 and Gleneagles 89 - 78. After a comfortable win over Leicester, Solent had to face the host team again in the final and won 97 - 85. TJ Robinson, who scored 145 points, was named Player of the Tournament. For this tournament, the team was coached by Harry Smith.| 1982/83 (Division 1) | Played | Won | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Points | |
| 1 | Crystal Palace | 24 | 21 | 3 | 2083 | 1850 | +233 | 42 |
| 2 | Sunderland | 24 | 18 | 6 | 2323 | 2024 | +299 | 36 |
| 3 | Hemel Hempstead | 24 | 18 | 6 | 2169 | 1938 | +231 | 36 |
| 4 | Birmingham | 24 | 17 | 7 | 2465 | 2226 | +239 | 34 |
| 5 | Solent Stars | 24 | 16 | 8 | 2383 | 2068 | +315 | 32 |
| 6 | Leicester | 24 | 16 | 8 | 2176 | 1972 | +204 | 32 |
| 7 | Brighton | 24 | 13 | 11 | 2216 | 2207 | +9 | 26 |
| 8 | Doncaster | 24 | 12 | 12 | 2115 | 2129 | -14 | 24 |
| 9 | Kingston | 24 | 10 | 14 | 2033 | 2057 | -24 | 20 |
| 10 | Warrington | 24 | 7 | 17 | 1971 | 2115 | -144 | 14 |
| 11 | Manchester | 24 | 4 | 20 | 2038 | 2464 | -426 | 8 |
| 12 | Bracknell | 24 | 3 | 21 | 1988 | 2335 | -347 | 6 |
| 13 | Liverpool | 24 | 1 | 23 | 1889 | 2464 | -575 | 2 |
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