the 2000–2001 season saw stronach recruit arguable the strongest roster the franchise had ever seen, bringing in todd cetnar and terrence durham, two american imports straight out of albany and st. bonaventure university’s respectively. the addition of local players roderick wellington, deng deng (brother of luol deng), canadian peter knechtel and welsh international nathan hayes, bolstered an impressive roster and with eight straight victories to open the season, the raiders were on course to claim the newly rebranded nbl conference title. the first defeat of the campaign came in the trophy semi-final to a worthing thunder team that inflicted two further defeats upon plymouth throughout the season and matched the raiders all the way in the hunt for silverware. however it was raiders who came out on top with a 19–2 record and the conference crown for the first time in the franchise's history. the season was completed with an excellent run in the play-offs sweeping aside sutton (98–68) and manchester magic (162–155 over two games), before commanding an 83–77 defeat on worthing at wembley arena and claiming the championship double.