Nick Nurse today re-signed two Brighton Bears crowd favourites and made them co-captains.

Barbados centre Andrew Alleyne and England point guard Ronnie Baker will lead Bears in the new British League season after agreeing one-year deals.

But Ryan Huntley and Tony Holley will not be returning to Sussex. Huntley has signed for Leicester Riders and Holley is expected to join him.

Alleyne, 6ft 8in and 36 years old, will be starting his third season as a Bear. He was consistently around the 20 points per game mark last season and won MVP honours in the BBL Cup final.

Baker, who turned 36 this summer, is England's most capped international and re-joined the club for a second spell as back-up playmaker midway through last season.

He is likely to miss five weeks of the new campaign while playing in the Commonwealth Games.

Nurse said: "Drew and Ronnie know everything about playing for me and the Bears.

"They are big-time fans favourites and they are reliable and consistent. It's nice to have that "I don't know if Ronnie will be going to the Commonwealth Games. England always seem to want to replace him and he always fights his way back. I hope he goes there and represents us."

Nurse now turns attention to signing a potential starting point guard after Huntley ended his connection with Brighton after just one injury-curtailed season.

The Bears coach said: "I probably didn't move quickly enough to get Ryan back. Maybe he didn't want to come back."

Nurse is preparing for a long weekend in Oklahoma, during which he expects to make considerable progress in his team building process.