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2008–09 British Basketball League season

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The 2008–09 BBL season was the 22nd campaign in the history of the British Basketball League (BBL), which commenced on 14 September 2008 with the Cup Winners' Cup. The regular season began a week later with 12 teams competing, though a line-up change saw the Birmingham Panthers withdraw and fold during close season and the inclusion of Worthing Thunder from the English Basketball League.

2008–09 BBL season
LeagueBritish Basketball League
SportBasketball
Roll of Honour
BBL championsNewcastle Eagles
Play Off's championsNewcastle Eagles
BBL Cup championsEverton Tigers
BBL Trophy championsNewcastle Eagles
British Basketball League seasons

Newcastle Eagles continued their dominance of Britain's basketball scene, scooping up the League title, the Play-off crown and the BBL Trophy, beating rivals Guildford Heat 71-83 at the Guildford Spectrum. After a promising rookie season for Everton Tigers in 2007–08, the Merseyside team came of age in their sophomore year, finishing as runners-up in the League and the play-offs whilst entering the record books for their 103-49 win in the BBL Cup Final against Plymouth Raiders, the biggest winning margin (54 points) in BBL history and lowest ever score conceded in a Final.[1]

This season also saw the return of the BBL All-Star game, which was played as a warm-up to the play-off Grand Final. Two select-teams – the British All-Stars and the Rest of the World All-Stars – were pitted together using a selection of players from across the League, with the Rest of the World team narrowly winning 117-124.

Teams

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Locations of the 2008–09 BBL teams
Team City/Area Arena Capacity Last season
Cheshire Jets Chester Northgate Arena 1,000 11th
Everton Tigers Liverpool Echo Arena &
Greenbank Sports Academy 		7,513
600 		7th
Guildford Heat Guildford Guildford Spectrum 1,100 2nd
Leicester Riders Leicester John Sandford Centre 800 10th
London Capital London Capital City Academy 300 9th
Milton Keynes Lions Milton Keynes Bletchley Centre 800 4th
Newcastle Eagles Newcastle upon Tyne Metro Radio Arena 6,500 1st
Plymouth Raiders Plymouth Plymouth Pavilions 1,480 3rd
Scottish Rocks Glasgow Kelvin Hall 1,200 5th
Sheffield Sharks Sheffield English Institute of Sport 1,200 6th
Worcester Wolves Worcester University of Worcester 600 8th
Worthing Thunder Worthing Worthing Leisure Centre 1,000 New

Notable occurrences

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  • Following a disastrous rookie campaign and lack of investment the Birmingham Panthers franchise folded during the close season and would not return for the 2008–09 season.[2]
  • The gap vacated by Panthers was subsequently occupied by Worthing Thunder who stepped up from the English Basketball League Division 1.[3] Though their application was accepted before the Panthers folded, Worthing were one of two South-coast franchises bidding for a place in the BBL, with an unsuccessful bid coming from Brighton Cougars.[4]
  • The second edition of the Cup Winners' Cup saw Guildford Heat sweep away the honours yet again with a closely fought two-game series against last season's BBL Cup winners Milton Keynes Lions. Heat ran out victors with a 159-149 aggregate score.[5]

BBL Championship (Tier 1)

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Final standings

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Pos Team Pld W L % Pts
1 Newcastle Eagles 33 28 5 0.848 56
2 Everton Tigers 33 24 9 0.727 48
3 Leicester Riders 33 21 12 0.636 42
4 Guildford Heat 33 21 12 0.636 42
5 Plymouth Raiders 33 20 13 0.606 40
6 Sheffield Sharks 33 16 17 0.485 32
7 Scottish Rocks 33 16 17 0.485 32
8 Cheshire Jets 33 15 18 0.454 30
9 Milton Keynes Lions 33 14 19 0.424 28
10 Worcester Wolves 33 11 22 0.333 22
11 Worthing Thunder 33 10 23 0.303 20
12 London Capital 33 2 31 0.060 4
= League winners
= Qualified for the play-offs

Playoffs

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Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
         
1 Newcastle Eagles 88
8 Cheshire Jets 83
1 Newcastle Eagles 93
5 Plymouth Raiders 71
4 Guildford Heat 81
5 Plymouth Raiders 89
1 Newcastle Eagles 87
2 Everton Tigers 84
2 Everton Tigers 84
7 Scottish Rocks 64
2 Everton Tigers 81
3 Leicester Riders 65
3 Leicester Riders 72
6 Sheffield Sharks 71

Quarter-finals

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22 April 2009
Leicester Riders 72–71 Sheffield Sharks
John Sandford Centre, Leicester
24 April 2009
Everton Tigers 84–64 Scottish Rocks
Greenbank Sports Academy, Liverpool

Semi-finals

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Final

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3 May 2009
3.30pm GMT
Newcastle Eagles 87–84 Everton Tigers
Scoring by quarter: 36-17, 15-23, 19-12, 17-32
Pts: Trey Moore 22, Reggie Jackson 19, Darius Defoe 18, Charles Smith 8, Fab Flournoy 7, Tafari Toney 7, Andrew Bridge 6 Pts: Richard Midgley 36, Olu Babalola 25, Marcus Bailey 8, Josh Gross 6, Tony Dorsey 5, Chris Haslam 2, James Jones 2

Cup Winners' Cup

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The Cup Winners' Cup was contested between the winners of the BBL Cup and BBL Trophy from the previous season. Guildford were winners of the Trophy and Milton Keynes were winners of the Cup. The tournament was played over two-legs – one at each home arena – and the winner decided by a total aggregate score from both games.

First leg

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14 September 2008
3.00pm GMT
Guildford Heat 91–89 Milton Keynes Lions
Scoring by quarter: 29-27, 24-24, 16-17, 22-21
Pts: Yorick Williams, 23 Pts: Brad Jones, 20

Second leg

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19 September 2008
7.30pm GMT
Milton Keynes Lions 60–68 Guildford Heat
Scoring by quarter: 9-18, 22-20, 11-13, 18-17
Pts: Robert Youngblood, 14
Rebs: Robert Youngblood, 10		 Pts: Keonta Howell, 18
Rebs: Keonta Howell, 11
Guildford Heat win 159-149 on aggregate scoring.

EBL National League Division 1 (Tier 2)

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Final standings

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Pos Team Pld W L % Pts
1 Reading Rockets 18 18 0 1.000 36
2 Manchester Magic 18 15 3 0.833 30
3 London Leopards 18 12 6 0.667 24
4 City of Sheffield Arrows 18 10 8 0.556 20
5 Bristol Academy Flyers 18 9 9 0.500 18
6 Coventry Crusaders 18 8 10 0.444 16
7 Tees Valley Mohawks 18 8 10 0.444 16
8 Derby Trailblazers 18 5 13 0.278 10
9 Cardiff Celts 18 3 15 0.167 6
10 Taunton Tigers 18 2 16 0.111 4
= League winners
= Qualified for the play-offs

EBL National League Division 2 (Tier 3)

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Final standings

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Pos Team Pld W L % Pts
1 Leeds Carnegie 22 18 4 0.818 36
2 London Mets 22 17 5 0.773 34
3 Leicester Warriors 22 15 7 0.682 30
4 Birmingham A's 22 14 8 0.636 28
5 Kent Crusaders 22 13 9 0.591 26
6 Team Northumbria 22 12 10 0.545 24
7 Plymouth Raiders II 22 10 12 0.455 20
8 Newi Nets 22 10 12 0.455 20
9 Colchester Hornets 22 8 14 0.364 16
10 Plymouth Marjon Cannons 22 8 14 0.364 16
11 Northampton Neptunes 22 5 17 0.227 10
12 University of Birmingham 22 2 20 0.091 4
= League winners
= Qualified for the play-offs

BBL Cup

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Of the 12 competing teams in this season's BBL Cup, eight entered into the First Round while the top-four ranked teams from last season's Championship – Guildford Heat, Milton Keynes Lions, Newcastle Eagles and Plymouth Raiders – received byes into the quarter-finals, where they would also receive home-court advantage.

First round

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18 October 2008
Leicester Riders 99–75 Worthing Thunder
John Sandford Centre, Leicester

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals 1st leg

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Semi-finals 2nd leg

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5 December 2008
Everton Tigers 97–86 Newcastle Eagles
Greenbank Sports Academy, Liverpool
Plymouth Raiders win 162-142 on aggregate and Everton Tigers win 202-198 on aggregate.

Final

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18 January 2009
3.30pm GMT
Plymouth Raiders 49–103 Everton Tigers
Scoring by quarter: 11-20, 11-30, 6-22, 21-31
Pts: Gaylon Moore 19, Andrew Lasker 9, Allister Gall 8, Kwbana Beckles 5, Terrence Durham 4, James Noel 4 Pts: Andre Smith 26, Marcus Bailey 26, Richard Midgley 16, James Jones 11, Olu Babalola 11, Delm Herriman 7

BBL Trophy

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The First Round of the BBL Trophy uses its usually round-robin format with the 12 competing teams divided into four regionalised groups with the winner of each group then advancing to a two-legged Semi-final encounter and progress to the Final being determined by a total aggregate score.

Group stage

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Semi-finals 1st leg

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17 February 2009
Everton Tigers 82–88 Newcastle Eagles
Greenbank Sports Academy, Liverpool

Semi-finals 2nd leg

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Guildford Heat win 187-161 on aggregate and Newcastle Eagles win 176-159 on aggregate.

Final

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15 March 2009
3.15pm GMT
Guildford Heat 71–83 Newcastle Eagles
Scoring by quarter: 21-17, 21-22, 12-23, 17-21
Pts: Keonta Howell 30, Michael Martin 12, Kabir Abu 9 Pts: Trey Moore (MVP) 28, Andrew Bridge 17, Reggie Jackson 13, Darius Defoe 11, Tafari Toney 10

All-Star Game

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5 May 2009
1.30pm GMT
Great Britain All-Stars 117–124 Rest of the World All-Stars
Scoring by quarter: 33-33, 22-27, 34-40, 28-24
Pts: Chris Sanders, 30
Rebs: Chris Sanders, 9
Asts: Anthony Martin, 7		 Pts: Andrew Lasker, 22
Rebs: Frank Phiffer, 9
Asts: Ryan Patton, 4

Seasonal awards

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References

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  1. ^ James Pearce (2008). "Tigers power to victory in final flourish". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  2. ^ Colin Tattum (2008). "Panthers fold as BBL pull the plug". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  3. ^ BBC Sport (May 21, 2008). "Worthing Thunder set to join BBL". BBC. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  4. ^ Brian Owen (2008). "Thunder invited into top-flight". The Argus. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
  5. ^ Richard Spiller (2008). "Heat win Cup Winners' Cup". getSurrey.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-11-08.
Preceded by BBL seasons
2008–09 		Succeeded by
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