British Basketball League 2007-08 Totally Explained

Everything about British Basketball League 2007-08 totally explained

The 2007-08 BBL season, the 21st since the establishment of the British Basketball League, commenced on September 9, 2007, when the Plymouth Raiders succombed to the Guildford Heat in the inaugural BBL Cup Winners' Cup. The regular season started two weeks later on September 21 with 12 teams including new additions Birmingham Panthers, Everton Tigers and London Capital the later of whom stepped up from EBL Division 1 during the summer.
The Guildford Heat will be looking to retain the regular season Championship crown, as well as the BBL Cup, while Plymouth Raiders will be out to defend the BBL Trophy title they won during the previous season.
The post-season Playoff's will begin in April 2008, which will conclude with the BBL Finals Weekend, where Newcastle Eagles will be looking to defend their 2007 Playoff crown.

Notable occurrences

The league features three new teams, the Birmingham Panthers and Everton Tigers, both start-up franchises, and London Capital, who stepped up from the English Basketball League.
Just two weeks before the start of the season, London United's directors announced on September 5 that they've withdrawn from all competitions for the upcoming season because of financial difficulties.
A new pre-season competition, the BBL Cup Winners' Cup, a two-legged face-off between the previous winners of the BBL Cup and the BBL Trophy, opened the new season, with Guildford Heat claiming a 176-168 aggregate win over the Plymouth Raiders.
On October 2, just days before their inaugural home game, Birmingham Panthers finally secure a deal with the University of Wolverhampton, to use their Walsall Campus as a home venue. This comes after deals with two other venues had previously fallen through, and the club were banned by the league from relocating to Telford.
Guildford made their debut in European competition (ULEB Cup) on November 6, just two years after they formed. They lost 84-68 away to Bosnians KK Bosna in Sarajevo.
During the early hours of Saturday November 10, Guildford star Brian Dux was involved in a serious car accident and slipped into a coma. He was finally rushed to hospital over two hours after his car was found, and put into immediate intensive care.
The BBL Cup Final took place at the National Indoor Arena, in Birmingham, on January 13, 2008. A sell-out crowd of over 6,000 people saw a valiant Milton Keynes Lions comeback over Newcastle Eagles to claim their first ever piece of silverware, with a 69-66 victory.
A television deal was struck on February 17 with international broadcaster Setanta Sports which, beginning with the 2008 Trophy Final, will see one game a week shown live on Setanta Sports 2 every Wednesday night at 7.15pm.
Despite having an earlier attempt to relocate to Telford blocked by the BBL, Birmingham Panthers played their first game at Telford's TCAT Arena on February 17 against Newcastle Eagles, who stormed to a 59-104 victory. The temporary move suggests the franchise may be relocating to Telford after just one season in Birmingham.
Guildford triumphed with their first ever BBL Trophy victory over Newcastle at the Plymouth Pavilions on March 2. In front of a sell-out crowd and broadcast live on Setanta Sports 2, the Heat ran out 86-79 winners in the action-packed final.

BBL Championship

Current standings

Last updated: May 1, 2008

Team	ld			ome	way	ast 5	ts
1. Newcastle Eagles	33	29	4	16-1	13-3	WWWWW	58
2. Guildford Heat	33	24	9	11-5	13-4	WWWWL	48
3. Kularoos Plymouth Raiders	33	24	9	14-2	10-7	WWLWW	48
4. Marshall MK Lions	33	19	14	10-7	9-7	LWLLL	38
5. SAMG Verve Scottish Rocks	33	18	15	10-6	8-9	LWLLW	36
6. Sheffield Sharks	33	17	16	7-9	10-6	WWWWL	34
7. Everton Tigers	33	16	17	11-6	5-11	LWLWW	32
8. Worcester Wolves	33	14	19	9-8	5-11	WLLWL	28
9. Paws London Capital	33	12	21	6-10	6-11	WWWWW	24
10. Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders	33	10	23	4-12	6-10	WLLLW	20
11. BiG Storage Cheshire Jets	33	9	24	2-14	7-9	WLLLL	18
12. Team Birmingham Panthers	33	6	27	2-14	4-13	LLWLL	12

Playoffs

The post-season Playoffs began after the end of the regular BBL Championship season on April 23. It will finish with the prestigious Finals Weekend, to be held this season at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, on May 3rd and 4th. The Semi-Finals will be contested between the Newcastle Eagles, the Marshall MK Lions, the Guildford Heat, and the Kularoos Plymouth Raiders.

Fixtures/Results

Kularoos Plymouth Raiders won the 3rd place playoff match, beating the Newcastle Eagles 96-92.

BBL Cup Winners' Cup

The 2007-08 season saw the inauguration of the BBL's newest competition, the Cup Winners' Cup. The pre-season event, between last seasons winners of the BBL Cup and BBL Trophy, was staged over two legs with the winner determined by the final aggregate score. Guildford Heat claimed the upper-hand in the first leg away to Plymouth Raiders with an 83-77 victory, despite being ahead by 18-points, Raiders kept fighting and eventually clawed the game back before losing in the final minutes.
The second leg in Guildford was an equally tight affair, but Heat's strength combined with Raiders' poor free-throw shooting, gave them a 93-91 victory, tallying up to an 176-168 win on aggregate.

Final

September 9 @ Pavilions, Plymouth - Plymouth Raiders 77-83 Guildford Heat

September 14 @ The Spectrum, Guildford - Guildford Heat 93-91 Plymouth Raiders

Heat win 176-168 on aggregate.

BBL Cup

For the 2007-08 edition of the BBL Cup, the top three ranking teams from last seasons BBL Championship - Guildford Heat, Sheffield Sharks and Newcastle Eagles - plus the Milton Keynes Lions, all received a bye into the Quarter-final, leaving the remaining eight clubs to battle it out in the First Round.

First Round

September 27 @ De Montfort University, Leicester - Leicester Riders 79-73 Birmingham Panthers

November 4 @ Braehead Arena, Glasgow - Scottish Rocks 84-55 Worcester Wolves

November 4 @ Pavilions, Plymouth - Plymouth Raiders 74-83 London Capital

November 4 @ Northgate Arena, Chester - Cheshire Jets 93-80 Everton Tigers

Quarter-finals

November 23 @ EIS, Sheffield - Sheffield Sharks 59-73 Scottish Rocks

November 25 @ The Spectrum, Guildford - Guildford Heat 107-85 Leicester Riders

November 25 @ Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle - Newcastle Eagles 96-79 Cheshire Jets

November 25 @ Capital City Academy, London - London Capital 73-78 Milton Keynes Lions

Semi-finals

December 15 @ K2 Arena, Crawley - Scottish Rocks 69-75 Newcastle Eagles

December 15 @ K2 Arena, Crawley - Milton Keynes Lions 91-80 Guildford Heat

Final

January 13 @ NIA, Birmingham - Milton Keynes Lions 69-66 Newcastle Eagles

BBL Trophy

This seasons BBL Trophy was slightly reformatted from the previous edition of the tournament. The first round now compromises of three groups of three and one group of four. Gone are the lower league clubs for the English Basketball League and Scottish Basketball League, with the exception of last years EBL Division 1 champions Worthing Thunder, who stepped in to fill the spot vacated by London United, who withdrew prior to the season opener.
Each team will play each other twice, once home and once away, and after each group campaign is completed, the top-team from each group will advance into the Semi-finals. If teams are tied on points (2 for a win, 0 for a loss), head-to-head results will come into play.

Group Stage

Group 1

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.Cheshire Jets	8	6	4	2	0.666
2.Plymouth Raiders	8	6	4	2	0.666
3.Milton Keynes Lions	6	6	3	3	0.500
4.Leicester Riders	2	6	1	5	0.166

Group 2

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.Guildford Heat	8	4	4	0	1.000
2.London Capital	4	4	2	2	0.500
3.Worthing Thunder	0	4	0	4	0.000

Group 3

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.Worcester Wolves	8	4	4	0	1.000
2.Sheffield Sharks	4	4	2	2	0.500
3.Birmingham Panthers	0	4	0	4	0.000

Group 4

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.Newcastle Eagles	6	4	3	1	0.750
2.Scottish Rocks	6	4	3	1	0.750
3.Everton Tigers	0	4	0	4	0.000

Semi-finals

February 2 @ Ponds Forge, Sheffield - Worcester Wolves 75-81 Guildford Heat

February 2 @ Ponds Forge, Sheffield - Newcastle Eagles 105-75 Cheshire Jets

Final

The Final for this season's BBL Trophy was held on March 2, 2008, at the Pavilions in Plymouth, with it being the first time the venue has hosted a major final. It was a 'North-South' final contested between Newcastle Eagles and Guildford Heat, and was broadcast live on television, on Setanta Sports 2, and also BBC Radio Newcastle.
Newcastle had been leading 47-35 at the half, but a Guildford comeback led by Most Valuable Player, EJ Harrison and Danny Gilbert, overhauled the Eagles for their first trophy of the season, after the league and cup double of last season. Harrison scored 10 of his 25 points in the closing quarter with Gilbert scoring 3 in the last minute to cement the trophy for the Heat. Lynard Stewart led all scorers in the match with 26 points, but this wasn't enough for Newcastle as Fabulous Flournoy's men went down in their second consecutive final after losing to Milton Keynes in the BBL Cup final.

Team	1	2	3	4	otal	op Scorer(s)
Northern Rock Newcastle Eagles	20	27	14	18	79	Lynard Stewart 26
Guildford Heat	21	14	30	21	86	EJ Harrison 25 [MVP] Danny Gilbert 25

Monthly awards

Month	oach	layer
October	Fabulous Flournoy (Newcastle)	Shawn Myers (Cheshire)
November	Sterling Davis (Scots Rocks)	Anthony Paez (Worcester)
December	Vince Macaulay-Razaq (Milton Keynes)	Charles Smith (Newcastle)
January	Sterling Davis (Scots Rocks)	Jayson Obazuaye (Cheshire)
February	Fabulous Flournoy (Newcastle)	Tony Dorsey (Guildford)

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