Blue Conference

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The Blue Conference is the Eastern Conference in the American Basketball Association (ABA). The league also has a Red Conference and a White Conference. The colors were chosen to represent the colors in the leagues' well-known red, white and blue ball.

Contents

[edit] 2005-2006 Season

[edit] Roger Brown Division

The Roger Brown Division is a divisions in the Blue Conference (the east) in the ABA. All divisions in the league beginning in 2005 were named after a former American Basketball Association (ABA) outstanding player. The Roger Brown division included the Harlem Strong Dogs, the Strong Island Sound, the Montreal Matrix, the Newark Express and the Boston Frenzy during the 2005-2006 season. The division was named after the former American Basketball Association player, Roger Brown. Newark and Harlem were the two strongest teams in the first half, but Harlem broke ahead for first place. Newark fell to Long Island and Montreal late in the season, but was able to catch up to Montreal once again. The Boston Frenzy, which was the only team that wasn't an expansion franchise this year only won two games. Despite their poor record, the Frenzy still got into the playoffs as a wildcard team because of the number of games they had played. Every team in this division made the playoffs this year, although only Newark got a bye week the first round (because the Tacoma Navigators, their first round opponent forfeited the game). Newark lost their playoff game to the 2005-2006 Champions, the Rochester Razorsharks. Long Island won their first two playoffs games against Harlem and then Indiana, but lost to the SoCal Legends in the semi-finals in Rochester. Montreal lost their first playoff game in their innagural season to the Maryland Nighthawks.

[edit] Final Standings

Logo Team Wins Losses Win/Loss
Harlem Strong Dogs 19 13 .594
Strong Island Sound 16 14 .533
Montreal Matrix 15 16 .484
Newark Express 14 16 .467
Boston Frenzy 2 21 .087

All teams in the Roger Brown division made it to the playoffs. Boston lost in their wild card game and Newark advanced from their wild card game because of a forfeit and Montreal won their wild card game to advance.

[edit] Connie Hawkins Division

The Connie Hawkins Division was one of the divisions in the Blue Conference (the east) in the American Basketball Association (ABA). It included the Rochester Razorsharks, the Maryland Nighthawks, the Buffalo Rapids and the Baltimore Pearls. It previously included the NEPA Breakers and the Niagara Daredevils, but both teams folded during the 2005-2006 season. Connie Hawkins, the division's namesake, is a former ABA and NBA player and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Buffalo, Maryland and Rochester made it to the playoffs this season. Maryland was the only franchise that was not an expansion team (including NEPA and Niagara). The Maryland Nighthawks were an expansion team the previous season, originally intended to play as the Hershey Nighthawks somewhere in the Harrisburg region, but before they began moving were moved to Maryland. This year the Nighthawks were moved again, but within the state to Montgomery County. They saw a lot of success from the team who had all-stars: Randy Gill, Lawrence Moten and Ray Cunningham. Moten announced that he was ending his professional basketball career at the end of the Nighthawks season, after their second round playoff loss to the SoCal Legends. The Baltimore Pearls had a rough season, winning only two of their games and being forced to move into the division as a result of the loss of teams in their original division to the south. The Buffalo Rapids started out their season, looking like they would be a tough regional opponent to the Rochester Razorsharks, but struggled later in the season. Although Buffalo was able to get into the playoffs, they suffered a two-point defeat against the Atlanta Vision. Although Buffalo had a mediocre record, they had many close games against their opponents with stellar players such as Brad Buddenborg and all-star Tim Winn. The ABA champions, the Rochester Razorsharks, with some losses early and with the undefeated Indiana Alleycats were an outstanding team that was overlooked. They were able to pull into first place in the league standings at the end of the season with a number of outstanding players including all-star, championship MVP and league MVP, Chris Carrawell. The Razorsharks beat the SoCal Legends 117-114, after trailing most of the game in front of a loud recordbreaking crowd of 6,377 at Blue Cross Arena.

[edit] Final Standings

Logo Team Wins Losses Win/Loss
Rochester Razorsharks 24 04 .857
Maryland Nighthawks 24 10 .706
Buffalo Rapids 11 16 .407
Baltimore Pearls 2 23 .080

Baltimore was the only team in the Connie Hawkins division that did not advanced to the playoffs.

[edit] Barnes-Malone Division

The Marvin Barnes Division and the Moses Malone division were merged during the season as most of the teams in these divisions folded or changed leagues. The two divisions had teams in the southeast United States. By the end of the season only three teams were left in the two merged divisions and the Atlanta Vision were the league leaders and went to the playoffs, where they lost to the Rochester Razorsharks in the quarter finals.

[edit] Final Standings

Logo Team Wins Losses Win/Loss
Atlanta Vision 15 07 .682
Birmingham Magicians 06 13 .316
Mississippi Stingers 02 09 .182

The Atlanta Vision were the only team from the merged Barnes-Malone division to advance to the playoffs.

[edit] Playoffs

  • Blue Conference teams in black


  Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals ABA Championship
                                     
1  Rochester Razorsharks 126  
9  Newark Express 98  
  1  Rochester Razorsharks 104  
    7  Atlanta Vision 85  
7  Atlanta Vision 99
15  Buffalo Rapids 97  
  1  Rochester Razorsharks 106  
  3  San Jose Skyrockets 103  
6  Pittsburgh Xplosion 115  
10  Bellingham Slam 122  
  10  Bellingham Slam 119
    3  San Jose Skyrockets 138  
3  San Jose Skyrockets 132
18  Los Angeles Aftershock 90  
  1  Rochester Razorsharks 117
  4  SoCal Legends 114
2  Indiana Alley Cats 117  
11  Toledo Ice 103  
  2  Indiana Alley Cats 126
    13  Strong Island Sound 128  
8  Harlem Strong Dogs 107
13  'Strong Island Sound 112  
  13  Strong Island Sound 110
  4  SoCal Legends 123  
5  Maryland Nighthawks 145  
12  Montreal Matrix 114  
  5  Maryland Nighthawks 121
    4  SoCal Legends 123  
4  SoCal Legends 97
14  Beijing Aoshen Olympian 95  

[edit] Wild Card Round

  • Includes wild card games with Blue Conference teams only

[edit] Division Changes

Changes to the teams that were in the division were: Harlem moved to Florida as the Tampa Bay Strong Dogs and Boston moved to Cape Cod as the Cape Cod Frenzy. As a result of expansion teams and lost teams throughout the league there were division realignments during the offseason in 2006. The new Northern Division includes teams from the Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown divisions. Rochester and Buffalo were added to the northern division from the Connie Hawkins Division and Montreal and Boston (which became the Cape Cod Frenzy) joined from the Roger Brown division. The Northern division also had the addition of two expansion teams: Quebec City and Vermont. The new Central Division kept the remaining teams from the Connie Hawkins and Roger Brown divisions, which naturally were further south. This left Long Island, Newark, Maryland, and Baltimore. Harlem moved their franchise to Tampa Bay and has decided to sit a season out. Three expansion franchises were added to the Central Division: Wilmington, Richmond, and Brooklyn. The south saw the greatest changes as these divisions saw growth during the offseason. The Birmingham Magicians decided to sit out a season and planned to resume during the 2007-2008 season. Atlanta and Mississippi (who changed their name to the Miracles) remained in a division together, the Southern Division. This division saw expansion teams from Knoxville, Southern Alabama, and Tennessee introduced. The Southeast Division or Florida Division is completely expansion teams consisting of Miami, Palm Beach, Orlando and Jacksonville. Florida saw ABA teams throughout its history including the Floridians in the old ABA and the Jacksonville Wave and Florida Pit Bulls, the former who folded and the later left the league during the playoffs last season.

[edit] 2006-2007 Season

[edit] Northern Division

The teams in the Northern Division are the:

[edit] Final Standings

Logo Team Wins Losses Win/Loss
Vermont Frost Heaves 30 6 .833
Rochester Razorsharks 24 6 .800
Buffalo Silverbacks 16 10 .615
Quebec City Kebekwa 18 15 .545
Cape Cod Frenzy 10 22 .313
Montreal Matrix 6 22 .214

[edit] Central Division

The teams in the Central Division are:

[edit] Final Standings

Logo Team Wins Losses Win/Loss
Wilmington Sea Dawgs 19 8 .704
Strong Island Sound 20 12 .625
*Brooklyn Wonders (ended season early) 8 5 .615
*Baltimore Pearls (ended season early) 1 1 .500
Maryland Nighthawks 15 17 .469
*Richmond Ballerz (ended season early) 4 8 .333
Newark Express 4 23 .148

[edit] Southern Division

The teams in the Southern Division are the:

[edit] Final Standings

Logo Team Wins Losses Win/Loss
Mississippi Miracles 20 10 .667
Tennessee Mud Frogs 10 16 .385
*Knoxville Noise (ended season early) 5 10 .333
Atlanta Vision 9 19 .321
Southern Alabama Bounce 8 22 .267

[edit] Florida Division

The teams in the Florida Division or Southeast Division are the:

[edit] Final Standings

Logo Team Wins Losses Win/Loss
Jacksonville Jam 28 8 .788
Palm Beach Imperials 10 17 .370
Orlando Aces 9 19 .321

[edit] Playoffs

  • Blue Conference teams in black


  Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals ABA Championship
                                     
1  Vermont Frost Heaves 103  
12  Strong Island Sound 75  
  1  Vermont Frost Heaves 119  
    9  Bellingham Slam 103  
9  Bellingham Slam 137
16  Hollywood Fame 103  
  1  Vermont Frost Heaves 113  
  8  Wilmington SeaDawgs 85  
10  Mississippi Miracles NA  
4  Bye (Minnesota did not play) NA  
  10  Mississippi Miracles 112
    8  Wilmington SeaDawgs 130  
3  Rochester RazorSharks cancelled
8  Wilmington SeaDawgs cancelled  
  1  Vermont Frost Heaves 143
  2  Texas Tycoons 95
6  Beijing Aoshen Olympian 100  
11  San Diego Wildcats 97  
  6  Beijing Aoshen Olympian 121
    13  Buffalo Silverbacks 109  
5  Jacksonville Jam 91
13  Buffalo Silverbacks 100  
  6  Beijing Aoshen Olympian 114
  2  Texas Tycoons 126  
7  Quad City Riverhawks NA  
15  Bye (Quebec did not play) NA  
  7  Quad City Riverhawks 123
    2  Texas Tycoons 125  
2  Texas Tycoons cancelled
14  Detroit Panthers cancelled  

[edit] 2007-2008 Season

[edit] Northern Division

The teams in the Northern Division are the:

[edit] Central Division

The teams in the Central Division are:

[edit] Southern Division

The teams in the Southern Division are the:

[edit] Florida Division

The teams in the Florida Division or Southeast Division are the:


[edit] External links