International Basketball League

This article is about the International Basketball League formed in 2004. For the original unrelated league formed in 1999, see International Basketball League (1999-2001).
International Basketball League (IBL)

International Basketball League Logo
Sport Basketball
Founded 2004
Inaugural season 2005
Ceased 2014
No. of teams 13
Countries  United States
Continent FIBA Americas (Americas)
Last champion(s) Bellingham Slam (2014)
Most titles Bellingham Slam (4)
Official website IBL.com

The International Basketball League (IBL) was a semi-professional men's basketball league featuring teams from the West Coast. In 2010 the Albany Legends became the first team in the Northeastern United States to join. The IBL have also featured teams from China and Japan which temporarily relocated to the United States for the IBL season. The IBL season typically runs from the end of March through July.

History

Founded by Portland area sports promoter Mikal Duilio,[1] the league features rules designed to create a fast-paced, high-scoring brand of basketball. Duilio first began planning for the league with a series of test games in Portland and Seattle in November 2003. These games featured a mixture of traditional college and NBA rules, plus three rules created specifically for the league:

The test games proved popular and resulted in the founding of the IBL in August 2004. Founded with 8 teams, the league expanded to 17 by the start of the season in April 2005. Each team played approximately 20 regular season games, most of them centered around their home region, with the teams with the two best records playing in a championship game at the end of the season. The Battle Creek Knights won the inaugural title by going undefeated in the regular season and beating the Dayton Jets in the finals.

In the league's first year, the up-tempo rules resulted in the average team scoring 126.9 points per game, nearly 30 points more than the NBA team average in 2004-05, and slightly higher than the NBA record for points per game by a team in a single season, set by the Denver Nuggets in 1981-82.

In 2010, the league launched a Winter season which saw nine different teams compete. Four teams played an entire schedule and thus made them eligible for the playoffs.[2]

In July 2011, Duilio sold the league to Vancouver, Washington, businessman Bryan Hunter.[3] Sharleen Graf was appointed as the league's new commissioner.[4]

In March 2014 the IBL combined with the West Coast Basketball League (WCBL).[5] Teams were split into an 'International Conference' and 'Continental Conference' based on geography.

Teams

Joined other leagues

Teams history

IBL Champions

Year Champion Score Runner-Up
2005 Battle Creek Knights 124-121 Dayton Jets
2006 Elkhart Express 119-108 (OT) Columbus Cyclones
2007 Elkhart Express 113-109 Portland Chinooks
2008 Bellingham Slam 118-111 Elkhart Express
2009 Los Angeles Lightning 2-1 (best-of 3) Oregon Waves
2010 Summer Albany Legends 126-111 Bellingham Slam
2010 Winter Kankakee County Soldiers 88-87 Gary Splash
2011 Vancouver Volcanoes 124-116 Edmonton Energy
2012 Bellingham Slam 142-109 Portland Chinooks
2013 Bellingham Slam 117-114 Vancouver Volcanoes
2014 Bellingham Slam 143-126 Vancouver Volcanoes

Championships by club

Team Championships Summer Seasons Winter Seasons
Bellingham Slam 4 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014
Elkhart Express 2 2006, 2007
Battle Creek Knights 1 2005
Los Angeles Lightning 1 2009
Albany Legends 1 2010
Kankakee County Soldiers 1 2010
Vancouver Volcanoes 1 2011

Notable people

Commissioners

Players

Coaches

Final regular season standings

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, December 29, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.