2002–03 British Basketball League season

2002–2003 British Basketball League season
League	British Basketball League
Sport	Basketball
Roll of Honour
BBL champions	Sheffield Sharks
Play Off's champions	Scottish Rocks
National Cup champions	Brighton Bears
BBL Trophy champions	Chester Jets

The 2002-03 season was the 16th campaign in the history of the British Basketball League.

Teams

Locations of the 2002–03 BBL teams

Team	City/Area	Arena	Capacity	Last season
Birmingham Bullets	Birmingham	Aston Events Centre	2,000	5th (South)
Brighton Bears	Brighton	Brighton Centre & Burgess Hill Triangle	3,600 1,800	2nd (South)
Chester Jets	Chester	Northgate Arena	1,000	1st (North)
Essex Leopards	Brentwood	Brentwood Centre	2,000	4th (South)
Leicester Riders	Loughborough	Loughborough University	1,000	5th (North)
London Towers	London	Crystal Palace National Sports Centre	3,500	1st (South)
Milton Keynes Lions	Milton Keynes	Bletchley Centre	800	3rd (North)
Newcastle Eagles	Newcastle upon Tyne	Telewest Arena	6,500	3rd (North)
Scottish Rocks	Glasgow	Braehead Arena	4,000	4th (North)
Sheffield Sharks	Sheffield	Hallam FM Arena & Ponds Forge	8,500 1,600	2nd (North)
Thames Valley Tigers	Bracknell	John Nike Sports Centre	1,000	6th (South)

Notable occurrences

Attracted by the opening of the brand-new 4,000-seat Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Edinburgh Rocks uprooted from their aging Meadowbank venue in Edinburgh and moved 45 miles west to Scotland's largest city Glasgow, and rebranded as the Scottish Rocks.^[1] The move received a mixed response from fans; whilst many said that the move would not work, the official supporters club backed the franchise's decision.^[2]
Although based in Brentwood, Essex for the past two years, Greater London Leopards eventually rebranded the franchise as the Essex Leopards prior to the season starting.
Due to a decreasing membership, the league abolished the Conference system it had imposed for the past three seasons and returned the regular single-league table set-up, with the top eight teams progressing to the play-offs.

BBL Championship (Tier 1)

Final standings

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percentage
1. Sheffield Sharks	66	40	33	7	0.825
2. Brighton Bears	60	40	30	10	0.750
3. Chester Jets	56	40	28	12	0.700
4. Thames Valley Tigers	52	40	26	14	0.650
5. Newcastle Eagles	50	40	25	15	0.625
6. Scottish Rocks	44	40	22	18	0.550
7. London Towers	38	40	19	21	0.475
8. Milton Keynes Lions	24	40	12	28	0.300
9. Birmingham Bullets	22	40	11	29	0.275
10. Essex Leopards	22	40	11	29	0.275
11. Leicester Riders	6	40	3	37	0.075

	= League winners
	= Qualified for the Play-offs

The Play-offs

Quarter-finals			Semi-finals			Final


1	Sheffield Sharks	90 (OT)

8	Milton Keynes Lions	83
			1	Sheffield Sharks	74

			6	Scottish Rocks	76
3	Chester Jets	84

6	Scottish Rocks	89
						6	Scottish Rocks	83

						2	Brighton Bears	76
2	Brighton Bears	89

7	London Towers	82
			'2	Brighton Bears	88

			5	Newcastle Eagles	83
4	Thames Valley Tigers	85

5	Newcastle Eagles	101

Quarter-finals

April 19, 2003

Sheffield Sharks

90–83 (OT)

Milton Keynes Lions

Ponds Forge, Sheffield

April 19, 2003

Chester Jets

84–89

Scottish Rocks

Northgate Arena, Chester

April 19, 2003

Thames Valley Tigers

85–101

Newcastle Eagles

John Nike Sports Centre, Bracknell

April 20, 2003

Brighton Bears

89–82

London Towers

Brighton Centre, Brighton

Semi-finals

May 3, 2003

Brighton Bears

88–83

Newcastle Eagles

National Indoor Arena, Birmingham

May 3, 2003

Sheffield Sharks

74–76

Scottish Rocks

National Indoor Arena, Birmingham

Final

May 4, 2003
5.00pm GMT

Report

Brighton Bears	76–83	Scottish Rocks
Scoring by quarter: 23-18, 25-28, 20-20, 8-17
Pts: Sterling Davis 18, Ralph Blalock 17, Rico Alderson 13		Pts: Shawn Myers 26, Stephan Sheckles 14, Ryan Huntley 13, Billy Singleton 13

National Indoor Arena, Birmingham

National League Conference (Tier 2)

Final standings

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L
1. Teesside Mohawks	42	22	21	1
2. Plymouth Raiders	36	22	18	4
3. Reading Rockets	32	22	16	6
4. Worthing Thunder	30	22	15	7
5. Manchester Magic	24	22	12	10
6. Kingston Wildcats	22	22	11	11
7. Sutton Pumas	22	22	11	11
8. Oxford Devils	22	22	11	11
9. Solent Stars	14	22	7	15
10. Ware Rebels	8	22	4	18
11. Hackney White Heat	6	22	3	19
12. Coventry Crusaders	6	22	3	19

	= League winners
	= Qualified for the Play-offs

National Cup

Last 16

Team 1	Team 2	Score
Kingston Wildcats	Essex Leopards	73-102
Manchester Magic	Birmingham Bullets	82-85
Teesside Mohawks	Leicester Riders	98-97
Scottish Rocks	Chester Jets	63-88
Solent Stars	Brighton Bears	60-99
Sheffield Sharks	Newcastle Eagles	78-80
Plymouth Raiders	Thames Valley Tigers	71-113
Milton Keynes Lions	London Towers	84-98

Quarter Finals

Team 1	Team 2	Score
Birmingham Bullets	Chester Jets	94-98
Essex Leopards	London Towers	89-100 OT
Brighton Bears	Newcastle Eagles	91-73
Teesside Mohawks	Thames Valley Tigers	84-111

Semi Finals

Team 1	Team 2	Score
Chester Jets	Thames Valley Tigers	96-76
London Towers	Brighton Bears	80-84

Final

12 January 2003

Brighton Bears	89–79	Chester Jets
Pts: Wilbur Johnson (MVP) 24, Ralph Blalock 22, Sterling Davis 15		Pts: John McCord 28, Kenny Gregory 25, Pero Cameron 15

National Indoor Arena

BBL Trophy

This season's BBL Trophy featured all 11 BBL teams plus one invited teams from the English Basketball League, the Teesside Mohawks to bring the total number of teams divided evenly. The First Round saw all 12 teams split into four regionalised groups with the top finishing team advancing to the Semi-finals.

Group Stage

Northern Group 1

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.Chester Jets	6	4	3	1	0.750
2.Sheffield Sharks	6	4	3	1	0.750
3.Leicester Riders	0	4	0	4	0.000

Southern Group 1

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.Birmingham Bullets	6	4	3	1	0.750
2.Essex Leopards	4	4	2	2	0.500
3.Milton Keynes Lions	2	4	1	3	0.250

Northern Group 2

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.Newcastle Eagles	8	4	4	0	1.000
2.Scottish Rocks	4	4	2	2	0.500
3.Teesside Mohawks	0	4	0	4	0.000

Southern Group 2

Team	Pts	Pld	W	L	Percent
1.London Towers	4	4	2	2	0.500
2.Thames Valley Tigers	4	4	2	2	0.500
3.Brighton Bears	4	4	2	2	0.500

Semi-finals

February 8, 2003

Chester Jets

97–89

Newcastle Eagles

Aston Events Centre, Birmingham

February 8, 2003

Birmingham Bullets

62–86

London Towers

Aston Events Centre, Birmingham

Final

March 15, 2003

Report

Chester Jets	84–82	London Towers
Scoring by quarter: 30-26, 26-17, 13-22, 15-17
Pts: Kenny Gregory 24, Todd Cauthorn 19, John McCord 16		Pts: Kendrick Warren 21, Theo Dixon 18, Shaheen Holloway 15

Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield

Statistics leaders

Category	Player	Stat
Points per game	Kenny Gregory (Chester Jets)	24.7
Rebounds per game	David Fisher (Essex Leopards)	10.5
Assists per game	John Thomas (Chester Jets)	7.3

References

↑ Mark Woods (2002-07-04). "Rocks leave Edinburgh behind". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2009-11-28.
↑ Gordon Scott (2002-06-19). "Rocks fan club would back team in Glasgow". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 2009-11-28.

Preceded by 2001–02 season	BBL seasons 2002–03	Succeeded by 2003–04 season

British Basketball League
Bristol Flyers Cheshire Phoenix Glasgow Rocks Leeds Force Leicester Riders London Lions Manchester Giants Newcastle Eagles Plymouth Raiders Sheffield Sharks Surrey Scorchers Worcester Wolves
Competitions	BBL Championship (Play-off Finals) BBL Cup BBL Trophy Cup Winners' Cup (defunct) Women's British Basketball League
Seasons	1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17
Awards	Individual: Coach of the Year Most Valuable Player Team: British Team of the Year Defensive Team of the Year Team of the Year
Other	BBL TV Expansion British Basketball Union English Basketball League Scottish Basketball Championship National Cup National Basketball League

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