- The Independent Basketball Association (IBA) is a semi-professional men's basketball league that began play in the fall of 2011. The six charter members were Battle Creek Knights, Chicago Redline, Gary Splash, Kankakee County Soldiers, Lake County Stars and Rockford Riverdawgs.[1]
IBA play two separate seasons each calendar year: a Spring season (March–June) and a Fall season (September–January). Teams compete in one or both league competitions.
Commissioner of the IBA is Barry Bradford, president of the Kankakee County Soldiers.
History
The first league championship (2011–12) was won by the Kankakee County Soldiers, who also won the 2012 Spring season championship.
In the Spring of 2012 the league expanded beyond its midwest footprint, adding a total of seven teams: Albany Legends, Kenosha Ballers, Lansing Capitals, Los Angeles Lightning, Malibu Pirates, Springfield Xpress[2] and St. Louis Trotters.
The Holland Dream were added to the IBA for its third season in 2012-13, bringing the league total to 14 teams.
IBA and PBL joined forces in 2013, but the merger was short-lived. Travel issues, questions of league rules and other issues were too much to overcome and the two parted ways[3] before the end of the Spring season.
2013-14 began with the addition of the Windy City Blazers, who played previously as the Windy City Monsters in the ABA. Grand Rapids Fusion and Markham City Racers entered league play for the 2014 Spring season.
In the Fall season of 2014-15 four teams (Binghamton Pioneers, Jersey G-Force, Kansas City Kryptonite, and Toronto 3D) played a partial schedule in anticipation of full league membership in 2015. CyFair Cobras, Houston Xperience and Louisiana Soul also were to compete as "branding teams" in the Fall season. None played an IBA game.
In December 2014 Schenectady Legends captured their first IBA championship, defeating Kenosha 154-137.[4] Albany High School graduate Lloyd "Pooh" Johnson score an IBA championship game record 61 points and was named the game MVP.[5]
Kankakee County won their league-best sixth championship in the Fall of 2015 by avenging their finals loss to St. Louis for the Spring title.
Teams
Team City Arena Founded First season in IBA Grand Rapids Fusion Grand Rapids, Michigan City High Middle School 2014 2014 Illinois Hoopville Warriors Belleville, Illinois Hoopville Athletic Center 2010 2016 International Racers Lemont, Illinois Lithuanian World Center 2014 2014 Kankakee County Soldiers Kankakee, Illinois KVPD RecCenter 2007 2011 Kenosha Ballers Kenosha, Wisconsin Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha 1995 2012 Los Angeles Lightning Thousand Oaks, California Gilbert Sports Arena 2007 2012 Malibu Pirates Moorpark, California Moorpark High School 2012 2012 Rockford Riverdawgs Loves Park, Illinois Clinton Sports Complex 2010 2011 Schenectady Legends Scotia, New York Scotia-Glenville High School 2010 2015 St. Louis Trotters St. Louis, Missouri Mathews-Dickey Boy's & Girl's Club 1970 2011 Windy City Blazers Aurora, Illinois Prisco Community Center 2011 2013 Former teams
^ = affiliate members (did not compete for championships)Team City Arena Founded Last season in IBA Battle Creek Flight Battle Creek, Michigan Kellogg Arena 2004 2011 Binghamton Pioneers ^ Binghamton, New York Binghamton High School 2014 2014 Chicago Redline Chicago, Illinois Calument Park Recreation Center 2011 2013 Gary Splash Gary, Indiana Genesis Convention Center 2010 2013 Holland Dream Holland, Michigan Holland Civic Center 2005 2012 Jersey G-Force ^ Union City, New Jersey Union City Sports Complex 2011 2014 Kansas City Kryptonite ^ Kansas City, Kansas travel team 2014 2014 Lake County Stars Deerfield, Illinois Trinity International University 2011 2014 Lansing Capitals Dimondale, Michigan Aim High Sports 2006 2014 Springfield Xpress Springfield, Illinois Lanphier High School 2012 2013 Toronto 3D ^ Toronto, Ontario The RISE Centre 2014 2014
Champions
Season Champion Runner-up Result 2011 Fall Kankakee County Soldiers Gary Splash 2-0 (best-of 3 series) 2012 Spring Kankakee County Soldiers Albany Legends 150-116 2012 Fall Kankakee County Soldiers Battle Creek Knights 2-1 (best-of 3 series) 2013 Spring Kankakee County Soldiers Gary Splash 116-99 2013 Fall Kankakee County Soldiers St. Louis Trotters 118-112 2014 Spring Grand Rapids Fusion Markham City Racers 104-92[6] 2014 Fall Schenectady Legends Kenosha Ballers 154-137 2015 Spring St. Louis Trotters Kankakee County Soldiers 100-85 2015 Fall Kankakee County Soldiers St. Louis Trotters 95-81 2016 Spring TBD TBD Awards
Season League MVP Defensive Player of the Year Coach of the Year General Manager of the Year 2011 Fall Ryan Edwards, Kankakee County Soldiers Chris Wesby, Gary Splash Barry Bradford, Kankakee County Soldiers Melvin Smith, Rockford Riverdawgs 2012 Fall Billy Baptist, Kankakee County Soldiers Thomas Cobbs, Kenosha Ballers Terry Sare, Battle Creek Knights Barry Bradford, Kankakee County Soldiers 2013 Fall Ryan Edwards, Kankakee County Soldiers Willie Davis, St. Louis Trotters Harold Webster, St. Louis Trotters Barry Bradford, Kankakee County Soldiers 2014 Fall Lloyd Johnson, Schenectady Legends Nicholas Reed, St. Louis Trotters Scott Knapp, Schenectady Legends Mike Ceolho, Schenectady Legends 2015 Fall Jay Bradford, Kankakee County Soldiers Barry Bradford, Kankakee County Soldiers References
- "Battle Creek Knights to join new league". USbasket. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
- "New basketball league brings hoops to Springfield". Illinois Times. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
- "The nasty breakup and the online sniping". Times Union. 3 June 2013.
- "Schenectady Legends Win First IBA Championship". USbasket. 14 December 2014.
- "Knapp goes undefeated in first season as coach". The Daily Gazette. 17 December 2014.
A blog for fans of the sport of basketball,whether you're a fan of the NBA,the WNBA,college basketball,or the various other professional leagues out there, like the D-League
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Independent Basketball Association From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment