Wikipedia

1996–97 British Basketball League season

The 1996–97 BBL season was known as the Budweiser League for sponsorship reasons. The league retained a total of 13 teams, playing 36 games each. The main change featured the return of Crystal Palace after several seasons of rejected applications. Palace replaced Doncaster Panthers following the liquidation of the South Yorkshire club.[1]

1996–97 BBL season
LeagueBritish Basketball League
SportBasketball
Roll of Honour
BBL championsLeopards
Play Off's championsLondon Towers
National Cup championsLeopards
BBL Trophy championsLondon Towers
British Basketball League seasons

The League's two London-based teams dominated throughout the season, with the Leopards team claiming their first silverware in its franchise history after winning the Budweiser League and Sainsbury's Classic Cola Cup double. Their Capital foes, London Towers were equally successful throughout the campaign, clinching the 7 Up Trophy and pipping Leopards to the play-off title, with a one-point victory in the final at Wembley Arena against their rivals.

Budweiser League Championship (Tier 1)

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Final standings

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Pos Team Pld W L % Pts
1 Leopards 36 28 8 0.778 56
2 London Towers 36 26 10 0.722 52
3 Sheffield Sharks 36 26 10 0.722 52
4 Birmingham Bullets 36 26 10 0.722 52
5 Chester Jets 36 24 12 0.667 48
6 Manchester Giants 36 22 14 0.611 44
7 Newcastle Eagles 36 21 15 0.583 42
8 Leicester Riders 36 15 21 0.416 30
9 Derby Storm 36 14 22 0.389 28
10 Thames Valley Tigers 36 14 22 0.389 28
11 Worthing Bears 36 12 24 0.333 24
12 Crystal Palace 36 5 31 0.138 10
13 Hemel & Watford Royals 36 2 34 0.055 4
= League winners
= Qualified for the play-offs

Playoffs

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Quarter-finals

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(1) Leopards vs. (8) Leicester Riders

12 April 1997
Leicester Riders 122–130 Leopards
13 April 1997
Leopards 114–105 Leicester Riders
Leopards wins series, 2–0

(2) London Towers vs. (7) Newcastle Eagles

11 April 1997
Newcastle Eagles 79–91 London Towers
15 April 1997
London Towers 70–80 Newcastle Eagles
20 April 1997
London Towers 96–80 Newcastle Eagles
London wins series, 2–1

(3) Sheffield Sharks vs. (6) Manchester Giants

13 April 1997
Manchester Giants 72–77 Sheffield Sharks
15 April 1997
Sheffield Sharks 74–68 Manchester Giants
Sheffield wins series, 2–0

(4) Birmingham Bullets vs. (5) Chester Jets

13 April 1997
Chester Jets 86–78 Birmingham Bullets
16 April 1997
Birmingham Bullets 82–72 Chester Jets
18 April 1997
Birmingham Bullets 78–81 Chester Jets
Chester wins series, 2–1

Semi-finals

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3 May 1997
Leopards 102–101 Chester Jets
3 May 1997
London Towers 80–72 Sheffield Sharks

Final

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4 May 1997
London Towers 89–88 Leopards
Pts: Keith Robinson (MVP) 25, Danny Lewis 22, Neville Austin 11, Roger Duhaney, Tony Windless, Alan Cunningham, Paul Deppisch, Karl Brown Pts: Eric Burks 22, Ronnie Baker 20, Tim Davis 16, Robert Youngblood, John Tresvant, John White
Wembley Arena, London
Attendance: ?
Towers coach Kevin Cadle
Leopards coach Billy Mims

National League Division 1 (Tier 2)

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Final standings

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Pos Team Pld W L % Pts
1 Ware Rebels 26 21 5 0.808 47
2 Plymouth Raiders 26 20 6 0.769 46
3 Coventry Crusaders 26 18 8 0.693 44
4 Guildford Swifts 26 18 8 0.693 44
5 Oxford Devils 26 16 10 0.615 42
6 Westminster Warriors 26 15 11 0.578 41
7 Stockton Mohawks 26 14 12 0.538 40
8 Cardiff Phoenix 26 14 12 0.538 40
9 Nottingham Knights 26 12 14 0.462 37
10 Bury & Bolton Wildcats 26 11 15 0.423 36
11 Mid-Sussex Magic 26 10 16 0.385 36
12 Brixton TopCats 26 7 19 0.269 33
13 Liverpool Atac 26 6 20 0.231 32
14 Solent Stars 26 0 26 0.000 26
= League winners
= Qualified for the play-offs

Playoffs

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Semi-finals

19 April 1997
Plymouth Raiders 56–48 Coventry Crusaders
20 April 1997
Ware Rebels 83–77 Oxford Devils

Final

National League Division 2 (Tier 3)

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Final standings

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Pos Team Pld W L % Pts
1 Solihull Chiefs 26 25 1 0.962 51
2 London Towers II 26 22 4 0.846 48
3 Thames Valley Tigers II 26 20 6 0.769 46
4 South Wales SS 26 17 9 0.654 43
5 South Bank Leopards 26 15 11 0.578 41
6 Derby Storm II 26 15 11 0.578 41
7 Slough Chargers 26 14 12 0.538 40
8 Northampton 89ers 26 11 15 0.423 37
9 Aston Adante 26 9 17 0.346 35
10 Swindon Sonics 26 8 18 0.308 34
11 Flintshire Flyers 26 7 19 0.269 33
12 Chessington Wildcats 26 7 19 0.269 33
13 Sheffield Forgers 26 6 20 0.231 31
14 Bournemouth Dolphins 26 5 21 0.192 30
= League winners
= Qualified for the play-offs

Playoffs

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Final

Thames Valley Tigers II 91–83 Solihull Chiefs

Sainsbury's Classic Cola National Cup

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Fourth round

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Team 1 Team 2 Score
Manchester Giants Crystal Palace 91-61
Coventry Crusaders Sheffield Sharks 56-86
Birmingham Bullets Hemel & Watford Royals 91-84
Cardiff Phoenix London Towers 55-95
Ware Rebels Newcastle Eagles 70-102
Thames Valley Tigers Derby Storm 80-79
Worthing Bears Leicester Riders 74-84
Chester Jets Leopards 103-112

Quarter-finals

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Team 1 Team 2 Score
Sheffield Sharks Leicester Riders 103-98
London Towers Manchester Giants 83-74
Newcastle Eagles Birmingham Bullets 99-93
Thames Valley Tigers Leopards 87-102

Semi-finals

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Team 1 Team 2 1st Leg 2nd Leg
Sheffield Sharks Newcastle Eagles 91-80 75-84
Leopards London Towers 93-92 72-70

Final

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19 January 1997[2]
Leopards 87–79 Sheffield Sharks
Pts: Eric Burks (MVP) 28, John White 28, Robert Youngblood 16, John Tresvant, Tim Davis, Ronnie Baker Pts: Roger Huggins 26, Voise Winters 19, Todd Cauthorn, Deon Hames, Isaac Morgan, Ian McKinney, Jason Swaine, Chris Finch
Sheffield Arena
Attendance: ?
Leopards coach Billy Mims
Sheffield coach Jim Brandon

7 Up Trophy

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Group stage

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Northern Group

Team Pts Pld W L Percent
1.Sheffield Sharks 10 5 5 0 1.000
2.Chester Jets 8 5 4 1 0.800
3.Leicester Riders 4 5 2 3 0.400
4.Manchester Giants 4 5 2 3 0.400
5.Derby Storm 2 5 1 4 0.200
6.Newcastle Eagles 2 5 1 4 0.200

Southern Group

Team Pts Pld W L Percent
1.Leopards 10 5 5 0 1.000
2.Thames Valley Tigers 6 5 3 2 0.600
3.Worthing Bears 6 5 3 2 0.600
4.Birmingham Bullets 6 5 3 2 0.600
5.Crystal Palace 2 5 1 4 0.400
6.Hemel & Watford Royals 0 5 0 5 0.000

Leicester finished ahead of Manchester by having the best head-to-head record between the teams, whilst Birmingham qualify as fourth-placed finishers with the best record. London received a bye into Quarter-finals.

Quarter-finals

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Birmingham Bullets vs. Leicester Riders

Leicester Riders 69–79 Birmingham Bullets
Leicester win on aggregate, 164–156

Leopards vs. London Towers

London Towers 92–90 Leopards
London win on aggregate, 203–169

Thames Valley Tigers vs. Chester Jets

Chester Jets 89–89 Thames Valley Tigers
Chester win on aggregate, 180–174

Worthing Bears vs. Sheffield Sharks

Sheffield Sharks 97–85 Worthing Bears
Sheffield win on aggregate, 180–166

Semi-finals

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Chester Jets vs. Leicester Riders

Leicester Riders 92–93 Chester Jets
Chester win on aggregate, 185–180

Sheffield Sharks vs. London Towers

London Towers 80–71 Sheffield Sharks
London win on aggregate, 154–146

Final

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2 March 1997[3]
London Towers 67–59 Chester Jets
Pts: Karl Brown (MVP) 16, Neville Austin 14, Danny Lewis 13, Tony Windless 11, Keith Robinson, Alan Cunningham, Paul Deppisch Pts: Hillary Scott 16, Billy Singleton 15, Ricardo Leonard 11, Russ Saunders 10, Nigel Palmer, Mark Ogley
National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham
Attendance: ?
Towers coach Kevin Cadle
Chester coach Mike Burton

Seasonal awards

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References

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  1. ^ ""Final place in Olympic team goes to Elliott." Times [London, England] 25 June 1996". The Times Digital Archive.
  2. ^ "Nicholas Harling. "Leopards' leap puts them out of reach." Times [London, England] 20 January 1997". The Times Digital Archive.
  3. ^ "Nicholas Harling. "Towers' strength in defence keeps grip on trophy." Times [London, England] 3 March 1997". The Times Digital Archive.
Preceded by BBL seasons
1996–97 		Succeeded by
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