2002–03 British Basketball League season

2002–03 BBL season British Basketball League Basketball Roll of Honour BBL Sheffield Sharks Play Off's Scottish Rocks National Cup Brighton Bears BBL Trophy Chester Jets List of British Basketball League seasons British Basketball League 2001–02 2003–04 The 2002–03 BBL season was the 16th campaign in the history of the British Basketball League. Teams United Kingdom right 250 Locations of the 2002–03 BBL teams United Kingdom 52.498 -1.893 Bullets left United Kingdom 50.84294 0.131312 Bears left United Kingdom 53.196 -2.890 Jets left United Kingdom 51.620355 0.305006 Leopards right United Kingdom 52.466 -1.1343 Riders right United Kingdom 51.2508 0.0407 Towers right United Kingdom 51.997121 -0.723289 Lions right United Kingdom 54.963889 -1.623333 Eagles bottom United Kingdom 55.868494 -4.294044 Rocks left United Kingdom 53.398333 -1.424444 Sharks right United Kingdom 51.426 -0.749 Tigers left TeamCity/AreaArenaCapacityLast 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. Mark Woods Rocks leave Edinburgh behind http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/2093893.stm 2009-11-28 BBC Sport 2002-07-04 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. Gordon Scott Rocks fan club would back team in Glasgow Edinburgh Evening News 2002-06-19 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 PosTeamPldWL%Pts1 Sheffield Sharks 40 33 7 0.825662 Brighton Bears 40 30 10 0.75060 3 Chester Jets 40 28 12 0.70056 4 Thames Valley Tigers 40 26 14 0.65052 5 Newcastle Eagles 40 25 15 0.62550 6 Scottish Rocks 40 22 18 0.55044 7 London Towers 40 19 21 0.47538 8 Milton Keynes Lions 40 12 28 0.30024 9 Birmingham Bullets 40 11 29 0.27522 10 Essex Leopards 40 11 29 0.27522 11 Leicester Riders 40 3 37 0.0756 = League winners = Qualified for the play-offs Playoffs Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final 1 Sheffield Sharks 90 (OT) 8 Milton Keynes Lions 83 3 Chester Jets 84 6 Scottish Rocks 89 2 Brighton Bears 89 7 London Towers 82 4 Thames Valley Tigers 85 5 Newcastle Eagles 101 1 Sheffield Sharks 74 6 Scottish Rocks 76 2 Brighton Bears 88 5 Newcastle Eagles 83 6 Scottish Rocks 83 2 Brighton Bears 76 Quarter-finals #eee 19 April 2003 Sheffield Sharks 90 83 1-0 Milton Keynes Lions Ponds Forge, Sheffield 19 April 2003 Chester Jets 84 89 Scottish Rocks Northgate Arena, Chester #eee 19 April 2003 Thames Valley Tigers 85 101 Newcastle Eagles John Nike Sports Centre, Bracknell 20 April 2003 Brighton Bears 89 82 London Towers Brighton Centre, Brighton Semi-finals #eee 3 May 2003 Brighton Bears 88 83 Newcastle Eagles National Indoor Arena, Birmingham 3 May 2003 Sheffield Sharks 74 76 Scottish Rocks National Indoor Arena, Birmingham Final #eee 4 May 2003 5.00pm GMT Report Brighton Bears 76 83 23-18 25-28 20-20 8-17 Scottish Rocks Sterling Davis 18, Ralph Blalock 17, Rico Alderson 13 Shawn Myers 26, Stephan Sheckles 14, Ryan Huntley 13, Billy Singleton 13 National Indoor Arena, Birmingham National League Conference (Tier 2) Final standings PosTeamPldWL%Pts1 Teesside Mohawks 22 21 1 0.955422 Plymouth Raiders 22 18 4 0.81836 3 Reading Rockets 22 16 6 0.72732 4 Worthing Thunder 22 15 7 0.68230 5 Manchester Magic 22 12 10 0.54524 6 Kingston Wildcats 22 11 11 0.50022 7 Sutton Pumas 22 11 11 0.50022 8 Oxford Devils 22 11 11 0.50022 9 Solent Stars 22 7 15 0.31814 10 Ware Rebels 22 4 18 0.1828 11 Hackney White Heat 22 3 19 0.1366 12 Coventry Crusaders 22 3 19 0.1366 = 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 #eee 12 January 2003 Brighton Bears 89 79 Chester Jets Wilbur Johnson (MVP) 24, Ralph Blalock 22, Sterling Davis 15 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 TeamPtsPldWLPercent1.Chester Jets64310.7502.Sheffield Sharks64310.7503.Leicester Riders04040.000 Southern Group 1 TeamPtsPldWLPercent1.Birmingham Bullets64310.7502.Essex Leopards44220.5003.Milton Keynes Lions24130.250 Northern Group 2 TeamPtsPldWLPercent1.Newcastle Eagles84401.0002.Scottish Rocks44220.5003.Teesside Mohawks04040.000 Southern Group 2 TeamPtsPldWLPercent1.London Towers44220.5002.Thames Valley Tigers44220.5003.Brighton Bears44220.500 Semi-finals #eee 8 February 2003 Chester Jets 97 89 Newcastle Eagles Aston Events Centre, Birmingham 8 February 2003 Birmingham Bullets 62 86 London Towers Aston Events Centre, Birmingham Final #eee 15 March 2003 Report Chester Jets 84 82 30-26 26-17 13-22 15-17 London Towers Kenny Gregory 24, Todd Cauthorn 19, John McCord 16 Kendrick Warren 21, Theo Dixon 18, Shaheen Holloway 15 Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield Statistics leaders CategoryPlayerStatPoints per gameUSA Kenny Gregory (Chester Jets) 24.7Rebounds per game USA David Fisher (Essex Leopards) 10.5Assists per game USA John Thomas (Chester Jets) 7.3 References 2001–02 season 2003–04 season BBL seasons 2002–03 Category:British Basketball League seasons 1 British