Saturday, June 30, 2007

SBL local draft to be held July 20

張宗憲
Chang Tsun-hsien

The 2007 SBL Local Draft will be held on July 20 and the deadline for application will be at 5 p.m. July 13, SBL Committee announced.

Eligible applicants should be those who:

1. have never registered with and played for any SBL team.
2. played in HBL (high school basketball league), UBA (university basketball league) Division I or Division II with a high school diploma or are at least 18 years-old.
3. have never played in HBL or UBA but are recommended by a SBL team.

The order of the draft will be the reverse of the 2006-07 regular season standings, namely:

1. Bank of Taiwan
2. Azio Eagles
3. ETSN Antelopes
4. Dacin Tigers
5. Taiwan Beers
6. Videoland Hunters
7. Yulon Dinos

The draft process doesn't stop before all seven teams forgo their picks, the committee said.

吳敏賢
Wu Min-hsien

Notable players expected in the draft include 191cm forward/guard Chang Tsun-hsien from Hsin-jun High School, HBL MVP Wu Min-hsien from Nan-shan High School, 194cm forward Wu Fong-cheng from Gao-yuan HS and 194cm forward Chen Yu-an from Nan-shan HS, and 197cm center Lee Jun-wei from Nan-shan HS.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Atheletes in Action women's team roster for 2007 William Jones Cup

Name, Height, Position, School, Hometown
Rachel Allison, 6-1, F, Baylor, Jonesboro, Ark.
Heather Ezell, 5-9, G, Iowa State, Springfield, Mo.
Briann January, 5-10, G, Arizona State, Spokane, Wash.
Sarah-Jo Lawrence, 5-11, G, George Washington, Rhoadesville, Va.
Jackie McFarland, 6-3, F, Colorado, Derby, Kan.
La Toya Micheaux, 6-3, C, Texas A&M, Missouri City, Texas
Angie (Gorton) Nelp, 6-0, F, Colorado State, Canadian, Okla.
Jhasmin Player, 5-10, G, Baylor, Bay City, Texas
Kendra Reed, 5-10, G, Southern Miss, Bay St. Louis, Miss.
Leah Rush, 6-1, F, Oklahoma, Amarillo, Texas
Brittanie Taylor-James, 6-0, G, North Carolina A&T, Evanston, Ill.
Katie Vieth, 6-3, C, Kentucky, Covington, Ky.


Team Director: Shannon Kaney (Athletes In Action)
Head Coach: Vic Schaefer (Texas A&M)
Team Chaplin: Tracey Tarkington (Athletes In Action)
Assistant Chaplin: Katie Rollins (Lipscomb)
Athletic Trainer: Chalisa Fonza (Ohio State)
Strength Coach: Jennifer Jones (Texas A&M)

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

2007 Athletes in Action (USA) roster for Jones Cup

(Name, Ht., School, Class)
Tyler Wilkerson, 203cm, Marshall, So.
Eric Pollitz, 198cm, Miami(OH), So.
Tim Pollitz, 198cm, Miami(OH), Jr.
Darrin Nichols, 188cm, West Virginia, Jr.
Alex Ruoff, 198cm, West Virginia, So.
Brian Asbury, 201cm, Miami, So.
Zack Gibson, 208cm, Michigan, So.
Cliff Hammonds, 190cm, Clemson, Jr.
Todd Hendley, 206cm, UNC-Wilmington, Jr.
Donald Sloan, 188cm, Texas A&M, So.
Brad Harris, --, Lee College, --
Reed Rawlings, 201cm, Samford, --

Head coach: Mike Jarvis

Source:
Marshall's Wilkerson To Play For Jones Cup This Summer

2007 Philippines NT roster for Jones Cup

Asi Taulava 206cm 1973
Mick Penissi 204cm 1975
Erik Menk 199cm 1974
Kerby Raymundo 200cm 1980
Ranidel De Ocampo 195cm 1981
Kelly Williams 196cm
Gabe Norwood 196cm 1985
Nino Canaleta 196cm 1982
Tony Dela Cruz 193cm 1978
Dondon Hontiveros 188cm 1977
Renren Ritualo 188cm
Mark Caguioa 188cm 1979
James Yap 190cm
Jimmy Alapag 178cm 1977
Jay-Jay Helterbrand 183cm 1976

Head coach: Chot Reyes

(Credits to Hector U. Santos Jr.)

Monday, June 25, 2007

2007 William Jones Cup Invitational Tournament Schedule

2007jonescup

Men's Schedule

Venue: Sinjhuang Stadium, Taipei County
Competition System: Single round robin


July 2
1100 Kazakhstan-Jordan
1300 Lebanon-Iran
1500 Korea-Qatar
1700 AIA-Philippines
1930 Taiwan-Japan

July 3
1100 Qatar-AIA
1300 Japan-Kazakhstan
1530 Jordan-Korea
1730 Philippines-Lebanon
1930 Iran-Taiwan

July 4
1100 Kazakhstan-Lebanon
1300 Iran-Qatar
1530 Philippines-Japan
1730 AIA-Korea
1930 Taiwan-Jordan

July 5
1100 Qatar-Kazakhstan
1300 Japan-Iran
1530 Jordan-AIA
1730 Korea-Philippines
1930 Lebanon-Taiwan

July 6
1100 Qatar-Japan
1300 AIA-Lebanon
1530 Philippines-Jordan
1730 Iran-Korea
1930 Taiwan-Kazakhstan

July 7
1100 Lebanon-Jordan
1300 Kazakhstan-AIA
1530 Philippines-Iran
1730 Japan-Korea
1930 Qatar-Taiwan

July 8
1100 AIA-Japan
1300 Korea-Lebanon
1500 Iran-Kazakhstan
1700 Taiwan-Philippines
1900 Jordan-Qatar

July 9
1100 Japan-Lebanon
1300 Jordan-Iran
1530 Qatar-Philippines
1730 Kazakhstan-Korea
1930 AIA-Taiwan

July 10
1100 Jordan-Japan
1300 Lebanon-Qatar
1530 Philippines-Kazkahstan
1730 Iran-AIA
1930 Taiwan-Korea
2130 Closing Ceremony

Women's Schedule

Venue: Sinjhuang Stadium, Taipei County
Competition System: Single round robin


July 11
1500 Australia-Japan
1730 Korea-Taiwan White
1930 Taiwan Blue-USA

July 12
1500 USA-Australia
1730 Taiwan White-New Zealand
1930 Japan-Taiwan Blue

July 13
1500 USA-Japan
1730 New Zealand-Korea
1930 Taiwan Blue-Australia

July 14
1500 Korea-USA
1730 Australia-Taiwan White
1930 Japan-New Zealand

July 15
1500 Australia-Korea
1730 Taiwan White-Japan
1930 New Zealand-Taiwan Blue

July 16
1500 Japan-Korea
1730 USA-New Zealand
1930 Taiwan Blue-Taiwan White

July 17
1500 New Zealand-Australia
1730 Taiwan White-USA
1930 Korea-Taiwan Blue

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Report: Lee Chi-yi, Yang Che-yi to sign with Yulon


Lee Chi-yi, left, and Yang Che-yi.

The Chinese-language basketball website roundballcity.com reported that Videoland's top two players -- Lee Chi-yi and Yang Che-yi, will sign with Yulon. If this is true, Yulon -- already a loaded team although it lost in the first-round playoffs last season -- will be even stronger the next season.

The Hunters will suffer a huge setback in losing its top two players. Plus, under current regulation it will not be allowed to hire import players next year because they made the playoffs in 2006-07 season.

Rumors about Lee and Yang have been flying around for a while in the basketball circle. It's believed both Lee and Yang have not been happy playing for head coach Liu Chih-wei, who was named Coach of the Year last season, all year.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Akita Noshiro Tech, Taiwan HBL Girls' All-Stars win 2007 IHBT

M20070617395224
Tourney MVP Yuki Mitsuhara, Akita Noshiro Tech

Led by 198cm center Yuki Mitsuhara, who had 15 points and 14 rebounds, Japan's Akita Noshiro Technical High School beat Taiwan HBL All-Stars 92-79 to win the men's title of the 2007 International High School Basketball Tournament in Taipei.

Mitsuhara, who is on Japan's U-18 national team, was named MVP of the tourney and led the tournament in rebounding and blocked shots. Takumi Hasegawa added 13 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists.

Taiwan was led by point guard Yang Cheng-lun's 22 points and 7 assists.

2311273942
Taiwan PG Yang Cheng-lun

Kitsilano High School edged Samil Commercial High School (South Korea) 79-76 to finish the third-place in the boys' group.

In girls' group, Osaka Kun-ei Girls' High School of Japan beat Taiwan HBL All-Stars 71-60 in the girls' group title game. Okcheon Commercial High School won third-place while Kitsilano High School ranked last.

(Photos: Yahoo Sports Taiwan)

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Eight teams to compete in 2007 IHBT

ISBT-2

Eight men's and women's teams from Taiwan, Canada, Japan and South Korea will compete in the 2007 International High School Basketball Tournament, which will be played from June 14 - 17 at Taipei Municiple Gymnasium.

Men's Group:
Akita Noshiro Technical High School, Japan
Samil Commercial High School, South Korea
Kitsilano High School, Canada
HBL All-Star Team, Taiwan

Women's Group:
Osaka Kun-ei Girls' High School, Japan
Okcheon Commercial High School, South Korea
Kitsilano High School, Canada
HBL All-Star Team, Taiwan

ISBT-1

Men's Teams Rosters

Samil Commercial High School
Coach: Youn-hwan Lee
Assistant: Hyung-suk Yang
04 Byecng-Hun Yoo 190 75
05 Hwi-Min Kim 188 75
06 Jung-Hyun Beak 174 71
07 Won-je Kim 183 71
09 Hyun-woo Kwak 180 76
10 Jae-ik Yoo 190 75
13 Ki-jan Lee 182 61
14 Hun-Tae Jung 180 75
15 Woo-Youg Kim 173 65
20 Jung-ho Jin 184 80
23 Min-goo Kim 182 61
31 Sang-Hyun Seo 195 81

Kitsilano High School
Coach: Randy Coutts
Assistant: Don Staller
04 Henry Allan 182 77
06 Keir Miron 185 77
07 Brock Staller 185 72
08 Yassine Ghomari 182 79
09 Brad Quevillon 182 74
10 Bill Lee 182 77
11 Chris Mulangu 177 77
13 Henry Williams 180 74
15 Jake Moodie 182 77
21 Jeff Lightburn 200 86
23 Tommy Nixon 195 79
24 Clayton Crellin 195 88
25 Paul Woodham 203 99

Akita Noshiro Technical High School
Coach: Mitsuhiko Kato
Assistant: Shingo Sasaki
04 Keisuke Watanabe 183 71
05 Yuki Mitsuhara 198 90
06 Kentaro Takahashi 180 75
07 Takumi Hasegawa 190 78
08 Yo Takahashi 173 66
09 Hikaru Miyakawa 180 75
10 Kenta Tateyama 188 80
11 Tomo Ishikawa 183 81
12 Ko Fujita 190 70
13 Nobutaka Ito 173 65
14 Masashi Ogawa 189 77
15 Syuhei Muto 192 90

HBL All-Star Team
Coach: Yang Yi-feng
Assistant: Yeh An-chan
04 Wu Min-hsien 183 75
05 Lai Kuo-wei 180 70
06 Lee Min-huei 182 70
07 Yang Cheng-lun 178 68
08 Lo Jia-long 181 76
09 Lin Yi-fu 187 85
10 Chen Yu-an 194 78
11 Hsieh Chen-yang 192 85
12 Chang Bo-wei 188 75
13 Lee Jun-wei 195 82
14 Huang Jia-min 190 84
15 Chuang Tsun-shun 190 90

Monday, June 11, 2007

Disappointing fourth place for Taiwan in Asian Championship

Taiwan women's NT lost to Japan 73-70 in the bronze medal game Sunday and finished for a disappointing fourth place in the Asian Championship for Women.

Trailed by nine in the end of the third quarter, Taiwan cut the deficit to one but could never made the final push. Liu Chun-yi's desperation three-pointer rimmed out as time expired, eliminating Taiwan's hope to extend the game to overtime.

Chiang Feng-chun led Taiwan with 21 points and 6 rebounds. Wen Chi and Cheng Huei-yun added 12 each. Japan was led by Yuko Oga's 17 points.

In the championship game, led by veteran forward/center Jung Sung-min, host South Korea edged China 79-73 to win its first Asian crown since 1999. Jung had 18 points and 8 boards for the host nation in the title game. Beon Yeon-ha scored 15 points.

China, which has a guaranteed spot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, sent its second national team for the tournament.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Korea beat Taiwan, qualifies for Beijing Olympics

day6_06
South Korea won the ticket to Beijing

Taiwan lost to South Korea 80-70 in the semifinal of the Asian Championship for Women and China beat Japan 74-62 in the other semi as the Koreans qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics by advancing to the championship game.

The loss means Taiwan's last Olympics hope will be the world qualifying tournament next June, which will determine 5 wildcard teams out of 12 participants. Taiwan will meet Japan for bronze Sunday.

South Korea led by only two at halftime but used a 12-0 run in the first two minutes of the third quarter to open up the game. Beon Yeon-ha led with 19 points. Park Jung Eun had 16. Jung Sun-min and Jin Mi Jung each added 11 points.

day6_05
Chiang Feng-chun

Power forward Chiang Feng-chun paced Taiwan with 20 points. Wen Chi had 15.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Taiwan to meet South Korea again in semifinal


Taiwan women's NT routed Thailand 114-64 Thursday to stop its three-game losing streak in the Asian Championship for Women and concluded the preliminary round with 2 wins and 3 losses. Taiwan advanced to the crossover semifinal as the No. 4 seed and will meet top seed South Korea Saturday.

In the easy win over Thailand, Wen Chi and Lin Huei-mei each scored 23 points for Taiwan. Liu Chun-yi had 21 while Chiang Feng-chun had 12 points and 6 rebounds.

Veteran Jung Sun-min's three-point play with 12 .8 seconds to go helped South Korea edge China 83-80 and finished the prelim undefeated, 5-0.

China will meet Japan in the other semifinal matchup. Winners of the semifinals will meet Sunday in the championship game. Highest-ranking team in the tournament other than China, which has a guarnateed seat as host, will win the lone seat for Asia in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

SBL annual award: Lin Chih-jay named regular season MVP


Regular season MVP: Lin Chih-jay

Yes, I know it's weird, but the SBL finally announced its annual award Thursday -- FIVE days after the champion was determined.

And TB forward Lin Chih-jay came up as the big winner. Lin, who had won Finals MVP less than a week ago, was named regular season MVP as well, beating out Videoland import Jonathan Sanders in the media voting with a close score of 96 to 89.

Personally, I would have voted Sanders for my regular season MVP though. But I also understand very well the "politics" behind the media voting because most of them always favored local players over imports. It's sad and no one could do anything about it. Voting is politics, after all.

Not surprisingly, Lin was also on the list of the Best Five, which recognized a pair of backcourt players and three frontcourt players.

Dacin guard Wang Chih-chun, Yulon guard Lee Hsueh-lin and Sanders were all named to the best five for the first time.


Best five: (left to right) Wang Chih-chun, Lee Hsueh-lin, Lin Chih-jay, Tien Lei, Jonathan Sanders.

Yulon center Tsun Wen-din won the defensive player of the year award for the second consecutive year, while first-year VL head coach Liu Chih-wei was named coach of the year after leading Videoland to a 21-9 regular season.

Tsun beat out import Delvin Thomas, who played for ETSN, 92-62 in the media voting.

Azio forward Chien Jia-hong was recognized as the most improved player in a lanslide score of 129-21 over Bank of Taiwan forward Hsu Chih-chan.

VL forward/guard Lee Wei-min, who transferred from TB to Videoland last summer, won the inaugural sixth man of the year award.

Dacin forward Yao Jun-jay was named rookie of the year. It's true that this is Yao's first year in the league but he was not really a rookie because he played for Dacin a couple years back in the A-League.

2006-07 SBL season awards:

MVP: Lin Chih-jay (TB)
Defensive Player of the Year: Tsun Wen-din (Yulon)
Most Improved Player: Chien Jia-hong (Azio)
Sixth Man of the Year: Lee Wei-min (VL)
Coach of the Year: Liu Chih-wei (VL)
Rookie of the Year: Yao Jun-jay (Dacin)
Best Five:
Wang Chih-chun (Dacin)
Lee Hsueh-lin (Yulon)
Tien Lei (Dacin)
Lin Chih-jay (TB)
Jonathan Sanders (VL)

Taiwan lost to China yet again

Taiwan women's NT couldn't find the basket all night as it was pounded by China 92-66 in the preliminary round of the Asian Championship for Women Wednesday. Taiwan was 1-3 and will have to beat Thailand for a semifinal seed.

If Taiwan finishes the preliminary as the fourth place, it is expected to meet host South Korea, which should have no problem taking the top place in the prelim, in the crossover semifinal.

Taiwan only trailed by one, 16-15, in the end of the first quarter against the Chinese second national team. But the deficit increased to 20 points after a 16-0 run by the Chinese. Taiwan trailed by as many as 28.

Wen Chi led Taiwan with 16 points. Liu Chun-yi had 15 points. Chiang Feng-chun had 8 points and 6 boards but committed 7 turnovers. As a team, Taiwan shot 25-of-65 from two point range and 2-of-7 from three.

For the second consecutive game, Taiwan's team field goal percentage failed to reach 40%. And the team only dished out 15 assists in three games vs. China, Japan and South Korea. Numbers talk. No wonder Taiwan is on a three-game losing streak.

China, which is 3-1, was led by Guan Xin's 18 points.

First SBL local draft to be held on July 22



The SBL started accepting player application for the first ever SBL local player draft, which will be held on July 22, the league said. Deadline for the application is on July 13.

Players with high school diploma who are over the age of 18 and never registered with any SBL team are eligible to apply for the draft.

The SBL committee also said that the 2007-08 season will tipoff on December 8. Pre-season warmup games will be played starting November 30.

The league said it will use Taipei County's Sinjhuang Stadium (Capacity 7,000) as the primary venue next season since the current venue TPEC Gym will be demolished and rebuilt. It is also considering moving some regular season games to other cities such as Taichung, Kaohsiung and Yilan.

In addition, the SBL is considering to change the current weekly gameday schedule from Friday-Saturday-Sunday to Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Under the current scheduling, teams often played on three consecutive nights, which I believe was hurting the players and causing more injuries. Hopefully the number of back-to-back games will be reduced next season.

According to ESPN and Videoland, two TV stations that carried SBL broadcast last season, the average game rating of SBL games last season was 0.42, up from 0.33 for the 2005-06 season. It's definitely a good sign for this four years-old league.

Taiwan in comfortable position in Asian Championship draw



Taiwan will be in the same group with South Korea, Hong Kong and Syriain the upcoming Asian Championship for Men, which will be played in Tokushima, Japan from July 28 - August 5, as the draw was completed and announced Wednesday.

The grouping is expected to put Taiwan in a comfortable position of returning to the final eight in Asia, something that Taiwan has not been able to do since 2001. Taiwan will vie for two final eight seeds with South Korea and Syria. The preliminary game vs. Syria is expected to be the most important one.

Another plus for Taiwan is that it will be a lot more prepared when it meets South Korea as the new head coach Chung Kwang Suk was a former South Korea NT head coach and knows South Korean basketball well.

This year's Gorup of Death is obviously Group A, which included China's second NT, Jordan (4th place in 2006 Doha Asian Games), Iran (bronze in Doha) and the Philippines, which has been trying to return to Asian elite after a one-year absence in major tournament.

2007 Asian Championship for Men draw results:

Group A: China, Jordan, Iran, Philippines
Group B: Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Japan
Group C: Qatar, India, Kazakhstan, Indonesia
Group D: South Korea, Hong Kong, Syria, Taiwan

Taiwan Men's NT performance in major Asian tournaments since 1997:

Asian Championship
2005 9th
2003 11th
2001 7th
1999 4th
1997 6th

Asian Games
2006 8th
2002 7th
1998 5th

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Another loss for Taiwan



Taiwan women's NT lost to Japan 67-58 Tuesday and dropped to 1-2 in the preliminary round of the Asian Championship for Women.

Taiwan fell behind early after Japan's 18-0 run in the first quarter. Trailing by as many as 19, Taiwan head coach Hung Ling-yao sent her second unit into the game. Taiwan managed to cut the deficit to five, 62-57, but could never got closer than that.

Yuko Oga paced Japan, which was 3-0, with 20 points and 7 rebounds. Noriko Sakakibara had 15 points. Japan controlled the boards, leading 51-36.

Point guard Wen Chi had a team-high 14 points for Taiwan. Liu Chun-yi had 10 points.

As Taiwan will probably finishes in the 4th place in the preliminary, its opponent in the semifinals could be wither Japan or South Korea, which is also 3-0 currently. China is 2-1.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

2007 Taiwan NT preliminary roster announced

中華勝卡達

Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) announced on Tuesday a 21-man roster of the 2007 Taiwan NT for the upcoming Asian Championship for Men and the William Jones Cup tournament.

The roster is expected to be trimmed down to 15-man prior to the Jones Cup tournament and 12 before the Asian Championship in Tokushima, Japan. The Asian Chamionship will be the first time Taiwan NT is led by a foreign coach since 2000.

Five new players made their national team debut: TB point guard Hsu Hao-cheng, Yulon forward Lu Cheng-ju, Dacin forward Chen Tse-wei, Azio F/C Chien Jia-hong and Dacin forward Lin Yi-huei.

The status for two injured players -- Ho Sho-jen and Chen Chih-chun -- were still uncertain.

Yulon placed six players in the NT. TB and Dacin folllowed with four respectively while Videoland had three players on the roster. BOT had two and ETSN and Azio each had one.

Chung, who led Korea to the 1997 Asian Championship title and a 1998 World Championship berth, also coached a Taiwan Junior NT that included top players like Tsun Wen-din, Tien Lei, Lin Chih-jay, Wu Dai-hao and Ho Sho-jen to a third-place finish in the 2000 Asian Junior Championship.

Chung also briefly coached Dacin Tigers in the final season of the defunct CBA(Chinese Basketball Alliance) in 1998-99 and finished with a 8-14 record. Later he went back to Korea and coached the University of Korea.

曾文鼎
Tsun Wen-din

2007 Taiwan NT preliminary roster:

PG: Lee Hsueh-lin (Yulon), Chen Chih-chun (Yulon), Hsu Hao-cheng (TB), Chen Shih-nian (TB), Wu Yong-jen (VL)
SG: Lin Chih-jay (TB), Chang Chi-feng (Dacin), Chou Shih-yuan (Yulon)
SF: Chen Hsin-an (Yulon), Lu Cheng-ju (Yulon), Yang Che-yi (VL), Yang Chin-min (BOT), Lin Yi-huei (Dacin)
PF: Ho Sho-jen (TB), Chen Tse-wei (Dacin), Lee Chi-yi (VL), Yua Ying-li (BOT)
C: Tsun Wen-din (Yulon), Tien Lei (Dacin), Wu Dai-hao (ETSN), Chien Jia-hong (Azio)

Head coach: Chung Kwang Suk
Assistant: Liu Jia-fa
Manager: Cheng Chih-lung
Translator: Wang Bing-shen

Taiwan Beer signs Wu Dai-hao, Yang Chin-min


(Wu Dai-hao signed with Taiwan Beer Monday, photo courtesy of ESPN Taiwan)

The rich gets richer, they said. Taiwan Beer did just that Monday by signing Wu Dai-hao and Yang Chin-min, both national team members, from ETSN and Bank of Taiwan and sent out a clear message that it looks to defend its SBL title next year.

The Beermen signed Wu to a contract with a NT$ 120,000 per month salary. Plus the incentives, estimately Wu will make NT$ two millions per year. Yang Chin-min was signed for NT$ 100,000 per month, a 25 percent increase of his salary with the small-budget Bank of Taiwan.

Wu is expected to be the last piece of puzzle for Taiwan Beer, which has been hampered by its lack of inside presence all season long. Yang will make TB's perimeter squad, which included veteran Lo Shin-liang, Ho Sho-jen, Chen Shih-nian and Lin Kwan-lun, even more dangerous.

However, team basketball is not mathamatics. Will TB players be able to share the ball and playing time? It's roster is obviously loaded at this moment, going two or three deep in every position. The internal chemistry will be the first concern.

The signing was a devastating blow for two teams that lost their star players. Bank of Taiwan lost Yang to TB and will probably lose Yua Ying-li to Dacin, if the rumor was correct. ETSN, which rumor said is seeking for potentital buyer for the team, lost its best center.

Boston University won Kainan Univ. Int'l Basketball Invitational




Boston University beat University of British Columbia 105-98 in overtime to win the 2007 Kainan University International Basketball Invitational, which was held in Taoyuan County from May 28 - 31. Kainan University won bronze.

Eight university teams from six countries participated in the second edition of this annual basketball tournament hosted by Kainan University.

Participanting teams:
Kainan University (Taiwan)
National Central University (Taiwan)
National Chiao-tung University (Taiwan)
Boston University (USA)
University of British Columbia (Canada)
Tohoku Gakuin University (Japan)
Hochihminh City Techincial Education University (Vietnam)
Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong)

Taiwan 1-1 after two preliminaries

Taiwan vs. South Korea
Taiwan vs. South Korea

Taiwan split two preliminary games in the Asian Championship for Women, routing Malaysia as expected and losing to host South Korea -- also as expected.

Taiwan led briefly but was stunned by South Korea's 13-0 run in the third quarter and never recovered. Liu Chun-yi led the team with 18 points while Chiang Feng-chun had 12.

South Korea was led by Beon Yeong-ha's 20 points. 202cm center Ha Eun-joo, the elder sister of former NBA player Ha Seung-jin, had 19 points. Park Jun-eun had 14 points and 7 rebounds and former WNBA forward Jung Sun-min collected 8 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists.

Taiwan vs. Malaysia
Taiwan vs. Malaysia

Taiwan beat Malaysia 107-54 in its first preliminary game.

(photo source: fiba.com)

Sunday, June 03, 2007

More SBL rumors


Wu dai-hao

-- According to ESPN color analyst during the Game 6 broadcast, Wu Dai-hao will sign with Taiwan Beer next season. With the addition of Wu and Yang Chin-min, who played for Bank of Taiwan, TB will be even stronger next year. It's a scary scene for other teams.

-- Sources said Yua Ying-li, who played for Bank of Taiwan last season, will sign with Dacin Tigers instead of Videoland which I mentioned in the previous article. Yua will received a NT$ 1 million signing bonus, rumor said.

-- Sources said that ETSN (Eastern Home Shopping) has been trying to sell its basketball team but found no taker so far.

Eight countries to send Asian Men's Championship NTs to 2007 Jones Cup

Including host Taiwan, eight countries will send their national teams that will participate in the upcoming Asian Men's Championship to the 2007 William Jones Cup International Tournament, Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) said.

South Korea, Qatar, Philippines, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Taiwan will place their full national team in the annual tournament, which will be played from July 2 - 10 in Sinjhuang Stadium, Taipei County, (Capacity 7,000), for the final preparation of the Asian Men's Championship, which will take place in Tokushima, Japan from July 28 - August 5.

Japan will send its World University Games men's NT to Taiwan. The Athelete in Action (AIA) team from the U.S. will be coming back to defend its title, CTBA said.

CTBA said it has learned that Philippines NT will be one of the strongest ever as the Philippines did not participate in the previous Asian Championship and Asian Games in Qatar because of domestic dispute. Hundreds of thousands of overseas Filipino workers who currently work in Taiwan will be happy to see their beloved national team to return to Taiwan.

Taiwan women's NT to meet Malaysia in Asian Championship opener

Taiwan women's NT is scheduled to meet Malaysia Sunday night at Samsan World Gymnasium in the opening game of the Asian Women's Championship, which is being held in Inchon, South Korea. The game will be the first meeting for both sides in 17 years.

Taiwan, which has won all six meetings between both sides, met Malaysia for the last time in 1990, when it routed Malaysia 132-48.

In addition to China, the host country for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the highest ranking team in the Asian Championship will win the only seed in the 12-country women's basketball in Beijing. China sent its second national team to Inchon.

Taiwan will meet South Korea (June 4), Japan (June 5), China (June 6) and Thailand (June 7) in the single round robin first division preliminaries. The game vs. host South Korea will be the most important game for Taiwan, said Taiwan NT head coach Hong Ling-yao.

South Korea has won 11 of the 21 Asian Women's Championship to date. China is second with five titles but has won the last three. Japan won its only title in 1970. Taiwan has won one silver in 1972 and eight bronzes, including 2005.

Taiwan Beer beat Dacin 4-2 to win first SBL title


Taiwan Beer won the first SBL title in team history.

A broken play and a lucky shot gave Taiwan Beer, which almost closed down its basketball team four years ago, its first champion in team history. You could say, however, it's destiny.

Chen Shih-nian made a high-arching banked shot as the final buzzer sounded to help Taiwan Beer upset Dacin 69-68 in Game 6 of the 2007 SBL Finals Saturday and win the first SBL title in team history, wrapping up the series 4-2.

Lin Chih-jay, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds in the game and averaged for 23.2 points and 8.3 rebounds in the seires, was named Finals MVP.


Lin Chih-jay stuffed two of his 15 points in the title clincher.


2007 SBL Finals MVP Lin Chih-jay.

Trailing by 11 early in the second half, TB fought back to make it a tight game before the end of the third quarter, when Dacin led by two, 59-57.

With only 8 seconds to go and TB trailing by one, Taiwan Beer came out of the final timeout with a play to either let Lin Chih-jay operate on his own or pass to Lo Shin-liang, who stationed at the left baseline. But Lin was never able to find an opening and Lo couldn't get off a shot with two Dacin defender coming at his face.

Lo passed the ball to Hsu Hao-cheng, who tried to make a cut. Hsu fumbled the ball a little bit before passing to Chen Shih-nian at the top of the key. The rest was history. Chen, who had only 5 points in the game, made a high-arching banked shot as time expired.


Chen Shih-nian made the winning shot.

It's been a long way for TB from four years ago, when the state-owned company considered dropping its basketball team due to the pressure from the union. The union claimed that the basketball team did not bring any profit to the company and the company.

And what a change after four years. Last year, TB made it to the Finals but lost 4-1 to Yulon. Currently, TB is one of the most popular -- if not the most popular -- teams in the league. And finally, they took home a championship trophy.


TB head coach Yen Jia-hua cut down the net.

Tien Lei, who has been playing on a broken right thumb since Game 3, was held to 8 points on 1-of-13 shooting. He also pulled down 11 rebounds.

Dacin, which had a 9-point halftime lead, was led by Chang Chi-feng's 15 points. Lin Yi-huei had 14 while Lee Fong-yong had 12.

Dacin lost for the second time in the SBL Finals. It was swept by Yulon 3-0 in 2005.


Tien Lei was held to 8 points on a dismal 1-13 shooting.

(All photos courtsey of ESPN Taiwan)