Mars top Jin-jin Design

NT point guard Yen Shin-shu is slowly regaining his pre-injury form, collecting 7 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists in Mars' 74-60 win over Jin-jin Design last night. Mars is now 3-1 and ranked second behind the 3-0 Yulon, who pounded Taiwan Beer, 94-72, in the other game.

Div-II results:
Kuo-kwang Powers 95-77 Tsaishin Alumni
Fushian 85-79 NTCPE
CCU 77-59 TNIT

Jutai, Mars grabbed second win

Yang Yu-min had 21 points and Ha Hsiao-yuan had 14 points and 10 boards as Jutai Tech beat Bank of Taiwan, 89-73, tonight. Yen Shin-shu also led BCC Mars over Military, 90-86. Jutai, Mars and Taiwan Beer are now all 2-1 and tied for second behind Yulon(2-0) in the first leg.

Div-II results:
NTCPE 96-94 Kuo-kwang Powers
Yitong 99-82 Fushian
CCU 83-79 Tsaishin Alumni

Standings
Div-I: Yulon 2-0, Mars 2-1, Jutai 2-1, Taiwan Beer 2-1, Dacin 1-1, Military 1-2, Bank of Taiwan 0-2, Jin-jin Design 0-2
Div-II: NTCPE 4-0, Yitong 4-0, CCU 2-1, Fushian 1-2, Tsaishin Alumni 1-3, Kuo-kwang Powers 0-3, TNIT 0-3

Chiu: Next Jiangsu head coach?

Chiu Da-zong, the head coach of SINA Lions for the past two years, told Taiwanese media that he would coach the Jiangsu Dragons next season after signing a two-year contract. Chiu said he would leave for China on April 25th.

Chiu came back to Taiwan after SINA pulled out of the CBA. According to earlier reports from Chinese media, several teams contacted Chiu for head coaching job. Rumors say SINA owner Daniel Jiang will probably close the team. Chiu’s departure raises the speculation even more.

Jiangsu was 12-14 this season and just missed the playoffs. According to the reports, the team’s Korean head coach Chen Hsiao-jun left after his salary raise demand was rejected. The Dragons feature NT veteran Hu Wei-dong, promising 7-footer Tang Zen-dong and another 7-foot import Simeon Haley. Jiangsu was expected to hire Ma Yua-nan. Instead, they made Chiu the final choice.

Kuo-tai completes first leg without a loss

As usual, A-League women’s powerhouse Kuo-tai Life completes the first leg without a loss, winning all four games. Chunghwa Telecom, runner-up in the previous President Cup, surprisingly drops to the bottom of the standing with 1-3.

In the final day of the first leg, Tsai Pei-chen’s buzzerbeater lifted Taiyuan over Taiwan Powers, 66-64. Tsai Pei-chen had 22 points, 11 rebounds in the game. Veteran Chien Wei-chuan had 25 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists(5-6 3PT) as Kuo-tai crushed Chunghwa Telecom, 93-66.

■Results
4/9
Kuo-tai 70-55 Yadong
Taiwan Powers 79-64 Chunghwa Telecom

4/10
Kuo-tai 93-66 Chunghwa Telecom
Taiyuan 66-64 Taiwan Powers

■Standings (First Leg)
Kuo-tai Life 4-0
Taiyuan Textile 2-2
Yadong 2-2
Taiwan Powers 1-3
Chunghwa Telecom 1-3

Chen Hsin-an leads Yulon past Mars

Chen Hsin-an had a game-high 26 points, including a crucial three-pointer in the last minute, as Yulon rallied from an early 15-point deficit to beat BCC Mars, 87-79, once again last night. Yulon continued its dominance over the Mars, who hasn’t beat Yulon for almost two years.

Chen Hsin-an also collected 7 rebounds and 6 assists in one of the most anticipated matchup in the first leg. Time and again, Chen used his one-on-one skill to break down Mars’ defense, either scoring himself or hitting open teammates in the perimeter. The last of his three three-pointers boosted Yulon’s lead back to 10 and iced the game.

Mars jumped out on Yulon early for a 15-point lead but couldn’t hold it. Before you know it, Mars trailed by 15 early in the second half instead. Yulon’s tenacious offensive rebounding(19 in the game) is the primary reason why it can hold on to beat Mars, who cut the deficit back to two, 71-73, in the 4th quarter but could never get over the hump.

Results:
Yulon 87-79 Mars(Yul- Chen Hsin-an 26p+7rb+4a,Chen Chih-chung 20p+6s, Tsun Wen-din 15p+11rb ; Mars-Yen Shin-shu 18p, Yang Che-yi 12p)
Taiwan Beer 101-75 Jin-jin Design(TB-Wu Chih-yuan 19p+8rb, Wu Yang-huei 17p+12rb, Chen Shih-nian 16p+5a)

NSC tries to reshape A-League season

Watching local basketball dying little by little, NSC(National Sports Council) decides to get involve and tries to revive A-League basketball. With the help from the NSC, a 7-man committee is formed with the focus on re-shape the A-League season.

The committee is headed by legislator and former NT All-Star Cheng Chih-lung. Among the committee members are Ju Sho-cheng(NSC Vice President), Yu Wen-wei(CTBA Vice President), Wang Jen-shen(CTBA Deputy Secretary General), Chein Yi-fei(Yulon head coach), Yen Jia-hwa(Delegate of Jutai Tech) and marketing advisor Wang Wei-chung.

In the primitive plan, the committee will try to cut the Division I teams down to six in order to increase the competition balance. Players from Military Team will be assigned to each of these six teams thru draft. Ideally, it want to have a three-month season which allows one or two imports to play, and plays 1/3 of its schedule outside of Taipei area, in order to increase the fan base and at the same time limits team traveling to the minimum.

Also, the committee is talking about limiting college and high school players of the A-League teams. It wants to make A-League a pure semi-pro league without student-players in the future.

In short, the new season format will look no much different than the current one, but it will focus more on marketing and increasing fan interest, seeking more corporate sponsorship. But before the committee laying out the complete blueprint, all we can do is still just wait. You can talk the talk but also have to walk the walk. Everyone is looking forward to a new-and-improved A-League.

Yang Yu-min had 31 ; Yen Shin-shu back from injury

Two NT backcourts highlighted the second day(April 5th) of the A-League play. Yang Yu-min had 31 points as Jutai Tech beat Taiwan Beer, 91-76. Yen Shin-shu came back from a knee injury that kept him out of action for 9 months, collecting 10 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists in Mars' 93-59 win over Bank of Taiwan.

Results:
Division I
Jutai Tech 91-76 Taiwan Beer
Mars 93-59 Bank of Taiwan(Mars-Yen Shin-shu 10p+8a, Yang Che-yi 19p ; BOT-Ho Sho-jen 21p, Ju Yong-hong 13p+12rb)
Military 105-72 Jin-jin Design(Military-Lin Chun-fung 19p)

Division II
Yitong 95-76 Kuo-kwang Powers
NTCPE 95-81 Tsaishin Alumni
Fushian Hotel 89-81 Tong-nan Institute of Technology

Standings
Div-I
Yulon 1-0, Military 1-0, Mars 1-0, Jutai 1-1, Taiwan Beer 1-1, Dacin 0-1, BOT 0-1, Jin-jin Design 0-1

Div-II
Yitong 2-0, NTCPE 2-0, Fushian 1-1, Tsaishin Alumni 1-1, Chinese Culture Univ. 0-1, Kuo-kwang Powers 0-1, TNIT 0-2

Women's
Kuo-tai 1-0, Yadong 1-0, Chunghwa Telecom 0-1, Taiyuan 0-1, Taiwan Powers 0-0

Dacin opens A-League season with loss, Yulon escapes

Without Tien Lei, who is still recovering from his hand injury from a bike accident, Dacin opened its A-League season with a loss to Taiwan Beer, 75-80, last night. Defending champion Yulon followed with a hard-fought win over Jutai Tech, 71-67.

Lin Jia-shen banked in his only basket in the game with 26.8 seconds left to seal the victory for Taiwan Beer, who finished 6th in the President Cup. Dacin was without Tien Lei and Wu Dai-hao, who signed with the team but was unable to play last night because of personal engagement. Yulon, who almost blew a 15-point lead, overcame a furious rally by Jutai Tech with PG Chen Chih-chun's two late free-throws.

Former NT center Chu Chih-chin, who has been living in the State for almost two years, returned to Taiwan and hired as an assistant coach. Chu will focus on training Dacin's big men.

Div-II results

Tasi-shin Alumni 83-80 Fushian Hotel
NTCPE 82-76 Chinese Culture Univ.
Yitong 95-58 Tong-nan Institute of Technology

Jin-jin Design becomes first team promoted to Div-I

Led by Tsai Fu-tsai's 29 points, Jin-jin Design beat NTCPE, 84-66, in the last game of the qualification series. With its 2-1 record, the Div-II team becomes the first team to be promoted to Div-I since the CTBA adopted the qualification series format.

Military gets to stay in the Div-I after defeating Yitong Trust, 111-77, finishing the series with three straight wins. Meanwhile, Yitong also becomes the first team to be dropped to Div-II.

NT head coach Lee Yun-kwang had 14 points, 8 assists and 6 steals for Jin-jin Design in the victory. Veteran Tsai Fu-tsai made 11-of-19 shots, including 5-for-10 from the three-point range. Former CBA MVP DongFan Che Ter had 12 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists.

Jin-jin Design is conprised of second unit players from TPEC(Taipei Physical Education College) and retired Yulon players, like Lee Yun-kwang, Tsai Fu-tsai and DongFan Che Ter.

Div-I games tipoff tomorrow as Yulon takes on Jutai Tech and Dacin meets Taiwan Beer in the opening day action. The double round robin games will finish on May 8th before the playoffs take place.

Qualification series kickoff A-League season

A four-team qualification series before the REAL games kickoff A-League's 2003 regular season. Military and Yi-tong Trust, ranked last two in the previous President Cup, will fight for the right to stay in the Division I with Jin-jin Design and NTCPE(National Taiwan College of Physical Education).

Teams in the qualification series will have to play a single round robin, with each team playing three games. Top two teams advance or stay in the Div-I, while the other two teams are dropped or stay in the Div-II.

The interesting news is, NT head coach Lee Yun-kwang plays for Jin-jin Design this year, which I can't understand why. However, the 36-year-old former NT point guard plays well. He had only one point in 25 minutes in his first game, but came back to collect 19 points, 6 assusts and 5 steals in the second game. Personally, I think it's better for Lee to focus more on the national team than playing for a Division-II team.

Division-I games will start on April 4th.

Results:
4/2 Military 89-71 NTCPE, Jin-jin Design 76-75 Yitong
4/1 Military 107-70 Jin-jin Design, Yitong 77-72 NTCPE