Hong named women's NT head once again

Hong Ling-yao(right) (Photo: Yam Sports)

Hong Ling-yao, who led Cathay Life to a unbelievable 17th straight women's title last week, was named Taiwan Women's NT head coach once again for the 2009 Asian Women's Championship on April 15th.

Taiwan basketball -- the CTBA -- has a bad reputation keeping stats and records. Anyway, I believe without a doubt that Hong is the winningest women's basketball head coach in Taiwanese basketball history.

Which means Hong is a natural choice to lead the women's NT every year. However, newspapers reported the following day that Hong was hesitant about taking the job as she wanted to focus on rebuilding Cathay Life's aging roster for the remainder of the year.

Check out Hong's record as NT head coach:

Asian Women's Championship
1990 (Singapore) 4th
1994 (Sendai, Japan)  4th
2001 (Bangkok, Thailand)  4th
2004 (Sendai, Japan)  4th
2005 (Qinghuangdao, China)  3rd
2007 (Inchon, Korea)  4th

Asian Games
1990 (Beijing) 3rd
1994 (Hiroshima, Japan)  4th
2002 (Busan, Korea)  3rd
2006 (Doha, Qatar) Runner-up

East Asian Games
1993 (Shanghai, China)  4th
2001 (Osaka, Japan)  4th
2005 (Macau, China)  Runner-up

World Championship
1994 (Australia)  14th
2002 (China)  14th
2006 (Brazil)  14th

The 2009 Asian Women's Championship will be the qualifier for the 2010 FIBA World Championship. Top three teams in Asia are expected to earn places in the Worlds. It will not be easy for Taiwan to do that though, especially after Taiwan was stripped of the rights to host the Asian Championship earlier this month.

FIBA Asia has not announced the host country yet.

A circulating rumor said that FIBA Asia did not take away Taiwan's right to host the game. Instead, it was the CTBA who decided to give up the hosting rights, fearing that it would lose money by hosting the championship. CTBA denied the rumor.

Week 11 BOW: Chien Chia-hong

Chien Chia-hong (Photo: SBL)

PY forward/center Chien Chia-hong beat out teammate Hong Chih-shan for the Week 11 Baller of the Week award with the score of 18-15.

Chien averaged 16.6 points and 4.3 rebounds last week, scoring a career-high 34 points in a loss to Yulon. He is the first PY player to win the award this season.

Cathay Life wins 17th consecutive crown

Cathay Life beat Chunghwa Telecom 2-1 in the best-of-three WSBL Finals to win its 17th consecutive crown at Taiwanese top women's basketball level and completed a "four-peat" in WSBL.

Before the WSBL was established five years ago, the top Taiwanese women's basketball competition was called Women's A-League.

WSBL Finals Results:
Game 1: Cathay Life 61-55 Chunghwa Telecom
Game 2: Chunghwa Telecom 60-55 Cathay Life
Game 3: Cathay Life 72-55 Chunghwa Telecom

In Game 2, star guard Wen Chi scored 15 of her 20 points in the last six minutes to help Chunghwa Telecom rally past the defending champion.

Forward Liu Chung-yi had 20 points and 10 rebounds as Taiyuan Textile beat Taipower 80-74 to win the third-place.

April 10-12 SBL results

Tien Lei (Photo: SBL)

April 12
PY 113-110 (OT) Yulon
PY: Chien Chia-hong 34p, Hong Chih-shan 25p+5s, Tsai Wen-cheng 18p, James Mao 16p
Yulon: Lu Cheng-ju 24p, Wu Chih-wei 20p+8rb, Tseng Wen-ting 14p+9rb+9a, Wei Yong-tai 17p+8rb

Dacin 75-55 TM
Allen 12p+11rb, Tien Lei 11p+9rb, Chen Tse-wei 11p
TM: Hsu Wei-sheng 14p, Chen Yao-ting 13p

TB 73-67 BOT
TB: Ho Shou-cheng 24p+9rb, Chen Shih-nian 13p+9rb+5a
BOT: Chen Shun-hsiang 27p, Chuang Hsiao-wen 15p+9rb, Hsu Chih-chan 10p+14rb

April 11
KKL 92-87 TB
KKL: Lin Kwan-lun 23p, Cheng Jen-wei 22p, Chen Ching-hwan 14p
TB: Wu Tai-hao 27p, Ho Shou-cheng 23p, Lin Chih-chieh 11p+10rb, Yang Ching-min 14p

Dacin 89-78 PY
Dacin: Chang Chih-feng 22p, Tien Lei 17p+14rb, Lin Yi-hui 16p, Byron Allen 13p
PY: Chien Chia-hong 14p, James Mao 14p

Yulon 97-85 BOT
Yulon: Lee Hsueh-lin 17p, Yang Che-yi 16p, Tseng Wen-ting 14p+9rb, Wu Chih-wei 13p
BOT: Chen Shun-hsiang 25p+8rb, Lin Chun-feng 23p

April 10
PY 113-89 KKL
PY: Tsai Wen-cheng 31p+9rb, Hong Chih-shan 25p+7rb+5a, James Mao 22p+9rb+5a
KKL: Cheng Ching-hwan 15p, Lee Wei-min 13p

Yulon 92-76 TM
Yulon: Wu Chih-wei 19p+8rb, Lu Cheng-ju 18p, Lee Hsueh-lin 15p+8rb+6a
TM: Ouyang Ching-heng 23p, Hsu Tse-hsin 13p+4s, Yen Cheng-hong 12p+7rb

Week 10 BOW: Tseng Wen-ting

Yulon center Tseng Wen-ting won Week 10 Baller of the Week Tuesday. He is the second player, along with TB's Yang Ching-min, to win more than one BOW honor this season.

Byron Allen named March MVP

 

Dacin import Byron Allen was named SBL March MVP Monday, edging out Yulon center Tseng Wen-ting 22-19 in the media voting, and became the first import to win the monthly award this season.

Allen, who is now leading the league in rebounding, averaged 14.8 points and 10.1 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per game. His consistent inside presence was a big reason why Dacin now ranks second in the league.

Tseng had 19 points while KKL forward Chen Ching-hwan, who is enjoying a breakout season, had 10 points.

(Photo: SBL)

SBL Stats Leaders thru April 5

Scoring
1. Yang Ching-min, TB 19.2
2. Chang Chih-feng, Dacin 18.8
3. Tseng Wen-ting, Yulon 17.6
4. Hsu Chih-chan, BOT 15.9
5. Chen Ching-hwan 15.7
6. Tien Lei, Dacin 15.1
7. Lin Chih-chieh, TB 14.9
8. Cheng Jen-wei, KKL 14.4
9. Ouyang Ching-heng, TM 14.3
10. Chien Chia-hong, PY 14.1
11. Chen Shun-hsiang, BOT 13.9
12. Wu Yong-jen, TM 12.9
13. James Mao, PY 12.4
13. Yang Che-yi, Yulon 12.4
15. Chen Shih-chieh, PY 12.0

Rebounding
1. Byron Allen, Dacin 9.6
2. Tseng Wen-ting, Yulon 9.5
3. Hsu Chih-chan, BOT 7.8
4. Chen Ching-hwan, KKL 6.9
5. Lin Chih-chieh, TB 6.8
5. Tien Lei, Dacin 6.8
7. Wu Tai-hao, TB 6.7
8. Cheng Jen-wei, KKL 6.6
9. Ho Shou-cheng, TB 5.9
10. Hsiao Yuan-chan, KKL 5.3

Assists
1. Wu Yong-jen, TM 4.5
2. Chen Shih-chieh, PY 4.2
3. Tseng Wen-ting, Yulon 3.8
4. Hsu Tse-hsin, TM 3.6
5. Chen Shih-nian, TB 3.6

Steals
1. Chen Ching-hwan, KKL 1.90
2. Lin Ching-pang, PY 1.86
3. Chang Chih-feng, Dacin 1.82
4. Chen Shih-chieh, PY 1.75
5. Wu Yong-jen, TM 1.74

Blocks
1. Tseng Wen-ting, Yulon 2.20
2. Tien Lei, Dacin 1.82
3. Hsu Chih-chan, BOT 1.76
4. Wu Tai-hao, TB 1.70
5. Hsu Wei-sheng, TM 1.14

April 5 SBL results

(Photo: Liberty Times)

PY 93-92 BOT
PY: James Mao 29p+12rb, Tsai Wen-cheng 21p+12rb
BOT: Lin Chun-feng 23p, Hsu Chih-chan 19p+11rb

Dacin 98-69 TM
Dacin: Lin Yi-hui 23p, Chang Chih-feng 14p
TM: Liu Sheng-yao 13p, Chen Yao-ting 13p

Yulon 87-85 KKL
Yulon: Tseng Wen-ting 26p+12rb, Lee Chi-yi 14p+12rb, Yang Che-yi 12p+6a
KKL: Chen Ching-hwan 21p, Lin Kwan-lun 17p, Hsiao Yuan-chan 17p

Standing:
Yulon 16-4
Dacin 16-6
TB 15-7
PY 9-11
KKL 9-12
TM 6-16
BOT 3-18

Short-handed Yulon beat TB in OT

Lee Hsueh-lin (Photo: SBL)

Yulon Luxgen beat Taiwan Beer 87-76 in overtime despite only suiting up eight players Saturday to stay on the top of the SBL standing. It is now 15-4, one game and 1 1/2 game ahead of second-place Dacin (15-6) and third-place Taiwan Beer (15-7).

Yulon was without Chen Hsin-an, Chen Chih-chung, Chou Shih-yuan and Lu Cheng-ju, who were all sidelined due to injuries. Yulon had a 12-0 run in the extra session to silence the Beermen.

In other games, Ouyang Ching-heng's season-high 34 points helped Taiwan Mobile to a 16-point win over Bank of Taiwan. The KKL-Dacin game was sloppy with both team combined for 59 fouls and 32 turnovers, leaving coaches from both sides complaining for the officiating after the game. KKL upset Dacin 79-75.

April 4 results:
Yulon 87-76 TB
Yulon: Tseng Wen-ting 19p+8rb, Yang Che-yi 21p
TB: Ho Shou-cheng 19p+8rb, Yang Ching-min 12p+12rb, Lin Chih-chieh 15p+7TO

TM 92-76 BOT
TM: Ouyang Ching-heng 34p (6-8 3PT), Liu Sheng-yao 11p
BOT: Hsu Chih-chan 20p+7rb, Chen Shun-hsiang 13p

KKL 79-75 Dacin
KKL: Chen Ching-hwan 22p+11rb, Lin Kwan-lun 15p
Dacin: Chang Chih-feng 24p, Tien Lei 12p+6rb, Su Yi-chieh 11p+5rb+6a

April 3 results:

TB 92-84 BOT
TB: Ho Shou-cheng 25p+10rb, Lin Chih-chieh 14p+8a, Wu Tai-hao 13p
BOT: Lin Chun-feng 24p, Doug Creighton 15p, Chang Jun-hsuan 13p

PY 82-78 TM
PY: Lin Tsun-ching 22p, Chien Chia-hong 14p
TM: Ouyang Ching-heng 20p+8rb, Liu Sheng-yao 13p

Standing:
Yulon 15-4
Dacin 15-6
TB 15-7
KKL 9-11
PY 8-11
TM 6-15
BOT 3-17

Roundup: Lin, Chung and the lost Championship

Lin Chih-chieh (Photo: SBL)

BOW GOES TO LIN
Taiwan Beer forward Lin Chih-chieh was named Week 9 Baller of the Week after leading TB to a 3-0 week with an average of 21.6 points and 7.6 rebounds.

Lin garnered 30 points in the voting, 15 more than the closest vote-getter Dacin import Byron Allen who had 15 points.

CTBA EXTENDS CHUNG
CTBA Deputy Secretary-General Wang Chih-hsien said that the federation has re-signed Korean coach Chung Kwang-suk as the head basketball coach of Taiwan NT for the remainder of the year.

The South Korean's first test will be the East Asian Subzone qualification games, which will be held in Nagoya, Japan in June. How Taiwan NT fairs in the qualifiers will determine whether they will be able to play in Tianjin, the host city of the 2009 Asian Men's Championship, in August.

He will also take the team to Hong Kong in the end of the year for the 2009 East Asian Games.

Chung led Taiwan to a 6th-place finish in the 2007 Asian Men's Basketball Championship. He has served as head coaches for Taiwan junior and senior national teams in recent years.

FIBA STUNS CTBA
According to the CTBA, FIBA Asia has stripped Taiwan of the rights to host the 2009 Asian Women's Basketball Championship, citing the fear of a low attendance.

CTBA was expected to host the championship for the first time since 1972 from June 21-28 in Hsinjhuang Stadium, Taipei County.

FIBA Asia expressed its concern that the host wouldn't be able to fill in the stadium. CTBA proposed to move the venue to Taipei Municipal Stadium, a smaller arena, CTBA Secretary-General Kao Yuan-pu said. But FIBA Asia rejected the proposal and decided to move the tournament away.

The alternate host and game schedule is unknown at this moment.

From what I've seen, FIBA Asia's reason to move the game away is ridiculous and unbelievable. It's possible that China does not want Taiwan to host the tournament for political issues.