Wu Yong-jen, Lee Wei-min join VL

Bank of Taiwan point guard Wu Yong-jen, SBL's assist leader last season, and Lee Wei-min, Taiwan Beer's defensive ace, will sign with Videoland, local newspaper Min-sheng Daily reported.

Report: Cheng Chih-lung takes over as Videoland head coach

Min-sheng Daily reported that former Taiwan NT star Cheng Chih-lung, one of the most celebrated players in Taiwanese basketball history, will replace Chou Hai-jung as new Videoland head coach next season.

Cheng will be Videoland's third head coach in three years. Chou Hai-jung replaced long-time VL head coach Chun Chi-mun before the 2005-06 SBL season.

Taiwan women's NT failed to qualify for WWL finals

Taiwan women's NT finished 1-2 in Group B preliminaries of the FIBA Women's World League in Pecs, Hungary and failed to qualify for the final round that will be played next year in Russia.

Basketball Club Habana of Cuba and MiZo Pécs of Hungary, which hosted Group B games, advanced to the finals along with Group A qualifiers WCBA All Stars China and TEO of Lithuania.

Taiwan lost to host MiZo Pecs, 86-53, and dropped a close one to Basketball Club Habana, 78-74, before routing Mali in a 32-point win.

Taiwan women's NT, which is warming up for the World Championship in September, is visiting Czech Republic for three friendly games and will be playing four games in China.

2006 WWL preliminary round standings:

Group A:
1. WCBA All Stars China 4-0
2. TEO (Lithuania) 2-2
3. Canberra Capitals (Australia) 2-2
4. Baltiyskaya Zwezda (Russia) 0-4

Group B:
1. MiZo Pécs (Hungary) 3-0
2. Basketball Club Habana (Cuba) 2-1
3. CTNW (Taiwan) 1-2
4. Djoliba AC (Mali) 0-3

CTBA announces 16-man roster of 2006 Taiwan NT

Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) announced the 16-man men's national team roster that will participate in three events in 2006 Sunday with Yang Yu-min and Chien Ming-fu among surprised absentees.

The national team will participate in the annual William Jones Cup Invitational and the 2006 Asia Professional Basketball (APB), a new competition trying to duplicate the format of Asian Professional Basetball Tournament that gathers Asia's top professional teams in a single tournament, in August and the Asian Games, which will be held in Qatar, in December.

Full roster is listed below:

Coaches:
Head coach: Lee Yun-kwang (Yulon)
Assistants: Liu Jia-fa (Dacin), Dong-fan Che-ter (Yulon)
Manager: Chiu Tsun-chih (Yulon)

Players:
Center: Tsun Wen-din (Yulon)
Forwards: Wu Chih-yuan (TB), Lee Chi-yi (VL), Chen Hsin-an (Yulon), Lin Chi-jay (TB), Tien Lei (Dacin), Yua Yin-li (BOT), Yang Chin-min (BOT), Ho Sho-jen (TB), Yang Che-yi (VL)
Guards: Chen Chih-chun (Yulon), Chen Shih-nian (TB), Wu Yong-jen (BOT), Lee Hsueh-lin (Yulon), Chou Shi-yuan (Yulon), Chang Chi-feng (Dacin)

ETSN guard Yang Yu-min, a national team constant in the past years, was surprisingly omitted, as well as BOT point guard Chien Ming-fu, a SBL first team selection this past season.

BOT forward Yua Yin-li made his national team debut after a breakout year that saw his scoring and blocks more than double from last season.

CTBA did not rule out the possibility to include Wu Dai-hao, who is playing in the U.S. for NCAA Div-II BYU-Hawaii, to bolster the weak frontline if Wu is permitted to play for his home country.

Lee Yun-kwang named 2006 Taiwan NT head coach

Yulon head coach Lee Yun-kwang, who led Yulon to a SBL three-peat and Taiwan NT to the gold medal in last year's East Asian Games in Macao, will lead Taiwan national team once again in two international events in 2006.

CTBA Senior Basketball Committee selected Lee over Taiwan Beer's Chiu Da-tsun and BOT's Wei Chen-ming as the NT head coach for the upcoming William Jones Cup and Asian Games in Qatar.

The remaining coaching staff and the national team roster will be determined on a later date, CTBA said in a press release.

Yulon wins 2006 Guanhu Cup Invitational

Yulon's Big Three scored more than 20 points each to help the Dinos defeat Kyung Hee University of South Korea in the title game of the 2006 Guanhu Cup Invitational on May 28.

Tsun Wen-din had 27 points, Chou Shih-yuan and Chen Hsin-an scored 21 and 20 points respectively for the Dinos, which won the tournament with an undefeated record of 5-0.

Yulon took advantage of its more experienced lineup and used a 14-4 run early in the second half to open up the game, leading by as many as 20 points.

On May 27, Chen Hsin-an exploded for 38 points, including 18 points in the 4th quarter, in Yulon's 86-84 win over Osaka Evessa. Chen had nine 3-pointers in the game with the last one coming with 16.4 seconds left and helped Yulon pull ahead by three.

Matt Lottich evened the score with 9.2 seconds to go with another three before Tsun Wen-din tipped-in his own miss before the final buzzer.

Aisin Seahorses of Japan's JBL (Japan Basketball League) won the title last year.

May 28
Championship: Yulon 87, Kyung Hee University 74
3/4: Osaka Evessa 102, ETSN 83
5/6: Dacin 88, TB 84(OT)
7/8: YMY 83, Videoland 82

Prelim Standings:
Group A: Kyung Hee Univ. 4-0, ETSN 2-2, TB 2-2, YMY 1-3, Spring Cooking Oil 1-3
Group B: Yulon 4-0, Evessa 2-2, Dacin 2-2, VL 1-3, BOT 1-3

May 27
Yulon 86, Evessa 84
ETSN 89, TB 86
Kyung Hee Univ. 96, Spring Cooking Oil 80
VL 83, BOT 80
Evessa 119, Dacin 97

May 26
Kyung Hee Univ. 92, TB 75
BOT 95, Evessa 93
Yulon 102, BOT 87
ETSN 104, YMY 88
Dacin 84, VL 74

Guanhu Cup Day 2 - Yulon routed Videoland

Led by Chou Shih-yuan's 20 points, Yulon routed Videoland 90-61 Thursday and took a 2-0 lead in Group A of the 2006 Guanhu Cup Invitational. Taiwan Beer and Kyong Hee University tied for the lead at 2-0 in Group B.

**May 25 Results:
Yulon 90, VL 61
Spring Cooking Oil 89, ETSN 86
TB 98, YMY 97
Dacin 96, BOT 90
Kyong Hee Univ. 104, YMY 83

**Prelim Standings:
Group A: TB 2-0, Kyong Hee Univ. 2-0, YMY 1-2, Spring Cooking Oil 1-2, ETSN 0-2
Group B: Yulon 2-0, Evessa 1-0, Dacin 1-1, BOT 0-1, VL 0-2

**Remaining Schedule:

5/26
12:00 Yulon vs. BOT
14:00 YMY vs. ETSN
16:00 VL vs. Dacin
18:00 Kyong Hee Univ. vs. TB
20:30 BOT vs. Evessa

5/27
10:00 Evessa vs. Yulon
12:00 ETSN vs. TB
14:00 Kyong Hee Univ. vs. Spring Cooking Oil
16:00 VL vs. BOT
18:00 Dacin vs. Evessa

5/28
11:00 A4 vs. B4 (7/8 place)
13:00 A3 vs. B3 (5/6 place)
15:00 A2 vs. B2 (3/4 place)
17:00 A1 vs. B1 (Championship)
19:00 Closing Ceremony

Guanhu Cup Day 1 - Spring Cooking Oil dropped two straight

Chen Hsin-an played his first SBL game, although not an official one, in more than a year donning Yulon uniform and scored 27 points in Yulon's 102-87 win over Dacin in 2006 Guanhu Cup International Invitational Tournament, which invited 10 teams to the eastern city of Hualien.

Call it bad luck. Jet-legged Spring Cooking Oil from the Philippines, which didn't arrived in Hualien until early Wednesday, suffered two losses in the first day.

The tournament, which entered its fifth year, was organized by local Basketball Committee of Hualien County. Three foreign teams -- Spring Cooking Oil, Kyong Hee University from South Korea and Osaka Evessa of Japan's BJ League, along with all seven SBL teams participated the tourney that runs from May 24-28.

Game Results:
YMY 101, Spring Cooking Oil 98 (Geremy Robinson 40 points)
Kyong Hee Univ. 81, ETSN 71
Osaka Evessa 103, Videoland 88 (Jeff Newton, Lynn Washington and Matt Lottich cmbined for 55 points)
Yulon 102, Dacin 87 (Chen Hsin-an 27 points, Tien Lei and Lee Fong-yong of Dacin did not play)
TB 87, Spring Cooking Oil 77 (Lin Kwan-lun 24 points, Lin Chi-jay did not play)

Guanhu Cup Invitational Roster

Teams: 10 (All seven SBL teams will participate.)
Date: May 24-28
Place: Hualien, Taiwan

Rosters of three foreign teams:

Kyong Hee University

H. Coach Choi, Boo young
A. Coach Kim, Hyun gook

No, name, DOB, Po., Ht., Wt.
8 Shin Myung ho 83.10.8 G 184 80
14 Woo Seung youn 84.2.4 F 192 90
25 Kang Woo hyung 84.6.12 G 190 86
4 Hwang Min woo 85.4.22 G 181 76
13 Kim Myung hoon 85.11.8 C 200 93
15 Kim Min soo 82.1.16 C 200 92
21 Kim Jai Young 85.1.3 F 188 85
7 Jeon Geon woo 86.5.8 G 185 78
12 Lee Seung hyun 86.6.26 F 190 83
31 Kim Jung hyun 87.1.20 G 183 75
33 Hwang hyung jun 85.3.25 F 195 87
5 Park Chan hee 87.4.17 G 191 83
9 Park Byung gyu 88.1.22 F 188 89
10 Kim Myung deok 87.5.1 F 192 80
11 Jung Jae chul 87.8.19 G 183 78
23 Park Sung min 87.4.17 F 190 85
32 Kim Dae yung 87.1.23 F 197 87


Osaka Evessa

Head coach: Kensaku Tennichi
Assistant coach: Yasushi Higa

Name, No., DOB, Ht., Wt.
David PALMER 12 1982.01.12 201cm 97kg
Matt Lottich 33 1982.07.29 193cm 90.7kg
Lynn WASHINGTON 44 1978.04.03 200cm 102kg
Jeff NEWTON 50 1981.01.04 205cm 102.1kg
Kazuya Hatano 10 1982.04.19 192cm 85kg
Satoshi Takeda 6 1980.05.21 185cm 72kg
Haruyuki Ishibashi 5 1973.12.03 173cm 70kg
Haruhito Shishito 13 1982.12.23 173cm 75kg
Tomoya Nakamura 19 1983.02.04 198cm 84kg

Philippines Spring Cooking Oil

Coaching staffs: Lawrence Chongson, Efren Garcia, Victor Sanchez

Name, Ht., Po., Nationality
Marlon Kalaw 5'10" Guard Filipino
Nino Marquez 5'11" Guard Filipino
Harold Sta. Cruz 6'3" Forward Filipino
Kenneth Coyukang 6'5" Center Filipino
Jason Cuevas 6'3" Forward Filipino
Valentin Domingo 6'6" Center Filipino
Mar Reyes 5'10" Guard Filipino
Rodel Manuel 6'3" Forward Filipino
Randy Lopez 6'5" Center Filipino
Benedicto Membrere 5'10" Guard Filipino
Efren Garcia Jr. 5'9" Guard Filipino
Geremy Gerald Robinson 6'3" Forward American

Tien Lei wins third straight MVP

Dacin forward Tien Lei won his third straight Most Valuable Player award Monday in the SBL Annual Award Ceremony, where he also received three other awards -- scoring leader, rebounding leader and the Best Five award.

Two-time SBL Finals MVP Tsun Wen-din was also named to the Best Five and received awards as the defensive player of the year and the blocks leader.

-- MVP
Tien Lei(Dacin) 92
Lin Chi-jay(TB) 87
Tsun Wen-din(Yulon) 26
Chien Ming-fu(BOT) 23
Lo Shin-liang(YMY) 1

-- Most Improved Player
(Top three vote-getters)
Lin Chun-feng(BOT) 60
Yua Ying-li(BOT) 54
Hsiao Yuan-chan(ETSN) 54

-- Defensive Player of the Year
(Top three vote-getters)
Tsun Wen-din(Yulon) 117
Chang Chi-feng(Dacin) 44
Chen Chih-chun(Yulon) 38

-- Rookie of the Year
(Top three vote-getters)
Su Yi-chieh(Dacin) 150
Chien Jia-hong(YMY) 56
Cheng Jen-wei(ETSN) 28

-- Coach of the Year
(Top three vote-getters)
Wei Chen-ming(BOT) 114
Lee Yun-kwang(Yulon) 87
Liu Jia-fa(Dacin) 28

-- Best Five
F Tien Lei(Dacin)
F Lin Chi-jay(TB)
C Tsun Wen-din(Yulon)
G Chien Ming-fu(BOT)
G Lo Shin-liang(YMY)

-- Scoring Leader: Tien Lei(Dacin)
-- Rebounding Leader: Tien Lei(Dacin)
-- Assists Leader: Wu Yong-jen(BOT)
-- Blocks Leader: Tsun Wen-din(Yulon)
-- Steals Leader: Chien Ming-fu(BOT)