Basketball
BBL Fixtures to come 5 July
1 July 2007
The fixtures for the forthcoming 2007/08 British Basketball League (BBL) season are to be announced on Thursday 5th July, detailing the fixtures for the BBL Championship and BBL Trophy competitions.
With three new clubs joining Britain's top flight, there have been slight changes to both the Championship and the Trophy. In league action, the clubs will play a thirty-six game season in which they meet each of their counterparts on three occasions; the top eight of the thirteen teams will qualify for the BBL Championship Playoffs. Meanwhile the teams will be separated into four groups for the BBL Trophy, in which they will face their group rivals both home and away with the top teams in each group progressing to the semi-finals.
Thursday will be a symbolic day in the development of the Birmingham Panthers, Everton Tigers, and PAWS London Capital as they learn of their opening fixtures in the BBL since joining the league this summer. Whilst the Poujoulat Heat Guildford will be eager to learn of their curtain-raising fixtures as they set out to defend their BBL Championship title, and the Kularoos Plymouth Raiders will find out where the defence of the BBL Trophy will begin for them.
The Heat will be the busiest of all teams as they compete not just on the domestic front, but also in the ULEB Cup, which adds a minimum of ten games to their season. That includes home and away ties against DKV Joventut Badalona (Spain) and Alba Berlin (Germany).
There are also exciting new derby fixtures to look forward to. In the Northwest the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets and Everton Tigers will look instantly for the dates on which they face one another; whilst London United and PAWS London Capital will battle it out over the season for bragging rights in England's capital. Meanwhile, in the Midlands, the DMU Leicester Riders represent the East, the Birmingham Panthers represent the West, and the Worcester Wolves represent the South.
The UK's two northern-most teams, the Springfield Honda Newcastle Eagles and Scottish Phoenix Honda Rocks, have developed an intense rivalry that will continue into the new campaign. The Eagles and Rocks have contested each of the last two BBL Championship Playoff Finals and will likely provide some exciting clashes in the season ahead.
The Sheffield Sharks slugged it out with the Heat and the Eagles for Championship glory for much of last season; they will look to compete for honours again and will look out for the dates of those big games. Elsewhere, the Marshall MK Lions will be looking for a fast start over their opening games after returning their entire squad from last season.
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