Japan Basketball League Explained

Japan Basketball League
Confed:	FIBA Asia (Asia)
Founded:	2007
First:	2007–08
Folded:	2013
Teams:	8
Relegation:	JBL2
Levels:	1
Champions:	Aisin SeaHorses (4th title)
Most Champs:	Aisin SeaHorses (4)
Website:	jbl.or.jp/ (Archived)

The Japan Basketball League (JBL) was a professional basketball league in Japan. It made up the top-tier of basketball in Japan alongside the bj league, Japan's other basketball competition, with no promotion and relegation between bj and the JBL.

The JBL was composed of two divisions, the JBL (Division 1, formerly JBL Super League) and the JBL2 (Division 2, formerly Japan League).

In June 2012, the Japan Basketball Association announced the establishment of the National Basketball League (NBL) as the topflight professional league in Japan. The 2012–13 season was the last JBL season as JBL teams joined the NBL.

History

The Japan Basketball League was formed after the JBL Super League, which was held from 2001 to 2007, was disbanded. The new Japan Basketball League started with the 2007–08 season with 7 teams of the JBL Super League (Aisin SeaHorses, Hitachi SunRockers, Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Dolphins, OSG Phoenix, Panasonic Super Kangaroos, Toshiba Red Thunders, Toyota Alvark), and one team from another league, Rera Kamuy Hokkaido.^{[1] [2]}

List of champions

Season	Regular season champion	Finals champion	Series	Runner-up
2007–08	Aisin SeaHorses	Aisin SeaHorses	3–2	Toyota Alvark
2008–09^[3]	Aisin SeaHorses	Aisin SeaHorses	3–1	Hitachi SunRockers
2009–10^[4]	Aisin SeaHorses	Link Tochigi Brex	3–0	Aisin SeaHorses
2010–11^[5]	Aisin SeaHorses	No winner (league discontinued due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami)
2011–12^[6]	Aisin SeaHorses	Toyota Alvark	3–1	Aisin SeaHorses
2012–13^[7]	Aisin SeaHorses	Aisin SeaHorses	3–2	Toshiba Brave Thunders

Award winners

Regular season MVP

Season	MVP	Team
2007–08	Shinsuke Kashiwagi	Aisin SeaHorses
2008–09	Kosuke Takeuchi	Aisin SeaHorses
2009–10	Kosuke Takeuchi (2×)	Aisin SeaHorses
2010–11	J. R. Sakuragi	Aisin SeaHorses
2011–12	J. R. Sakuragi (2×)	Aisin SeaHorses
2012–13	J. R. Sakuragi (3×)	Aisin SeaHorses

Finals MVP

Season	MVP	Team
2007–08	Shinsuke Kashiwagi	Aisin SeaHorses
2008–09	Kosuke Takeuchi	Aisin SeaHorses
2009–10	Yuta Tabuse	Link Tochigi Brex
2010–11	No winner (playoffs not played)
2011–12	Philip Ricci^[8]	Toyota Alvark
2012–13	J. R. Sakuragi	Aisin SeaHorses

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Season	Player	Team
2007–08	Marquis Estill^[9]	OSG Phoenix	24.9
2008–09	Takuya Kawamura^[10]	Link Tochigi Brex	20.4
2009–10	Takuya Kawamura^[11] ^[12] (2×)	Link Tochigi Brex	20.5
2010–11	Takuya Kawamura^[13] (3×)	Link Tochigi Brex	19.3
2011–12	Takuya Kawamura^[14] (4×)	Link Tochigi Brex	20.4
2012–13	Nick Fazekas^[15]	Toshiba Brave Thunders	21.6

Rebounding leaders

Season	Player	Team
2007–08	Marquis Estill	OSG Phoenix	16.0
2008–09	Cory Violette^[16]	Toshiba Brave Thunders	11.0
2009–10	Kosuke Takeuchi	Aisin SeaHorses	11.4
2010–11	Joji Takeuchi	Hitachi SunRockers	12.2
2011–12	J. R. Sakuragi^[17]	Aisin SeaHorses	12.0
2012–13	J. R. Sakuragi (2×)	Aisin SeaHorses	12.5

Assists leaders

Season	Player	Team
2007–08	Cliff Hawkins	OSG Phoenix	7.5
2008–09	Yuta Tabuse	Link Tochigi Brex	5.6
2009–10	Shinsuke Kashiwagi	Aisin SeaHorses	4.1
2010–11	J. R. Sakuragi	Aisin SeaHorses	3.9
2011–12	Takuya Kawamura	Link Tochigi Brex	4.5
2012–13	J. R. Sakuragi (2×)	Aisin SeaHorses	4.4

Steals leaders

Season	Player	Team
2007–08	Cliff Hawkins	OSG Phoenix	2.3
2008–09	Yuta Tabuse	Link Tochigi Brex	2.3
2009–10	Toshihiro Sato	Hitachi SunRockers	2.9
2010–11	Shinsuke Kashiwagi^[18]	Aisin SeaHorses	2.1
2011–12	Toshihiro Sato (2×)	Hitachi SunRockers	1.7
2012–13	Tomokazu Abe	Levanga Hokkaido	2.1

Blocks leaders

Season	Player	Team
2007–08	Kosuke Takeuchi	Aisin SeaHorses	1.8
2008–09	Kosuke Takeuchi (2×)	Aisin SeaHorses	1.7
2009–10	Kosuke Takeuchi (3×)	Aisin SeaHorses	2.0
2010–11	Kosuke Takeuchi (4×)	Aisin SeaHorses	1.7
2011–12	Joji Takeuchi	Hitachi SunRockers	1.5
2012–13	Jameel Watkins	Panasonic Trians	2.1

Clubs

The teams that played in JBL's last season in 2012–13 were:^[19]

JBL

• Aisin SeaHorses
• Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins
• Levanga Hokkaido
• Toyota Alvark
• Hitachi SunRockers
• Toshiba Brave Thunders
• Panasonic Trians
• Link Tochigi Brex

JBL2

• Hitachi Cable Bulldogs
• Big Blue Tokyo
• Kuroda Electric Bullet Spirits
• Ishikawa Blue Sparks
• Toyota Tsusho Fighting Eagles
• Aisin AW Areions Anjo
• Toyoda Gosei Scorpions
• Renova Kagoshima
• TGI D-Rise
• Hyogo Storks

External links

• Official JBL website
• Official JBL2 website

Notes and References

1. Web site: JBL Superleague 2006-2007. asia-basket.com. March 30, 2020. October 25, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191025110903/https://www.asia-basket.com/Japan/basketball-B-League_2006-2007.asp. dead.
2. Web site: Japan Basketball League 2007-2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20170820083024/http://www.asia-basket.com/Japan/basketball-B-League_2007-2008.asp. dead. August 20, 2017. asia-basket.com. March 30, 2020.
3. Web site: Japan Basketball League 2008-2009. asia-basket.com. March 30, 2020. October 25, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191025110906/https://www.asia-basket.com/Japan/basketball-B-League_2008-2009.asp. dead.
4. Web site: Japan Basketball League 2009-2010. asia-basket.com. March 30, 2020. April 23, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200423203148/https://www.asia-basket.com/Japan/basketball-B-League_2009-2010.asp. dead.
5. Web site: Japan Basketball League 2010-2011. asia-basket.com. March 30, 2020. October 25, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191025094645/https://www.asia-basket.com/Japan/basketball-B-League_2010-2011.asp. dead.
6. Web site: Japan Basketball League 2011-2012. asia-basket.com. March 30, 2020. October 25, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191025094505/https://www.asia-basket.com/Japan/basketball-B-League_2011-2012.asp. dead.
7. Web site: Japan Basketball League 2012-2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20170820081251/http://www.asia-basket.com/Japan/basketball-B-League_2012-2013.asp. dead. August 20, 2017. asia-basket.com. March 30, 2020.
8. News: High-energy Alvark outplay Sea Horse, capture JBL championship. Nagatsuka, Kaz. The Japan Times. April 23, 2012. March 31, 2020.
9. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20080624081209/http://www.jbl.or.jp/ranking/index.php. Ranking. ja. June 24, 2008. jbl.or.jp. April 1, 2020.
10. Web site: JAPAN - B1 LEAGUE BASKETBALL (JAP-1) Leaders for 2008-2009 season. proballers.com. March 31, 2020.
11. Web site: JAPAN - B1 LEAGUE BASKETBALL (JAP-1) Leaders for 2009-2010 season. proballers.com. March 31, 2020.
12. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20100331122140/http://www.jbl.or.jp/gamerecord/leaders/index.php. Match Record / Leaders (JBL 2009-2010). jbl.or.jp. ja. March 31, 2010. April 1, 2020.
13. Web site: JAPAN - B1 LEAGUE BASKETBALL (JAP-1) Leaders for 2010-2011 season. proballers.com. March 31, 2020.
14. Web site: JAPAN - B1 LEAGUE BASKETBALL (JAP-1) Leaders for 2011-2012 season. proballers.com. March 31, 2020.
15. Web site: JAPAN - B1 LEAGUE BASKETBALL (JAP-1) Leaders for 2012-2013 season. proballers.com. March 31, 2020.
16. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20090622120129/http://www.jbl.or.jp/gamerecord/leaders/index.php . 2009-06-22 . Leaders . ja . jbl.or.jp . April 1, 2020.
17. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120519010737/http://www.jbl.or.jp/gamerecord/leaders/?season=2011-2012. Leaders. jbl.or.jp. ja. May 19, 2012. April 1, 2020.
18. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120519010707/http://www.jbl.or.jp/gamerecord/leaders/?season=2010-2011. Leaders. ja. jbl.or.jp. May 19, 2012. April 1, 2020.
19. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120513013213/http://www.jbl.or.jp/schedule/. Schedule. ja. jbl.or.jp. May 13, 2012. April 1, 2020.